I just finished reading your column on page 4 of today’s edition of the Kent Reporter newspaper “Powerball and Slim Jim: Deadly,” by Laura Pierce, Jan. 30 Kent Reporter.) Right on!
I, too, have a similar “no luck” situation which will most likely deter me from ever buying a Powerball ticket.
Once, on June 22, 1985, when I was assigned on Okinawa (that one day, only), I was “lucky.” The local military commissary had a drawing. It was on a Saturday, and I received a telephone call at my quarters that I’d won a color TV set – albeit, a very small color television – but it was free! Later that evening, my wife and I attended a Philippines Independence celebration (at the Kadena Air Base Officers’ Club.) And, low and behold, by our entrance ticket number raffle, I won a round-trip ticket (for two) from Okinawa up to Tokyo, on Northwest Airlines. Fantastic! Lightning does strike twice in the same place, after all.
As I was sitting there at the dinner table, recovering from the shock of two “wins” in one day, I happened to remember that there were slot machines at this facility. So, I jumped out of my seat and ran down the corridor to the game room. I just knew that a fabulous jackpot awaited me, with the next quarter I’d put into the one-armed bandit. I got to the entrance door, only to find that it was closed. The gambling curfew was 11 p.m., and it was already 11:10 p.m. when I arrived. Rats! There was no way for me to win the huge jackpot which I was positive that awaited me.
Of course, thinking back how totally unlucky I’d been the first 44 years of my life, believing that, after two previous wins that day, I’d really beat a slot machine might have been a stretch. It was probably a lucky thing that the club’s slot machine room was closed that night. Most likely, that was my third gift of luck, since it saved me all the money I’d have dropped into the slot machines (and lost!).
It’s now been almost 25 years since that one lucky day in 1985. And, everything’s back to normal. I’ve not won another single thing, since then -period. Therefore, I never buy lottery tickets. I don’t bet on horses at Emerald Downs. I don’t play slot machines. I do occasionally go to the local Indian casinos, because of the great/cheap food (my epicurean genes are dominant).
Come to think of it, maybe I have been lucky. I haven’t yet killed myself on my motorcycle. At least, my wife sure thinks so.
Cecil G. Stellyes
Kent
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