With the Powerball lottery at a record high, the jackpot seems to be increasing almost as fast as the national debt. The thought of one person being able to win $1.3 billion is crazier than NC State’s apparently abridged winter break.
Honestly, I can’t even understand how much money that really is considering my bank account has never seen a seven-digit balance. History shows that the majority of people who have won smaller lottery jackpots are left with just a little more than nothing only a few years later. I guess knowing in the back of your head that you’ve got millions makes it easy to, in the words of Jessie J, “Forget about the price tag.”
Hypothetically, let’s pretend I won $1.3 billion. First things first, I would very thoroughly filter through my Facebook “friends.” I don’t need any haven’t-talked-since-middle-school-but-let’s-catch-up-soon messages, aka “So I hear you’re a billionaire now, what’s in it for me?” Once all the publicity was out of the way (can you get a red carpet walk for winning the biggest lottery ever?) and taxes finished demolishing the good half, here are 10 things I would drop some money for as a student at NC State:
1. Buy one of everything in Wolfpack Outfitters. Not only would family and friends’ presents be set for years, but also I would have the ultimate chance to show off my Pack pride in literally every single way.
2. Hire a personal chef because, even after several months of taking a break from campus food, I’m still not ready to make my taste buds go through that again. Plus I’d rather not gain the sophomore “insert lots of pounds here.” Isn’t all the added Thanksgiving and Christmas weight enough?
3. Buy balloons, a VISA gift card and a cake for every student’s birthday and have it delivered to dorm rooms. Birthdays away from home can be bittersweet, and I mean, who doesn’t want a free balloon and money?
4. Help rebuild Sushi Nine because I don’t even eat sushi, and even I can’t wait months for them to reopen.
5. Start a committee to create a Disney-style fast pass card that places you out of those classes you really, really don’t want to take. All you’d have to do is bring it on the first day of class and then you’re out faster than Duke will be out of PNC Arena when we beat them in basketball next week. (Go Pack!)
6. Update Witherspoon’s Student Cinema to a real movie theatre. You know, stadium seating and chairs without wooden armrests and desks attached.
7. Buy a bunch of the bricks on campus, so the university has to take some out. A little more grass would be nice. Just saying.
8. Install a nap lounge in every academic building for the pre-lecture power nap or the post-class snooze. Who said nap time was just for kindergarten? Pretty sure college kids need that more than 5-year-olds. Come on.
9. Put a Dunkin’ Donuts in Talley because a) it’ll make all the other coffee lines that much shorter and b) their hot chocolate is by far the best. Good try, Starbucks, but no.
10. Donate a chunk of it to Financial Aid so that more prospective Wolfpack members can afford to attend the best university ever without taking out loans.
Of course there’s always that cliché that comes up during times such as this. “Money doesn’t buy happiness.” In the long run, it’s true. But if any of my 10 Pack-style Powerball ideas were put into action, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be sad. Like, at all.
Anyway, the pressure is off for me when the numbers are drawn tonight. I chose to sit the odds out on this one because the chances of winning are almost as slim as listening to Adele’s entire album without crying even one single tear. Nearly impossible.