things i need
— an art table or a second art-desk
— a wacomm
— a flat panel monitor to free up desk space
— a clie so i can have electronic note-taking, easily updated lists, and a camera 24-7
— a new computer that’s beefy enough to run the lost coast
— more cowbell
— a ticket to ride
— $15 an hour, 30 hour work weeks (same money/less work)
— a gamecube, animal crossing, mario kart double dash, and mario tennis
michelle came around the warehouse last week asking who wanted to join the ‘340 club’. everyone puts in $5 and if any of the groups powerball tickets wins, it gets split among all the entrants. it would have been one 48th of 340 million, less taxes, which is still several million.
it got me thinking, what would i do with several million dollars?
my first impulse was simply to retire or take some time off, and work on comics full time. this has much appeal, but it’s not the most prudent use of that much money. even though it’d be awesome. figure 3 million, at an allowance of $2000 a month(nearly twice what i earn now) that’d keep me afloat for 28 years. more than enough time to get to the point where i can support myself with my art.
if i could live on 1000 a month, i could go for 56 years, or until i’m 80. but i can barely stand living on $1000 a month now, who knows where inflation would go.
which leads to the better, smarter idea, of buying a house. and not just any old house, either. take that same three million, pump 1 mil into savings for my retirement, keep working as i am, and go buy a bad ass house. up on irvington ridge, with a nice view of the west hills.
new car. driving lessons. swimming pool. european vacation.
everything on my amazon wishlist.
the last million would be charitable works to assuage my roast beef-esque guilt at having won three million. toss a bunch, maybe most of it, at mom and dad to rebuild the beach cabin, so they can retire there and keep the house here, for scott and annie. or i could just buy scott and annie a house directly. then new cars for everyone, given that most of my friends’ cars are dying already.
alternate plans could include purchasing permanent space for studio fojar/iso/spaceninja/whatever to share with scott/miles/etc. moving to new zealand and paying peter jackson to let me work on the hobbit. travelling the world; thanks to wikipedia, i really want to visit hong kong, and i’ve always wanted to wander around japan for like a year.
or simply set aside some venture capital for future endeavors.
of course, i didn’t win, but you may have realized i’m rather fond of dreaming up ridiculous scenarios and playing them out in my head.
‘england? i don’t believe it!’
‘what, just a conspiracy of cartographers?’
— rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead
That house idea is awesome. :)
As for flatscreen monitors, I’m already making plans for the bundles of money that I’m (not) making at my (imaginary) job.
Basically, I found out that the Dell UltraSharp monitors (like the one I have now), have both a DVI and VGA input, and the ability to switch between them, so you can hook two computers up.
I also found out that the new titanium iBooks have a DVI-out, and the ability to operate with their lid closed, using a bluetooth mouse and keyboard.
Sooooo - One widescreen 20″ monitor, hooked up to my mac for day-to-day work, and hooked up to my PC for gaming only.
That would be SWEET
October 28th, 2005 at 8:08 am