Say you won the lottery..

[firecat88]

Hmmm....well, first and foremost, before I do something for me, I'd pay back my parents for helping with my college tuition. And then I might give a hefty amount of $$ to the Spina Bifida Association of America.

Just for me, though?

• Trips to the following places: Ireland, New York, Japan, Florida, and Australia
• My own library. It's something of a weird dream of mine to have my own library that's just for me and my friends and family
• Buy every single Miyazaki movie I don't already own
• Get a new phone that has an unlimited texting plan
• Go to Megacon and Metrocon at least once.
• Get some kind of job so I can make a steady income and have the other money left over for all the previously mentioned things.

Beyond all that, I'd pretty much just live my life as normal. I'd still be a diehard bookworm who likes cartoons, sugar, and musicals.

[NateTheChops]

I'd buy a segway and drive naked through stadiums during televised sporting events across the globe shouting "I'm The King of the Castle!"

I don't need to win the lottery to do this. But I'm sure if I did win that much money it would be much easier to arrange it.

[gunsage]

I would do nothing. This obviously requires some explanation. Yes, there are many areas of the United States I've never been to, nevermind nowhere else in the world. Would it be pleasurable to take a world tour? Sure, maybe...but for some reason, it's just not that intriguing to me. As an example, I've been working since mid 2000.

Up until my last job, I never had the opportunity for vacation time. This is because either I wouldn't stay with a job for very long or because the job just didn't offer it. In my last job, I set up my vacation time to hit as soon as the year started. Usually what I'd end up doing is...going to the office. Not to work or rub it in peoples' faces, but because they had an excellent workout facility.

Beyond that? I usually just stayed home, played videogames, wrote articles, worked on various game projects, and whatever. I honestly believe I would make some large purchases, but it would mostly be stuff for my family or other people. I could see myself getting a large house, a nicer car, and so on, but mostly, I'd just stay home and play videogames, every so often opting to go out and hit some bars.

[phantasy]

I'm about to be incredibly selfish, but it feels good to do it, hypothetically.


I would do Lasik eye surgery/braces/boob implants (jk...or am I?? )
I would pay for my husband and his family in the sense of health issues and such.
Then I'd buy a house, complete with insurance and all that crap.
Do the same with a decent car.
Then I'd buy a cello. And a soundproof room so the only ears that will bleed are my own.

I'd send letters to people I've met on the internet. I love handwriting, and letters.
Then I'd travel all over the world and meet people that I've met on the internet (yeah, I'm weird. What?)

Then I'd go study a bunch of random awesome things in university, go back to my high school reunions and rub it in the faces of all my classmates and teachers. (I come from a really low budget high school)
Then...I don't know. Go bungee jumping or something?

[AccountingDrone]

i just saw the pm. thanks for the info! i'm always interested in seeing how fellow cavers gear themselves out. i tend to be pretty hard on my gear, so it seems like i'm always replacing something.

I am going to have him make my service pup's gear when I finally get one, not that I am planning on doing the appalachian trail in a chair like that one guy is doing but I like well made items, and I am thinking purple with white reflectives to match my crutches [and the new chair I am getting I want the purple powder coat] and a custom chair storage bag for when I have to stow it on airplanes.

I always thought it would be fun to buy a small hotel somewhere, refurbish it if it needed it and staff it with people that I could trust. It would be great because the staff would be authorized to have a spine ... with a small pub, and a nice little place to eat. I was thinking Arizona, I need some warmth as these winters that I love so much are hell on my joints now. It would also put us closer to mrDrone's mom and sister, and sisters sproglets[eep, I just realized that the oldest one is going to be hitting 18 soon, it seems like yesterday we gave all 3 of them kazoos for christmas]

Hubby just wandered in and suggested the Goldfield Hotel ... not entirely certain I want a haunted hotel though.

[Solumina]

I'd do the usual paying off all debt type stuff.

New cars all around:
I'd trade in the Forester and get a Legacy for me, trade in J's Aveo and get him a Jeep. I'd get some small-ish SUV or a car with 4 wheel drive and high clearance for my brother and something reliable for my cousin (perhaps a Legacy for her as well). I'd splurge a bit and get J the bike of his dreams (I don't recall what it is but it is a vintage bike that is rather large and has a bit of a reputation for being really hard to start) and I'd give mommy dearest some money to sink into her MG, though I don't think it needs much as she is the original owner and has been pretty good about upkeep, but there are quite a few little things like the zipper on the rag top being replaced.

house stuff:
I'd buy a house in Williamsburg, something in the historic district, but not actually designated a historic come so we could put up a solar water heater, solar panels, and a windmill, with a yard big enough for a small garden and plenty of space for a dog to run around in. Nothing too fancy but with enough space to have a bedroom, a guest room, two offices, and a library, perhaps a craft room. I'd redo the kitchen because I know exactly what I want (hint: lots of tiger maple and copper with a god damn butcher block countertop island, I don't care if other people think it looks bad or dated, I grew up with one and being able to cut/chop/whatever directly on the counter is amazing.)

I'd buy some land in on the lake where some of J's family vacation and build a container house (cheap, good way to reuse old "junk", and fast, plus anything really ostentatious would be really weird on that lake). It would be totally unassuming on the outside but inside would be steam punk heaven (which would cost more than actually putting the house itself together but hey if I have the money I may as well go for it.

I'd also do some repairs on my mom's house and build J's parents dream patio.

Woo vacation!
I'd get J out of this country, he has never been outside of the US and we are going to fix that (lotto or not). We'd go to Ireland for at least a week visiting different cities and towns, another week in Rome, and at least a few days in Tokyo. That is just year 1. There are so many places that we would love to go, I think we would average at least 2 weeks of travel a year.

Pets:
I'd get back into horseback riding, new tack, a horse (most likely a Morgan), and since I'm a bit rusty some lessons would be needed.

A kitty for me and a dog for J, from a shelter of course. One of those self cleaning litter boxes and a nice big cat tree and bunches of toys (though J may play with them as much as the pets will).

A much larger aquarium, like 250 gallons, with top of the line filter/heater/cleaning tools/everything. Some more of the fishies that we already have, so that they can really school and have loads of room to play, but the big difference would be getting loads of live plants. A 2 gallon fishbowl, with loads of bamboo, a couple of snails, and a beta.

Fun stuff:
Desktops for me and J and new laptops.

DSLR for J and of course bunches of lenses.

No new tv for a bit cuz he has an okay one and I want to wait for an OLED, and a decent sized OLED isn’t really on the market.

New clothes, J and I both have difficult bodies to dress off the rack so it would be really nice to be able to alter things to fit well.

Education/work:
I’d finish out my degree going part time and go back to volunteering for abuse shelters.

J could get his masters and phd without having to worry about trying to fit them around work and he could start volunteering at museums.

Honestly adding that all up is well under $1 mill. I guess really there isn’t all that much that I want that I don’t already have or know someone that has it and will let me use theirs. The rest would go to restoring the old school where we had my father’s service, the auditorium where they held community activities burned down on the 1 year anniversary of his passing. $4 million should finish out the restoration fund which would leave me around $150,000-$200,000 in the bank account, which would last us a few years, especially since we wouldn’t need to pay rent or a mortgage, it would be more than enough for J to finish his degrees and then he could be a professor like he has always wanted.

Damn that ended up being long, I guess I have been thinking a lot about money and what I want lately, since everyone has been asking what I picture my future like.

[RetailWorkhorse]

But I'm sure if I did win that much money it would be much easier to arrange it.

You'd also have bail money handy.

Discussed this (for DAYS) with Mom and Dad and they'd get The Dragon's Lair up and running. It's a bar I had planned since I was about 13 years old and Mom's been helping me plan the silly thing for years. Our Waitstaff would be paid minimum wage and I don't care about tips because that's THEIR responsibility to report it if they so choose. It will be a "dual bar", technically two bars in one, one bar for smoking and one bar for non-smoking and I will definitely pay to have it done (the fees and licenses and the KICKASS air filtration system).

When it's up and running and making money, they'll travel during the summer months and I'll run the bar, then switch when Winter comes (because I am NOT gonna be anywhere NEAR snow ever again and Mom and Dad are looking at Colorado for the location).

After that, it's me, my dog, a hammock, all the Jimmy Buffett albums, and an alcohol-free margarita.

[Bella_Vixen]

I'd make sure my Mom has enough money. She's helped me out over the years, and I want to pay her back.

Buy an SUV. I miss my POS Explorer.

Buy my grandma's house. It was built for her and her kids after my grandfather died. When she dies, it's going to be sold. I want it.

Give Becks some money, because she's helped me out a bit.

God, even when I'm selfish, I'm too nice.

[Bandit]

Buy some land adjacent to the local VIA Rail line, and have a siding built.

Design a house so that I can have my own rail station for my own private rail car(s).

For a car, my toy would be an Aston-Martin V8 Vantage (if I could fit in it).

Other than that, probably start my own company doing the telecom thing so I could work when I feel like it.

And, eventually, travel by train on 6 out of 7 continents. Then visit the 7th.

Anything left over will go to fund Lupus research.

B

[Bella_Vixen]

Oh yeah: I'd definitely tour Europe. And hire a translator because I cannot learn new languages to save my life.

[Magpie]

Buy some land adjacent to the local VIA Rail line, and have a siding built.

Design a house so that I can have my own rail station for my own private rail car(s).

Go visit Bandit.