September Surrender: Day Eleven
The tiles in my hotel bathroom are heated. I’ve never experienced such a thing. But that’s the luxury market they’ve been telling me about all my life. Though it’s not always easy feeling like I’m able to afford these stunning stays in world-class hotels, I’ve built up enough of a standard to where it will be hard to accept anything less. And I feel like it’s something I should come to expect from now on, even if I have to create it for myself.
Years ago, I went to Vidcon 2017 in Anaheim, California. I was freelancing at the time and wasn’t really flush with cash. I went through Expedia to book the cheapest trip possible, which included my flight, car, and a motel forty minutes from the convention center. I remember feeling like I was slumming it as I looked at the mirror and the sink outside the bathroom. It just wasn’t me. It was temporarily me because it was all my budget allowed. While I shouldn’t have felt bad about it, as I couldn’t help it, there seemed to be no way out of my situation, and I was fully prepared to only shine up like a new penny instead of a sliver dollar.
Flash forward one year and I went back to the Golden State for Politicon 2018. I had a job and more money that was guaranteed to be in my checking account every two weeks. I didn’t book the classiest hotel in the world, but it was certainly an upgrade to where I was a year prior. Of course our money went much further then than it does now. But I opted for quality over cost and ended up having a much better time as a result. Did money make things more enjoyable? Maybe on some level. I just needed to experience the deluxe package before making my assessment.
It occurred to me on this trip that there’s people on this earth who are wined and dined on a regular basis, particularly in the political realm. It made me see how easy it is to be convinced and swayed by your hosts, especially the more they dip you in the pool of extravagance. It’s tempting and enticing and I got a first-hand look at that during this trip. All I ask it that the fun provided by what money can by is done through the right means instead of ill-gotten gains. Or done in the name of closing a corrupt deal. Money talks. Is it so much to ask that it doesn’t pervert as well?