Lure of Chance

I’m a sucker for chance, an opportunity, the hope that I could easily fall into an obscene amount of riches, simply by luck.

Lottery Tickets–I don’t usually buy them. But if I happen to glance in their direction and start thinking about the fact that the winning scratchoff ticket simply has to be amongst the pile I’m staring at, well I’ll buy one. Somebody has to win. I might even go on a lottery ticket bender…one a time for a few days. Not blowing the mortgage, but not very smart either. Unless I win. That would make me smart.

Publishers clearing house/surveys with $$$ attached–Yesterday I got a household survey in the mail. It was going right in the garbage until the bolded words on the back caught my eye–YOU COULD WIN AN EXTRA $500…Not an obscene amount of money, but enough to get my “Somebody has to win,” mentality kicking…Same with publisher’s clearing house…there are moments when I’m filling those out that I truly believe old Ed will be standing on porch during the Super Bowl…

Slot machines–my first encounter with slots was when I was 20, visiting my college roommate in her home town of St. Helena, CA. We spent a week in Lake Tahoe, where, get this, there were slot machines in GROCERY STORES. Underage? No matter, it always took a few pulls before someone asked me for ID. After they saw my glazed eyes and the way I defended “my machine,” against a bossy ninety-year-old woman they would leave me alone.

While swimming in crystal clear Lake Tahoe, we caught a glimpse of a money clip–bulging with bills. We could barely rescue the thing and open it fast enough–you can imagine the images filling my mind…Reality was eleven dollars…that’s it. To us it wasn’t a bad take. Something for nothing…but I still think of that now. If only it had been stuffed with hundreds of hundred dollar bills…

We also took a trip to Las Vegas where for the first time I was made aware you could cash your pay checks in the casino–I knew then I would never trust myself to live in LasVegas. I’d literally lose my house…

Now, with the way publishing goes, I almost view getting my book published as winning the lottery. So much chance involved…yet, SO much work getting the book to the point it could ever be considered for publication. But still, as I fantasize about hearing the words “We sold your book to _______ publishing,” I can’t help thinking it will feel as though I’ve won the lottery. And I can’t wait.

8 thoughts on “Lure of Chance

  1. I can’t gamble. Not even the lotto. I take it personally when my randomly selected numbers—which, after all, are just as valid as anyone else’s—don’t get drawn. And then I get pissed off. And I could also get hooked on it way too easily, so I stay far, far away from gambling.

    If I were to write a book, I’d probably be convinced that my book was as fabulous as any set of randomly generated lotto numbers, and if I didn’t land that book contract with a decent publisher in a short amount of time, I’d get pissed off. But you, with your slot machines and your trust in Ed—you will persevere. Good luck!

  2. My husband and I buy two scratch-offs a week. It’s the highlight of our Saturday night ;).

    He also likes poker but that’s confined to 1 or 2 visits to Vegas per year.

    We also have Indian casinos in town but we don’t go very often. I like the slots too much.

  3. My husband has the golden touch, he always wins, he one the oreo stacking contest at King Soopers (grocery store), he comes home from poker games with money in his pockect, it’s annoying.

    You must be so excited about the book, damn that’s cool! Where are you in the process?

  4. Hey…my inaugural comment on housewifecafe. I am the younger brother of our gracious host, and am very proud of her and can’t wait to see more of her work in print!

    I have never won the lottery, unless finding a $100 bill once in the middle of Jefferson Park Avenue in Charlottesville, VA, can be included within the broader “jackpot” theme ($100 WAS a fortune to a grad student).

    If the PowerBall goes over $50 million, I’ll buy one ticket. That is all.

    I do have a story about the lottery and a deliciously evil prank. My friend Ranee from Pitt (now living in Tampa with her husband Brad) is PowerBall addicted. On the last big draw, I think in June or July for just shy of $300 million, Ranee purchased 20 tickets. The winning drawing occurred on a Sat. evening, but she did not have the chance to check the tickets before going to bed.

    Brad got up early Sunday AM, went to get the paper, and, learning at the convenience store that the PowerBall had been won the night before, he purchased a ticket for the next drawing (Wed) but with Saturday’s winning numbers. Brad returned home and slipped the ticket into the undisturbed stack. Apparently Ranee was near-hysterical when, not knowing that one of her tickets was bogus, she believed that she won the $300 Million. Asked how many minutes passed before he let Ranee in on the truth, Brad replied “perhaps I let it go on for a little too long.” Yikes. Poor Ranee.

  5. Hey Orange, you know your limits sister–that’s what counts…
    Ms. Sheila, you lucky duck with that charmed husband…we never win anything….As far as my book goes, I’m revising it for my agent and within the next few months it will hopefully be sold to a publisher for with a huge unprecidented advance for an unknown author…there I go fantasizing again…thanks for asking.

    James, that’s hilarious and exactly the type of prank I’d buy hook, line and sinker…i can imagine the pain she was in.

  6. beth, your husband is in skirting danger, but barely–as long as he doesn’t start to disappear into the bowels of LasVegas too frequently, you will keep your house and massage money…

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