Hypothetical question

harpospeaking · Joined: 13 Sep 2005 Posts: 194 Location: San Diego, CA

If you were independently wealthy (i.e. you didn't have to worry about money, ever --- like Hugh Grant's character in About a Boy), what (besides charitable work) would you do to pass the time?

If I was in that position, I would probably take a couple of sewing classes so I could make my own clothes.

Then, I would enroll in cooking schools in China and Japan to start. I would also devote all my waking hours to mastering both languages and studying their history and culture. And then I'd move on to Africa and Europe and study there too. After I've had my fill, I'd probably end up working as a docent at a museum I really love.

I would be a perpetual student, but an expert at nothing. A full-time dilettante.

What would you do?
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Erin · Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 7:37 pm Post subject:

Travel around the world on a motorcycle with Phil for a very, very long time. We are doing to do that anyway, but it would be much nicer if we didn't have to worry about financial constraints. Then we'd buy a little cottage in Brittany to be near Phil's sailboat, that we would buy to travel on after the motorcycle take us as far as they can go.

I am in the mood for a little adventure, can you tell?
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madameshawshank · Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 5:36 am Post subject:

ah..now this has me thinking!

perhaps a guest/retreat house...by the ocean...loads of books to browse...the most comfortable and welcoming sofas imaginable...bathroom with big window overlooking the sea...'n there would be themed weeks or weekends...

Rome, or laughter, or Russian food, or the poetry of America, or fabrics, or the history of gardening, or dance, or......
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melinda · Joined: 01 Oct 2004 Posts: 256 Location: Richmond, VA, usa

move to Paris, duhh
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David · Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 4:59 pm Post subject:

Yup, I'd have my little place in Languedoc, become fluent in local dialect and cooking----but I couldn't do that full time---and I love my house and land here----so in the end I would end up with a holiday home there and renovate my house and the barn and open a retirement home for cast off old doggies! (with enough well trained and loving staff so I could take off 3 or 4 times a year to Languedoc)
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Griffin · Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 932 Location: England

I would give all the money but for £1,000,000 to create fabulous homes for those who work in the public sector (below managerial grades). I would use that one million to travel alone, on foot and with a mule.

I would have three sketchbooks to write in and five bottles of black ink. I would buy clothing and food as I travelled. I would wear boots and an over-sized coat, among other things. I would tell stories to the wide open skies and the trees. Occasionally I would sing as I walked.

Beyond that I would wait for Death to come along the road. I would tell him one tale and take his hand so that he could lead me away.
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La Niña del pimiento · Joined: 19 Jul 2008 Posts: 14 Location: New Mexico

I would buy a house in rural Spain close enough to the beach, but far enough away from the tourists. My house would have plants and flowers everywhere. I would cultivate a garden and enjoy fresh food everyday. I would have the most gas efficient vehicle only to be used to go into town or to take road trips to Italy of course.

I would also have a flat in Granada (one of the most magical cities I have ever visited/lived in) so that I could spend weekends in town hanging out with old friends at tapas bars and taking walks through the gardens of the Alhambra.

I would run free everyday with my dogs and enjoy living a more simple life with all of my lovely Spanish friends. I would also love to teach English in a local school and continue taking classes. I would fly my family out from New Mexico whenever they wanted to visit and of course fly back home whenever I needed to pacify my green chili, posole, tamale, and biscochito cravings.

Oh and not to mention that there would be a huge leg of the best iberian ham on a stand in my kitchen so that I could slice a little chunk of heaven every day to enjoy with a few olives, a slice of manchego cheese, a hunk of bread, and a glass of rioja.

melinda · Joined: 01 Oct 2004 Posts: 256 Location: Richmond, VA, usa

david, i think my house already was a retirement home for cast off old doggies ! but i'm with u in that if i had lots of money i would have an animal sanctuary
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Make me half the person my dog thinks I am.

Knifethrower · Joined: 29 Oct 2006 Posts: 218 Location: Heaven, actually.

1. Make Brian unemployed and happy.

2. Put up our junk on Ebay and get rid of it ALL except for the dog, live cheaply.

3. Buy an RV and see/cook everywhere our wheels can go.

4. Sell the RV when we run out of land and cruise to the next continent.

5. Come home to the house in the Maldives once in a while to get the mail.

6. Repeat steps 3-5 as needed.

7. Throw in a few medical missions somewhere.

8. Take classes at the Institute For Gastronomic Studies in Italy

9. Clone the dog.

10. Fund Brian's dream project (whatever that is).
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bainst · Joined: 07 Aug 2005 Posts: 151 Location: Baghdad, Iraq

I woulld go back to school. Maybe get a Master's degree. And i would increase to rate I travel to finish a little game I have. I try to visit as many UNESCO World Heritage Sites as I can. I have surprisingly visited quite a few. There are a lot in Croatia. But to be honest, there is only so much traveling, shopping and classes you can take. I would honestly keep my job. Look at Bill Gates, he still went to work. I have to be gainfully employed. It's my personality.
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Comet · Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Posts: 76 Location: Australia

Buy property, travel the world and study. Then travel some more. Maybe travel to study.

swan · Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:25 pm Post subject:

I would go and meet Griffin on his way, listen to his stories and songs, distant enough to let him be alone, close enough to enjoy...

Other than that?
travel, ' be', cook (courses, all over the world !), read, study, do good/help with the money, learn how to fly, live, breathe, enjoy...

cigalechanta · Joined: 27 Dec 2004 Posts: 200 Location: cambridge, ma.

I would buy a place in Provence, where I could read paint, garden and enjoy nature, smell the wild herbs and have amazing weather as I listen to the cigales sing.
Alas, I don't drive nor have the money A must iif living in a village.
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David · Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 4:22 pm Post subject:

Well cigalechanta, I'd just be a short drive away in Languedoc so I'd be glad to take you around now and again!!
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swan · Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:25 am Post subject:

So...thinking about this....I would say some of it could be done - maybe in a milder version - without that amount of money. Maybe not on the same scale, but what could we do in daily life to get that feeling you get when you think about this topic? Usually when I get back from a holiday or more extensive travelling I feel a need to live more simple and to get rid of half of my belongings. Just because 'simple life' feels good. Would that be because I'm on holiday when I do that? Or could we really do without half of our things? Moving to Hongkong certainly made me look closely at my things (will move in 1 week) and also made me realise I'm much more stuck to my stuff than I would like...but the basic question I'm asking is: Why would we need so much money, why can't we get to incorporate things in our daily lives to get that ' feeling'..what would or could you do ?
(okay, excluding the houses in France... Smile

..but how to get that 'feel'??)