And I wonder how I got here.....

I was safe at work, ticking off tasks on my "Things To Do" list, skating through my day, when my mind began to wander. And I started thinking about what I would do if I woke up tomorrow with a few million dollars to my name (don't ask).


I've never considered myself an altruistic "do-gooder". I never pictured myself hopping on the first flight to Mozambique to help the children dying from lack of clean water.

I did imagine something more atune to traveling the world and documenting travesties with my Nikon, selling the photos for a mint and donating 50% of the profit to some charity (s). Or founding a trust with a couple million to bankroll such and such many scholarships a year for poor kids needing to pay college tuition.


Turns out, I've been kidding myself.


The first thing I would do is buy the biggest, best beach house I could afford somewhere on the east coast (the Cape, the Hamptons, Nantucket, Newport, somewhere up there). Buy a crash pad here in DC or in NYC (maybe I could afford one in Chicago too). And I would party like a rock star. I would drive all of my working friends and family insane, begging them to ditch work and play with me - and then, eventually, I'd find other idle rich people to play with.

That's what I would do. No grandiose plans to save the world (or even make it a better place for that matter). No ambition to make it into the history books by doing *something*.

I would spend my money on roundtrip tickets to the moon - travel on a whim - play practical jokes - spend my way into events like the Academy Awards*White House Correspondents Dinner*Grammys* - buy some really cool toys (like a Maserati Spyder, a Faberge fountain pen, the Uptown Theatre for my personal viewing pleasure) , eat, drink, and be merry.

I am a materialistic, superficial, bad, bad, bad person.