I took my $4 winnings from last week’s Powerball drawing and used it to buy eight Mega Bucks tickets (each mega bucks ticket gives you two sets of numbers, though jackpots start out much lower). I knew I was screwed when I looked at my numbers and five of the eight sets started with the number 3. I hate that number (I’ll expand on this seemingly irrational hatred some other time). Seeing all of those 3’s lined up just made me realize that this “game of chance” is not likely to pay out (yes, I realize this is a conclusion I possible could have come to years ago).

With the writing already on the wall, I waited a few days after the drawing, then dejectedly pulled out my ticket and checked my numbers. Eight chances to win yielded zero dollars. Zero.

The good part about this terrible lottery failure is that it reminded me to stick to my typical strategy: only buy one ticket per week. If I had followed that line of thinking, I could have stretched my previous winnings over the course of 4 weeks. Rest assured, I will not be so foolish with future payouts.