I hear one reason there are not more revolutions is that people tend to compare themselves to people who are in the same boat they are rather than those who are better off.  

At least that is certainly the case with me.

I watch HGTV for hours without feeling the least bit dissatisfied with my surroundings. My friends are not among that group who are buying cliff-side villas in Italy or remodeling summer homes on the Cape.  Not that they couldn’t, mind you, it’s just that they wouldn’t.

Angela Ismalio changed all that for me. I was happily flipping through a magazine one day and happened upon her.  Her hair was streaming in the wind, her dress was billowing behind her and she was standing on the deck of her new 164 foot racing yacht, the Barracuda, that matched her outfit: the sails were a deep eggplant and the hull was a burnished gold-bronze. 

I can just barely swim but all of a sudden I want to OWN that yacht. 

A big name designer had done the interior in what some would call luxurious minimalism.  It is all dove grey leather and cashmere with edited accessories and lots of recessed lighting. Not exactly my taste, but workable — if you know what I mean.

The cut-line on the photo explains that Angela had grown up sitting on the terrace of her father’s office,  a Greek shipping magnate, and marveling “at the panoply of vessels streaming through the bay.” I could feel my emerging dis-satisfaction. Daughter of a magnate who was bright enough to marvel at a panoply!? No sly gossip about out of control drug use, over-the-top ego, or seamy love triangles?

No as a matter of fact, she has just finished producing and directing a documentary on great names in film-making called Great Directors; it is said to be an award contender.  

Angela, I’m sorry to say, you make me want to stand in front of  the white house lawn and carry a sign, A YACHT IN EVERY POT.