Thanks. But he's not boasting about his success, he wants you, and his friends, to know that he is
better than you, and better than his friends
Wealth is great, and being proud of your success is fine, hell I love it. I've had the luxury of experiencing and doing things many my age don't get to do, and I have some very well to do family and friends. But whether someone looks "good on paper" is not my litmus test as to if they'll be my friend or not. Someday when I'm cruising around in my 650 (okay fine, PC24) I won't go out of my way to keep reiterating how rich I am over and over. I'll pepper in a few subtle things, like a picture of my wrist adjusting the heading nob, with just a peak of a Breitling watch, or have just part of my Koeniksegg in the corner of one of the photos of the bird damage, but I'd keep the story focused on flying
did I declare, was there a Pan Pan issued, did I adjust my landing approach or flare at all, did I tell tower? There is something very classy about stealth wealth. I could have done with more about the flying and the actual ADM, and less about his champagne overtures..
But that's just me, and I don't have to like him (when he had the Cheyenne it was still there, but not nearly as bad and his articles were still primarily about flying and maintaining a turboprop), or enjoy his articles, heck, no one forces me to read the magazine.. my critique was purely an observational one about what the story was lacking. If other people like hearing about his good on paper looking (but messy in real life) friends, then more power to them. Funny, people knock Cirrus about the whole rich guy thing, but the COPA magazine and Cirrus owners tend to be some of the most down to Earth and just good dudes to hang out with.. their wealth is just another thing about them, like their favorite color or food
Since you got me on a roll, some of my favorite /s quotes:
- "We are plastic surgeons and lawyers, one former NFL player, and airline captains. We still look good on paper"
- Why does it matter what your friends do? And why is surgeon not enough, it has to be "plastic" surgeon. Pro sports is not enough, it has to be NFL. How is that relevant in any way to the story in the article? Is that really how you decide who is worthy of your presence and friendship, based on their occupations? Sure I've name dropped on occasion, but it's relevant to the situation
- "To become a member, you must be a man who looks good on paper"
- It just so happens that most, if not all, of our friends have masters and doctorates in something.. sister is a Harvard educated corporate tax lawyer and the other is a surgeon.. but when I introduce my friends to people that doesn't even come up.. unless it somehow becomes relevant "oh, you work at X, you may know this person"
- "Tom, the American Airlines captain, was awarded the right seat; either Jason (JetBlue) or Andy (Atlas) was going to get the privilege on the way home"
- "Awarded" and "privelege" ?? - get over yourself man.. your flying a $2M jet that's been out of production for 5 years built by a company that no longer exists and has a terrible support network. Plus, you know just about every pilot would be giddy at the chance to be in the front of a turbine powered plane.. how about just "Tom flew right seat on the way there and Andy on the way back" - it's already a given and assumed that this is a big deal.. no need to keep driving that home. It's not enough to show up in the Ferrari, you have to say "hey, did you guys see my Ferrari?" Half the homes out here are well over $2M.. but you don't hear people saying "I invited Jim over to my house for the privilege of seeing my home. I awarded him with a meal I cooked on our Wolf range and baked him a cake from our Gaggenau oven, I then opened the Dom and had several bottles. We then put our Vilbrequins on. Me and the NBA player went to the Sauna. Dan Bilzerian joined us for some more drinks, oh, did I mention I know the Clintons, yeah, I do. No they didn't come over, but I know them" <- JC, can you imagine trying to have a beer with someone like that?
- "I asked the pilots to inform the nonpilot passengers."
- I mean, you're all friends, right? "Hey Plasting surgeons and NFL players, we have to land we hit a bird" .. I think we've all jokingly said "tray tables up" to our passengers before landing.. but seriously? Even within his friends there is a hierarchy
- "We went into the FBO and opened the Champagne"
- OK! So f*cking cool man!!
- "The two bottles of Champagne disappeared."
- Wow, okay, these guys really like champagne. And champagne, really? I'd have had the Lagunitas going or the Scotch.. outside of some women and weddings, do people actually like champagne?
- "The volume (liters) of alcohol consumption and the volume (decibels) of the gaiety"
- Read: we got drunk, look how cool I am. Did you see how drunk I got? Did I mention we drank a lot?
- references to "messy in real life"
- Even though we're divorced and careless, we are still better than you. We still managed IVY league creds and made it very far in life, even though we're a complete mess. You guys, you all worked really hard and your life is not a mess, but you are toiling away in your pathetic $70K / yr job and happy if you can rent that beater Cherokee once a month for an hour. You're the person on the ITT Tech commercials
