$856 Million, Lucky 8s, and My Fraternity Lottery Dictatorship

The Powerball jackpot has climbed to $856 million, with the next drawing on Saturday, August 8, 2026 (8/8/26).

Now, I think the number 8 is considered lucky in Mandarin. I'm not entirely sure. I speak approximately three words of Mandarin, and two of them are probably pronounced wrong.

Still... 8/8? I'll take all the luck I can get.

I've also made an executive decision for the fraternity lottery pool. We've doubled the buy-in from $10 to $20 per person, which means twice the tickets and slightly better odds of one of us becoming completely unemployable.

To keep everyone informed, I've been posting the ever-changing odds in our Discord channel based on how many brothers are playing. It's educational. It's transparent. It's probably the most math some of us have done since college.

There has been one other policy change.

After weeks of organizing the pool, collecting money, driving to Harris Teeter, buying tickets, photographing them, and sending updates, one particularly ungrateful fraternity brother has been permanently promoted to... former participant.

Congratulations!

Your lottery odds with my pool are now exactly 0.000000%.

It's amazing how quickly the Fraternity Lottery Commissioner can become the Fraternity Lottery Dictator.

Long live the Commissioner.

Good luck to everyone else. If we win $856 million, drinks are on me.

Well... probably not. That's how people stay rich.

Join the fun on NielFlamm.com/blog.

$786 Million and a Lesson in Fraternity Economics

If you've been following along, you know I've somehow become the unofficial Commissioner of the Fraternity Lottery Pool.

With the Powerball jackpot sitting at $786 million, it seemed like the responsible thing to do. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.)

Over the past few weeks, I've been collecting money, organizing who is in and who is out, driving to the local Harris Teeter, standing in line, buying stacks of South Carolina Lottery tickets, photographing them, keeping track of everything, and sending the group updates.

At one point, I walked up to the counter and bought $200 worth of lottery tickets.

The cashier gave me that look.

You know the one.

The look that says, "Sir... are we okay?"

Yes, we're okay.

No, gambling isn't one of my problems.

If anything, my problem is volunteering for too many projects.

The funny part is that after all the work that goes into organizing this little adventure, a few of the fraternity brothers have started sounding a bit... ungrateful.

Who knew that trying to make everyone a millionaire could become a thankless job?

Maybe I should charge a convenience fee.

Or a ticket-handling fee.

Or an emotional support fee.

We'll see where this goes. The Lottery Commissioner may be considering early retirement before anyone actually wins enough to retire.

Stay tuned.

There may be more to come.

Until then, if our numbers hit tonight, I promise not to hold a grudge.

Probably.

Some People Just Don’t Give a F’!!! Twice in One Day—What Is Going On?

Is it a full moon? Did someone taint the water? Is the zombie apocalypse about to begin?

I went to see Spider— the video vlog review is coming later—and caught the first sign of civilization’s collapse in the parking lot.

I’m parked on the left, neatly between the lines. On the right is a Cadillac CT4 doing…well, you can see for yourself.

Later, I went to my local Harris Teeter to buy 85 Powerball tickets for the fraternity Powerball pool—more on that adventure later—and witnessed something even more baffling.

I drove by twice because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

An older gentleman had parked nowhere near the lines and left the hatch wide open. Look closely: nobody is inside the car. Nobody is standing nearby. Nothing. Eventually, I watched him make his way back to the vehicle on one of those electric shopping carts.

At that point, I knew the universe was trying to tell me something.

I’m buying MREs and driving to the middle of nowhere—right after I vlog about Superman, write about Nextdoor, and check the fraternity pool and my solo Powerball tickets.

Priorities, people. Priorities.

I Was Offended… Apparently I’m a Senior Now

Today, I was offended.

Not by politics.

Not by social media.

Not even by hospital cafeteria coffee.

No… I was personally attacked by kindness.

I stopped by Harris Teeter on Ben Sawyer in Mount Pleasant to grab lunch before heading to the hospital to spend time with my mom. It wasn’t exactly a gourmet feast—a sandwich, a Coke Zero, a KitKat, and yes… a chocolate chip cookie.

Before anyone starts judging my nutritional choices, remember… hospitals burn emotional calories.

I rolled up to the self-checkout and hadn’t even entered my alternate ID or scanned my first item when a very pleasant Harris Teeter employee walked over and said:

“Let me give you an additional discount.”

Now we’re talking!

I’m thinking maybe it’s Customer Appreciation Day.

Maybe they liked my smile.

Maybe they recognized my dazzling personality.

I happily started scanning each item while the self-checkout AI watched me like I was starring in CSI: Grocery Store. Every beep felt like I was proving my innocence.

Finally, I hit Pay.

That’s when I saw it.

Senior Discount.

…Excuse me?

Senior?

Who?

Me?

Are you absolutely serious?

I thought I looked pretty good for my age. Half Asian genes are supposed to buy you extra time before aging catches up. We don’t gently age—we apparently hit the wall decades later… and then gravity just wins in one spectacular weekend.

Sure, I qualify for an AARP membership.

But I always viewed that as more of a suggestion than an identity.

Now I’m wondering if I should start saying things like, “Back in my day…”

Should I begin eating dinner at 4:15?

Am I required to complain about gas prices and the weather?

Should I start carrying hard candy in my pockets?

I guess the next logical step is downloading the OurTime dating app.

Apparently, society has spoken.

On the bright side…

If someone wants to save me money because they think I’ve earned enough birthdays, who am I to argue?

I’ll take the discount.

But I’m still recovering emotionally.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go yell at some kids to stay off my lawn.

…The lawn I don’t even have.

Getting older is weird.

At least the Coke Zero was still full price.