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Mickey Z
Cool Observer
the Department of Homeland Security.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
The day we won the lottery
“Oh yeah...it’s Storytelling Saturday.”
Once upon a time…
In my neighborhood, playing the lottery is not just state-sponsored gambling and a cleverly disguised tax on the non-rich...it’s a g.d. lifestyle choice. Up and down each block, scores of people (usually retired men) talk about nothing but Lotto.
It’s the real American dream: Use coercive advertising to convince the poor and middle class to accept a voluntary tax by promising them a chance to be rich like all their media-created heroes. What an awesome victory of propaganda it is that so many oppressed Americans strive to be exactly like their oppressors.
(http://www.toothpastefordinner.com)
Thus, it was somewhat out of character when I played Lotto a few years ago. I chose six numbers that correlated to important dates for the wife and I and get this: four of those numbers came out. Instant karma being what it is, our prize was $519…and 5/19 is our wedding anniversary, so go figure.
Michele and I went down together to the local newspaper stand to collect our fortune. The Muslim couple that owns the store seemed sincerely gladdened for us. They’re very sweet...but they took forever to count out the money (mostly in fives). That’s when this chubby white guy walked in. Maybe 27 or 28, he looked over the situation and apparently gauged that we were about to vacate the premises...so he strolled to the back and picked out a porno video to buy. Big mistake, as Jack Slater might say.
The way it works is this: You bring up the empty box and the cashier finds the matching video behind the counter. They have to do that or they’d be wiped out in one afternoon.
The chubby guy reached the counter and realized, too late, that the Muslim couple was going to count and re-count our riches. Right on cue, two other guys walked in and stood right next to him. So, there he was, standing in full view of six strangers, holding a box for a movie called: “Why Did You #### My Mother?” The full-color cover photo displayed an overweight naked woman, about 45, astride a happy young buck.
(Sorry, can’t show you that)
Already giddy from winning some much-needed capital...Michele and I were simultaneously watching our money being counted and suppressing some serious giggles.
Finally, the Muslim woman pulled herself away from counting fives and took the box from the guy. She looked at the cover rather closely before reaching down under the counter to find the correct video. With a subtle smirk (I think), she showed him the video to verify that it was the right one and collected her $16. The guy bolted...pronto.
Michele and I left with our $519 and laughed all the way home.
Anybody got a story to share?
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It was 40 years ago today…
In a demonstration staged by the student-run National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam, the first public burning of a draft card in the United States takes place.
These demonstrations drew 100,000 people in 40 cities across the country. In New York, David Miller, a young Catholic pacifist, became the first U.S. war protestor to burn his draft card in direct violation of a recently passed law forbidding such acts. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation later arrested him; he was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to two years imprisonment.
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In other news:
It’s better to burn out
http://tinyurl.com/7zztm
Later…
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