Come On Big Money!

I am not a huge gambler by any means. If I actually make it to Louisiana, where gambling is legal, I take my set amount of $$ and try to make it last as long as possible. Yes, I am BORING, in all caps. Someone like my brother, however, would go in, and put it all on red. Of course, he has really good luck and would come out ahead. But, when I go into these casinos, I always feel a little sad for some of the people there. I mean, they are chain smoking their last ciggie and throwing their electricity money away in the quarter slots. I mean, seriously, it gets HOT in Texas and Louisiana, so you definitely don't want to be without A/C! So where am I going with this? Well, I totally cannot see the urge to gamble so much that you are risking your life savings and friendships over the tiny chance that you may beat the House.

Ok, but to be honest, that was YESTERDAY's thinking. That was before my friend Mike mentioned to me that the Texas Mega Millions Jackpot had reach astronomical proportions (around $333M!!!!!!). All of a sudden I JUST HAD to buy a ticket. The only problem was, I needed a dollar. So Mike gave me a dollar and with specific instructions told me to purchase a ticket with the "cash value option." See, he is all about finance and understands that the lump sum is better than the payout over several years. Whatever. I was like a little kid skipping to the 7-Eleven with my sole dollar held high above my head. I am going to be RICH baby!

People-not gonna lie- I spent all day yesterday thinking about what I would do on my first day as nouveau riche. Stream-of-thought: I quickly decided that I needed to keep my job, because otherwise I would be bored. Then I would pay off my house and my car, but then I thought, well maybe because I was so rich that I would need the tax break for my house, so maybe I should buy another one, then I thought, screw it, I will just have to put in a call to Suze Orman and have her help me figure out what to do with my new found wealth.

Everyone-I haven't won the lotto (Although, I haven't technically lost either because they don't pull the numbers until tonight!!!) And although a piece of me thinks that maybe I could win, the truth is that tomorrow I will be the same person I am today and still a "working middle class" American (which really sucks). But now I kind of see what all the gambling fuss is about and how people get addicted. For a whole day, all I could think about was "what if?" Just FYI, I would so be the "nice" rich girl, dashing all over town in my designer originals leaving little $100 bill presents in random places for people to find. I would be known for my kindness and generosity, as well as for my killer bod that my new personal trainer would help me sculpt. So, after all that thinking, I have decided that it is ok to dream about this, because hey, you never really know how things will turn out, but you just have to make sure that at the end of the day, you have money in the bank to make the mortgage payment.