$2 and a Moment

Yeah, ok. I caved to the masses.

I’m quite suggestible you know.

I come from a family that enjoys trips to Vegas and the occasional Indian casino. My family loves to gamble (responsibly) and I do too.

So today I threw two one dollar bills into the toilet and bought Mega Millions tickets.

Every news outlet, radio talk show, and coworker is talking about the half billion potential payoff.

Yesterday on All Things Considered, they had some whiz bang mathematician guy who chastised all of us in describing the impossible odds.

I think that’s when I decided to throw my hard won dollars in the ring.

I know the odds are ridiculous. I know it’s a waste of money. I know, I know.

But for a moment, a little moment, it’s fun to think about what if?

I think the concept of what if is a powerful one.

There are those in the ranks of woo-woo and esoteric who would say that what if is a good thing. It’s an order placed to the universe.

I think what if gives you a chance to see what you can accomplish.

When you pull out a road map, you look at where you are today. You look at where you want to go (what if) and then you map the highways, byways and dirt roads that it will take to get there.

Do you get lost sometimes? Sure.

Take a wrong road because it looks interesting? Of course.

Run out of gas? Absolutely.

And then, sometimes, with a little luck and a little diligence, you arrive at your destination.

So for me, the what if daydreaming is simply me being the cartographer of my life.

What if’ing about half a billion dollars might be ridiculous to some. To me, it’s a nice way to end a crazy busy day at work. My mind is too tired to parse this spreadsheet in front of me. Instead I’ll gaze out the window and daydream. For just a few moments.

And then, because it’s the last work day of the month, I’ll collect my regular paycheck, pay my rent and then go home to The Good Man (my odds of finding him were pretty sparse too, but I must have drawn that map pretty gosh darn well).

So ok. That’s worth at least $2





This week’s Theme Thursday is: moment.



About Author

Karen Fayeth

Comments

  • Ephraim F. Moya

    Chica,

    Just to give you an idea how much the lottery winnings vs the National debt is:

    If congress passed a law that paid off the country’s debt at 640 Million per year it would take 26,563 years. Even at 640 Billion per year it would take 26.563 years

    (assuming debt = 17 trillion)

    WOW!
    Regards,
    El Viejo Matematico

    • Karen Fayeth

      Ephraim – *sigh* Those are some humbling numbers.

      • Ephraim F. Moya

        Chica,

        Yea, I started out my daydreams saying ‘first I will pay the national debt’. I started out to find what the national debt actually is and stumbled on the above calculation.

        You know the worst thing: We’re adding to the national debt (by printing money) at a rate of about a half a TRILLION $ per year. That means we add a TRILLION $ to the debt every two years. I don’t know how we can ever pay that back. There’s going to be MUCH trouble ahead.

        Regards,
        El Viejo Pobre

  • Kris

    Cripes!

  • Beth

    Yeah, we bought a few tickets; it’s cheap entertainment. I knew we wouldn’t win, but it was fun thinking about what we would do if we did. It’s better entertainment than buying a jelly doughnut; a jelly doughnut has no nutritional value, but a few of them will add to the waistline/buttline. At least a few lottery tickets won’t do that!

  • Denise

    I absolutely love this sentence. “So for me, the what if daydreaming is simply me being the cartographer of my life.” This is so true. Why not daydream?

  • Mrsupole

    I almost went out and bought a ticket but being too sick to do it won out in the end. But then I think hubby bought a few tickets, although he usually tells me and he never said. Well maybe he did but I may not remember. Not sure why everyone down here in SoCal keeps on getting sick. It is like we are just passing it back and forth. Teach me to not get my flu shot again. But daydreaming is a good thing. I do it a lot. But scary to dream about our National Debt.

    This was a great Theme Thursday moment post. Thanks for sharing your dreams.

    God bless.

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