Not since I got away with paying $3.52 in tax for the last 20 years and then successfully applied for a rebate so that in the end I actually received a refund of $19.3 million have I felt so excited.
My New Shepard rocket is about to gowhere no man has gone before apart from various astronauts, a monkey, and Richard Branson. It changed all their lives. The monkey went on to forge a successful career as the host of a reality TV series and later devised an ingenious method that got him voted in as President of the United States.
It's always been my dream to conquer other planets. The one about conquering Earth is old hat. Been there, done that, got the free shipping. But now it's time to see what else is out there and honour the great tradition of all mankind's expeditions into new, virgin colonies, and crap all over it.
History was made when I boarded the New Shepard this morning with my brother Mark and our two guests, an 82-year-old aviation pioneer and the 18-year-old son of a private equity firm's chief executive.
And then the rockets took us up to the Karman line - an imaginary boundary 62 miles (100 kilometres) above sea level, where many experts say space begins.
"Look," I said, pointing out the window.
"Yeah," said Mark.
"What's that? Speak up," said the pioneer.
"Awesome," said the kid.
From left: Oliver Daemen, Jeff Bezos, Wally Funk and Mark Bezos, the first crew on New Shepard.
Mark asked if he could borrow my cowboy hat for a selfie. I said no. He got into a sulk.
