Tuesday, November 30, 2004

ALL THAT JAZZ

 I attended a luncheon today with one of my coworkers. We are the major sponsor of a Steeplechase held at the Horse Park in the spring. If anyone knows something about horses then you know it ain't cheap! Horse racing is not called the Sport of Kings for no good reason.

The luncheon was held at the University of Kentucky's private country club. We lunched in the library. A cavernous room with a domed ceiling crossed from North to South, East to West with carved wooden beams. A gigantic chandelier cascaded light on us. The four walls were floor to ceiling glowing polished wood bookcases filled fashionably with first editions Hemmingways and Fitzgeralds. Four windows graced the outer walls with the top quarter covered with a carved lattice of intricate wood design. A fireplace stood unlit but demanding attention, drawing your eye to the  looming eight foot portrait of the former landowner, certainly long gone, in a casual standing poise that will last for eternity.

Something about the surroundings made me feel I was somehow transported into Bizarro World. I went through the motions of being nice, attentive and a very good listener. The rich are so different from us.....from me. The conversations naturally were about horses, racing, buying horses, traveling for the horse industry, and all that jazz. Fasinating. The former gentry. Or perhaps current.

My favorite anecdote. A man wanted to buy a horse and asked this particular person for some advice regarding how much to spend. This particular person suggested they take a drive. As they were driving he instructed the  potential horse owner to roll the window down and toss out a $100 bill. "Did that hurt?" he asked.

"No."

"Good, now toss out $50,000..........did that hurt!"

"Hell yes!"

"Now you know how to gauge how much to spend".

As I said, fasinating.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey my  mom works in markey cancer center she does protocols and develops programs. Lori

Anonymous said...

The closest I've been to anything called Steeplechase was an electronic fancy ride with lots of electronic horses in Coney Island when I was a little girl. Everyone wanted to go on that ride. But, it was the most expensive ride there. But certainly not as bad as throwing 50,000 grand out a window. : )

Angela

Anonymous said...

Anecdote?
Horses are very expensive, for sure! xoxo

Anonymous said...

Seriously different than me, these people...JAE

Anonymous said...

Don't you just feel like...I don't know...a complete foreigner?  When you see how the "other half" lives?  We all THINK we want to be rich.  And then when we see how they are, we think, "Why?"  Lisa  :-]

Anonymous said...

Oh come on Mary, Tell them about the horse BARNS, those little rubberized bricks they put their hoofs on are $10.00 a piece...The stained glass windows and the beautiful wooden stalls with brass plates that adorn the barns. The smell of the bluegrass in the spring. Oh Geesh, don't make me tell you that I lost my virginity in one of those barns. WHOOPS!    Anne

Anonymous said...

I definitely would have felt out of place...I wouldn't have been able to stay away from all those books!

Anonymous said...

I used to be the Director of Sales at a place like that, it always amazed me how little I knew about 'how to be rich'.  We all want to be rich like "that", and yet...there is a lot more to it than just having ample funds in your account.  It is a different world, for sure, but certainly one, I wouldn't mind living in!  LOL

I'm by no means poor, by any stretch of the imaginition, but at the same time, I'm not at a point where I'm even throwing $100 out the window, either!  LOL


Anonymous said...

Crazy huh? My boss in the thoroughbred business as a side business, racing and now breeding. The amount of money that is dropped on the horses is crazy but I guess all it takes is one good horse, like a Smarty.

I enjoy reading your journal. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

oh my. Great entry........................ judi :):)

Anonymous said...

LOL Fascinating. That sounds like fun..wish I was a fly on the wall.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like something fun to be involved with.  Don't feel out of place, enjoy!  and then come tell us all about it.. lol ~Sie

Anonymous said...

ROFLMAO at throwing money out the window....that is exactly my approach to gambling...Wish I had heard that story before...lots of times I would have shared it.

Great entry as always!

Anonymous said...

The luncheon sounded lovely, in a patrician sort of way.  The uber rich certainly sound like they're from another planet!

Anonymous said...

I loved the description in this entry of the room you wre in.  As I read it, I felt like I would love to see a picture, but probably not eat in there!  I hoep you enjoyed, sounds Grand.  Cya, Kris

Anonymous said...

Mary, one of the things I like about you best is your great writing style that embraces candor and humor, and allows one to see the world in a slightly different, albeit interesting way.

Best wishes,
Debi

Anonymous said...

Really well written.
V

Anonymous said...

Great entry :)

Danielle

http://journals.aol.com/danielled1/Everybodyknows/

Anonymous said...

Hahahahahahaahaha! I adore that anecdote! Very, very good!

Even though the luncheon sounded stuffy, it still sounded nice. Then again, I have a passion for old homes and estates. I probably would have spend the entire time just staring at the ceiling. "Who, Nikki? Oh, pay not attention to her. She's got a neck injury." ;-)

Anonymous said...

LOL! It' always nice to be a spectator on the lives of the well endowed. I think those of us who are a bit more down to earth appreciate it a bit more too.
:-) ---Robbie

Anonymous said...

Nicely done...you have a great eye for detail and a wonderful sense of "situation"--a writer's sensibility.

http://journals.aol.com/garyvp/GVPsWay/