Sybilla Oritur

I haven’t played the lotto in years, but since mid-June, i’ve found myself drawn to purchase 649 tickets. I have this elaborate plan of what i would do would i win, and somehow, the $4 a week (i play both draws) seems worth the dreaming possibilities. I think i would invest my winnings in real estate - small apartments in world class cities that i would rent out by the week to travellers and live in when i felt like being in the city. I like to dream big.

Isabelle, my would-be accountant friend who went with me to Niagara, tried to dissuade me from this habit - pointing out that saving $4 a week over a lifetime adds up to a substantial amount. I completely agree - except i have recently given up both smoking and drinking tea/coffee in the morning. I’m still fiscally much better off than i was and perhaps i deserve to be a little ridiculous occasionally.

Her other argument was that you have a better chance of being hit by lightning than winning the lottery. Well, with the weather we’ve been having that isn’t particularly bad odds. A young man was killed by lightning in Christie Pits in May just by my house and the son-in-law of a co-worker of my mother’s was hit by lightning when it WASN’T EVEN RAINING as he went outside to flip the burgers on his bbq. The metal tongs worked like a lightning rod. He is fine, but apparently the side effects of the jolt can take up to six months to manifest. Eep.

So, i didn’t win $2 million last night, but i figure if i lost this draw in order to win the bigger one on Wednesday of $10 million, the loss may have been a blessing in disguise… because “hey, you never know…”