REDRUM Tony, Letting Go of Delusion, An Appreciation of Billionaires

“Your complaints, your drama, your victim mentality, your whining, your blaming, and all of your excuses have NEVER gotten you even a single step closer to your goals or dreams. So let go of your nonsense. Let go of the delusion that you DESERVE better, and EARN it! Today is a new day!”
— Steve Maraboli

5:14 a.m., and I feel like I’ve floated back through time.  I’m sitting on my four-foot writer’s bean bag at our downtown Denver condo; this was my perch for two years; a couple of our kids now rent it, but we have visitation rights.  We arrived about 5:00, put on some comfortable clothes, and relaxed.  We ordered a pie from the Denver Pizza Company, we’ve been eating well, it was time to go big or go home, and the pizza is some of the best in the world. 

Day 23 of our sober journey, things are going well; enjoying this phase, we will break our corks next Friday; it’s always good to cleanse our livers and drop a few pounds, cheers to Sober October.  You are a good friend, and I like how you visit just once a year.

I don’t think I have ever been to a place that does not have a working coffee maker, but this place does not have a maker on site. So instead, we are forced to heat water and use a press pot, an acceptable way to get coffee, but not my regular Mr. Coffee drip. So I will be buying Baily, the current resident, a coffee maker, a one-button machine; I like my appliances simple.  I like most of my life simple. When purchasing things, I like the most basic model; the more buttons, the more trouble you will have.

My wife is making the coffee; I’m looking around our old living quarters; there are two large 4-foot by 6-foot paintings of beautiful women. Also, a wall of various artists’ posters, Hunter S. Thompson is featured as are the Foo’s, John Mayer, and Gary Clark, Jr.  There is a television in this room, something we never thought was important; we had a tv in our bedroom, that was good enough.  This room was for conversation, reading, and work; I think the kids live a little differently than we aged folks.

Pro-tip, when ordering an UBER, schedule it before you need it.  Before COVID, I could wait until the last minute and get an UBER in 5 minutes.  We regularly take the car service from our condo to the airport.  We can’t wait 20 or 30 minutes, so we need to make sure that a car is ready for us when we need to leave.  There is a new button on the UBER app to reserve a car; we now use this most times we UBER.  

At 7:15 a.m., our carriage will arrive; we will take the 45-minute ride to the airport, we get dropped off on the west side, we then get in a very, very, very long line and get through TSA.  We will then take the train to Terminal C, get a light bite to eat, board the plane with our damn mask on because masks are so damn effective, and fly home to pick up our pup and head back to our Indy home. I woke up last night and did not know where I was.  I tried to decide which house we were in and then had a moment of clarity and remembered where I was—living as a nomad has its perks and challenges.

Did you see that our favorite doctor, the one that has the same name as that kid in The Shining? Maybe the good doctor was saying Redrum as he funded the gain of function research at the Wuhan Lab.  How many lies must the excellent doctor tell before losing all creditability?  I’ve written before I thought the doctor was an asshole, but now I don’t believe that charge is adequate; I think he is a “Fing Liar.” Lying to Congress is a crime; he should be in jail for the rest of his life.

Tomorrow I’m heading over to my son’s to see his little family; we have a gift for M and M; I’ll then head to meet my mother, father, and daughter and her husband for some sushi.  It’s a family day; I need it; I miss my people!  I had a great chat with our youngest daughter; she loves being married, she loves her job, and she and her mate have found their dream home. Although, at 24, she is living an extraordinary life of financial independence and freedom, one of our greatest joys is watching all three of our children succeed and become contributors to society.

I’ll wrap my journey up with Billy Summers today; I’ll hit the last little bit of that adventure on the plane ride home. That will be the fourth book I’ve finished this month; I think I will return to my reading roots after this month; I’ve enjoyed visiting other lands and living in different times; reading and books are a gift to humanity.  

I think I’ll end on something that has been bugging me. Something is grinding my gears as of late.  As a child, I was told about millionaires, those people who had enough money to live and do as they pleased.  I grew up in a middle-class house; I knew a few people with wealth and respected them. So I thought it noble to create wealth and help one’s community. 

I joined the club, albeit on paper, but an excellent accomplishment to have as I traverse this life.  My wife and I have been very fortunate with our business and investments.  With that said, the ire that society has against billionaires is a little unnerving.  When a man or woman works and creates something of value, they should be held in high regard, but the victim society we now live in demands we vilify these folks.  Think Besos, Gates, and Musk; there are many, but who are you to tell these folks how to spend their money?

If you want to become a billionaire, get to work, build something of value, and people will pay you for your creative impact on society.  Don’t bitch, moan, and complain about others’ success; life is not fair, but every person born in this country can achieve any dream they put their mind to, and if they fail, well, they get one hell of an experience. So let’s get back to a time when we reward and aspire to become our best selves and cheer those changing our world for the better; the victim mentality is for losers.

“Your complaints, your drama, your victim mentality, your whining, your blaming, and all of your excuses have NEVER gotten you even a single step closer to your goals or dreams. So let go of your nonsense. Let go of the delusion that you DESERVE better, and EARN it! Today is a new day!”
— Steve Maraboli