Winners

I fell asleep on the couch. In the middle of the night, Warden climbed onto the couch and slept beside me. He stuck his wet nose on my cheek and sneezed. But I guess I didn't care. I dreamt of bowling alleys and 3 holed golf courses.

Before my early morning paper run, I scratched off 8 Lucky Dog Doublers. No Luck. After I finished my paper run, I grabbed a quick bite to eat and started my second, mid-morning run. It's been a bit tougher than I thought it'd be, but it just takes some getting used to. And I have to keep thinking about the vision quest. It's all for the vision quest. And the vision quest will be worth all the hard work.

When I got home, I wanted to take a nap, but instead, I walked to the library to return some books that were overdue. At the library, I stumbled upon a book on Polish movie posters. There were color images of surreal Polish movie posters throughout the book, and I'm a sucker for pictures. But these were freaking me out!

I mean...woah. This is how Tootsie is perceived in Poland?

This is The Shining?! I mean, granted, the novel was written by Stephen King and inspired Stanley Kubrick's film. But still...this poster is scarier than the movie!

I guess the artists don't necessarily care about what the movie is about. They're more interested in portraying how the movie makes them feel. I'm used to the facts. I shy away from how the facts make me feel. But I think that that's how most of us are, right?

When I got home, I invited Guy to come over for dinner, but he said that he needed to turn in early because he had a morning flight to Denver. So, I invited Bailey over for Indian food and a game of chess. It was a close game, but Bailey won. I thought it would be a good idea if I gave Bailey some lottery tickets to scratch off. So, I did. I gave him 8 Lucky Dog Doublers and I scratched off 7. None of mine were winners. I watched as Bailey methodically scratched the tickets I'd given him. He was on his last one, when he stopped, his eyes widened, and he started to shake. "Curt!" he screamed. "Curt! I think I won! I won!" He stood up and held the ticket in his hand. "I won $20,000!' he screamed.

"What?" I said. "That can't be..."

Then, he started to laugh. "Got you," he said. He sat down and put the ticket in a pile with the others.

I wasn't angry. I guess I was more sad than anything. And I think Bailey could tell because he apologized and everything was quiet, even Warden who was wagging his tail and barking while Bailey was shouting, was still. Bailey left shortly afterwards.

I don't win much. In fact, I lose a whole lot, but it doesn't upset me most of the time. I accept loss as a part of my life. But what if that ticket was a winning ticket? What if I could have won $20,000?

It would just be nice to win something...it would make things so much easier. But life isn't easy.

I still have one more ticket, the Win for Life. But I'm going to save that one for another day.

There's already been too much excitement.