Luck be a Lady

I used to enter contests all the time. Sweepstakes, lotteries, games of chance, filling out surveys for gift certificates, etc. If it took less than 5 minutes to enter, I always did it. I never won anything. After COUNTLESS attempts at beating the odds, zilch. It's a typical story. I've never really gambled because I don't feel like giving my money away. It's too hard to come by.

So in the last few weeks, I've taken a different approach. I've entered things that actually required skill to win and had some pretty good experiences. The last two weeks at my local trivia night, my team has taken home top honors and a $50 bar tab. I'm not going to take the credit for this because it has largely been due to the older brother of a college friend who plays with me. He knows the sports trivia cold and that's always where I crumble. But we've been riding high on our victories and we've also won a bid in the annual trivia tournament of champions as a result. Living in Fairfax and trying to finish grad school and sort out my future, this is a rare comfort.

But the real big victory is illustrated below:

WHAT UP! And I should add that really, my skill in picking a bracket is VERY limited. But happily, VCU really helped me out by making everyone's brackets fall apart too. I am definitely pulling for Butler to win it all. So, in the wake of what is turning out to be the biggest loss in my life to date, I've had a few tiny victories. And I have to say, they feel good.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Last day of Classes, Good Friday, and the first 24 hours in Istanbul!

Image
First thing’s first: I AM DONE WITH GRAD SCHOOL! I have turned in all my papers, finished all my classes, passed comps, and completed all my presentations. It feels great to come home at night and not have schoolwork to think about. About two months ago, my cousin Cara and I were talking about her upcoming trip to Istanbul. She told me about her great set up and it sounded like it would be a great way to celebrate the completion of my Masters degree. So I bought my ticket for the day after my last class. After two months of craziness involving much more than just school and work, I am now on the other side and looking at job searching, apartment searching, and just figuring out the next general steps for life. I am so excited to see what unfolds. Since there is very little certainty in my life, it’s probably best I just stick to writing about what I know, and that is mainly what has already happened. So I will do my best to recount the even...
Read more

Spoke Too Soon

Yesterday after returning from the Prefecture (french DMV, just as badas the US) after an unsuccessful attempt at registering the car, I found that the house had been broken into and that my computer, computer bag, iPod and case and headphones, camera had all been stolen. They tried to take the TV but they either didn't have time or decided it was too heavy. I'm pretty sure that when I got back and pulled into the house they were still there and had to hide and that's why they left the TV. So life in Martinique is set back quite a few steps. Everytime I move forward here, something else comes along. I'm tired of it. I had locked the house up tight and made sure that everything was closed because Marie-Ange had warned me about other robberies in the area. They got me. Add another B to the list: buses, bats, bees, burglars.
Read more

The Grand Tour of Martinique for Beginners

Image
So on Friday, Sarah Caitlin and I went to Sainte-Anne. It’s referred to as t he most beautiful beach in Martinique. It’s on the very southern tip of the island and true to it’s description in the guide books, has soft, powdery white sand and turquoise waters with calm waves lapping at the shore. We left early in the morning and got there in about an hour. I hadn’t gone running tha t morning because I thought I might be able to go at the beach. Boy, was that a good decision. Before we got to the beach I had seen that there was a good system o f foot trails all around the southern tip connecting several beaches over about 20 miles. It wasn’t all continuous but the beach where we were going, there was a good 5k trail from our beach to the next one up that went across what is known in Martinique as “Les Sables de Petrification” or the petrified sand. It was described to me as a lunar landscape. I was kind of excited to see it and even if I couldn’t run it, I decided I would at leas...
Read more