Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

Seriously, if you won the lottery...

17:50 / 07.06.02

For an educated, rational person, I think about winning the lottery sort of a lot... as now, when doing data entry on a lovely Friday afternoon.

Does anyone else seriously think about what you'd do, if you won the lottery? How much money do you think about winning? Do you think that having that much money all of a sudden would ruin your life, actually?

Now this is not a thread for expressing that you think the lottery is evil, that it exploits the poor, etc.

Just... the lottery does happen to some people, it could happen to you. What would you do?

17:56 / 07.06.02

I'd be happy with 5 million dollars after taxes.

I'd basically live off the interest of that money. I'd hire a financial advisor, make some small low-risk investments, maybe a few high-risk ventures.

Oh sure, I'd probably blow a couple thousand on shit I want and don't need. A snazzy car, a nice house, all that good stuff, but the main chunk would be left alone.

I think with all my free time I'd probably volunteer somewhere, doing something I like to do instead of working for someone I despise doing stuff I no longer enjoy.

Winning the lottery doesn't have to ruin your life. You just need to have your priorities straight.

17:56 / 07.06.02

buy graceland and live there. with my landlady's cat that i will pay her good money for.

The Apple-Picker

18:11 / 07.06.02

I used to obsess about winning the lottery, just because I have so much career anxiety. And every job I've ever had (except for babysitting) has crushed my soul so much that I've ended up too exhausted to have a life outside of work, sleep, tv.

Depending on how much money it was, I've already made some commitments (which will hopefully be forgotten or thought of as jokes because most of those to whom I committed myself have been crapheads):
1. Pay off my parents' debts.
2. Pay off my sisters' debts.

Then, what I'd like to do is
1. Start some kind of small business for fun (silkscreening, patisserie, chocolatier, bookshop)
2. Build my homestead.
3. Spend a lot of time learning different languages, learning how to play different instruments, writing poetry, songs, short stories.

The Apple-Picker

18:12 / 07.06.02

Hahaha. Oops. Neither my sister nor my parents are crapheads. I didn't list the commitments I'd made to the actual crapheads.

18:12 / 07.06.02

I would use it to help fund my career in science after graduate school. The money would be quite helpful for times when grants were tight. I'd also donate a decent portion of it to organizations working on the prevention and cure of certain infectious diseases.

18:13 / 07.06.02

pay off mine and my familys bills. buy my mom a really nice house, and an old ass mustang. put a big chunk away in a trust fund for my daughter. buy a few small businesses. travel, a lot. lobby for everything that I have excuses not to work for now

18:27 / 07.06.02

It could not happen to me because I do not do the lottery. However, regardless of that... I would give pots of cash to the PDSA because they helped save my doggy's life when he was a very, very sick pup (I say helped because his own zest for life and staying power got him the rest of the way), and to other charities. Cash to family and friends that either need it or would make good use of it. And I can't think of anything else.

18:28 / 07.06.02

There is a 5 million dollar draw tonight, and hell yeah I've got a ticket. The obvious answer for me is to buy myself out of impending bankruptcy and make the store an incredible sub-cultural mecca.

Pay of family debts and celebrate in a large way. You can also bet there'd be some international barbe-meets I'd be attending.

I'd take a few weeks off, but I'd definitely keep doing what I'm doing. I mean, apart from the money woes, this is my dream job. I love it here.

But I tell you what. That kind of money would afford a lot of freedom to pursue other avenues of expressing myself. I imagine we'd see a self-produced CD, and lots of writing if I didn't have to worry terribly about money for a while.

Oh, and I'd buy a house. With cash.

Zoom.

18:38 / 07.06.02

I would have a skydiving man in a gorilla suit give notice to my employers, singing telegram style. Then a squad of bikini girls with machine guns burst through the doors to liquidate management. I get to light the match and laugh as it all burns.

I'd take a huge convertable ('65 Lincoln maybe) load up the trunk, and drive all over the country. When I got done with the east coast I would hop on a plane and head for Europe. Travel travel travel. By the time I'm finished I should know where I want to live the rest of my life. I'd open the nicest comic shop you've ever seen and laugh at people when they ask for crappy comics.

"I'll never shop here again!"

"Who cares? Im rich."

Id make sure my sister, parents and grandmother were taken care of and give all my other relatives the platnum-coated finger.

I could go on for hours...

Anyway, drinks are on me.

18:44 / 07.06.02

Ooh.

My family's debts are next to nothing, so I'd take care of those with some petty cash. I'd set up my mom so she wouldn't have to worry anymore, though she'd still work I imagine. I would like to travel and be the next Hugo Pratt, but I've taken on the responsibility of taking care of these two little kitties, so I'd only go on small jaunts, possibly to visit the rest of you on Barbelith Island. I really want for nothing, but I would definitely finally buy a hammock and a freezer full of popsicles.

If I were to do any one real serious thing, I would start a comic company that specializes in kids' comics of all types, and try to get them on the newstand. Maybe bring back the Harvey line and Little Lulu. Buy out Mad Magazine. That type of thing.

18:49 / 07.06.02

oh yes, Id love to own my own bookstore - never have to sell another discount card (or be reminded incessantly that I havent been selling said card), pay someone else to straighten up (although I like to shelve), and ban that guy who smells so horrible that the entire store stinks of him (this is no exaggeration), and that other guy who hits on every female in the store, and that woman who complains over every imagined slight. and Id hang with the people like that nice woman who bought a lot of books but needed a lot of attention and help, and made a bit of a mess cause she had trouble walking and with her hands, and that kid who was really excited about finding the perfect book. I liked them, and always wanted to spend more time with them, instead of catering to the jerks that bitched a lot and couldnt find their ass with both hands and a guide dog

20:40 / 07.06.02

Well Id like to see the look on Toms face when he gets a paypal of 100 000$...that would be priceless.

22:34 / 07.06.02

I'd buy American Legion Post 306 and paint it red with five gold stars.

23:05 / 07.06.02

I was just thinking about this on the way home from my drawing class. After purchasing a ticket for tonight’s draw, I began formulating my plans for tomorrow: I wake up, call the lottery line, discover that indeed 2.5 million dollars is my share of the jackpot, I call my sister, tell her to tell her husband and two girls that everything is all right but she just has to step outside for a moment to scream as loud as she can and dance the dance of joy, upon hearing this she knows we’ve won and we starting screaming together, I tell her to go straight from Seattle to Vancouver, I’ll be on the next plane and meet her there, we then proceed to track down my beloved to share the news, spend much need time with him, then my sister, her two girls and I get in the car and spend the next month enjoying the most incredible road trip ever.

I’m not sure you were looking for such detail, but…! As to how I’d actually allocate the funds, this would take some deciding. However, I do know that I would only keep enough to pay off our student loans and ensure that my partner and I could live comfortably and wade through grad school at whatever pace we choose. While I continue to think about winning the lottery, my attitude towards it has slightly changed. In March/April, I went through an incredibly tormenting and dark experience out of which I emerged with a new sense of joy and insight. And I can remember thinking a few weeks ago that if I would have had money, if I would have won the lottery, I never would have been in a position to reach that low--that low that I am now so grateful for. So, in response to Persephone’s initial question, yes, I think that winning that kind of money has the potential to ruin one’s life; however, it doesn’t need to be that way. Share, share, share.

00:10 / 08.06.02

What would I do if I no longer had to work at all for a living? Sister, I'm not working at all for a living now. But to answer your question, I'd buy my own house complete with a custom black & white print lab and do photography relentlessly.

00:28 / 08.06.02

Hope he doesn't mind me ruining the joke, but this is the song grant was quoting in his post:

"When I Win the Lottery" (Camper Van Beethoven)

Well I lost an eye in Mexico
Lost two teeth where I don't know
People see me comin' and they move to the other side of the road
I robbed a liquor store to make myself at home a few times
Borrowed myself a car when I needed it
I got me a shack at the bottom of the road
Fixin' cars and givin' tows
Spendin' all my money on the lottery
When I win the lottery gonna buy all girls on my block
A color TV and a bottle of French perfume
When I win the lottery gonna donate half my money to the city
So they have to name a street or a school or a park after me
When I win the lottery
Never run a flag up a pole
Like mr. red, white, and blue down the road
But I never called myself a hero for killing unknown communists
Now I can walk into any old bar
And find a fight without looking too hard
But I never killed someone I don't know just 'cause someone told me to
And when I win the lottery
Gonna buy the house next to mr. red, white and blue
And when I win the lottery
Gonna buy Post 306 American Legion, paint it red with five gold stars
When I win the lottery
When the end comes to this old world
The rights will cry and the rest will curl up
And God won't take the time to sort your ashes from mine
'Cause we zig and zag between good and bad
Stumble and fall on right and wrong
'Cause the tumbling dice and the luck of the draw just leads us on
And when I win the lottery, gonna buy all the girls on my block
Silver-plated six shooters and a quart of the finest highland scotch
'Cause when I win the lottery, the rights will shake their heads and say that
God is good but surely works in mysterious ways
When I win the lottery

02:57 / 08.06.02

one of the best songs of all time.

so i take it most of y'all are going for the lump sum payout rather than the 30 year stipend?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

03:18 / 08.06.02

I'd givew a bunch of cash to my family & friends, charidee (but an animal one... none of your human-centred philanthropy for me), buy loads of cool shit for my little dog, and (as discussed at last week's meet) pay an army of urchins to follow me wherever I went, dancing merrily... and I'd pay whoever it took however much it took to stop the remake of The Wicker Man...
Or I might just buy booze. Who knows?

08:29 / 08.06.02

What was the name of Mason Lang's foundation for fringe science again?

*steeples fingers*

23:33 / 09.06.02

Oh, I'd take the thirty years thing- knowing my luck, if I actually did win, someone would hand me a Hammucher Schlemmer catalog and poof. Gone. I guess I'd pay off my credit card, fix up my parent's house for them, and then go to college again, maybe major in art this time or something. I really miss college.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

02:08 / 10.06.02

Honestly? I'd give a large payoff to a few friends in a way that they woudl be in good shape for a few years, I'd visit a couple people that I want to see one more time and then I'd drop off the face of the earth never to be seen again.

Then, I'd find a nice island somewhere temperate, get a satellite dish, a nice home theater setup and just do massive drugs, read, write and watch movies until my time was upand hope that what I wrote was eventually worth reading.

I desperately want to be Georgia O'Keefe right about now.

07:04 / 10.06.02

I'd open a record shop that only had good music and a lot of it and never ever worry about how it was doing. I'd buy my mother a nice house down south and hire people to help clean it and take care of the huge yard that would come with the house. I'd start my own record label to put out all my friends' bands. I'd get a huge fucking house and let my friends live there provided that they follow what few rules I set forth (basically I don't want to see any of them naked; you'd understand if you met my friends).

The Natural Way

08:14 / 10.06.02

When I was a kid I was really into 'Dogtanian and the three Muskehounds', so I'd probably be one of them. W/ special, explosive bolas, cause I always wanted them too.

11:39 / 10.06.02

House with large library and potential for further bookcases; maintain constant presence at rare book auctions and scour catalogues; open house to interested persons. (This plan required about ten million minimum last time I thought about it, IIRC - I'd need a fair lump put away somewhere in order to live of the interest).

I suspect that in reality the interested persons might not get much of a look-in.

Goodness Gracious Meme

13:41 / 10.06.02

I got asked this question on a counselling study weekend and my first answer was "go and do a phD".

Fortunately my partner knew to persist past the point of 'no, not what your parents would find acceptable, what do YOU want to do'.

at which point, I'd pay off my sis+bro's and parents' mortgages and give my dad money to build a house back home, basically try and get them financially set up. Then buy a flat in london, spend enough on this for the monthly rent to be pretty sizeable.

Then learn spanish abnd bugger off to south america for a while. lotsa of travelling (relatively cheaply, quite happy to backpack it) around the world.

end up in San franciso, buy a flat, work in porn, learn to be an SM educator... probably do a counselling course at some point...

think I might need a bigger lottery than the UK one...

15:30 / 10.06.02

I'd buy Antonio Banderas just so that I could have him read me the morning newspaper every day. Mmmmm....