Grid Greed for Green
I'd like to be a millionaire.
Seriously.
I'm not materialistic or anything, but I have a few cravings I'd like to satisfy.
(And so far, only 5 of 21 on my poll think that money can't buy happiness.)
Now the way I see it, I have three options.
Work hard, rob a bank or win the lottery.
I've been working along the first option so far, but it doesn't hurt to try something else on the side. And since I lack the smooth moves of any of Ocean's 11 (or 12), I'm playing the lottery.
Lebanon has quite a lot to offer for compulsive gamblers. There's the...
- The casino: Fun but too risky.
- Scratch (and curse): those little con-cards that ask you to find a 'lucky' combination by scratching a film of space-age silver scum which never gets off your fingers. Peanuts to play and wins you peanuts.
- Raffle (Yanassib): almost synonymous with Beirut's streets are the street vendors yelling out "Yanassib!" selling raffle tickets. These are basically sequentially numbered and if your ticket matches the result of 7 spinning wheels you win. Boring, low stakes.
- Lottery (Lotto): this is the lottery played almost universally and is certainly your best 'bet' (sorry couldn't resist). You pick out a set of numbers in a grid. If the numbers match a set of randomly-chosen numbered balls ------> YOU WIN! You can play many grids together of course. In Lebanon, you pick 6 numbers from 1-42 and the company claims that's a chance of about 1/5,000,000 (if you want to do all the n! calculations to be sure please go ahead).
Now, the lottery in Lebanon is run by a private company and the profits are also private. The government gets a 10% tax off your winnings, which is fair enough. What's a $100,000 to a freshly-minted millionaire?
From now on I'll buy a grid for every draw and I'll post the numbers in the sidebar of this blog.
If I stop posting I've probably won and I'm at the pub celebrating. So join me, I'm buying...
posted by Ramzi at Thursday, August 18, 2005
8 Comments:
can't help you here.. I was one of those 5 votes in your poll. yes, not having money can make you unhappy, but having money does not necessarly make you happy. I think happiness is elsewhere. But anyway, I hope you win: we'll be invited to a celebration and you'll satisfy your cravings.
P.S. just what sort of cravings are they?
I'd be very happy if I won the lottery... VERY. So what are these cravings??
What is a bigger blockade to happiness: anxiety because you don't have enough money, or the problems that come along with having money? There has been loads of research showing that above a certain point money actually makes you unhappy.
Anyway, what's your purchase list?
I'm with you and Tempest on this one! If you can be rich+productive+happy...then you're straight.
Ummmmmm... Excuse me guys... Really sorry to burst your bubble here... but who in their right mind would actually want to work after winning the lottery?
Unless you call "work" travelling all around the world, dabbling in some charity work, socializing, broadening your investments, sleeping til extravant hours, going on endless shopping sprees, etc. etc. (in short, finding novel ways to spend your money and being extremely happy in the process).
But regular nine-to-five shitness? Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
So everyone wants to know what I want the money for?
I can't get into it all here so I'll post about it next.
The thing is Matthew & Eve, I never said money doesn't bring it's own problems with it. And right now I can afford everything I practically need. I suppose what I'm looking for is a chance to rub the lamp and ask the genie for a few silly wishes that have no justifiable reasoning whatsoever. How can that possibly make me unhappy? Right Slink?
And I agree with Tempest & Jan, not having to work for a living is a great liberator, and the outcome of that freedom can be good or bad depending on how you view your life and purpose. More about that next post.
Delirious, wanna join my gamble?
I wish I waws a little bit talla'
I wish I was a balla'
I wish I had 20 million dolla.
-- Lloyd Christmas
I just wrote that for you. I hope you like it.
Sure Ramzi, as long as you give me a ride in your new Corvette ;)
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