Despite our recent setback with Kelso, I consider myself to be a very lucky person. Oh, I've had my share of drama... for sure. But when it comes to matters of luck, I win stuff. I get picked for stuff.
My dad brought me to the racetrack a few times as a kid, but my penchant for picking winning horses made him a little nervous. Sure, he had taught me to handicap, but I think luck played a big part.
When New York started the scratch-off lottery tickets craze in the 1970s, I always won a few dollars, and once I scratched off a $1500 ticket.
Out of the thousands of people on the street during the filming of "The Groove Tube" in 1971, I was chosen for a "solo", securing me a place in cult-film history.
After casually deciding to respond to an email from a vendor at work, I won two tickets to the 2000 World Series in New York... the subway series between the Yankees and the Mets. Out of 4000 entries, I won a pair of tickets that were going for $9000 on Ebay. (Of course, I went to the game instead because that, to me, is priceless!)
I win in casinos. Not thousands, but I've done things like discover a chip on the floor, stick it nto a slot machine and win $200. I won $500 in a $2 slot in Vegas last year. I always wind up ahead, but maybe that's because I'm unwilling to throw all my winnings back into another machine.
When I've written to Dr. Phil, or the Today Show, or the Early Show I've gotten return calls from producers. The Dr. Phil thing didn't happen because it would have required my daughter to talk about not doing her school work on national TV (at 16, this was a "no way" proposition). I got called twice from The Today Show, the second of which turned into the segment you can see by clicking on my sidebar link. I contacted the CBS Early Show when my son (then 10) was doing a "Driving for Dollars" effort at our local golf range, for the victims of Katrina. He ultimately raised $7500 and the video can be seen here.
Recently, I attended a fundraiser for The Norwalk Emergency Shelter. I bought six raffle tickets and won FOUR prizes:
- A Coach purse worth $300
- A $200 spa gift certificate (I had an amazing aromatherapy facial last week, and BOY did I need it.)
- A $330 gift certificate to a funky portrait studio
- A Bernie Fuchs print of "The Legends of Golf".
By the time they called the third winning number, people were giving me suspicious looks as I sheepishly went up to the MC to claim my prize. After the fourth time, they were asking me to pick lotto numbers for them.
So... back to the lottery... I know I should be buying Mega Millions tickets regularly but I always forget. I really do need to start, though. I think some of this is genetic. My sister wins stuff too. And years ago, my parents bought a ticket in the Florida Lottery and played the six numbers created by the birthdays of me and my two siblings. They missed winning the $20MM jackpot by one number (it wasn't my birthday that wrecked it, either.)
I'll let you know when I hit the Big One.
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