fortune for real

i bought a lottery ticket last weekend, hoping luck can win me some fortune.
c’mon.. i’m not even greedy, just few hundred bucks will do. alright, even a small fifty dollars is not bad either.
and i did. i knew luck is coming. i can sense it.
but of course, i betted on the whole 24 permutations... which costs me only $1 a ticket. so why not?
true enough, one of the combinations came out in consolations.
yeah, consolations. so what? i’m still thrilled.

the next day, the first thing i did was to head down to the nearest betting station near my house to collect my winnings.
i rarely buy lottery and so i’d never bothered finding out how to computate the prize.
but who cares? isn’t it more exciting that way? not knowing how much you’ll actually win? and what’s more, it’s all computerised nowadays, so why go through all the trouble.

standing in the queue, i waited as patiently as i could.
i finally couldn’t conceal my excitement anymore when my moment had arrived.
grinning broadly, i smiled at the auntie behind the counter and told her politely that i wana collect my winnings.
so i took out the ticket as slowly and as carefully from my pocket and handed it over to her.
at first she seemed to doubt whether it was a real ticket and took a 2nd glance at me.
then seconds later, as if satisfied it was real enough for her, she slotted it into one of the machines which immediately generated another small piece of paper that indicated as a collection of money, on which she drew some weird doodle, like a signature or something and stapled the two together and shoved it into one of the drawers under the table which i couldn’t see.
finally, she started taking out the notes and began counting the amount.
my heart thumping. alright lady, count all you want, but make it fast.

she finally finished all the counting after checking twice and recounting to make sure she did not give me any extra notes.
this time however, she stuffed the money into the hand i was so eagerly to extend out without taking a third glance at me.
i scrutinised the money. then look up at her. i couldn’t believe it’s true. i had to look down a second time at the money... real money in my hands and i looked back at her again. i still couldn’t believe it.
she gave me an unbelievable stare and as if trying to tell me to move away quickly so she could carry on with her work.
the third time, i gave her back an unbelievable stare too.
for a moment we were there staring into each other until i finally broke away.
i walked out of the place with a total winning of $3.
eventually, i realised gambling isn’t so much of my cup of tea.. which is not going to get me anywhere.
the $1 bet i made won me only 3 bucks, barely enough to buy even a macdonald’s kids meal.

to distract myself from thinking about it, i decided to do something else, which doesn’t cost me..anything, such as upload a new blog skin that i did.