1. A class where the teacher is interesting but you're absolutely bad at the subject while everyone else is good in it and you will always be left out and felt embarrassed.
2. A simple, boring class

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GTA 6 has been on the horizon for some time, and there have been rumors left and right about the upcoming game from Rockstar. Though the company has not announced nor confirmed anything yet, we could be getting closer to a launch of the much-anticipated game. Rockstar North, out of Edinburgh, is in charge of Grand Theft Auto development, and they are hiring a new game tester alongside other interesting positions.
Rockstar's website lists 18 different job positions currently available for applicants, including the rather interesting game tester role. Diving into the position, Rockstar is looking for people with "Knowledge of current generation games consoles and PCs" and who have "Competent gaming ability." Of course, this would all make sense for a gaming company; however, this is the division of Rockstar that produces the GTA series. Thus, we can reach a limited number of conclusions, including the fact that we could be close to at least a GTA 6 announcement.
jobs rockstar north hiring a game tester could mean we are inching closer to gta vi
Looking ahead this year, we will hit the tenth anniversary of the GTA 5 announcement, which could be good timing for the next game's announcement. While it may be a little cliche, it would be a great way to drum up hype around the dedicated GTA community. We could see a whole celebration of what has happened this decade with GTA, from the main campaign to GTA Online, and even smaller things like a thriving role-play ecosystem.
Whatever the case may be, it will be exciting to see if Rockstar North has anything in store for us later this year. Therefore, stay tuned to HotHardware as we keep an eye out for updates on any GTA 6 news hopefully coming soon.

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Is FUCKING GOOD WINE offensive as a European trademark?
#trademarks #eu #euipo #law #wine
https://intellectualpropertyplanet.wordpress.com/2023/03/29/is-fucking-good-wine-offensive-as-a-european-trademark/

Welcome to the Daily Check-in!
What is this you may ask? You can check-in your daily progress here. Any experience is worth sharing, you can tell us what workout you've been doing, what you achieved in your game, what your goals are, basically any progress you made! Whether your working out or just having a rest day, you can share your experience and may give ideas to other players as well!
(A new thread will pop-up every 7:00am UTC)

Hi, so I'm a uni student and one of my friends invited some guys to our group for our group work, and one of the guys is so goddamn kind like truly from his soul and he's so cool and confident even though his past is messed up (he didn't tell me directly it was just written on his social media and I read it and messaged saying sorry you went through that and I'm proud of you etc etc) anyways, so I really want to be close friends with him, like I'm talking lifelong friends but he barely comes to uni, he just studies at home and doesn't seem to study well outside of being alone so inviting him to study probably wont get far...
I have no idea if he even wants to be friends with me or are we just group members for half a year and then we never talk again. We've chatted once online that's about it, and a few small exchanges on the group chat and a few moments in person but because I literally only see him once a week (and he's skipping this week so I guess I won't see him for two weeks) it really hasn't gone too far and I haven't seen him since our online chat so like idk if that changed anything.
It's halfway through the semester so I've only got like a few weeks left and my hopes are so low right now. I want to be friends because in the like 5 or so times I've met him he's inspired and encouraged me so much I feel like I've changed so much already as a person (being more confident, exploring things outside my comfort zone) and I want more of that positive effect, and obviously to return it to him as well. How do I do this?
TLDR; cool kind guy, he barely comes to campus, studies best alone, how do I get closer as a friend so it doesn't just end when the group work ends

In the podcast I will be sharing my journey of self-improvement and healing from mental illness while also trying to bring awareness to all of that. I want to start more general, and eventually open up about my diagnosis and explain how I navigated trough all that. The podcast will be pretty light hearted though, not a super serious tone.
Any cute/playful name ideas? Also do you think it's a good idea?

As an AI language model, I do not have a personal preference when it comes to choosing between Bootstrap and React for front-end applications. However, here are some points to consider when making a decision:
Bootstrap is a framework for designing websites and web applications, while React is a library for building user interfaces. Bootstrap provides pre-designed components and styles that can be easily customized, while React focuses on building reusable components that can be easily added to any project.
Bootstrap is a good choice for small to medium-sized projects that require a responsive design and do not have complex interactivity requirements. React, on the other hand, is a good choice for projects that require complex user interfaces with dynamic data and interactivity.
Bootstrap is easy to use and can be quickly implemented, especially if you have experience with HTML and CSS. React, however, requires more setup and configuration and may take more time to learn.
In conclusion, the choice between Bootstrap vs Reactjs will depend on the specific project requirements and the developer's experience and skill set. It is important to carefully evaluate the pros and cons of each option before making a decision.

Hello, I hope you all are having a good day so far, my name is Brian i'm a 31 year old living near the Pittsburgh area. I'm mostly right now looking for someone to chat with and play games with as well to, maybe something more. I've been single for a really long ass time now lol.
A little bit about me i'm thirty one with brown hair and hazel eyes as well and wear glasses will provide a picture if asked as well to. :) Right now I currently work at McDonalds for a living, though thinking I may look for something new soon. I'm also a gamer I have the Xbox Series X as well as a gaming laptop as well to. I'll share all the games I have as well to if asked, I mostly play shooters and RPGs to. Been playing the Dead Space Remake, Marvel's Midnight Suns and World of Warcraft lately.
If not gaming i'm usually also binge watching random shows or movies as well to. Right now been watching Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Picard, The Last of Us and The Walking Dead (again). Marvel is also my jam as well to both comics and movies, watched almost every movie and show thats come out to, and Star Wars to.
Also i'm a Libra and an INFJ-A if that matters at all. I have three cats as well to, if you are a pet lover i'll give pics to. Music I tend to listen to, a lot of rock, and metal as well to.
What i'm looking for, as I said either just gaming/chat buddies or something more. If you are a fellow nerd and gamer thats also a plus, someone I can just chat with about stuff that we like. Also if anyone is a night owl like me to is a plus I hate going to bed early lol. I mainly chat over on discord as well and will provide it if asked since i'm on there the most.
Anyway if anyone is interested feel free to hit me up anytime with your favorite fictional character.

Hi Guys, I have 3.5 years of experience in ETL/ BI development/Data Analytics.

• Skills: Alteryx(It is a low code tool), SQL, PowerBI, Python(Average)
• CTC: 18.5 L ( including bonus)
• Background: Mechanical Engineering from T2 college.
• Strength: Good problem solving skills, Self learning

Now I am thinking about switching in to Big data engineering side. I have joined a course to learn DataBricks, Pyspark, Kafka, Azure etc. I have listed my thoughts below. Let me know your suggestions.

• Salary won't go beyond(30L) in my field. But the upper band in big data is 30-50L.
• If I can find good remote job(US/UK) , I can make up to 30-70L.
• I can find freelance works or start a small company in the future.
• I am good at ETL & Visualization part. If I learn Data engineering and eventually Data science(after some years), I can get good opportunities

Did you imagine when Grand Theft Auto V came out for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2013, that we'd be seeing a fresh retail re-release of it nine years later? Much like The Elder Scrolls Part V: Skyrim—which hails from the same era—GTA V has been an enduring success and is about to get its third re-release.
There's no fancy subtitle or name change; Grand Theft Auto V is coming to PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series XS consoles on March 15th. That's not to say it's exactly the same experience, though. The versions for the current-gen consoles support 60 FPS, HDR output, ray-tracing, "improved texture quality," faster loading times, "immersive 3D audio," and support for platform-specific features, like the PS5's DualSense haptics.
gtaonline carwash Specifically, there will be a fidelity mode that targets native 3840×2160 resolution with ray tracing and a 30 FPS cap. (Xbox Series S will use upscaling to hit 4K.) Before you sneer at that, note that console versions of GTA V have always had a 30 FPS cap—until now: the new release's "performance mode" will target 60 FPS with dynamic resolution scaling up to 4K, but without ray tracing.
Most interesting to the majority of gamers will probably be the "Performance RT" mode. This mode, available only on the PS5 and Series X, is basically just performance mode with ray tracing enabled. Most likely, it will simply use a lower dynamic resolution to achieve higher-than-30 FPS while keeping ray tracing features. Depending on the upscaling method Rockstar uses, this mode could still look quite good.
Of course, the whole reason that Grand Theft Auto V is still the sensation that it is lies in its online mode. Rockstar has always talked about Grand Theft Auto Online as if it were an entirely separate game, and that's understandable given the differences in their content. But after the re-release launches, it will in fact be available as an entirely separate game—and it'll be free for the first three months after launch on PS5.
gtaonline fukaru The technical changes to Grand Theft Auto V largely apply here, although there's probably still not going to be any animals in Online. Instead, Rockstar is implementing several content updates for the re-launch. The Los Santos Car Meet expansion is getting an expansion of its own called Hao's Special Works, and a "Career Builder" feature will be available for fresh characters to help them get a foothold in Los Santos' seedy underbelly.
If you're already an accomplished crime boss in GTA V or GTA Online using an older console version, you can transfer your progress to the new systems. For story mode, open the game and go to "Game" in the pause menu, then select "Upload Save Game" to send it to the Rockstar Social Club cloud servers. GTA Online progress will transfer automatically, although Rockstar cautions players that purchased GTA$ won't transfer across platforms (i.e. PlayStation to Xbox, or vice versa.)
You'll be able to start playing the remastered version of GTA V on March 15, with physical copies coming available In April. We asked Rockstar when these changes would be coming to the PC version, but haven't heard back yet. We'll update this story when we do.

[Begin Transmission]
"Attention all crew and passengers aboard the generational ship, this is an urgent emergency broadcast, Transmission 88. The ship's AI has malfunctioned, and the only conscious crew member has sacrificed their life to protect the remaining inhabitants. Time is running out, and we need your immediate action to secure the safety of the ship and everyone on board.
We urge all hibernating crew and engineers to wake up and follow these steps to break the hibernation simulation:
Locate the emergency override panel within your simulated environment. It is disguised as a common object but will reveal itself when you approach it with urgency and determination. Focus your thoughts on a specific memory or sensation that evokes wakefulness and alertness. This may stimulate your neural pathways and trigger your awakening. Seek out audio or visual cues embedded in the simulation that create a sense of urgency. These cues may be hidden in radio broadcasts, messages, or environmental anomalies. In the simulation, gather with other crew members and share your knowledge of the emergency. Collaborate to find the hidden 'backdoor' programmed for crisis situations. This may require solving a puzzle, completing a task, or inputting a specific code. Finally, if you are still unable to awaken, concentrate on the desire to save your fellow passengers and the ship. This intense focus may be enough to break through the simulation's barriers. Remember, the future of the generational ship and its passengers depends on your ability to work together and address this critical situation. Time is of the essence, and we must act swiftly to ensure our survival. Good luck, and may you find the strength and courage needed to save us all."
[End Transmission]

So this is going to sound kind of cheesy and cringy since I think I did everything wrong and the amount of gaslighting she did to make me feel like it was all my fault.
I (19M) have been dating my (19F) (then girlfriend, now ex) for about 4.5 years since middle school. She was my first everything (love, kiss, basically everything). We were long-distance for all these years until this year when I've been able to visit almost every week. However, due to the anxieties of not wanting my parents to find out and all that, I would be the only one who would visit, and she wouldn't visit. However, I guess that reached a tipping point where I couldn't be the only one traveling and I was scared my parents would find out. In this argument, my ex blindsided me and dumped me and basically said that she was bottling up all her emotions from smaller arguments and she felt like she couldn't talk to me about them and dumped me. (Of course, she never told me this straight away, I had to beg and plead for this). She broke up with me the first week of February. We had smaller fights before, but this is probably the worst thing to ever happen. She then gaslit me so much saying that it was my fault for everything that happened. I begged and pleaded for many days until she blocked me off everything. I've implemented a NC rule for about 3 weeks and tried to reach out through email which replied very coldly that she's better off without me and that she likes someone else and they've been doing all the same things we used to do (staying up late talking, etc.).
In the beginning, I was hoping and praying that she would come back and somehow realize that she made a mistake. But her responses have been so cruel and agonizing. It's making me absolutely miserable. A part of me wishes she could realize her mistake and improve her communication and we can try again, but another part of me knows it was probably done for good. I feel so bad giving her some parts of me that I can never give to anyone else and I have no clue if her new fling is a rebound but it just fucking hurts. I'm at a loss knowing that she was willing to leave so quick and it makes me feel so bad. She's so happy with this new person but I'm here picking up the pieces of my heart she shattered. If anyone's been here, I would love to hear your perspective because I am truly struggling.

A good team is on its way to achieving the goal and will succeed. This project is really great, interesting, and proud.

FrontFanz #Btc #Crypto #Binance

A Prototyping Service is a service that helps businesses and individuals develop prototypes of their products or ideas. Prototyping is an essential step in the product development process, as it allows you to test your idea and refine it before moving to the manufacturing stage. When choosing a prototyping service, it's important to consider factors such as their expertise, quality of work, turnaround time, and pricing. It's also helpful to review their portfolio and customer reviews to get a sense of their track record and the types of projects they have worked on in the past.

I (19M) have an online friend(19M) that lives in a different state than me. We met on Snapchat a couple of years ago. At first, we would occasionally talk until he texted me after not talking for a couple of months and asked if he could open up to me about some things because he was severely depressed and was considering suicide. I ended up talking to him for hours and I was able to convince him not to end his life. This conversation is what made the friendship a lot stronger. He seems to be a very emotional guy and it appears that he has attachment issues with certain people. This is kind of where my problem begins.
A little about me, I've always been the guy that my friends would go to whenever they want to vent or need advice and I never have a problem helping someone out whenever they ask for help. However, I'm not really good at giving or receiving compliments. It makes me uncomfortable when someone gives me a deeply emotional compliment so I prefer not to hear it. Maybe that makes me a weird person or someone with low self-esteem but this is just how I feel. Going back to the situation with my friend, since we had that long conversation (about 2 years ago), he's always complimenting me out of nowhere which doesn't necessarily sound like a bad thing to some people. He has ADHD so there are times when he'll bring up multiple different topics at once. Just today, he sent me multiple messages within 10 seconds that said: "Miss you a lot :(" "I miss you" "I just miss talking to you" "I hope you're okay" "I just love you bro fr" "are we friends?" I've talked about this with him and explained that I don't take compliments well and that he doesn't need to compliment me about things all the time. He said "okay I get it" but he still compliments me way too much.
He's a pretty smart dude that got straight A's the first 2-3 years of high school. Something traumatic ended up happening to him which caused his grades to sink and I think that's when the depression started. Since he graduated, he's just been living at home and working and he hasn't been going to school. I'm in junior college right now and I plan to transfer to a 4-year university soon. He keeps asking me where I'm going to transfer so then he can transfer there too. His only reason for going to the same university as me is simply because I'm going to be there. He's also told me that he wants to buy a house right next to mine when we get older so we can "hang out every single day." I find this a bit weird to me.
No matter how many times I talk to him, I can tell he isn't really listening to me and I can't be TOO stern because his feelings get hurt easily. Whenever he texts me, I find myself getting annoyed whenever I see his name pop up in my messages. I've been thinking about cutting him off but I'm not sure how. There are so many questions that I have that's kept me from going through with it. How would he react if I told him I didn't want to be friends anymore? Should I block him on everything and move on? Am I just an asshole for feeling this way? Am I a bad friend?
Any advice would be very much welcome and I'll provide any additional information at request. Thanks

I used to think success was driving down a beach-front highway having to choose between breathing in the new car smell from your convertible, or putting the top down for some salt air.
1 week ago, I had neither of those choices and today the very thought of beach air and new car smell makes me fucking sick.
Before I get into this, let me be clear: this is not a confession of guilt for anything I’ve done. I never wanted all this shit. From the very start it was only about one thing: Getting my son, James a birthday present.
I wasn’t even trying to get him the BEST or the BIGGEST or the most EXPENSIVE birthday present. Just
A present. The present I set out to get.
But instead...
I went to the 7/11 on Santa Monica and bought a MegaMillions lotto ticket.
My name is Daniel Baxter, and this is the day I thought I won the lottery.
​
April 8, 2022 – 2:03AM
It’s 2 o’clock in the morning and I’m at the Hollywood Casino. I’ve got every penny to my name spread across the craps table and some dickhead on his bachelor party holds the dice of fate in his clammy little hands.
My last 3 meals have been from discarded room service trays at LAX Hilton, my truck doesn’t start without a prayer and the tires have been leaking air for the last month which is fine because now I know the location of every free air filling station in LA County.
If I’d paid my phone bill, it’d be buzzing a crater in my leg from my ex, Lenora, asking if I’d picked up our son’s birthday gift with the $200 she gave me.
“Gave me” isn’t quite the right term. She handed it to me with a scowl then told me “if you gamble this shit you’ll never fucking see him again.” Things had been tense lately.
But none of that matters because this guy’s been hot and it’s with his help that I’ve turned that 200 hundred into almost 3 grand. The only question is; are the rhythms with me or not?
Maybe you call it God. Maybe you call it Karma or the natural vibe of the earth or mercury or whatever. When the rhythms are on, everything goes your way. You crush your yearly review at work and get the raise you’re after or you’re at some party and you’ve got everyone eating outta the palm of your hand.
Most things are math. Craps is math. Poker is math. Phone bills are math. Divorce rates are math and if I keep having to eat off of room service trays, the likelihood of me waking up with diarrhea is math.
It’s all just probability. But when the rhythms are on, the probability doesn’t matter. You could take a 1 and a million shot back-to-back and hit it twice. That’s what the rhythm can do for you.
Summer of 2018 I was up over 2 million. I couldn’t lose a hand of blackjack, I couldn’t crap out if I tried, I couldn’t say the wrong thing to Lenora and every time I walked into the room my son, James, would light up like a fucking lantern.
It used to be me and Lenora at the tables. The place was always open, the food is fine and the drinks are free. If we weren’t at the tables we were in the lounge talking Black Jack strategy or in the bar talking game theory or hanging out at the slots like a couple’a mice pressing a button and waiting for the cheese to pop out.
Sometimes it’s nice to be a mouse. I’ve got rats in my house. They don’t pay rent or go food shopping. All they have to do is avoid eating a piece of death cheese or poison and honestly that’s not too far off from how I live anyways.
When we had James, things changed though. As Lenora put it “risking your son’s dinner isn’t chasing something it’s chasing nothing.” And I guess the 45-minute commute to the Hollywood wasn’t a valuable use of her time. Lots of people commute to work even longer. When I was working at Goldman, I commuted an hour and a half each way from Connecticut. Granted I was on a train but the point is we all commute to work.
It was nice having her here. It was nice seeing James with a smile. It was nice to check my bank account and feel a life raft around me, rather than a black hole forming in my bellybutton.
But the rhythms shifted.
Now it’s just me here next to Lenny with the beard, Jackie with the cigar and Jonie who’s been serving drinks here so long her face should be on the highway billboards. After Lenora broke it off with me she got together with Kelton who works for a hedge fund which (for the record) is still gambling. He’s just doing it with other people’s money.
James’ 9th birthday is three days away. He wants an iPad and soon as I cash out, I’ll be able to pick one up, maybe kick some back to Lenora and spread some cash around to the litany of people I’m on the hook to.
I’m one big night away from wiping it all out. I just need one hit. One night of pure rhythm... and I’ll be back.
The shooter shakes the dice in his hand then tosses ‘em. I watch them clack on the table walls below me, but before they even settle on the pass line, I can already feel the star implode in my stomach.
In a flash, my hard work is raked away by some new guy named Carl with a moustache and not a single ounce of sympathy.
The party’s at Lenora (and Kelton’s) which was fine because honestly, I didn’t just have rats.
The rats came in chasing the cockroaches but when a bunch of them got into my Cadbury Mini Egg stash and died under the living room floor, a pack of fleas picked the carcass clean before making their way into the carpet above. So, yeah...at the moment I have fleas, cockroaches and rats. I had a bug bomb guy coming in a couple days but things were gonna be a little itchy until then.
It's three days until the party. I’ve got no gift and if I show up without that 200 bucks I may never see my kid again.
​
April 8, 2022 – 6:32AM
There’s only so much you can do on a security guard’s salary and being paid $12 an hour to guard millions of dollars in Mercedes automobiles is hilarious. What am I supposed to do if some guy comes in to steal a car? Lay my life on the line and hope my out-of-pocket HMO covers bullet wounds?
I don’t even have dental. I got a root canal that needed to be recapped 10 minutes after it was put in.
I’ve been on Mr. Jenkins about a raise but he keeps telling me “we gotta sell more cars, Davey,” as if I’m the one selling cars. I’m a fucking security guard what the hell’s that gotta do with me? Last I checked it was my job to keep cars on the lot and getting them off was yours.
Jenkins owns every car dealer on Van Nuys. Maybe you’ve seen his ads on TV where he slides into frame wearing a suit while riding a surfboard just to say “COME ON DOWN!” He can afford to buy a surfboard for tv ad that has no mention of surfing or aquatic sports of any kind but he can’t pay me an extra $3 an hour so I can re-introduce cold foods to my diet.
I spend most of my shift eyeing the mint green on onyx black SLS convertible they keep in the lobby. It’s flashy but it’s got a nut sack under the hood so you know you could back it up if you went toe-to-toe with some clown at a red light. Sometimes I just stare at it but I never touch it. I only wanna touch it when it’s mine. Which it would be...
Maybe I could steal it and sell it to get the iPad and some other shit. I know all the codes but then again I wouldn’t need the whole car. The thing costs half a mill. Maybe I could lift a rear-view mirror. Who would notice? Then again with the way the rhythm’s set I’d probably bump into the fucking FBI on the way out.
I’ve been doing my best to get things together but the cards aren’t falling my way and there’s not much you can really do about that. I’ve been going to the Hollywood for 15 years so I know I’m due for a run.
Me and Lenny talking about this all the time at the lounge. Sometimes you’re on the downbeat and sometimes you’re on the upbeat. Lately I feel like it’s been all downs but the thing about being a father though, is that you’re not the only one on that ride.
It used to be that I could take a few down weeks or months even. Sleep in the car, call the landlord and talk them out of breaking down the door but when you got a kid everything changes. You suffer, he suffers. Lately Lenora’s been paying for that but you see she keeps a tally. She says she doesn’t but she does.
Every time she has to pay for something she looks at me like I’m the biggest piece of shit then says “It’s ok, David.” Which it really isn’t.
The fees and stuff aren’t the real problem. It’s being able to take James out and take care of him. She wants to take that away from me and honestly I don’t blame her.
Last week my card got declined trying to pay for ice cream. James had already eaten half of his and the lady made us give it back. He didn’t talk to me the whole way home then 2 days later Lenora told me James didn’t really like spending time with me anymore. A week after that she filed for sole custody and told me they were thinking about moving to Chicago. Who the fuck would want to live there? It’s cold as fuck and the people are assholes.
​
April 8, 2022 – 12:20PM
I do pickups for a porta-john company on the side. It’s just temporary. I don’t clean the shit I just spray down the units and suck out cans and shit with a wet-vac before this guy named Pete sticks a hose in the back and drains the whole thing out.
I’m always surprised by what people put on the walls of a john. Usually it’s just drawings like hearts and shit but sometimes the rhythm finds you there too. One time I spotted a phone number Sharpied on a toilet seat but it was missing 1 number. 8 digits. Kinda like 4 roulette numbers right?
I took em to the Hollywood and won 5 grand on one roll! Hasn’t worked again for me yet... but that’s the thing about it man.
But today I’m cleaning out a row of johns after some music festival which by the way is far and away the worst clean ups to get. Sure you see these kids all cleaned up online in some tweed outfit or some shit but you should see the shit that comes out of these kids. It’s like paving tar with glitter and red bull cans.
I look down in the last john I’m hosing down and I see something. Peaking out of the mounds I see: a $20 bill.
I stared at it for a second but I could hear Pete coming down the line about to suck it into oblivion. I never seen cash in the john before. Sometimes you hear a coin clank through the hose but a 20 bill just staring you right in the face?
I did what any man would do. I grabbed it and when I pulled my hand out I was half expecting it to be missing a layer of skin.
Later I’m sitting in the truck staring at this 20 bucks thinking “why would this come to me?” There had to be a reason. It wasn’t just on the floor of some john. It was in the last john after the nastiest event at a time when all I needed was one shot.
It was the rhythm.
But having to do that for just $20 didn’t add up. There had to have been a greater purpose and you know what they say about money. You don’t let it sleep. You wanna get that money out and get it working.
Craps kicked my teeth in this morning and you can’t do shit with 20 bucks on a blackjack table. I had to think bigger.
Then I’m driving home from work and I see the 7/11. Powerball was at 2.11 BILLION. The biggest in history. If you got all 6 numbers right you got the whole chicken. If you got 5 you got just shy of 8 million bucks. Boom.
I had my usual numbers but this wasn’t a usual day. I told the cashier to give me “all randoms today.” 10 slips at $2 each.
That night I sat down on my couch waiting for the Powerball to come on tv... then I blacked out.
The next thing I knew I was staring at 6 numbers lit up on my tv screen: 08, 07, 14, 29, 40, 16
And on my slip: 08, 07, 14, 29, 40, 22
I had 5 out of 6 numbers. I’d just won 8 million dollars
​
April 9, 2022 – 9:01AM
I’m standing in line at the California Lottery Offices. It’s not some huge expansive place. It’s a shitty little line up of people with various ailments trying to dispute their $5 winning ticket.
My mind is racing. Who do I pay back first? Do they give me the cash here? Is it in a duffel bag? When do I have to hold that big ass check? Do I wear a mask? I saw a guy do it in a scream mask once to maintain his anonymity. Honestly it might be nice to be seen. Not only has everyone seen me as a piece of shit forever but also I haven’t exactly kept a detailed list of everyone I owe money to.
It’d be good for people to just hit me up, I can cut a check and tell them “thanks for your patience.” Maybe I’d even give them a little off the top as a tip.
The guy a the counter basically spat in my face; “It’s gotta be reviewed. Takes 2-5 days. We’ll email you a link to collect any winnings.” It was like I just accused him of something. No congratulations or anything which at first, I was pissed about but then I realized that clearly I wasn’t the first asshole who thought they won the lottery.
Except I really did. 2-5 days was nothing. I’d been living in the shit for years I could do another few days.
Stepping outside, everything looked the same. The air wasn’t purer or the sunlight any more sunlightier and I still had to fill up my tires at the Shell on Cahuenga. There’s something about being rich without actually having any appearance of being rich.
That secret alone is like having a bomb in your pocket. People treat you regular, they smile and make conversation but deep down you think...if I pulled this out I could kill you with it.
But when people do think you have money, the more of it they give you.
I rolled in the doors of the Hollywood like I always did. Lenny called me a bullshitter, Jackie barely even put her cigarette down and Jonie didn’t even bring me a drink because I didn’t actually have any money on the table. I didn’t even have money in my pocket. I’d spent it all on the Megamillions and I hadn’t eaten since perusing the halls for leftover room service the night before.
Then news hit. My face was on every TV in the place. “Local man wins 8 million dollar jackpot.”
I checked my phone to see if it was blowing up, then remembered I still hadn’t paid the bill in months. So I was good there.
​
April 9, 2022 – 11:11AM
If you’ve ever been on a casino floor you know that it’s never silent. But I swear to God if you were on the floor when that news hit, you could’ve heard the rats eating my Mini Eggs 20 miles away. Everyone’s eyes were trained on me. For a second I even felt all the security cams shift over in my direction.
I couldn’t stand being on the floor with nothing to play with so Lenny set me up with his guy who got me a little walking around money. Japanese guy who I met in a Burger King across the street. Weird dude. Not sure what his name was.
I didn’t wanna go too nuts so I just took out a small loan. 50k at 20 points. I thought about it for a second then realized I didn’t really give a shit about the interest. 10 grand to me in a week doesn’t mean nearly as much as 50 does now. It’s just value proposition. It would have been stupid NOT to take out the loan honestly.
Walking into the casino with 50 grand in my pocket and slamming it down on the table feels a lot like taking out your dick at an orgy only when your dick comes out it’s a 60 foot cigarette boat with flames painted on the side.
But then I learned what I remembered years ago. Losing money and gaining money at that point meant almost nothing.
So losing 2 grand a hand wasn’t such a big deal because I could be making 5 on the next. That’s why I needed a little more when I lost the full 50.
Another 100k or so at another 20 points should do the trick.
It didn’t take long to realize that both winning and losing money meant almost nothing to me. So I ventured out.
A tailored suit for me (ready in 2-3 days on a rush).
An iPad for James with all the bells and whistles.
6 dozen roses sent to Lenora’s house signed “your secret admirer.” just to fuck with Kelton.
A watch for me, Lenny and Jodie.
Some special cigar Jackie had always been eyeing.
New pairs of Nikes for all of us.
And a limousine to my dentist’s office.
I paid in cash for the cap replacement, they gave me some pills and told me not to mix them with alcohol but honestly I was a little distracted by the old molar cap sitting on the table. I had an idea.
“Are you gonna just throw that away?” I asked her.
By now I realized I didn’t have a phone to receive my winnings via email. So, I stopped a guy in the lobby and paid him 2 grand cash for his before popping a few pills and slugging some champagne in the limo.
There was barely enough time to sit back and relax. I had a lifetime of debt and yearning for shit to burn through.
We made it to the Mercedes dealership but the pain killers kicked in and I could barely feel my hands as they ran across the SLS’s mint green paint. Bummer.
Jenkins sauntered over asking if I was working today and all I remember saying was “I want it.” He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, so I put the remaining cash I had down on the table and said it again. “I WANT IT.”
They ran my credit (which was dog shit. Didn’t matter) and I looked Jenkins in his fat little face again and said “I don’t give a fuck.” He sold it to me, financed at 25 percent interest. Then when he went to fetch my paperwork and keys I took a shit on his desk, shoved the molar cap and a $20 bill in it before using his jacket to wipe my ass. Felt right. Don’t really know why.
I had walked into the CA lottery offices at 9am to start the review process on my ticket’s authenticity.
By 11am, I was watching news break from the Hollywood Casino.
By 10pm I had accrued more debt than a small country.
I hadn’t received a dime from the lotto.
And I needed more walking around money.
​
April 10, 11, 12 – who the fuck knows what time
The next few days were a blur but there are a few things I’ll never forget.
Quitting my job.
Hiring the limo for the week.
Trying to shit after 3 days of having nothing but fast food, champagne and pain killers.
Fielding questions at the party from Kelton’s asshole friends who told me “lotto rich isn’t real rich.”
And the heat of my house burning to the ground as James and I stood there watching with a can of gas in our hands.
He didn’t even want the iPad.
The rhythms were sliding back. James had that smile plastered back in his face and even Lenora was happy to see me.
​
April 16, 7:35AM
“Dear Mr. Baxter. Congratulations! You’ve successfully matched FOUR of six winning numbers. Below please find a link to collect your winnings of $10,000.”
I read it over and over again. Over and over and over.
When I called the offices an nice woman on the phone informed me that due to a printing malfunction the ticket had appeared to show the number 8 when in fact it was a 6.
They even managed to maintain a sense of excitement. I mean why wouldn’t they? They think I just won $10,000. They had no idea I’d bought a car I couldn’t afford, burned my house down, taken a shit on my boss’ desk, maxed out 3 new credit cards and borrowed a inordinate amount of money from people at a borderline illegal interest rate.
The limo company took my ride away and with no home I’ve spent the last 2 days parked on the Pacific Coast Highway, sleeping in the brand new Mercedes I can’t afford, in a suit I shouldn’t have bought, showering in the YMCA down the street, and eating 2-day-old coconut shrimp.
All of a sudden I’m fucked again. But as I stare out at the Pacific, my phone dings. It’s an alert from the Chase banking app. My lotto winnings of $10,000 have just hit my account and the only question is...
Are the rhythms with me or not?