X-Entertainment's Christmas Season & Advent Calendar, 2008.

07/15/2007: Summer Megaparty: Scratch-Off Jackpot.

My cable modem’s been fritzing all weekend, so I’ve been using dial-up for the first time in years. Weird to hear that modem-connecting thrash rock as my computer struggles to connect at slow speeds again. Someone from Time Warner is supposed to drop by on Monday to give things a look, but until then, I’m a dinosaur.

Last Friday, I stopped at one of those scratch-off lotto card vending machines to pick up a pile of birthday gifts for my grandmother, who is a lady of few passions outside of gambling and eggplant caponata. Never one to resist temptation of any kind, I picked up two extras for myself. One was a dud, but the one above netted me a cool $100. It was one of those poker-themed scratch-offs that give you several “hands” to scratch off, and I landed everything from a straight to a three-of-a-kind, and even won on the $25 bonus game.

When I was on the cusp of going freelance but still unsure of whether it would work out or not, I got in the habit of playing like $50 worth of scratch-off cards a night. I’d hit that desperation point of really needing a major windfall to bring confidence to my burgeoning decision to not be a paid 9-5′er. This might sound like a cracked out thing to do, but honestly, I never seemed to lose that much. When you buy scratch-offs in bulk, there’s usually a good amount of return. I’m not saying that I won big or even arguing that it isn’t a huge waste of money, but when you’re looking for hope in all the wrong places, it’s nice to see three lined-up cherries hiding under the wax.

After the big $100 win, I dug up my old pile of winning scratch-offs, which has sat untouched on top of our microwave for several months now. We just never got around to cashing ‘em in, but now that I total everything up, there’s $259 bucks worth of winners in that pile. I’m tempted to cash them in and blow it all on something frivolous, but considering that I most definitely spent more than $259 total on scratch-offs from then to now, I guess I should put it in the bank. Or maybe I should go down to the roulette wheel at Bally’s and throw it all on black. Hmmm.

One thing’s for sure: Scratch-off cards are getting more and more entertaining with each passing year. If you’re not a player, you wouldn’t believe the variety. I’ve always been a fan of the “Win For Life” cards, merely because the jackpots entail payments of $1K, $2K or even $5K each week for a full 20 years. Winning that is the equivalent of getting a second job that requires you to do absolutely nothing, but for sheer entertainment purposes, there are far better scratch-off cards.

I really like the ones based on card games, as they trick me into believing I have any more of a chance to win than I do on any other shitty card. Then there’s the extravagant $20 games. I can’t believe I played those; they’re the quickest possible method of burning money outside of literally burning money.

For people who want to stretch the “enjoyment” out for a few extra minutes, there’s crossword-style games, which take forever to finish and rarely provide a return. Plus, all of the scratch-off games have a little code somewhere under the wax that lets you know the exact amount you’ve won (or tells you that you didn’t win), and it’s obnoxious to spend 10 minutes slowly scratching letters and numbers away when you know you can settle things with two swipes of a penny over the code area. I don’t know why I’m writing about this.

After my most recent trip to Atlantic City, I decided to give the gambling a rest. I’m no addict or even a frequent player, but even just a few trips to the casino each year can seriously impact your savings. It got to the point where I was looking at my losses and realizing that it was enough to take a week-long vacation for two to pretty much anywhere, and that’s just plum dumb.

Course, I did just win $100 off of a $5 scratch-off. Maybe Lady Luck’s trying to tell me something. Maybe this is my time to shine. Maybe I should get in the car and drive down to the Monopoly streets right now.

Thank God I’m too lazy to really do that.

Anyway, as for a serious comment… Matt, how come you never appear on AIM? I’d love to talk to you *creepy stalker voice*

Also, I received a promotional Star Wars Pocket Model TCG pack today… Not going to play the game but those miniature 3D puzzles included are cute… I got a tiny X-Wing and two Tie Fighters… You should check them out… The website gives away free ones too…

Is that a reference to the lady from the Time Warner commercials? The dial-up is for dinosaurs lady? If not it’s an awesome coincidence.
I think the Kong scratchers were the crossword kind. For some reason it’s way more annoying to lose after scratching off all those stupid letters than just looking for triple sevens.

Gambling has never even been close to my thing..I just don’t get the thrill…seems like such a waste of good booze money….

…on an unrelated note, I just stumbled across this site with these cool Star Wars tattoo’s, thought some of you may be interested, some of them are actually really well done…click my name to check it out!

Man, I LOVE Scratch tickets! The most I’ve ever won from one ticket was $20 on a $2 ticket, but this happened when I was 10 and I was hooked.

I’m a New Yorker too, so I know these games all too well. My grandma played scratch-offs all the time before she wound up in the nursing home/rehab center, but now she’s back home and might pick up on it again. I think it’s a much better habit than smoking, because there’s that small chance that you’ll get your damn money back.

So, of course, she usually gives the winners to me, earning me a quick $20 or so every few months

I’m pretty sure the most I’ve ever won on a single scratch-off is $20 or $25.

The only scratch-off I ever were really addicted to were the Pac-man, Ms Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong ones from way back. I ought to stake a stab at the Oklahoma Lotto ones, if only because the money spent supposedly goes to Education. Do it for the shorteez, dig?

We have the Georgia Lottery, and many of my kids have been able to go to college from the HOPE scholarship it provides. Funny, though, I’ve never bought a lottery ticket….

Yeah I was never much into gambling…. possibly because I have one of those uncles who threw his life down the shitter because of it. The girls and I are going overnight to AC in Sept, but I was drinking when we made the plans so I didn’t even remember agreeing to them until a few days later.

Whenever my husband has a birthday party at his parents, his mom takes all the lotto tickets he got and scratches the bottom to check the code for winners. She doesn’t trust that he will stratch them off before they expire, just because when he was still living at home his dad found a ticket of his and it was a winner of like 10 bucks, but it was expired. His parents are cheep asses they got angry with him.

thank you for posting that star wars tattoo site Gweff I really liked the yoda ones that were good quality, a little r2d2 would be cute on anybody.

I don’t like the scratchoff tickets that you have to read the instructions first to see where your supposed to scratch it off. Those piss me off I just want to do the whole thing and have it be very obvious if i won or not and how much.

I actually have a story I am guilty of. When I was a kid I went to one of my family’s weddings that I didn’t see that often. I was no older then 8. Well one of the cousins or however I was related to this person, saw an ad for a scratch off ticket at the store, it said if you buy 5 scratch off tickets one is at least a winner. He liked the odds so he bought 5 and passed them out to all of the kids. I got one, and I got the winner. I think it was 10 dollars.

Anyway my relative said here’s 10 dollars, and I’ll redeem it tomorrow. I said no, I want the 10 from the ticket, I don’t want the 10 your giving me now. It was a bit of an arguement, and my Grandma was so pissed at me because I was just acting spoiled. He kept on telling me, I probably won’t see you tomorrow, and this 10 dollars is just as good as the one from the ticket. I thought he was gipping me I think. But in the end I think my Grandma apologized and returned the ticket to him and I didn’t get any money. I deserved that. I didn’t usually act that spoiled but man that was pretty bratty of me.

This is weird. I had a stress dream last night about winning the lottery and for some reason I took the ticket in the shower with me and destroyed it. I’ve got issues.

I went to the museum today. It was okay, and I can whip up a lesson plan around it, but overall it was meh. I was more excited about the fact that I got to take a pic of a Walther P38.

That’s right ladies and gentlemen, my phone’s wallpaper is now Megatron. w00t!!!

Boy, I go to Amarillo for the weekend and miss the most epic pair of blogs since Photog. Once again I learn the folly of actually leaving the house.

And It’s just occurred to me that I still haven’t bought my birthday scratch-off this year. Since my birthday’s coming up again in November, I should probably get on that.

I’m watching this Tobe Hooper movie Lifeforce about space vampires. Why have I not seen this movie?

I’m suprised some ppl still are using DSL and Dial-up when FIOS is the way of the future. But as for Scratches I play now and then I don’t win that much and play just for kicks. But at my work in Washington DC there is a small shop that sells scratches. Between 12-3pm there are ppl down stairs playing the scratches as if they were in a casino.

Wow it looks like I missed out on some lengthy discussions! As for the lottery, I won $100 twice playing instant games although those were $20 tickets. The best thing for me was playing Tic-Tac-Fruit which essentially is a slot machine with a tic-tac-toe flavor to it. But don’t dare call it a slot machine in Ohio because gambling is illegal. They get away with calling it a “skill game” and that apparently is ok. I would just stalk the machines until the bonus hit a certain number (the bonus accumulated based on number of times played) and i’d hop on and usually win $200 - $350.

To me, the hardest “skill game” i ever did was using the facilities on a Greyhound bus as it was pulling out of a pick-up point in northeast Oklahoma. No spillage. Yay me!

Benjamin, you go where you bought them up to a certain amount and if it’s higher you go to the city or the state’s local office and get the money which probably takes a while, I know people that win the big one have to wait 6 weeks for their winnings. It says everything on the ticket on the back.

and Bill that was a funny dream, I had a dream last night it was Christmas though. Nothin can top a Christmas dream, I have them every once in a while. Even though a few weeks ago I had a dream where it was Christmas and I didn’t get any presents and I was freaked. Anyway this dream last night I got in a fight with my sister, and my Grandma in the dream announced after present opening we were all going to coldstone creamery for ice cream! And I still haven’t gotten my drug test results yet in and I was explaining to my relatives about my epic saga lol.

Can you explain how the crossword ones work? I don’t understand. We have scratchers here in VA but I’ve never seen those.

The crossword scratch-offs contain a panel full of letters under the waxy stuff. As you reveal them, you scratch off any of the letters seen within the crossword. You get money for any fully-revealed words you spell with those letters. The more words you make, the more you win.

Generally, it boils down to you needing one letter to be a millionaire, and never obtaining that letter.

I’m not particularly fond of gambling, either, but I do know the scratch-off tickets well. I work in a grocery store, and though I’ve never sold them myself, I’ve seen countless hopeful people buy them.

My best friend does them occasionally (I think she said the most she’s won is $30). My stepdad buys them for my teenage brother, who is probably one of the world’s great gamblers. The kid used to kick my ass at blackjack and poker when he’d visit when I lived in Wildwood (good thing we never played for higher stakes than Lifesavers candy). I think my brother’s personal best is $250.

I actually liked playing the crossword version scratchoff, simply because it took more than a minute to do. Granted, I never won anything larger than another free scratchoff, but it was fun. I haven’t done it for awhile though.

I’ve actually had better luck on a slot machine casino. I usually put in $20. I’ve never won anything, but I’ve never lost either. I usually end up with the same amount I put in before quitting. So I guess it’s win-win from a certain point.

Speaking of games of chance, I even printed out cards for ABC’s “National BINGO Night.” That was addicting. Never came close to winning, but it was fun.

I’m suprised some ppl still are using DSL and Dial-up when FIOS is the way of the future.
It’s gotta be available in your area in order to have it. Both of those other options are cheaper too.

I don’t play scratch off games. I’ve met people who do and treat me like I’m king snob if I don’t join in on their fun or point out that it took 100 dollars to win that 50. I do like the themes and games of them though, plus the ability to scratch something.

I’ve never won more than $2 on a scratch-off. At least it keeps me from throwing money away on them. Would be nice to win something good, though.

Thanks to everyone that gambles, you make my parks prettier and help fund mob violence. =)

I love gambling at the casinos when I have a little cash to burn, but I’ll never buy a lotto ticket of any kind purely because of all the white trash that I used see at the convenience store that I worked at through high school. They’d plunk down like 20+ dollars a pop every day on lotto tickets, another 5 on cigarettes, and their little half retarded from neglect kids would be pulling at their pants legs, trying to get them to buy them a comic or something, which would never happen because mommy or daddy only had enough cash in their budget for their own vices. What was worse was, you could tell most of these gross wastes of flesh were also going through various stages of alcoholism or drug addiction, so thats even LESS money going toward providing for their doomed little unwanted kids. Yay for America.

Fios = fibre optic cable?
If that’s all it is then that’s been out here in australia for basically as long as adsl.

Scratch-its over here are very pretty too - I don’t remember coming across many when I lived over there - always seemed access to them was easier in Oz - maybe because they are at Newsagencies…

You lucky dog Matt. The best I’ve ever gotten on a lottery game was $30 on a $2 ticket. Most of the time when I win in the lottery it’s either break even or one or two dollars more than I paid.

It’s just as well that you are too lazy: Lady Luck is a lying sack of… not nice things. The most I’ve ever won was $4, and it was my birthday! Thirteenth, mind you, but still…

If anybody is wondering, my grandparents are also gambling addicts, so they think it’s fun to buy the whole (re: large) family a scratch-off every so often.

In PA we don’t have those codes that show you if it’s a winning ticket any more. We just switched over to tickets where you HAVE to scratch it all off.

Nicky - Seriously? I haven’t played in so long, but I really loved those codes.

I don’t do gambling. I have extremely limited income as it is, so I’d rather not get started with the scratch-off cards. Though, I’ve thought about playing Pick 3 sometime…it’s a dollar and you have a chance of winning 500.

Somebody mentioned dreams. I had this weird one last night that I was in high school, except it wasn’t my high school, and when I went to the bathroom I got lost in the endless labyrinth of hallways.

If I ever buy a ticket it’s the slingo ones. They are esentially bingo and I have no idea why they are called slingo. And I buy them maybe twice a year. Powerball I was buying twice a week for awhile. And whenever I have won I have never turned the tickets in, which is sad. I guess if it’s not worth big bucks I figure aw well. But seriously, that was like three times and for a total of maybe fifteen dollars, which is fifteen more that could be in my purse right now.

I just went back to read the last of the previous thread. I just want to say Shuanfu I was just being honest, I feel comfortable here to be honest. I feel bad if you took offense even though you said you were being sarcastic and it came off in a bad way. I grown to like you now, and I would feel bad if anyone here thought I was being a complete bitch to you and it lingers in their heads that for one second I was like that to someone.

The best thing for me was playing Tic-Tac-Fruit which essentially is a slot machine with a tic-tac-toe flavor to it. But don’t dare call it a slot machine in Ohio because gambling is illegal. They get away with calling it a “skill game” and that apparently is ok. I would just stalk the machines until the bonus hit a certain number (the bonus accumulated based on number of times played) and i’d hop on and usually win $200 - $350.

Dang…I’m not much of a fan of games that make you use real money, but I do love the games that give you tickets at arcades.

That same strategy can be applied for games like the Cyclone or any of its latest offspring. (a light spinning around in a circle, you try to stop it between the arches or the bonus space for that game) Wait until there’s a large enough bonus (I’ve seen it go higher than 250 several times), then go on it and then win. It really stinks at the one I frequent in Lake George where there are several winners, so the bonus is always reset to 50.

I like to play the Bingo scratch tickets, since they take a few minutes and I feel like I got more bang for my buck.

Hello, everyone. I don’t gamble, so I don’t have mucj to say. My brother and I might see TF tommorrow.

Goob- your Christmas dream makes me happy. I went into a store today with a back to school display that also made me happy. Of all the things I love about XE, I think the greatest is knowing there’s others out there that prefer the fall and winter heaps and piles over this awful steamy heat.

Annette, I have weird bathroom dreams all the time! Usually there’s just a huge room of half walls and toilets and I cannot seem to find a clean enough one to use and the toilets are all way too tall to get to anyhow. I really hate those ones. I wish I dreamt more, isn’t there something you can eat to induce dreaming?

I’m one of those jackasses that will lower his self-worth to pick up a discarded scratch off ticket in front of a 7-11 or floor of a grocery store. I just feel that if I pass it over I will miss the 1 out of a trillion chance of becoming $10,000 richer from someone else’s misfortune. I really must look dumb pretending to pick up litter that just happens to only be old lotto tickets.

kb Thank you, I always throughly enjoy my Christmas dreams. You actually dream all the time, you dream through REM sleep, remembering is a different story. You need to have REM sleep or you would die literally.

I also enjoy that if I see something random like a new flavor of skittles, obscure koolaid atari game, ninja turtles ANYTHING there is a place that reminds me other people are like that, and it’s ok. I watch the show Good eats when I can (I don’t have cable) and sometimes when I watch that show I think “Alton, your such a geek! but that is why I love you!!” and that should be x-e’s motto, with a little retuning.

A couple of years ago I was on the “Christmas high” up until about April. That’s even after my b-day so that was a long time.

kb, I also prefer fall/winter over summer. A lot. Here it hasn’t been as hot as usual, but the whole state damn near floated away because of all the rain. I think that’s finally over now, and I’m dreading the 90-degree humid heat that’s coming. :\

Bill, are you also the type to pick up pennies off the dirty street? My husband will pick up money he sees on the ground, no matter what it is laying in ewww.

Count me in for dreams about being at a school that I never went to and getting lost down halways. I find these dreams very stressful, I feel stressed in the morning after these dreams. I also have bathroom dreams all the time, but it usally means I need to go, and that’s a lot latley cause I have a little someone dancing on my bladder all the time.

IHAQ: Only if it is heads up.

I carry Purex and visine in the pocket all the time.

I have dreams that have slightly changed throughout the years about school after I graduated. I used to have dreams that I was in my old high school, I would walk up to one of my old teachers and chit chat and catch up with things while she was hurrying up with her papers for her next class. And then she would say “oh it was nice seeing you, but I have to teach a class you know, hopefully I can talk to you some other time” and I would show her a pencil and a spiral notebook and say but can I stay in and be in the class too? She would say no now go and I would beg and sit down, quickly jotting down notes from the board, while she is trying to get rid of me. Weird huh?

And I have been having dreams where I go to high school a second time just for the fun of it, and while I am walking out to go home I realize I am not supposed to be there, looking around at all of the young high school students and I try to sneak out of there before I get caught being on the property.

Annette, please send me some of your rain! It’s fucking HOT and humid here in Norfolk, and no precipitation. I can’t wait for winter!

Goob: it was over before it started; no worries. In fact, they only reason I probably even acknowledged it was because like I said “I don’t know whether to be complimented or insulted”…but I knew, or at least hoped, there was no true ill intent at all. And honesty is a good thing; I was told once that my honesty was both my strongest and weakest trait; another time I didn’t know whether to feel complimented or insulted

And Bill hope you got my warning in the last post: the bears are back in town. And encountering them is a totally messy affair…I should send you a MySpace message…

Now on topic: I dream weirdness all the time. But what fascinates me more is that if the radio alarm goes off or the TV is on the sound will incorporate itself into the dream. Many a times I have been on an elevator in a dream and think “is that the alarm” when I hear the music playing in the elevator. Or I’ll be a a show or concert of the ‘band’ or whoever is talking on the show. The strangest was when I was at a taping of Friends in a dream, only because Friends came on TV at 4am….weird how the mind works.

I’m not a gambler, but I will say that the floor up at Casino Windsor with the slots gives me the most pleasant sensory overload ever. I did take 80 bucks up once and played Let it Ride. I won 285, so it was a nice return. I just don’t make enough to do it often.

Oh shit, I just read it. I’m glad you zigged and zagged and got away. Good job, bro. You don’t need any of that, take it from me. Some girl problems are like a tongue burn; it sucks, it hurts, and until it totally heals it ruins future expiriences. I know that’s a stretch but then again, look who you’re talking too.

Why? I bought Pokemon Diamond, and it’s really good. I feel really cool being “that guy” that’s 20 years old and playing Pokemon, but since all the salespeople at my local EBGames are playing it, and recommended it to me, I don’t feel as immature.

Though I guess I am since I’ve been nicknaming all my Pokemon after pro wrestlers. For example:
“Umaga” Level 24 Monferno
“Wahoo” Level 26 Staravia
“Gail Kim” Level 21 Luxio
“Tajiri” Level 17 Budew

I’m sure that Bobby the Brain would be proud of me for naming the one with the big beak and lots of feathers after Wahoo McDaniel. It seemed fitting.

I have a debate going on: For some reason a part of me wants to get up tomorrow, drive to the beach, stay the day and return late into the night…or just stay if I feel so inclined. It’s a good 2 1/2 one way drive, and would cost money, but it’s just money, right? I think I’m gonna do it…only three weeks until I go back to work full time, so it’s now or never….

I’ll be really glad when my fiance gets done playing Super Robot Taisen W so I can play with the shiny, pretty DS. I want Ouendan 2 or Phoenix Wright…

i won $20 on the roulette wheel at the showboat in atlantic city. i also won $1 and $10 on scratch off tix. not much, but it made me feel good.

Shuan: Go to the beach. I only have a few months left in my contract here in Florida and I might be having to take a job in Minnesota so I am cramming in all the ocean I can. There is nothing like swimming in the ocean to totally clear the head. Then find a beach front tiki hut for some rum and pick up local girls.
Tara, if you are reading this I am only giving advice to a freind. I don’t pick up local girls.

Stress dreams tend to be more vivid, at least for me. I have one where I wake up (in the dream) to find that I’ve slept strait through all of my finals. This dream takes place at random intervals year round, not just around finals week. It never fails to wake me up convinced that I’ve flunked out of college.

In Montana any business can pretty much host any sort of gambling venture they want, from machines to live poker. Working in a bar, watching the same people come in night after night throwing away hundreds at a time, has pretty much cured me of any potential gambling fixation.

Destro- last month I was in MT and saw a casino/laundromat. Weird.
I have a friend type who plays poker for a living. So I assume he makes money, it just sounds so, boring.

Beach. Life is short and mostly full of pain. Go and create a good memory when you have the chance. That memory is worth far more than the money you will spend, which will be gone very shortly anyway.

You want to use the money to buy Transformers. At least use part of it and get the big Optimus Prime and Megatron figures.

Oh yeah, the casino/laundromat is vintage MT. I can see how live poker would be entertaining. But the machines, to me at least, are mind-numbingly dull. Most bars will comp your drinks if you make a show of playing them, so there’s that, anyway.

This is completely off-topic! Does anyone know the title of this movie? It was early 80’s, and it was about a bunch of toys that came to life when no people were around. If a person came into the room, and a toy was not back in its place, it died. The other toys had a special place in a closet or something for the dead toys. Then they went on a journey, I think? I was very young when I saw this, but I’ve spent a lot of time trying to think of what it was called. If anyone can help me, I will be eternally grateful!

heeree, I think you’re talking about The Christmas Toy. It was a Jim Henson thing that had a toy tiger as the main character.

Huh. I just found one on imdb called Where the Toys Come From. I think I was combining the two into one movie. That makes sense, as I was 4 or 5 years old. Memories tend to get warped after so many years. Thank you so much! Now I just want some rain.

It’s strange - I’ll have really random and weird thoughts all throughout the day, but when I go to sleep I have the most mundane dreams. A while ago I actually had a dream about [i]grocery shopping[/i] of all things! Everything is always exactly the same as real life, so I can’t tell if I’ve actually done something or if I just dreamt it. Especially annoying when I dream that I’ve woken up and started to get ready, then wake up for real and realize I am late and have to get ready all over again. Gah.

I used to have interesting dreams…*sigh* Nothing like a giant 7′ killer duck chasing you around your house and regenerating into more killer ducks when you wrap it in tissue and bite it in half to make you feel alive. Have no idea how I bit it in half if it was 7′ tall, but that’s what happened. I believe I also lost an ear to its blood-thirsty beak.

One bathroom dream I can remember is I walk in and all of a sudden the urinals go up into the ceiling like they were on lifts. Then a door appears with a guy in it and I ask him if there is a bathroom in there he says yes and O walk in and promptly fall down a flight of stairs. I wake up realizing I really had to go and on the way back I almost fell down the stairs. Creeped me out for a couple of days after….although I was like 12 at the time. I don’t generally remember any dreams.

Frakkyfire, had you just seen the Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield fight before you went to bed? Your missing ear made me wonder.

kb: I don’t know about food, but Scrooge seems to recommend roast beef, cheese, potatoes and mustard for producing hallucinations of dead business partners. Large doses of sugar are also reputed to give you more vivid dreams.

Dreams get stranger and more “interactive” the closer it gets to dawn, and you’re more likely to remember them if you wake up and then go back to sleep. If you really want memorable dreams, you might try the experiment of setting an alarm for an hour or two before you actually have to get up, with the intent of rolling over and going back to sleep. If you can get back to sleep after waking up, that is. I never seem to have gotten the knack.

Gambling, of any sort, is not my thing. It is not above my boyfriend, however, to search the trashcans located near scratch-off machines for possible missed winners.
As for dreams, I had a dream the other night that I was eating really good chocolate cake and the next day I got a fortune in a fortune cookie that said, “You have good cake coming.” Weird.

************BREAKING NEWS************
Off to the hospital.
“I can’t stop it I don’t know how it works. Goodbye folks!”

No, Bludge, I hadn’t seen the fight.

Maybe I’d heard about it though? I don’t remember.

And BIG congrats to Manimal (and Mrs. Manimal)!!! I hope the labour doesn’t last too long. Oh and hey - your kid is going to almost share my birthday! I was born at 12:04am on the 17th. Let’s hear it for July babies!

Good luck, Manimal! This is exciting. A baby! All I’m doing today is going second-hand clothes shopping, and here Manimal is creating LIFE!

I really want to buy some lotto scratcher tickets now. There used to be a scratcher vending machine right outside where I used to work. I never realized how much I’d miss it.

And welcome to the World. We know you had your choice of parents, thank you for choosing the Manimal Family. Enjoy you stay, and X-Entertainment says “Hi!”

I just called Walmart and they said the criminal background check still hasn’t gone through yet and so they’ll call me in after that is cleared.

But my news is horseshit compared to Manimal!! Newborn babies make you remember what life is all about. Cuddling in your arms, looking up at you, awwwww :) And have the ’she/he has your eyes’ ’she/he has your chin’ conversation for weeks at a time. People still do that with my cousin and she’s almost 3 years old! Anyway, exciting historical things are happening.

i don’t know about you dudes, but i’m already gearing myself up for halloween… i can’t wait.

Been addicted to scratch offs since I was 17… win for life was always the game of choice “if we win this, we’ll never have to get a job ever!!” worth scratch off moment for me was after about 10 years of playing win for life and knowing the game by heart… I went to Jersey for business training. I’m early for my class so I hit the newsstand downstairs and grab the NY Post, a Quik and a win for life….. I scratch off the top game and my number comes up… 7… their number comes up….. 5…. the prize… $2,500!! Holy SHIT! I won 2,500 dollars!! I call my gf, tell her I won 25 hundred dollars… get all sorts of excited.. then I read the card closer… unlike NY where your number has to be higher than theirs… in NJ your number has to match theirs…. stupid New Jersey! The whole rest of the day sucked. I wound up cutting class early and hitting Toys R Us Kids World on exit 13A of the tp. Needed a pick me up.

Can I just say how much I love Manimal stopping in to give us the heads up on the way to the hospital?
A new X-E family member and a new Harry Potter, all in one week, smack in the middle of the Megaparty. There’s just no topping that.

If it’s a boy, are you gonna name it either Knacks or Kuse? Mariel if it’s a girl?

I don’t post much, but I check this site a couple of times a day, so I still feel I have to say:
CONGRATS, MANIMAL AND MRS. MANIMAL!!!

I thought I won $100 on the poker scratch off before, and my friend even confirmed it as well. I guess I misread it, and realized the dealer had a better hand than me in all the games. I won nothing. Good thing I gave it a final look before trying to cash it in.

Yay for Manimal!!! Good luck friend! To offer up a symbol of sympathy/support for Mrs. Manimal I will now slam my hand in the door.

When Manimal gets back, I suggest he hold up his new baby and present him or her to us ala The Lion King.

Speaking of weird dreams, anytime I drink Sam Adams Summer Ale I have bizaro dreams! That stuff is like LSD in a bottle.

The other night I had just one with dinner and I dreamed I was back in college watching an alumni talent show and everyone I went to school with back in the 80’s was there and aged accordingly. My “act” was to play video game soundtracks from old school games on the piano while a projector showed clips of the games- and I don’t even play piano!

AWESOME Manimal! I feel like I should send a card or something, I guess sharing addresses via XE could bring creepy creepers however. Well, I am happy for you and the Mrs.

Matt! Don’t know if you know it yet but you got a mention and link to on MSNBC.com today.

Cowabunga, dudes! The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles once had a magazine. Matt from X-Entertainment shares an issue online here. It was published in 1990, but really, it’s as whompingly 1980s as neon leg warmers and jelly shoes.

On the dreams topic, I think it was yesterday I had a strange dream where me and Jhonen Vasquez (who I only know by reputation) were fighting a giant gerbil that was attacking Hermosa Beach. Actually, it might have only become a gerbil later on, it was something big though, and I think it was named Medusa. Most of the dream was me and Jhonen wandering around looking for where the creature had gone off to, and there was this creepy cast of dread and discomfort all about while we roamed the streets. Finally we found it and there was a big fancy battle against it; Jhonen got injured at one point, but he recovered and I think it was him that maned to cause the creature to shrink down into a small gerbil, and I trapped it in a gerbil ball. After that it was my job to dispose of it, and the creature kept talking to me, saying really spooky things, and trying to make deals with me to release it.
I think in the end it had babies or something, and 2 of the babies escaped. Very classic sort of horror movie ending there.

Talia
Maybe tonight you’ll have a terribly written and clearly-made-only-to-get-money sequel.

Many congratulations, Manimal! And welcome to the neighborhood, Minimal. Get back to us when you get the whole typing thing down. Basic motor functions are a tough skill to master, but it’s mostly worth it.

Gratuitous congratulationses to Manimal and Womanimal as well on the arrival of Minimal. Here’s hoping he(or she) will grow up to be as much of a geek as we are.

Okay, now on to the subjects of conversation this thread deals with. I haven’t won anything big on scratch tickets, but then again I never scrached many of them. Most I won was back a long time ago, Ontario Place (or was it the CNE?) was giving away 3 scratch-tickets with admission. I remember I won 3 free tickets and $17.

On the subject of weird dreams, I’ve had plenty of ‘em, including ones with the TV acting as a soundtrack… I once fell asleep with the TV on and dreamt I was actually in one of the shows that was playing. I remember I totally freaked out at the “Rich Bitch” character. Heck, I had a dream with the Steve Harvey Show as a soundtrack earlier today!

The Ultra-Peepy (or however it’s spelled) thing did occur to me after thinking of it for a while, since that is one of the few Zim episodes I’ve seen (I’m more of a comics fan, however.)
This Medusa creature was WAY spookier than Ultra-Peepy. It was like the most horrifying gerbil you can imagine; almost worse when it was small, since at least when it was large you couldn’t see the details if it so easily. Think like Sam, the World’s Ugliest Dog, but the gerbil equivelent. And its tendancy to talk in demonic threats and laughter just dind’t help things. I am pretty sure that within the dream it was specifically said to be a gerbil, not a hamster, whatever difference that makes.

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