21 July 2005

Hopes and dreams all come to naught.

Bought a few powerball tickets yesterday. We had all sorts of plans for the winnings. Aside from paying off all our student loans, we were going to stop having to buy Safeway Select.

One of the first things I was going to do was buy a new bike. My hybrid is getting a little wracked out. After that I really didn't care what we did with the money. Maybe I'd buy Left Bank and turn it into a homeless shelter.

However, I checked the numbers this morning and it turns out we didn't win. We had five tickets -- five -- and not one of them pulled the winning numbers. Apparently, your odds of winning aren't that good. According to the DC Lottery site, the odds are 1:120,526,770 that you'll draw the jackpot numbers.

I have returned to work chastened.

8 comments:

Chef Z said...

I think put enough aside to pay off university expenses, a post-college apartment, and then... trip to Europe with friends.

cs said...

Screw the trip to Europe...buy an apartment in Paris.

Cupcakegrrl said...

i saw an ad on the internet where, for a modest fee, a guy tells you what the winning numbers will be. he notes that "you also have to really, really want to win or it won't work." i forget the website, but it's probably worth googling...

although seriously, i took a philosophy of money class which was pretty interesting. have you read "the seven laws of money" or "your money or your life"? you, i think, would like them very much- especially the later.

and btw i think the advice to buy rather than travel is very sound. the rental of the flat can finance the squirrelling around in cafes and on overnight trains. once again you impress the heck out of me.

cs said...

It's called being old and wizened.

I have read neither text about money. I have, however, read Marx's Capital.

Cupcakegrrl said...

i doubt that you are either old or wizened. i do however believe you about having read Marx.

check out "your money or your life". it was pretty popular a few years ago. probably sitting on the bookshelf of someone you know right now. i think it would appeal to you both intellectually and philosophically. and i'd love to know if i am right about that.

but fair's fair: if you tell me a book i should read, i'll read it.

cs said...

Money or life, ok.

As for a return suggestion, that all depends on the genre. I thin Tom Frank's What's the Matter with Kansas is great analysis of political bait and switch. But the book I've read recently that's affected me most is fiction: Michel Houllebecq's The Elementary Particles. He's got an oppressively depressing view of the human condition, but it's powerful writing.

Cupcakegrrl said...

i shall look for it today.

my view of the human condition is far from pollyanna's, so I'll probably like it, especially as it's well-written.

have you been blogging for a long time? this stuff like impersonating others and posting gross stuff and hostile sniping the grassy knoll of anonymity- is all in a day's blogging? i'm new to this game.

cs said...

Yeah I don't really care about the impersonating in this case because it's fairly clear I'm not doing it. It's more annoying than anything. I've only been blogging since February, and it just started. I have a few suspects but I don't really have enough interest to investigate.

I'd say people who have well-read blogs are more likely targets. Impersonating me is like impersonating the recluse who lives in the house at the end of the road...