fortes in fide

How wonderful. The temperature dropped by 10° and it was a cool and agreeable high of 25°! That made it much more pleasant and easier to breathe. The humidity is gone and there is a refreshing breeze. Marvellous. I'm hoping that the temperatures-and the humidity-remain moderate for a while.

I was asked yesterday if I'd bought any of the hospital lottery tickets. One of them has a grand prize of a house, brand-new, fully furnished and loads of extras. Another has car packages-each day for a month there's a prize of a pair of cars. Some are luxury vehicles, some are trucks, there are hybrids or electric. The hospital lotteries also advertise that their odds of winning are 1 in 3. I've been playing for most of the past 20 years, and won precisely nothing, except the knowledge that my contact info is known by the hospital fundraising foundation. That guarantees that I'll get letters several times a year, encouraging me to donate and perhaps buy a lottery ticket again.

I don't mind, much. The tickets are not cheap, but they (allegedly) support research into several good causes. So over the years I've allocated a fixed budget and rotate through them, buying 2 a year. This year, I got the "early bird" notifications for 3 of them, and they included photos of life-saving treatments or children hooked up to machines and smiling bravely. The prizes are, as always, impressive, and they're promoting new packages with "more ways to win," and odds of winning as low as I in 2. I don't believe that!

The odds are supposedly better than other lotteries. But as I mentioned, in 20 years I've never won anything, not so much as a pen. I've played all of the hospital and disease lotteries. You know what I mean-the Heart & Stroke lottery; the Cancer Society, etc. I get the glossy brochure with the prizes laid out-from the Grand Prize-a house; a pair of cars; or a trip - all the way down to the very modest fountain pen or garden solar light. But I seem to be perpetually in the zone of the 2 in 3 who do not win! A little research shows that the lotteries are great sources of fundraising and they provide a lot of assistance to the labs which need constant supplies of funding.

I'm not much of a gambler. It remains a source of astonishment to my friends that I don't know how to play poker or all fours. I've tried, but I lose spectacularly at the latter, and my partner is always upset with me! As for lotteries - I will sometimes buy a ticket, notably when the jackpot is large. I also occasionally play some of the scratch lotteries. In either case, the odds of winning fall into the realm of astronomically huge against. But like most people, I have this impossible dream of becoming a lottery millionaire. I'd like to know if money would change me as much as the show suggests.  I've already dream-allocated my lottery winnings, distributed by percentages to a number of causes so the larger my winnings, the bigger the payment to each group. I've also had fun imagining the reaction of the recipients and the impact that I could have with the investments that I'd make Dreaming is, after all, fun and free!

Meanwhile I do participate in draws and contests, to raise awareness of different issues, like the importance of being double vaccinated against covid. I have received both of my shots since the end of April. I know the vast majority of my friends are fully Vaccinated, too.  

So when it comes to winning the lottery, though, I consider that I'm doing well in the game of life. The odds quoted to me 9 years ago when I was first diagnosed were not particularly encouraging. And since then I've been told some even less reassuring. So I'm holding on to my faith, which is serving me well..