Sadly, I Won't Be Counted As One Of The Big Lotto Winners

All of my driving around and crazy methods for choosing the winning numbers netted me exactly $0 in last night's Mega Millions drawing. I didn't even have the darn Mega number! I had three of the regular numbers in total, with only two numbers on one line. Without the Mega number, I had nothing!

But, after watching the “20/20” special, I could almost find a little bliss in my loss. Especially after seeing the story of the dude who won over $300 million. Sad, sad, sad to see the man break down and cry as he admitted that the money had ruined his marriage, caused the death of his granddaughter and her boyfriend to drugs, and he was heading down the wrong path in life as well. He received thousands and thousands of requests for money and it broke his heart that he couldn't help everyone, and when he didn't comply to some of the requests, people got mean and nasty. He said sure, he had money, but he had nothing else.

The only relatively normal lottery winner highlighted on the show was a young woman of 20 who had won $1,000,000 with a scratch-off lottery ticket. She paid off her school loans, bought a car and a camera and banked the rest of her winnings, continuing her work as a waitress. Yes, a million dollars is a lot of money, but not THAT much money and I think that helps.

It seemed that the people who up and quit their jobs and started living lives vastly different from what they were accustomed to were the ones who had the most trouble, as well as anyone who had an ounce of sensitivity. No matter how hard you may try to hide your win from the general public, it seems that all winners get revealed and tracked down, and then the phone calls and letters start. Unless you have a heart of stone, it has to be terribly difficult to hear and read the pleas of others desperately in need of financial assistance to save homes and lives and then have to turn a blind eye to them.

Of course I won't stop playing the lottery myself, but it helps me not to feel quite so badly when my numbers don't come up.

20/20 To Feature Past Lottery Winners, Lottery Scammers & More!

I am just counting the minutes until the Mega Millions drawing and it seems like time is dragging by!

If you have Mega Millions Fever like me, be sure and tune into “20/20” tonight on ABC. They will be devoting the hour to the upcoming Mega Millions drawing, interviewing past lottery winners and losers, playing the odds, and talking about how past lottery winners have gone broke.

I know of at least one major lottery winner who promptly quit his job, but only after giving his employer a rather detailed list of everything that was wrong with him personally, his business and rate of pay and then, after clearing out his locker, he filled it with the contents of a garbage can and lit it on fire.

That lottery winner opted for the annual payments and promptly spent the entire first annual allotment in less than 30 days. An amount more than 100 times what his previous monthly salary was. Out of money, he was forced to go back to his previous employer and beg for his job back. Were there other jobs out there? Yes, but this winner burned plenty of bridges in the short month that he was “rich” and no one wanted to touch him with a ten foot pole.

Lucky for him, his old employer gave him his job back, at a decreased rate of pay, and when the winner's annual lottery payment arrived eleven months later, he politely gave his two-weeks notice and quietly disappeared from the public eye.

Don't Even Bother Buying Tickets Now – I Have The Winning Lottery Numbers!

After a very long and circuitous 56 mile trip to eight different gas stations, convenience and grocery stores, and many minutes spent waiting in lines, I now hold the winning Mega Millions ticket in my hands. I used a combination of methods to choose my numbers, including finally cracking open my Gerard Butler fortune cookie - I managed to break the cookie and see the numbers without even opening the package!

First off, I could not believe the lines and the amount of people clamoring for tickets. It was insane, even in my remote rural area, but unlike my past experiences in large metropolitan areas, most in line spent the time chatting, laughing, promising to share their winnings, buy a few rounds of drinks, etc. I get a lot more sense of community in this place, where homes are typically at least a half mile apart, than I ever did when living in the midst of several million people.

Many had never played, many needed help filling out the form to get their “own” numbers chosen, but everyone was patient and helpful. Made me start doing the math in my head figuring out what a nice surprise would be for the members of my small town to find in their mail box after I won. $1,000? $10,000? I would maintain my current home, but would also investigate the possibility of buying my own private island.

The first thing I am doing though, is going into hiding. If you don't hear from me after the drawing, you'll know why!

Time Once Again To Choose Some Lucky Numbers!

After finally breaking into my Gerard Butler fortune cookie and not being overly enthusiastic about the numbers on the fortune, I am trying to think of other lucky numbers in my life to use for my next round of Mega Millions tickets.

With the jackpot sitting at $640 million, that's right, over a HALF BILLION dollars, I know I need to put some thought into some good numbers sure to help me land the big prize.

Playing the last two digits of the year of my birth is not possible, my age works, the month and date of my birthday work as well, but the possibility that others would choose those same numbers is too great. Do you know what the probability is that two people share the same date of birth in just a pool of 30 people? It's huge! Don't ask me to show the math, just trust me.

So I need a system of some sort. I don't trust the random number generators I have found online because who knows? They could be giving everyone the same supposedly random numbers. What? Me paranoid?

Looking at past major lottery winners, very few have played a special set of numbers. Most winners do come from the quick pick pool. I only remember one gentleman in Illinois who finally won playing the same set of numbers that he had for the last 20-odd years. He never missed a drawing and always played the same several sets encompassing special birth dates in his family. It made me wonder how much he had spent by the time he actually won!

Hopefully some inspiration will come on my way to the gas station to pick up my tickets...I would count street lights, but there aren't any in this part of the world. Counting cows is a possibility as are the number of dead vermin on the roads. I'd love to win and get to explain THAT strategy for my number choices!

Mega Millions Winning Numbers Reveal That I Can't Retire Just Yet

So obviously I was just warming up and now that the next drawing for Mega Millions will be for an estimated $476 MILLION, I am definitely going to win it on Friday. Yes folks, not a single ticket matched to pay out the already huge $363 million jackpot so the frenzy starts again!

Did you see the winning numbers? I caught the Mega number on my local news, but then after trying to access the Mega Millions website and my own state lottery site to see the full set of drawn numbers, and finding them both too busy to even get access, I headed off to slumber land. It was especially difficult since I had at least one line with the Mega number!

For those who missed it, the Mega Millions Winning Numbers for March 27^th were:

09 19 34 44 51 MEGA BALL 24 and BONUS MULTIPLIER = 3

I had all of the numbers...unfortunately, not all appeared on the same line. It looks like my retirement investment paid out a whopping $2 that I will reinvest in a couple of tickets for the next drawing.

It will be much more satisfying winning Friday's jackpot, which will pay out either $476 million over the course of the next 26 years or the winner (me!) can take a lump sum payment of $341 million. Not that the annual payments wouldn't be nice, but I would much prefer to have the money in hand as soon as possible, and figure that the interest I will earn on a well-invested chunk of it will more than make up for the loss of the $135 million for choosing the cash option.

It's going to be a long couple of days as I wait for the next drawing and continue work on my ultimate shopping list!

Hope You Bought Your Mega Millions Tickets!

Drawing tonight! Don't be too disappointed when you don't win.  I'm certain I have the winning numbers in my hot little hands!

Time to enjoy some "Dancing With The Stars" recap and results shows!!

My Retirement Plan: Win Mega Millions $363 Million Jackpot!

It may not be the most sound financial planning, but I'm looking to fund the bulk majority of what I hope will be a very lavish retirement account, with my Mega Millions winnings. I am reasonable, however, I do not invest anything more into my lottery dreams than what I can afford to lose and I never bother even buying tickets until it is worth winning. Worth winning to me means the payout must be greater than $100 million. I mean honestly, what would anyone do with a piddly $15 or $20 million? When Mega Millions, or any of the number of other high-paying lotteries sits at their minimum, I invest my retirement funds into scratch-off lottery tickets to combine investing with a little exercise.

My husband has a 401K plan from his employer...how utterly and completely boring can you get? Every three months, he gets a large envelope in the mail filled with numbers and percentages and other really boring stuff, all accompanied by brochures featuring gray-haired people walking Golden Retrievers down tree-lined country roads. I can fall asleep just thinking about what a boring retirement those people have! Where's the excitement? Where's the fun? Where's the ping pong balls that potentially hold the difference between a comfortable retirement and one spent traveling the world on my own private jet and bathing in Armand de Brignac Midas champagne.

Okay, I will admit it, I am far too frugal to bathe in $200,000 a bottle champagne and could live with a rental jet, but after winning I would be more than happy to help out the world's economy with some serious shopping!