There are some fabulous homes here. As you get closer to the lake, the homes get bigger, plusher, more magnificent. It's hard to imagine how folks are able to afford these places, but, you know, they are high-income-earners. They live in a place different than most Americans. A different head-space, a different wallet-space, a different band account, and stock portfolio space.
My companion and I? We are outliers. On the margins. Just barely scraping by. Sometimes it all seems like smoke and mirrors. We are working stiffs. And that's okay. Doing honest jobs for honest bucks. Not the best bang for the buck, but you know, there is no guilt or shame in just getting by with our hearts, heads, and souls fairly unscathed.
I sometimes do house-sitting, pet-sitting gigs. It's sort of like Surfing the Wealth. I live in an extraordinary mansions, I go thru the motions like they are my kingdoms, at least for a few days. I get to experience an overabundance of wealth. Try it on for size. Briefly. Everything is better. No doubt. Bigger, more luxurious, everything works, everything seems like the best of the best. You just sink into it and accept it.
Yes, I understand that wealth means quality, really top-notch, peerless quality. It is easy to adjust to it. If I am a Surfer of Wealth, and I believe I am, it is like surfing the best most remote spot you've ever surfed. The waves are magnificent, they carry you, they caress you, there are no spiky edges, no scary parts to swamp over you.
I don't really belong here. But, I can experience this experience of wealth. I can live it to the max for a few days. It's an odd existence. But, you know, there are worse ways of trying to make a buck.
Surfing the Wealth, with humility and focus. Gladly doing my job.
The a.m. soundtrack - Peter Gabriel's "Scratch My Back" (2010) I listened to a critic totally rip this album, as a big let-down when it came out. It actually prevented me from purchasing it at the time. WTF. To my ears it is totally magnificent. So glad I just took a chance on it. It is a covers album, some of the finest songs in our great music catalog. No drums, no guitars, just Peter Gabriel's voice and a full orchestra. Songs by Neil Young, David Bowie, Paul Simon, Arcade Fire, Randy Newman, Lou Reed, Radiohead. Play this in the mansion by the lake at a healthy volume, on the finest sound system imaginable, with speakers arrayed throughout the whole place and well, it will fire you up, great music to write to; it is enriching, inspiring, beautiful. Critic be damned!
