So now we have another version of the lottery coming to Washington.<\/p>\n
Starting Sunday, Powerball will be on the menu at 4,000 retail outlets across the State of Washington – about 35 of them in Kent.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the ultimate in random selection: organizers draw five white balls out of a drum with 59 balls. And one red ball – the aforementioned Powerball – comes from a drum of 39 balls.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know whether to be excited about this foray into easy money or not.<\/p>\n
The last time I won anything randomly was in college. I was in a theater on campus – the movie was \u201cHarold and Maude\u201d – and they had a drawing using ticket stubs. I won a hideous shirt with a giant pink eyeball on it. I don\u2019t remember what the shirt was advertising – pink eye? – but I felt like The Chosen One, walking to the front of the theater to secure my prize.<\/p>\n
I later unloaded the garment on a dorm mate who frequently wore her bathing suit as underwear. The pink-eye shirt took her wardrobe up a few notches.<\/p>\n
Other than that, I have won nothing – nada – in any random contest.<\/p>\n
Come to think of it, I haven\u2019t won much in the non-random contests, either. It\u2019s a good thing beauty pageants and \u201cSurvivor\u201d aren\u2019t my cup of tea. I can\u2019t walk in heels, and my \u201cSurvivor\u201d team would probably resort to cannibalism to get rid of me.<\/p>\n
\u201cLaura? There\u2019s no Laura on this island. But you\u2019re welcome to stay for a barbecue.\u201d<\/p>\n
So here I am, parked at the possibility of Powerball.<\/p>\n
Given the desert-dry years I\u2019ve gone without a win, I think I should play this game. It\u2019s only a buck, after all. And according to organizers, the next jackpot is $20 million, roughly the GNP of Jamaica. This could be a good thing.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, I\u2019d have to get into my car and drive myself across town, then stand in line to buy a ticket. During which time I would find about 10 other things to buy that I don\u2019t need – Slim Jims, tabloids, Pez dispensers and at least one novelty ball cap.<\/p>\n
So this $1 purchase could turn into a mini shopping trip. This is starting to require far too much effort, and I need another Slim Jim like Kirstie Alley needs a Twix Bar.<\/p>\n
So, no. This time I am not going to do it. I am not going to meet anyone halfway to buy a ticket. And if did buy a ticket, I\u2019d probably lose the thing in my couch anyway. (Incidentally, that\u2019s where I would dig up my dollar.)<\/p>\n
But if the Washington Lottery folks ever take a cue from the elections people and start sending out fill-in tickets through the mail, well, they may just get my dollar.<\/p>\n
Or better yet, just send me a scratch ticket in the mail WITH my ballot. Now that would be an envelope worth opening. Democracy and capitalism in one happy package.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, I hope some lucky Powerballer around here wins more than a hideous T-shirt.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don\u2019t know whether to be excited about this foray into easy money or not. I have won nothing – nada – in any random contest.
\nCome to think of it, I haven\u2019t won much in the non-random contests, either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-1401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1401"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}