PHIL went up 30% on Friday and I’m only $.9845 away from being a Phillionaire. I was flying high with this new found money and had already mentally spent it on hookers and blow when I arrived in Palm Beach. Little did I know that even if I became a many times over Phillionaire, I’d still be a peasant to the 1% of the 1%. My peon status was also cemented arriving on Spirit and my Jetta rental car in case there was any question.
My reason for traveling was to visit a high school friend in Palm Beach who I hadn’t seen in 5 years. It’s funny how long term friends don’t need much of an introduction until it feels just like old times. We ate Shish-kabob at a Turkish, belly dancing restaurant and drank high end scotch while reminiscing about old times and wondering where our lives went wrong. I write that tongue in cheek until I started understanding where I was.
The Palm Beach island is where billionaires and celebrities live. Robert Kraft, Sylvester Stallone, Jon Bon Jovi, and Donald Trump to name a few. I went for a run Saturday morning and it felt like I crossed into another dimension. Homes have landscaping costs more than my house. The shed costs more than my life. Here lived the rich, white, Mar-a-Lago Club Republican type people and they go out of their way to keep it that way. It seems near impossible to get this rich by working hard that I suspect it’s mostly family money. Anyway you look at it, I felt out of place with my Amazon credit card instead of the Centurion Amex Card.
It’s tough to describe the inferiority that I felt walking through the Breakers. Like I wasn’t good enough to be there that I’m actually considering chalking up the $1,000 a night, playing their $250 golf course, and eating their $190 buffet just because. Even if I can’t afford to live there, I can experience it for a short while. Even still, this out of place feeling, like stepping on the wrong blade of of grass will get you kicked out, doesn’t pass quickly. Unfortunately because of this, it starts to feel stuffy and pretentious that you’re not even sure it’s a fun time. I’d still like to try though because I’m sure I’m wrong.
Once I got a taste of this lifestyle it occurred to me that no matter how hard I work, that will never be me unless I make changes to my life. It’s difficult to see this wealth and decide if this inspires me to work harder or to give up and accept fate. Hopefully, It’s motivation that I need to be better to accomplish more. Life is a lot about luck and the harder you work, the luckier you get. We’ll see if this recent trip was more eye opening or self destructing. When I see this golf course, there is little more I want to do than smash a drive down the middle, look up to the heavens and say, “I made it”.
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