Holiday Week

What a week this has been. I had a decent weekend but it was hard at the same time. Being Labor Day Weekend many of my friends were getting together for BBQs and parties. I was invited to several. I guess word had gotten around about my winning and suddenly everyone thinks I should be paying for everything. The check hadn't even cleared my bank this weekend. It wasn't until Tuesday that it cleared! I went to my friend John's house early. John is one of my best friends, we've known each other since 3rd grade. He told me we're going to need a keg for the party. I asked him why don't we just bring our own stuff like we normally do. He says to me "What will it break you to give your friends the hook up?" No it wouldn't break me but I didn't have the money yet and if he wants me to throw a party maybe we can talk about it in advance. Suddenly my friends are treating me different. They all showed up empty handed all mad that I didn't buy everyone a keg. This is what my whole weekend was like. Suddenly winning the lottery wasn't all it was cracked up to be and my money isn't even in my account yet! I was so mad that I spent most of the weekend alone. Some way to win.

Tuesday I met with a financial planner and a lawyer nearly the whole afternoon. We talked about thing I never even thought about like making a will and proper investing and how my life is going to change. They told me stories about past winners who lost everything and how I could avoid that. "Whatever you do, don't start a business with a family member." He said I could lose my money and my family. They suggested that I take $2,000 and leave town for a week or so. They recommended that I don't spend any more than that $2,000 unless I need to stay away longer. Where would I go? I'm going to just take off alone? I have a couple friends out of town but my friends that I've seen are treating me different.

That night I'm laying there watching a movie and I get a knock on my door. Its some lady crying. She starts telling me that she needs this operation or she may die. It was very sad. My lawyer and financial planner told me this would happen. I didn't know what to believe. I told her I was someone else and that Stan had left. I said I hadn't seen him in days and she left. I ended up falling asleep on the couch and woke up Wednesday around 10am.

I decided that maybe I should get out of town for a while. I have a friend in California who has always been a very good friend. He had a good job anyway so maybe he wouldn't expect much from me. I went to the cell phone store and bought a new blackberry and then ran over to best buy and got a laptop because my only computer until then was a desktop and I couldn't take it with me. I went to the airport and was able to get a flight out within the next couple hours. I arrived in California Wednesday night and my friend Brian was nice enough to pick me up.

This is the first time I've been out to the west coast. My friend Brian has been working and I've just been sitting out by his pool mostly. I guess I'll be blogging more but the last week has been utterly insane. I don't feel like a big winner. I'm in hiding, my friends are all mad at me cuz I wouldn't throw them a party. I never imagined things would be like this. I hope things get back to normal soon but for now I'm here in California.

Insane 24 Hours, $33 Million Richer!

INSANITY! That's all I can say right now. It's 24 hours since I got to the state lottery office and I just got home and I'm out of my mind tired!

I left my apartment at 4am and it should have been about a 3 hour drive. I didn't have much money but thought I would have enough gas to get me there. About an hour into my drive I pulled off the highway to get something to eat from McDonald's. I ordered a sausage egg and cheese biscuit and large unsweet tea. I pull out and go back on the highway and take a drink of my tea. They gave me freakin Diet Coke! And my sausage was bacon! Not nearly as hearty as a piece of sausage. So I got off at the next exit and hit a glass bottle and my tire broke! It took be about 20 minutes to change the tire and I decided just to continue. I was more excited than I had ever been in my life. I ate the biscuit and was still hungry but I have a feeling I wont be this hungry for long.

About an hour or so later I was getting so low on gas that I was afraid I would run out. I spent what I had on my mcdonald's and had about 50 cents left. I stopped at a gas station and put the 50 cents worth of gas in the tank. The guy working there seemed reluctant to approve the transaction but just went ahead and did it. I think my car starting probably sucked up that 50 cents worth of gas. No more than 5 miles down the road the car sputtered and died. I put my flashers on and sat there for about 15 minutes wondering what I would do now. A police officer pulled up behind me. From past experience this is not a good thing. The officer was polite but he did check my registration and insurance. I showed him the newspaper and the lottery ticket and told him I had spent all I had to put enough gas in the car but I had run out. This officer was really nice. I told him I would give him $10,000 later if he would drive me the rest of the way or at least help me get there. He called his boss who agreed to let him drive me the rest of the way.

I can only assume that state police officers are allowed to go anywhere? It didn't seem like it was hard for him to get permission to drive me and off we went. It was about another hour drive and I arrived around 8:45. The office was open and I walked in. The officer who I'll call Jason walked in with me. My hands were shaking and I could hardly talk. I stuttered quite a bit but I got the words out... I'm here to claim my prize. I showed them the ticket and they confirmed it as a winner. There were some forms to fill out and eventually I was handed a check for $33,000,000!!! 33 MILLION DOLLARS! I took the lump sum payout and that was what was left. That is plenty for me. My heart was racing when they gave it to me. I had never had $1,000 in my pocket before but now I am a millionaire. Officer Jason had to go but I wrote him a check for $10,000 and dated it for 1 month from today. It was worth it to me.

My bank is a pretty big bank and there was a branch near by. The check got a lot of talk at the bank but they cashed it for me. Now the money was mine. It was about 5:00pm and I was hungry. I walked to a small diner and had a little dinner. During dinner I realized I had no way to get home. I had to call a taxi who was very reluctant to drive me to the car an hour away. I didn't know what else to do because my bank doesn't release all the funds right away. The check still has to clear. I think about $500 was available. Who knows, it could be more or less, the whole day was a blur so I went to the ATM and withdrew enough for the cab driver to drive me to my car with a quick stop to a gas station.

I finally got my car running again and turned around to head on my way home. I was so tired I stopped at a hotel for the night and finished the trip this morning. Monday I'll meet with my financial planner about how to handle all these funds. I'll post more later but for now I need to sleep.

OMG! MY NUMBERS HIT!

Wednesday night I sat down before bed to check my lottery numbers. I had won a couple dollars here and there over the years but this time its different. I can't believe it but I've won. I've checked the numbers 20 times. Its now Friday morning at 3:27am. I've hardly been able to sleep. I'm leaving in a few minutes to go to the Lottery Office in my state capital. It is going to be about a 3 hour drive to get there, I can hardly wait to claim my prize. My fingers are shaking from the thought of this all. I was speachless for an hour after I saw I had won. I walked around the house aimlessly.

A little background. My name is Stan Law, I am 28, I work at a Liquor store owned by a friend Jamar James. I was working Wednesday and before I left I bought a hot dog and a lottery ticket. I ate the hot dog on my way home and checked the lottery ticket later after the drawing took place.

I don't know too many people and I feel like I want to tell the world about this. I quit my job today cuz Jamar wouldn't let me have today and tomorrow off and barely have enough money to put gas in my car to get to the lottery office. I'd like to keep as much of this anonymous because I heard lottery winners often get bombarded with people wanting money. I'm going to put the money away and draw interest. That is something a financial planner told me when I called him today. I leave at 4am and will probably arrive at the office at 7am. I don't know what time they open or how long this will take but I will update the blog once I get my money and get back to my computer.