More! I want MORE!

 Off to something sweet now with one of the most expensive deserts in the world, served at Serendipity 3, a popular restaurant in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The $1000 sundae was introduced in 2004 and was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most expensive dessert. It’s made up of 5 scoops of the richest Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream, Madagascar vanilla, 23K edible gold leaf and one of the most expensive chocolates in the world, Amedei Porceleana.

If your passion for performance and luxury autos cannot be stopped, and your McLaren F1 is becoming a bore along with the rest of your exotic cars, it might be time to check out Top Gear’s “Car of the Decade,” the Bugatti Veyron. The most recent model, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, has an estimated price tag of $2.3 million and, if that figure is even close to the ultimate price, will be the most expensive car in the world.

 Updown Court, Windlesham, Surrey, UK: $139 million

This amazing house builton 58 acre land in the Windlesham neighborhood. This huge structure offers 103 rooms with all facility you can imagine as a rich person. There’s a private cinemas in the north part of the house as well as bowling alley for recreation of the owner. You can find horse barn, squash and tennis courts in case you want to get some refreshing with sport. You can find a marble drive away as well that wait you every morning with a parking lot that large enough to park up to 8 limousines.

My old Bowie High School principle once said, "I've never seen a hearse pulling a U-haul."  At 15 years old it was sort of funny but I never put a lot of thought into it.  Those were the days when having "stuff" was extremely important for bragging rights but more importantly status in a society of pimply, immature, and over-confident teenagers.

Here I am, however, at thirty-six years old, bothered and mystified at the same time as I read about an milk and sugar concoction that will set you back $1,000.  And yes, in an hour or two, that decadent, greatly over-priced dessert will leave your body in a pile of stinky poo at the bottom of your toilet 

So I wonder...what makes our society so over-indulgent?  What makes people want more than they could ever need?  It's nothing new.  If you take out your Bible you can read right in Isaiah 56:11..."Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter."

Sadly, could our society be described any better than it was thousands of years ago?  And even worse, why have we not gotten any better?  Why have we not realized that stuff is just stuff and was never happiness?  I see my own friends and  family desperately trying to impress each other with their boats, cars and big houses.  I watch them spend ridiculous amounts of money on designer hand bags, clothes and shoes.  And for what?  What would be a good enough reason to overspend and even go into debt trying to have more, more, more?  


Is it really worth being able to in your own mind say, "See!  Look at what I have and look at what you don't have!"  Because really, lets face it, showing what you have to others is a large driving force behind this insane need for bigger and better.  But is it worth it?  At what cost, other than financial, do you pay to simply try to make yourself feel better by having more than someone else?


Matthew 6:19-21  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.


I am not perfect.  Many times I have put too much energy and money into unnecessary "stuff."  But I'm learning.  Do I want to be the kind of person that would be on a Real Housewives series?  Is your focus in life to get, get, get and me, me, me?  Or is it to give?  To love?  To serve?  Only you can choose.  


In the end...do you want to be remembered as the idiot who spent $1,000 on a stupid sundae, or had a massive house or insanely expensive car?  If that's the case, I doubt many people will have reason to remember you at all.   


In  my parting message, I hope that anyone who reads this...all five of you....will decide to be more than the society in which we live.  I hope that if you have nothing you will live your life with love, giving when you can.  I hope if you have everything, you will choose to help and change other peoples lives for the better by living a life void off greed, self-centeredness, and envy.

"I've never seen a hearse pulling a U-haul." 

Neither have I.

I'd Rather Ride the Roller Coaster

" You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.  Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!   I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it. "


I've always loved this quote by "Grandma", from the movie Parenthood.  Though her thoughts might be a little addled by age, her comparison of a life full of adventure... good or bad... with a life of mundane commonalty, struck me and has stuck with me since I watched the movie in 1989.  


I think of my own life, and though not by my choice, it has been full of ups and downs.  I have watched the earth fall from under my feet as I plummeted downwards so frightened, scared and unsure of how I would survive when I reached the bottom.  I have been sick as I hit the unexpected twists and turns that my ride of life unexpectedly always seems to throw at me.  And I have certainly been excited and thrilled knowing that no matter how high my roller coaster took me I could and would survive the giant falls only to climb up another exciting arch and repeat it all again.


I am grateful for roller coasters.  I think some people stand in line forever waiting for their chance on the merry-go-round, only to realize once they are sitting on the proud, painted horse, that life was never meant to be one of endless circles accompanied by the music from calliopes and carrousel organs.  Lessons learned from continuously rotating around and around are never as great as the education one can get from sailing through the winds in the sky and diving into unknown depths of life.  Life changes are never made, experience is never gained and love is never learned unless you pull that lap bar down, heart racing and brow sweating as the giant steel machine pulls you up, up, up.  And once you reach it's crest... it let's go.  And life takes over.


I will take the hysteria of the roller coaster.  And I will let life take over.  I will lift my arms up and scream with delight while life is throwing it's hairpin curves and steep drops at me.   I like the roller coaster.  You get more out of it.