# Okay, so when do you play the lottery? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 14, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-so-when-do-you-play-the-lottery/553752 "2010-09-14T18:58:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1
**Author:** ![Aswan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Aswan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aswan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-so-when-do-you-play-the-lottery/553752/1 "2010-09-14T18:58:42Z")
I’m in my office talking to a buddy at work. We’ve finished with the “work” part of the conversation and now we’re talking football. What else? While we’re talking, I’m idly shooting a rubber band at the ceiling. Right above my desk there’s an air return that’s just a metal plate in the ceiling with a bazillion little holes in it. I load up my little finger gun and put it next to my ear and just let it fly. There’s a _snick_ when I shoot, followed by a _whap_ when it hits the air return, and then a _plop_ as the rubber band hits the desk. So as we’re talking _snick_, _whap_, _plop_. _Snick_, _whap_, _plop_. Then _snick_. We look at one another quizzically, then slowly up at the ceiling. There we see the rubber band amazingly stuck in one of the tiny holes. He says to me, “Time to buy a lottery ticket, man” and we laugh. But I say, “Nope, I just burned all my luck for the week.” I realize that this might be a glass half empty or a glass half full question, but I think there’s a shade of difference. So what is it? Do you see a sign and obey it? Or do you see an omen and avoid it? --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-so-when-do-you-play-the-lottery/553752)._