Blog Article 2: I'm Loving it <3 skewed article.. sorry.
The Article |
When gambling, dream big but keep your bets small ...
Tabitha Wang Friday March 2, 2007
news@newstoday.com.sg
I HAVE a secret that I'm hiding from my husband. Every once in a while, I go into my neighbourhood Singapore Pools outlet and buy a $3 lottery or put $2 on 4D or Toto.
If my husband discovers it, he won't divorce me but I know he'll nag me to death. He doesn't have any moral issues with my gambling but thinks it's a waste of money.
"Do you know you stand more chance of being hit by a car than striking the lottery?" is his constant reminder.
Which is true — but it still doesn't stop me from doing it, just for fun. The way I see it, I'm staking $2 on a dream. For a week or so, my spare moments are spent daydreaming about what I would do if I won that $2 million.
So far, I've debated the merits of buying a Provencal farmhouse versus a cottage in
Singaporeans wager over $6 billion annually on anything from 4D to horse racing and spend another $2 billion in overseas casinos. I'm nowhere in that league. The most I've ever spent a year is $20 — and that was just because it was World Cup season.
I buy 4D only on special occasions, such as when I got my new car, moved into my first flat or got married. There isn't a set of numbers I have to "follow" every week. And when the integrated resorts open, you can bet that I won't be queueing up to go in — the $100 entrance fee for Singaporeans is more money than I'd ever want to bet.
Part of the reason is that I have pathetic luck with such things. I wagered $2 on my licence plate number for three weeks after I bought a new car, with no results. On the fourth week, when I decided I'd had enough, the number came out. First prize.
Even the one time I won it came at a price. I'd struck $400 buying 4D on my 18-year-old car's licence plate number. The day I went to collect the winnings, the car broke down and had to be towed to a workshop. The bill for repairs: $400. I kid you not.
So, why do I continue to sneak to a Singapore Pools outlet when my husband's at work? Because I don't want to give up on the tiny possibility that maybe this time it will be me posing with that $2-million cheque.
The BBC once interviewed psychologist Mark Griffiths on why people play the lottery and he said that when they buy a ticket, they don't think about the actual chances of winning, they focus on the money they could win. It's human to overestimate the chance of something good happening and underestimate the chance of something bad occurring.
Said Mr Griffiths: "If people were told that they have a 1-in-14 million chance of getting cancer in the next week, they'll say: 'Oh well, it is obviously not going to happen to me.' But because there is a 1-in-14 million chance of winning the lottery, they think: 'It's got to be someone, why can't it be me?'"
That's why I am planning to stake my $2 this month on today's Toto Hongbao Draw. Someone's got to win that $10 million, so why can't it be me?
Besides, I already have some numbers to play with. My drug-addict-turned- nutcase neighbour has been scribbling random digits on betting slips and throwing them through my grilles. At first, I was annoyed at having to throw those slips away but now, I've got an idea on how to put them to good use. I'm going to take them down to the Pools outlet and use those numbers for the Draw.
Since I'm feeling generous, I'll share them with you: 6 9 14 17 25 36. There's still time to place a last-minute bet, since ticket sales close at 9pm today.
Be warned: Before you put your second mortgage on those numbers, ask yourself if you really want to bet your house on tips from a guy who wears a towel for a hat ...
Tabitha Wang lives in a three-room rented flat that comes with its own block loony. If she wins, she'll move to a Sentosa Cove bungalow or maybe a Blair Plain shophouse or ...
Foreword: This is a seriously very good article. Both in its content and the way it deftly fleshes out the main thrust, humorous and engaging too. Maybe my funny bone is too easily tickled. the way through me is through my funny bone!
Commentary 2: Societal Issue: Lucky Gambling. Toto Grand Draw.
The message of the article comes across loud and clear. It is about the hope that we all harbour inside us. Tabitha is a very astute writer, she prepared this on the day of the Toto Grand Draw. It just nice coincides with the period, and its meaning is accentuated.
Let us examine the structure of her article. A mere 800 words, but so full of meaning. It totally demeans this very 500-word commentary I’m about to complete. First, she starts off with some suspense, a “secret”, to bring on the story of gambling and hoping to strike it rich. Then, she goes on to describe the happiness that dreams of procuring a windfall brings, almost in a wistful tone, very personal too, her article is, peppered with lots of personal anecdotes/narratives. Then, she goes on to describe her “pathetic luck”. This is a foreshadow of her main point later on. Reiterating an oft-asked question of why humanity continues to go and gamble on luck, she skillfully manifests the main point of her article, that of humans over depending on their supposed luck. She goes on to quote a psychologist, on why people would want to bet, even though the chances are close to nil. It thoroughly reflected this “hope for the best” mentality within us humans. She then closes by displacing a sentence from the psychologist onto her own context, drawing laughter. She skillfully ends by more humorous paragraphs.
Though her whole point, is fleshed out only in paragraphs 10-13. The way in which she adroitly shows us this is awesome. I not only took home laughter, but some additional insight into this human condition. Note the massively positively-charged words I have used “awesome” and all. This shows that I have been thoroughly brainwashed and just cannot tear my pitiful self away from this marvelous article. It’s like what Jay Chou is to his shrilly fans, to me. So, I sincerely apologise.
Digging deeper, we see that she’s not just talking about luck, but Hope. This hope, hoping for the best, yet also hoping for the least of the worst, is omnipresent in our nature. Though we know it, we know in our rational brains the probability of it happening is nil, our heart, still fervently hopes for a miracle. Though I know I’m going to fail my mathematics test, I still harbour a hope, that by some grace of God, I will pass. If it’s good, it’s going to be super-duper good, if it’s going to be bad, it’s going to be a manageable, not end-of-the-world bad. This is what Hope induces in us. In a sense, we may seem deluded, but it is precisely this hope, which lets ,people crushed under a collapsed building, know that they will survive, the hope that though only 3 people survived a catastrophe, it is surely My relative that survives. The hope, that burns strong in us, humans. All hail Pandora for leaving us this little critter, Hope.
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