powered up.

well, after a promising start, i’ve certainly broken the seal on losing at gambling. so far:

$36 spent on scratch tickets- $28 won.  -$8

$25 spent online gambling- $0 won. -$25 and a whole bunch of ridiculous hassle.

next weekend is the foxwoods trip, but i figured i needed to knock another item off my list as february is rapidly coming to a close. in comes powerball. i mean- POWERBALL!! i bought 4 random pick numbers today at the scary 7-11 on washington ave (you know, the one where you can get sponch?), and now i guess i just wait until wednesday.

not very exciting at first, but then you stare at your ticket for a while and realize that the next jackpot is valued at $40,000,000. that’s some serious walkin around money. and you start to fantasize about what you would do if you won the whole pantload… sure i’d buy my mom a house, quit my job and go to medical school, go see the pyramids…  probably the same stuff that all lottery winners do. but then what?

i could trade in all my regular clothes and start lounging around in something a little more fabulous. (that is assuming that i can buy some sort of pill that makes me never have to go to the bathroom- because the logistics here aren’t working for me).

i could be driving one of these puppies (just like dolly in straight talk). although i should probably hire someone to teach me how to drive first.

i could try do buy a date with this guy. as long as he promises not to wear this. (orange turtleneck? really?)

hell, i could get myself some diamond studded brass knuckles and go apeshit. (ok, they’re diamonique- but i could commission that shit if i had 40 mil).

you?

not exactly learning my lesson.

gambling day 3.  feeling sorry for myself and decided to go for  a long walk. put on my “today is a bummer, but it will get better” mix (brendan benson- what i’m looking for, frou frou- let go, corrine bailey rae- put your records on, superbus- on the radio, liz phair- whip smart, and ai otsuka- sakurambo), and headed the mile across town to the west end 7-11 to buy myself a high value scratch ticket. as it turns out, the 7-11 is double sketchy at lunch time (don’t trust people who eat food kept warm by rollers), but that’s irrelevant. $5 is the most i’ve ever paid for one ticket, and it actually felt really bad handing over the cash.

um, really bad until i got back to work and realized that i won $20! as of right now, i’ve spent $15 and won $22. $7 profit isn’t really helping me learn that gambling is for suckers.

although it did make me feel better.

scratched out.

my first $10 have disappeared into the gambling rabbit hole. actually, make it $8. i let the clerk at the big apple on washington ave (you know, the one that keeps getting robbed) choose the ticket, and he decided to go for moo-lah money. good choice. 10 tickets in a row, and only the first 2 were winners. $1 winners. next time, i’m getting assorted tickets. although i do have to say that these cows are hilarious.

on a random related note, looks like channel 13 is airing a story tomorrow about chasing the “lottery loot”. i think maybe it’s about figuring out where the money that the state keeps from the lottery goes… but i’ve had a couple glasses of wine and it was a short commercial. live at 5. check it out.

let the gambling begin.

as i stated last week, i’m going to be gambing it up this month to prove to myself that gambling is not really a viable source of income.  in theory, i already know this. regardless, i repeatedly buy scratch tickets and pump quarters into slot machines because somehow i want to believe that i could be the lucky one.  hey, at least i have a  foolishly optimistic side.  also, i won’t lie- i think it will be fun to give myself permission to be hopeful and reckless. you know, for science. recklessness aside, there will be parameters.

first and foremost, the amount of money i allow myself for this little adventure, and how i spend it:

total amount allotted for the month: $250

amount to be spent weekly on scratch ticktets & powerball: $20

amount to be spent on weekend field trip to foxwoods: $100

amount to be spent on mini adventures in the world of bingo & internet gambling, etc.: $70

actually, if anyone knows of something fun that i could gamble on, let me know. (anything but animal racing- it’s just not an industry i feel good about about supporting).

for my first trick, i will buy 10 $1 scratch tickets of the same variety. i always wondered if people had more luck that way- rather than buying 10 different games. the truth will be revealed later this evening!