Thursday, February 18, 2010

Defines vanity

there's a lack of multimedia imagery here that would help illustrate this anecdote but i'm not the driver who would, while in traffic, fumble for the phone in his knapsack just to take a picture.

during this morning's drive to work, i saw a new white BMW 650 coupe also in the commute slipstream - most notable about the whole setup was the custom license plate reading "ENVY ME".

i don't personally know the gentleman who was driving it so in truth i am not giving him a fair attempt to make any necessary clarifications ("the car was a gift from my mother - she thought the phrase sounded 'cool') - but - i'm going to go out on a limb and say methinks the guy has gone beyond sleeves and is wearing one or more of his insecurities directly on his automobile.

the man drives a nice car - by that definition some people are going to envy him. he probably knows that fact but still presses on with the direct imperative.

this is one of those things i have a hard time getting my noggin around - seeing things from that guy's worldview. nothing screams 'lack of class' to me quite like loud and/or ceaseless self-promotion. if you sink the winning shot in a pickup game of basketball, there is no need to declare how awesome you are - give your teammates half a beat and you'll receive your due adulation. in similar fashion, if you're successful in your career and you can afford a luxury car, by all means buy one and drive it with the satisfaction of knowing your hard work made this particular perk available to you - but pull back on the show a little and stick to the regular plate or at most a non-boasting vanity plate like "I (heart) BMW". all you're doing with "ENVY ME" is making people want to test out the durability of their Corolla's keys on your passenger side door.

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