Cheer up, sleepy Jean
Oh, what can it mean
To a daydream believer
And a homecoming queen?
OK, I don’t have the faintest idea what the lyrics to Daydream Believer are all about, but I do know that there is an entire industry devoted to chronicling the lives of those who are fulfilling the daydreams of everyone who has ever bought a Powerball ticket.
My Lottery Dream Home. The Lottery Changed My Life. I was personally a big fan of a very hokey and short-lived 1983 series called Lottery! about two lottery officials who crisscrossed the country letting people know they had won a big prize. There was always some sort of dramatic hijinks to spice up the journey, like the winner who was in the hospital with a heart condition and would die if he got too excited about anything. If anyone else remembers Lottery! (besides Derek, who no doubt also caught every episode) (note from Derek: I am embarrassed to admit that this is accurate. There wasn’t a lot to do in the 80’s.), please go out immediately, but a lottery ticket with the winning numbers of 04, 14, 21, 29, and 45, and share 25% of your proceeds with me.
I am actually a bit of a lottery curmudgeon. Many moons ago, I worked for a company where nearly everyone in my department would pool money together to buy lottery tickets when the jackpot got really big. I deferred every time, although I did get in the spirit by telling people as I left the office, “I truly hope I never see you ever again.” Needless to say, I was extremely popular around the office, especially the next morning when all of the “losers” had to show up again a little bit poorer.
But while I am not a fan of actually playing the lottery, I appreciate how it can be fun to daydream about all of the ways that your life would change — presumably for the better — if you suddenly found yourself with a whole pile of money. Would you buy a big house on the beach? Take off on a whirlwind, 3-month vacation? Buddy up to your new best friend, Jeff Bezos? There are lots of options.
But what about if things were tamped down a little bit, and you were given a lesser windfall of, oh let’s say, a $100 Amazon gift card? Maybe that wouldn’t change your life, but you could get a little something totally frivolous to fulfill a much, much smaller daydream.
If only there was a way to fulfill that daydream….
Would it surprise you to know that you are in luck, my friend? Would it shock you to know that this entire prelude has been a dastardly scheme to get you to play our Fall Sponsor Event, CMEpalooza Multiplicity, where we are giving away five of those precious $100 Amazon gift cards?
It’s true – this week is your first chance to get your first financial windfall from our shallow coffers. In case you missed it on Monday morning, CMEpalooza Multiplicity features a series of three quizzes focused on our Fall sponsors. For the first time, you can complete them all online. I did warn people in our earlier post that blindly guessing at the answers to our multiple-choice questions probably wouldn’t earn you enough points to qualify for our prize drawing, but a few people have already tried, nonetheless. They all failed rather spectacularly. So, if you want to play CMEpalooza Multiplicity, please do a modicum of research into our Sponsors — not a lot, but at least a little.
Here, once again, are the links to our three quizzes:
Good luck. May all your daydreams come true.
CMEPALOOZA 