What it's like to be a lottery winner
This morning when I learned that I had won $0.25 in our office mega millions lottery pool, I was ecstatic. I’ve never been much of a winner. Some of you may find that hard to believe – especially those of you who have ridden in my golden hovercraft or watched me perform as a professional stunt bike rider (where I have no problem winning).
I guess I am a winner.
But, I’ve never been much of a “random contest” winner. Those are two different things I suppose and “contest” winning involves that hard to pin down concept of “luck”.
I, Lottery Wiener
As you can imagine, when you win the lottery, there is a lot of paperwork and legal stuff you have to take care of.
First, the state lottery commission wants to meet with you and have you sign all this paperwork. Ideally you already have a personal attorney, but if not, this will be the second step because the first step will be to get an attorney.
Then you have to do a few days of celebratory press conferences and television appearances. As someone who has won many races on the professional stunt bike circuit and has regularly been interviewed on StuntBikeTV, I am pretty comfortable in front of the camera. If you’ve seen me on TV, you’d agree that even after a grueling day on the stunt bike, I am cool and collected and invigoratingly handsome for someone who had just spent the day on a stunt bike (winning, I might add).
Disappointment? Some. Really, the big disappointment is that they don’t do a big novelty check. I’ve been given big checks before when I won stunt bike competitions and you’d think I wouldn’t be concerned by that. But I am. I want a big check for my lottery win.
This is a life changing event and I think it is really the only way to mark it.
What Now?
The next couple of weeks will be busy and stressful I suspect. I’ll need to put the money somewhere. I’ll probably need someone to help me manage it as far as taxes and spreading it around between accounts.
I am thinking that by October things will normalize a bit (as much as they can for a big time stunt bike rider *and* lottery winner!) and I can begin to make more substantial plans.
I’ll probably talk to my family and make sure that all their debts are paid off. Maybe create some sort of educational trust in my name to reward up and coming stunt bike riders who want to go to Bike College. I’ll buy a vacation home somewhere warm.
I need some new casual summer shoes.
We’ll see.
Really, the big disappointment is that they don’t do a big novelty check. I’ve been given big checks before when I won stunt bike competitions and you’d think I wouldn’t be concerned by that. But I am. I want a big check for my lottery win.
