Lady luck

I was jumping up and down last night. Damn, I should be celebrating but NO, I was kicking myself in the ass. So mad! I could have won $20,000!

I don’t usually buy lottery but yesterday, I walked in the light drizzle to the shop nearby to buy my birth date. Why? Because my friend just announced the date of his wedding dinner. It’s on my birthday! What a coincidence, right? Then when I was surfing around yesterday, I saw a photo of a digital clock showing the same 4 numbers. My intuition was ticking away like a time bomb. I told myself lady luck was calling me! I hurried to the lottery shop near my office. All the signs were pointing that way.

So I placed a decent bet and waited with bated breath for the results to be published in the evening. When I checked the results, I almost fell off my chair. The very same numbers emerged top prize! But wait, two of the numbers have switched places. That means I don’t get a single cent. $20,000 went down the toilet!

That was so damn close! I don’t really care about lottery but on the rare occasions that I buy, the results are always so close, it’s like heaven is playing a trick on me.

I remember one day, mum told me she dreamt of my old car. Now mum is not into lottery and never talks about it. But that day, she said I should go buy the car plate number. I drove to the shop, the line was too long, so I decided to go shopping and return later. Well, I forgot and guess what, the number came up top prize that night!

I was lucky once. The kids were still very young and Chinese New Year was around the corner. During Chinese New Year, everyone puts on new clothes, invite people to their homes and exchange hong paos (lucky money). Money was tight at that time and I was fretting about how I was going to celebrate the New Year. Driving to work, I saw a car with the same car plate number as mine. I turned a corner and came across a taxi with the same number. Coincidence maybe? Down the road, I saw another car that’s the same make as mine, with the same 4 numbers! I couldn’t ignore the signs. So I went into the lottery shop and placed a $20 bet on the numbers.

That night, I won a consolation prize. Because I had placed a $20 bet, I won about $2,500. It was heaven sent! I rushed out to get the kids some new clothes to usher in the new year!