No, I am not going to write about a nightmare or even a good dream I had while sleeping. I am talking about daydreaming.
I have often written in this blog such passages as “What is life without dreams?” and from the movie Diner, “If you don’t have dreams, you have nightmares.” Daydreaming about experiences you’d like to have or things you’d like to own is a great escape from the often mundane existence most of us experience. Hey, we all can’t be Elon Musk.
Many of my daydreams are about cars, of course, but not all of them. I know that dreams can become reality as I dreamt about working in major league baseball and wound up with a 20+ year career doing so.
Sadly though, as I grow older my world seems to narrow and my view of life becomes less aspirational. However, I have never been a person who is happy for long with the status quo.
I have to admit that the vast majority of my “dreams” are local and not global. I don’t daydream about world peace and harmony. Since I believe that human beings are tribal, I don’t think total peace and harmony are possible.
I used to dream of books I would write, of places I might visit. Well, I’ve had three books published and just don’t know if I have another one in me, especially if I have to write it by myself. As for travel, of course we are not going to travel until we’re fully vaccinated against the damn virus and who knows when that will happen.
One of the reasons we buy lottery tickets is that they allow us to daydream about what we would do if we won. We are under no illusions that we are actually going to win, but as I have written before, if we don’t play then our odds of winning are zero and if we play our odds asymptotically approach zero.
I have to admit that much of the lottery daydreaming is, indeed, about cars I would buy and a house in which to put all of those cars. Maybe a house like this:
This house is almost 9,000 square feet on an acre lot, has public water and public sewer access, and has garage space for 10 cars. Of course, the asking price is almost $11,000,000. Might as well dream big, right? Oh, it’s still under construction. One of the things I really like about this house is that it’s about 3,200 feet above sea level, more than a thousand feet higher than where we currently live. You’re talking double-digit degrees cooler than the “official” Phoenix readings from Sky Harbor Airport. How about this (simulated) view?
So, what are your daydreams about? We would like to read about them.
#Dreaming…
#DreamHouse
#somanycarsjustonelife
#disaffectedmusings
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Disaffected Musings 
Daydreaming about finishing my truck project, the unique chess pieces I would buy to use on my 56 year old chess board I made in high school wood shop class, how to make a table in which to place my chess board, my wife and I enjoying a King Crab dinner with our favorite Pinot grigio wine, a trip to Disneyland for a week…….
Should I go on or is this enough to satisfy your curiosity?
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Taking a much-needed break from assembling a chest of drawers for the master bedroom…
You can tell as much or as little of your dreams as you wish, sir. We will happily read whatever you share.
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That house is a worthy dream. Given the opportunity, I’d bypass the cars and go right to my own airplane. It wouldn’t be a high end cruiser as I’d want to avoid the old adage that “A fool and his money are soon flying more plane than they can handle.”
I wouldn’t need anywhere close to that 11 million the house would take. A couple million would buy the plane of my dreams and pay expenses for it, probably for the rest of my remaining time.
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Thanks, JS. The $11 million house is why I wrote about dreaming big. If you’re going to win $50 million or $100 million in a lottery, almost no houses are off limits.
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There is a house behind my daughter’s school which is way overpriced for its condition. But the land and location is perfect. We talk about buying it and knocking it down if we win the lottery. Then building our perfect house. But it doesn’t end there. We would do the same in Florida. Maybe on a golf course. Not just to play, but to sit out by the pool and watch the golfers take their shots. The perfect house. Perfect for us that is. Cars would be much nicer than we have now. But probably none would match your dream garage. Then start a charity for kids. Maybe a camp for disabled kids who couldn’t normally afford to go to a place like we are imagining.
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Thanks for sharing, “BB.” I assume Florida in the fall/winter and the mid-Atlantic in the spring/summer. Of course, everyone knows what happens when you assume.
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I suspect there are more than a few folks who daydream about a big lottery win and how they would change their life. I would be one of those folks. My day dream probably differs from most in that I really wouldn’t want to win one of the mega jillion jackpots, 20 years ago, yes, but these days 8-10 million net would be more than sufficient. I have no debt, no real needs and certainly don’t want a 9,000 sq foot house as I’m single. A couple of 9,000 sq foot garages? I’m your huckleberry. My vehicle collection would surely become epic in my neighborhood. I’m also certain I would travel more for pleasure. While Europe might be unavailable, there are still many “off the beaten path” corners of the US I would like to see.
I would also find out a way to gift my siblings with a decent size stake. One time only. If you’re smart you can make it last a good while. If you piss it all away in 2 years, tough luck. As for other relatives I haven’t seen in 30 years? Go kick rocks. Same with folks I have known in the past that suddenly reappear out of the blue. Fortunately my state changed the law a couple years ago and you can remain anonymous when claiming your jackpot. That would certainly cut down on the hucksters trying to squeeze money out of you.
Reckon I should got get a ticket for whatever drawing is tonight. 🙂
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I wrote in a previous post that I would almost (almost) prefer winning $2 million or $4 million to winning $100 million as it would be much easier to keep the former private. Laying low means people won’t come out of the blue.
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“Laying low means people won’t come out of the blue.”
That would work to a point I guess. Problem is, people gossip. Whether it’s someone at the bank you use (ole McGee there sure does have a large balance all of a sudden), your kin, your friends, the folks at the real estate office, etc. I guess moving to where no one knows you would be a solution, but I like where I live.
(yeah I know, first world problem that has virtually zero chance of happening to me)
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Mark Twain did write, “The only way two people can keep a secret is if one of them is dead.”
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My daydreams also revolve around cars and a place to keep them. In large part there’s a car collection, which in previous posts I’ve mentioned many of the cars I’d have.
I’d like to have a property with a couple outbuildings, including a traditional wooden barn and a large modern building. They’d both serve a purpose for auto photography… the barn for a rustic backdrop, the modern building to house a proper indoor studio large enough to shoot cars.
At other times I daydream that it’d be nice to restore cars as a leisure business. Oh, I realize that a successful restoration business isn’t as it’s shown on most of the tv shows. And, I have some but limited mechanical knowledge. Still I think I’d enjoy saving and mildly customizing cars.
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Many thanks for these and for all of your thoughtful comments, sir. I am very glad that my request for “daydreams” has been answered with such vigor.
A big house with a 10-car garage would be almost perfect. In the past I have joked about wanting a 12-car garage with an attached house. The property I showed, strictly a fantasy at this point, would pretty much check every box. Is it better to have means, but not enough to buy that house? Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?
I was a part of three World Series teams, but all three lost. Is it better to have “achieved” that or would it have been better to get my Ph.D. in Economics and to be a university professor and/or economic consultant? I don’t believe in destiny. We don’t have total control over life outcomes, but we have a lot of control.
I grew up lower middle class as the child of Holocaust survivors. We never went on vacation, for example, even before my parents divorced. After the divorce, you would be shocked at how little my mother received in alimony and child support AND that was when my father paid the court-mandated amounts, which wasn’t all the time. I had some ability and I worked hard, when necessary. Now I have some means and have achieved much, like writing a book The Wall Street Journal called without a doubt the best book of its kind ever written. Despite the fact that I am considered obsolete in today’s broken system, those achievements can never be taken away from me.
Sorry for rambling…I guess I don’t want to go back and finish assembling that chest of drawers. 🙂
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My dreams too center around enough money to afford an isolated house somewhere. The idea being – no neighbors that wake me up before I’m ready to be up. A cat or two in the house would be nice too 🙂
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Many thanks for your comment.
I grew up in a row house (they’re called town homes now) sharing common walls with two neighbors. I will never go back to sharing any walls. I fully understand your desire for a house off by itself.
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On the lottery winning thing. I would prefer a lump sum payout and I would want the jackpot to be big enough to split three ways. I would claim the ticket was a shared purchase with my daughter’s family and my son’s family and us. That way they get their share now and not after I’m dead. They get to use it for their families now when they need it. For my lovely wife and I we’d probably stay where we are or go buy a nice 10 acre parcel and build a nice house and a big garage/barn as I know she would want to have a couple of horses to go along with my cars. Also would need a guest house for the hired hand to tend the horses.
I guess for our upcoming anniversary, we need to go buy some lottery tickets for fun to go along with the King crab leg dinner and wine. The number this year is 49.
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Mazeltov on your upcoming anniversary!
When we lived in the mid-Atlantic I had a heated email dialogue with an employee of that state’s lottery agency on divvying up a jackpot. If five people share one winning ticket (like in an office pool), the state lottery will happily give three of those winners a lump sum and the annuity payout to the other two. I maintain that if a husband and wife win the lottery, they should be able to take half the cash and half the annuity payment. This employee argued with me even though I showed them the relevant language in the state lottery rules. Of course, we have reached an age where we would simply take the lump sum. I still think I’m right, though.
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