Random Thoughts

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A Malaysian won 42,500 ringgit ($11,580) in a lottery by playing a four-digit number his dead grandmother had given him in a dream, a newspaper reported Saturday.

But luck soon ran out for mechanic Tan Tay Seck, who had bought two tickets with the 6064 combination he received from the apparition, the Star newspaper reported.

A thief stole the wallet with the second winning ticket and the lottery company refused to pay up without it.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Let me just let this out.

HOLY SHIT. I thought these kinds of things happen only in plots for two-for-one sale movies starring cheapass actors like Michael Magbagal (You dont know him? Me neither. That's why I said cheapass.) But it does happen doesnt it?

I don't know which is worse. Spending your life betting on the same number in the lottery and never winning back a single penny for your hopeless efforts or actually winning, only to be stupid enough to lose the winning ticket. It's like fate has decided to place a carrot in front of that man only to screw his asshole with a horse wang the moment he stoops to pick it up.

So that's one man's prayers answered (and answered with a flavour of irony) , and another billion requests from people who dream about numbers in queue.

Coincidence it seems is very finicky when it comes to granting wishes, and she can be one helluva bitch too, as we saw in the article.

The lottery is a game of random numbers - period. Celestial or otherwordly influcences have got nothing to do with it. Get over your childhood fantasies of the occult. If fortuntellers can indeed predict the future, they wouldn't be fortunetelling - they'd instead be on top of Fortune 500. If numerologist can indeed improve your luck, they'd make themselves lucky enough to avoid a career of talking with illogical buffoons who think knowing what numbers theyre supposed to take as relevant can make them happy.

You'd be saying now, "HAH! You're right Jet! You are absolutely right." Hold your horses and stop stroking them, I'm not done. What about them prayers, novenas and all them fancy stuff for saints you do to get your wishes to come true?

By the theory of entropy, randomness isn't only limited to just lottery. Everything in life is random, coincidental. Even the most subtle probability of another possible outcome cant be determined for sure until the exact occurence. So what does that mean? Life is a lottery.

Given that, asking a fortuneteller help you know the winning numbers for the lottery isn't so far removed from asking St. Whoever to help you find your soulmate. They're both ridiculous and the only reason why they sound so good is that they give out hope, in the most convenient manner possible. Hope is a good thing though. Of all the human facets, it's what lubricates the gears of life best.

Me? I don't believe in horoscopes, numerology, novenas, and other ante-empirical mumbojumbo. I try not to draw hope from things that don't directly affect what's going on. I do pray though, but I've long since stopped asking anything from God. I just thank Him for whatever comes along. Because if indeed it's Him controlling all this randomness, and if He indeed is omnipotent, what's happening now is already for the best - and no, an idiot like you can't even in the remote possibility know any better.

If you do have faith - have faith that you're already in the best possible position where you are now. Learn that how things get sorted out is oftentimes out of your control.

As for the article, if indeed the grandmother of the man was the one who told him the winning numbers, against all logic, then I bet the dead grandmother of the thief told him to steal that bag because she overheard the conversation of Seck's conversation (pun intended) with his grandmama over the dead man's line.

And it's a good bet I'm placing too.

When I was a kid I prayed every night for a bike until I figured out that that's not the way that God works, so I stole a bike and then asked for forgiveness. - Emo Philips