Mega-Million Boy

Or, How I’ll Spend My $640 million dollar winnings


Lessee …

Yeah, I’d do all the boring stuff you all would do, too. Pay off the house, buy a new one, set up my children’s educations, set up me and the Mrs.’ retirement blah blah blah. Then do the annuity thing so I’d get … oh, I don’t know … $5,000 a week? Is that too much? Too little? Seems right. That’s $260,000 a year. Maybe I should double it.

Anyway, before I do that, here’s the fun stuff I’d do …

1. Forget about going to France for a week. I’d go there for a month. Then do a month in Germany, Italy, Spain, England, Ireland. Then, every year, we’d hit another spot I’d never thought I would ever get to – Hawaii, Tahiti, the Caribbean, someplace cold, like Alaska, etc.

2. The Great United States Winnebago Tour! Except with a futuristic space-age Winnebago especially designed by NASA for Mark Zuckerberg.

3. I’d start a business. I dunno … maybe a publishing company. I think I have a nose for a good book, one that might be overlooked by the majority of the big players out there. And the wife would start up something too. Something fashion-y, trend-y, bling-y, that sort of thing. We’ve talking about it before, but I’m going to leave it at that.

4. As a corollary, I’d self-publish my two SF books and an anthology of my short stories. And if they only sell ten or twelve copies (how many people are in my family hm?), well, who cares! A business write-off!

5. On a serious note, just think about how much good one could do donating some of that money. Let’s say Uncle Sam takes half. Let’s say you only donate one percent of what remains. That means you’d be giving over 3 million dollars to a worthy cause! I’d donate to the Church (and perhaps cherry-pick where that money could be applied) and the American Heart Association. The wife has her own interests, too. Oh, and before I gave one cent I’d check out those websites that rate and rank charities based on bureaucratic overhead (or lack thereof) and make adjustments as necessary. Another thing we’d do is sponsor impoverished children from third-world countries.

6. Recording studio! I’d buy vintage Les Pauls and Strats, a 1969 Gibson SG, top-market six- and twelve-string acoustics, a bass guitar. I’d buy a $5,000 keyboard and hire someone to teach me how to play. Then the studio – soundproofing, booths, mixing boards, speakers, monitors, mics, drums, you name it. Remember that blues album I have between my ears! I’d be able to “self-publish” that, too.

7. Hire a bevy of twenty-something dudeslackers to finish off those thar web sites I never done did git finished.

8. I’d go back to school and get a real degree. In what, you ask? Hmmm. How about physics, astrophysics, higher math, theology, medicine, languages and literature, history, philosophy, philosophy of history, history of philosophy. One after the other, domino-style, but in no particular order.

9. How ’bout some culture? Season tickets to Lincoln Center in NYC is a definite. Plus, the wife and I would see a couple of plays a year on and off-Broadway. And, we’d love to get back to Napa Valley, where we honeymooned. Though this time for a whole month – how many vineyards and wineries could you hit in a month? Enough to kill a liver, so perhaps we better tone that one down. However, and come to think of it, I seem to recall a story about a pair of physicists who started their own winery and became very successful. That’d be something to think about. Yes indeed.

10. Cash Christmas for everyone in my extended family! Gotta love that!

GOOD LUCK!