A couple of people split the big Powerball jackpot a few days ago.
Good for them. I used to play the lotto myself, although I usually just bought a ticket a week or so, the payoff is about a couple of million after taxes. Sure, sure, I know the odds are astronomical, and I never really expected to win; but at a dollar or two a week I got my money’s worth of anticipation and daydreams. I could have increased my odds by buying more tickets, but I realized my chances of winning were still miniscule, but the fantasy factor didn’t materially improve with extra tickets. Besides, I could see people in line buying tickets, people who obviously couldn’t afford them, dropping 20, 50 a hundred bucks at a time, especially on the days the government checks came in. It is so sad.
Still, when I go to the stupormarket, or buy gas at the corner station, I pick up a dollar ticket if there’s no one in line ahead of me. Somehow, standing in line in order to buy something, especially a luxury item, always struck me as the ultimate loss of personal dignity. I’ll stand in line for a handout, if times are desperate, but I refuse to do it when I’m paying unless I have no other choice. I’m paying, the seller should kiss MY ass.
So what would I do if I won the Big One? If money were absolutely no object, what would I get? Sure, I’ve got everything I need, and I have a bit of a stash to back it up. But a little padding, a little extra security wouldn’t hurt. But what would I get if I could get anything I wanted, even everything I wanted?
I’d like to have a house up in the California coastal ranges, nothing fancy, a house like I live in now would be fine, but a remote site with good seeing and no light pollution. A home observatory with a telescope around 10 or 12 inches aperture would be nice. (No telescope is ever big enough, but that seems like a nice round number.) I can’t live long enough to see everything within reach of that instrument anyway.
Of course, I would be within a few hours drive of the Pacific coast, near Big Sur, Monterey or maybe Marin County, and I’d have a sailboat. Again, nothing really extravagant, certainly no bigger than about 30 feet. Something big enough to handle the Pacific, but nothing requiring a crew. Vehicles? I like my present cars just fine (a 2003 Sentra and a 2010 Versa, but I might just trade one in and indulge myself to what I’ve always wanted, but which I’ve never felt justified in getting-a sporty little roadster like a Miata, in British Racing Green.. No Porsche, Ferrari or Lamborghini, thank you. I hear Mazda has a reputation reliability and good service.
I’ve lost my taste for travel. And I have no desire for a second home. When I go to town I can always sleep on the boat if I don’t feel like driving home.
And yeah, it’s an earthquake zone, so my insurance bills would be heavenly. But I figure one lotto ticket out to do it. Two or three million (yeah, California is expensive), but mountains, ocean and dark skies within driving distance of each other, south of Lat 40, pretty much restricts that. Still, that seems like a good place to stop.
I can’t imagine what I would do with any more money than that, other than just keep it in reserve for emergencies. I’m not greedy.
I don’t want much, and I need a lot less.
Its all a fantasy of course, even if I won the Lotto tomorrow, it would take me a year to make all the necessary arrangements, and I’m too lazy to take the time to do it.
But I understand there are people who just never have enough. They always want more. How strange.