I’ve been blogging about a happy journey I’d like to take, living my life as though I’d already won the lottery. 

You can find the previous blogs HERE and HERE.  The first is about the initial spending frenzy that would accompany that kind of large windfall, including photos of the house and car I’d buy.  Not exactly the Beverly Hillbillies’ mansion or Prince’s “Little Red Corvette”, but still, they’re exactly what I’d want.

The second blog deals more with how I’d start living my life, as I start to attempt to take better care of myself. Not much point in having that kind of money if I weren’t going to be around long enough to enjoy it, right?

One of the first things I’d really like to do, and I hope I really would make it one of the first things, is to put my money where my mouth is, and lend a hand to some of those causes I believe in.

These days I do what I can, and if I had a sudden influx of ludicrous amounts of cash, it would be very easy to whip out my checkbook or my Amex Plutonium card and make donations with scarcely a second thought.

I think that would be missing the point a bit, though.  Granted, the one thing most charitable organizations need is money, but I also think many of them could also use actual personal involvement.  Time.  And even without the wealth, I still manage to, as Pink Floyd said, “Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way.”  With money to burn, literally, I can see that getting easier and easier to do.

I’ve long been a fan of William Shatner.  A few years ago, I read his autobiography “Up Till Now” and was really taken with the story of his Hollywood Charity Horseshow.  For those who don’t know, Shatner came to be involved with this when he learned how severely handicapped children could somehow be reached by horses, even when no other kind of physical therapy worked.  Children who couldn’t even hold their heads up would ride the horse, taking them through intricate exercises, and this animal therapy seemed to make a difference, where all others had failed.

I was really moved by this, and the way William Shatner became involved.  He didn’t just throw money at this problem.  Instead, he worked to build it into an annual event that raises money and awareness, featuring major sponsors and a long list of musical guests who donate their time and talent to the proceedings (including Sheryl Crow, Randy Travis and Ben Folds to name a few).  Joe Walsh of the Eagles is this year’s musical guest. I don’t sing.  Unless I’m in my car.  Alone.  Driving very fast.  I imagine a grateful public is breathing a sigh of relief at that, particularly if you’ve been unlucky enough to hear me croak out a line or two of “White Christmas”.  Or Elvis’ “Blue Christmas”, for that matter.
However, William Shatner does sing (though some may wish to debate that).  And because I also run a Christmas station and love Christmas music, I knew that he had recorded a version of “Good King Wenceslas” for KROQ in L.A. some twenty years ago.  I thought it would be a great idea, and a way to make some money for his charity, to finally release that song to the public.

He was fine with that idea, and I was amazed at the array of talent that also agreed to lend songs to the effort (including previously unreleased tunes from Huey Lewis, Richard Marx and Stephen Bishop)! 

The album made a bit of a splash, but being new to this, I wasn’t able to bring about the publicity needed to really make it as big as I’d hoped.  I’m still trying, of course, but as difficult as the music biz is, it’s even harder to sell Christmas music in April.

Besides, this isn’t really about me.  Sure, if I did win the lottery, I’d pump money into my record label.  But what could I be doing now to support the causes I want to support without that kind of capital?

I can try to raise some awareness about it.  I can let people know how they can help, even if they aren’t able to attend this year’s show.  That’s something I’d be doing if my bank account balance had six or seven extra zeroes (to the left of the decimal).  And it’s something I can do right now, even when my account balance is tiny enough that I can’t withdraw anything from an ATM.

This year’s Hollywood Charity Horse Show is coming up this weekend, Saturday April 28.  It’s at the L.A. Equestrian Center in Burbank.  Tickets are $300 (and there are VIP tickets that include Meet-and-Greet with William Shatner for $400).

If you think it’s a worthwhile cause, you can still help, even without buying tickets.  I don’t know about you, but $300-$400 is a little steep for me at the moment. 

The event starts at 5:00pm with a silent auction, and you don’t have to have a ticket to go to that.  At 5:30pm, there’s an arena show, which is also free.  That’s followed by the dinner and performance by Joe Walsh, and you do need tickets for those.  Still, if you live in or near the area, you can check out the auction and the arena show for free.

If you want to make a donation, even as little as $1, you can do that here.  That’s also where you can buy tickets.  If you just want to find out more about the Horseshow, you can do that HERE.

There are other causes I’d like to help if I had the money, like SWEET RELIEF and DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS, among other,  Since I’m trying to live like I already won the lottery, I’m going to try and figure out some other ways I can help them, too.

I’d be glad to hear your ideas, both about causes you’d like to support (or already do), and ways to do that when you can’t just whip out your checkbook!

Ken

P.S. - Hi Marvin!  It's all there - the happy journey, Pink Floyd and color songs ("Little Red Corvette", "White Christmas" and "Blue Christmas")!

Just a quick note.  Please don't be jealous.  I just wanted to show everyone how much Lisa loves me!

My wish for everyone who reads this is that you have someone in your life who loves you enough to take you to see the Three Stooges!

Ken

Last week, I wrote about an idea I had about living my life like I already won the lottery.

You can read that HERE.

I know there would be an initial shopping frenzy and a series of trips.  There would be a slew of charitable donations and other causal support.  And there would be lots of gift-buying.  I’d eat in some of the most amazing restaurants in the country, possibly in the world.  And I’d also go to regional places that I just love.  You may not think of Bojangles as the kind of place a millionaire would frequent, but for me, the aroma of their spicy chicken and Cajun fries is more pleasing than Chanel No. 5.  Or any of the other Chanels, for that matter.

What would day-to-day life be like?  Sure, I’d pump money into my station and my label, and I’ve no doubt that I would write.  And I’d probably insulate myself a bit, not burning bridges but just not being quite so accessible.

But how would I live?  What would I do differently than what I’m doing right now?

I tried to imagine what a day in that kind of life would be like.  And one of the first things that came to me was that if I was bestowed with sudden-wealth, I would sleep in almost every day.  Seems a little too easy, but wouldn’t you?  If you were only working for yourself, wouldn’t you ditch the alarm clock and treat yourself to a luxury that, let’s face it, most of us rarely get to engage in once we’re out in the Real World.

I don’t mean that I’d sleep my life away.  Not at all.  But I tend to work a lot these days.  And I’ve been existing on 5-6 hours of sleep a night, making up a little of it when the weekend rolls around.  If you’ve ever done that, you know that you really never make it up.  Maybe a little, but you don’t have replenish the deficit.

How decadent would a seriously good night’s sleep be?  I have thought that if sleeping ever became an Olympic sport, I could do my country proud.  But I’m not suggesting a marathon.  Just a series of stellar nights of 7-8 hours of restful sleep.

I still have kids, and other responsibilities, so I may not be able to do that every night after I win the lottery.  But I’m pretty sure I could do it more often than not.  And it would be one of the luxuries I could have that wouldn’t cost a cent.

So why not do it now?

Well, I can’t really ditch the alarm clock.  But I can adjust my schedule a bit.  Make myself more of a priority.  There are all kinds of studies that come out, and keep coming out, tying lack of sleep to all kinds of health problems.  And if I had millions in the bank, or in the vault behind the Rembrandt in my study, or piled on the floor so I can just roll around in it, I’d want to live long enough to enjoy it, right?

And it isn’t just about me.  Getting more sleep is a way to take better care of myself, which might help me stay around a little longer for those who like having me around.  On those rare occasions when I have had sufficient sleep, I feel better, think better, behave better.  I’m better to be around, and I treat others better.

So I’ve started doing this, and it’s already paying off big dividends.  I may work just a little less, but I’m more productive when I do work.  I still have all the same daily responsibilities – work-stress, kid-stress and sometimes just regular old life-stress.  But my attitude is different, which makes EVERYTHING different.

For the last week or week-and-a-half, I’ve gotten an average of seven-and-a-half hours of sleep a night.  I can’t quite do this every time.  I still overwork and get occasionally overwhelmed by the job, the bills and the other stuff that we all have to deal with.  But overall, I feel better.  None of the day-to-day stuff seems so drowning to me.  I feel like I just might be able to handle it.  In fact, I feel better than that.

I feel like a million bucks.

Ken

P.S. - Hi Marvin!  It's all there, Stellar Nights, perfume (Chanel#5) and burning bridges!

I think about the lottery a lot.

After last week, when the Mega Millions jackpot climbed to a record-setting $640 million, many of us were thinking about it. It’s hard not to.  I heard that even best-selling novelist Anne Rice bought tickets.

For me, though, the lottery hasn’t been a once in a while kind of thing, where I only think about it when the jackpot pushes up into the nine digit range.  It’s something that probably crosses my mind every few days.

I think about things I’d like to do, places I want to visit and, of course, things I’d like to have.  It’s not all just a materialist, or even hedonistic, series of stuff I want.  I also think about people and causes I’d like to help.  I think most of us do that, and would help those we could.

I mean, $640 million is a lot of money.  I could be quite comfortable, and so could my family and friends, and still have plenty left over to try and make a difference, or even just support others who are making a difference.

And I’ve thought about all this often enough, that I even have a plan.

I know how I’d split up whatever amount I won. I know how I’d take myself off the grid, or at least far enough off to protect my family. I know the bills I’d pay off, the things I’d fix and the things I’d replace.

I got interested in the lottery when I lived in Florida.  It was the first state I’d lived in that had a lottery.  I came up with a secret system that I was sure would work.  While I don’t want to give it away, I can tell you that it cleverly involved the birthdays of loved ones.

Ingenious, right?  I bet no one else has ever thought of that!

Shockingly, though, that didn’t work.  In fact, it kind of backfired on me.  Se I played the same numbers.  Twice a week.  Then, one week I didn’t get tickets in time.  And I was sure that my numbers were going to come up.  What a nightmare.

I actually watched the drawing that night, in a cold sweat.  Thankfully, my numbers didn’t come up.  I can’t imagine how sick I would have been if they had.

From that point on, I only played quick picks, letting the computer randomly pick my numbers.  Not really a system, I know.  But it got the lottery monkey off my back.

So I play once in a while.  I’m not a fair-weather player, only getting tickets when the jackpot is humongous.  And I’m not a twice-a-week player, either.  Just once in a while, every so often, when the stars are in alignment and the universe seems in harmony.  And when I’m at a 7-11 or gas station with a few one’s in my pocket.

I play the lottery for the same reason I think most of us do.  I’m not stupid.  I do get that the odds of winning are almost exactly the same whether you buy a ticket or not.  But on those days when things are rough – when the job’s getting to me and the car is in the shop and the mailman brings nothing but bills – it gives me a little hope.  It gives me a chance to dream. 

Actually, for a few bucks, it buys me a dream.  For the entertainment value alone, it’s worth it to me.

I think there are a lot of us in the same boat.  We have different reasons for playing.  Some altruistic.  Some purely selfish.  And most, probably somewhere in the middle.

I’ve envisioned myself winning.  Making the calls to those I’d cut in.  Celebrating.  Buying stuff.  Taking trips.  Sprucing up my life.  Being a good steward of my new-found wealth and helping others.

But then what?  After several months or even a year of crazy spending and traveling and celebrating.  What would I do?  I’m sure there’s only so long I could lay in a hammock, alternately watching the ocean and reading my Kindle.  I’m pretty sure.

So what then?  How would I live this new life?

Lots of people say that this kind of money would bring its own host of problems.  Since I already have a host of my own problems, I feel like that’s a trade I’d be willing to make.  I’d have to get smarter about money, and find appropriate help to grow and protect my investments, portfolio, etc.

And I’d need to figure some other things out.  Do I write?  Do I pour money into my record label and my station?  Do I invest in some new kind of career/hobby?

Big questions, but that seems a little superficial to me.  I should look deeper.

I’d like to think I’d work on being a better person.  Not that money would make me a better person.  But it might give me the time I don’t have now for more things that really matter.

Like my family.  And my friends.  I work so much now that I feel like I rarely have much time for either.

I’d make time for causes I care about.  Not just writing a check, but actually doing something to help make a difference.  I don’t know exactly what that is, but I would be able to spend the time finding out.

I’d also take better care of myself.  I’d eat better.  I’d exercise.  I mean, it wouldn’t make much sense if I finally had the time to do those other things, and then shortened the time because I couldn’t change some of the behavior that’s not so good for me.

It’s a little hard to see past all the spending that would happen after the initial windfall, but in looking at some of these things, I get the feeling that I could actually start doing some of them today.

I could be living like I already won the lottery.

Okay, I couldn’t replace my ’98 Chrysler with a brand new Camaro convertible.  And I couldn’t fly my family out to specially rented cottages at the Hotel Del Coronado.  And I couldn’t buy my own ocean front property and have this house custom-built for me.

But I could start working on those things that I’d do after all that stuff.  Change my attitude.  Change my lifestyle.  Change my life.

Live like I’ve already won the lottery.

I’m sure it’s easier said than done.  And I’m going to use this blog to flesh out the idea.  This can be like a diary of my journey.  Change is rarely easy, but having an outlet to chart progress, and sound out ideas, might make it a little less difficult.

I think first, I need to get past the initial spending.  Maybe make a list of, I what I’d first do.  With that out of the way, it might be a little easier to get to the next step.

I think one of the first things I’d buy would be a new car.  I love my Sebring, but it’s ready to be passed down and loved by someone else.  So I think I’d get this...

I’ve no doubt there are cars with better this or better that.  But it would be my money and this is what I want.

How about you?  What’s the first extravagant thing you’d allow yourself to buy if you suddenly had that kind of windfall?

I look forward to seeing if anyone else has thought about this, probably not to the extent I have, but still, if it’s rolled around your brain once or twice, please join in! 

And, of course, I’d welcome any insight anyone else has to give.  Suggestions, encouragement and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated.  Comments intended to mock, ridicule or offend will be removed (practice your Freedom of Speech on your own blog).

Ken