I’m always surprised when I don’t win contests. Not particularly disappointed, just surprised. I figure that someone has to win the contest, and it’s just as likely that it would be me rather than anyone else. Plus, I’m lucky.

A few weeks ago, I entered a contest to win luxury box tickets to the Kentucky Derby, along with $100,000 to place on bets. The winner would be announced today. I placed a reminder on my calendar to check the email account that I use specifically for contests and other online entries. As I opened it, I noticed I had 11 new messages. Oh, excitement! Surely one of them was the confirmation that I had won. As I scanned through them, I noticed that none of them proclaimed I had won the prize. I read through them again, just to make sure I hadn’t skipped over an important message. I checked my spam folder, just to be sure. The winning confirmation wasn’t there either. Completely surprised, and very  excited to be going anyway.