Dragon Mood? -- amused & disappointed
As of today, I begin a two-week layoff mandated by an employer with whom I am contracted. Yeah, life is tough some times, especially in the midst of a gorgeous July summer. While there is an economic "gotcha" to this layoff, it is still a welcome break from the daily grind and routine.
Three days ago, I was approached by a "direct" employee of this same employer asking if I wanted to join a lottery pool. While I don't follow the lottery offerings or their sometimes massive winnings, my ears perked up. Lottery? Win some money? Sure!
As it turned out, I kicked in $10, there were fourteen of us in the pool and we had 140 chances (doesn't that sound like a statistically sure thing?) at winning the big pot: $290 MILLION DOLLARS.
And, while I consider myself a relatively contented person and generally don't covet money or material things, I was pretty sure that, by golly, we had a chance to win this big pot!
I eagerly jumped out of bed, this first day of my layoff and headed right here, to the computer, to find out if I had become a millionaire overnight. Could this be the first day of my new life after "my ship came in?" Could this be the end of worrying about paying off my credit card? Could this be the last time I worry about getting laid off? We've got all these tickets! Surely we've got a chance!
Well . . . that, indeed, is what it turned out to be. Just a chance. Actually, 140 chances. Out of over 130 million chances. And, as it turned out, our little office pool got sucked up in the spend-your-money-here shop-vac of the Mega Millions Lottery. Some poor, lone schmuck in Massachusetts won the pot. (Did you notice how I tried to make that person someone to be pitied? NOT!)
Ah, well. Time to be philosophical. I didn't really want my $10 million share (calculating that the government would take at least half of the $290 mil). I really do want to work for the rest of my breathing days for said employer who can cut my hours, reduce my pay and lay me off any ol' time they want to. Who needs $10 million?
Philosophical? Yeah, it's time to go out and smell the roses.
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