Are You Feeling Lucky?

Last week my wife and I got to see the movie "Wicked: For Good" at a free screening. We received 3 tickets and brought our youngest daughter who is in her 30's. While I enjoyed the Broadway play, I found the movie to appeal more towards a female audience and suffered through it. I know my wife and daughter loved it so I attended with them. They came out extolling the virtues of the film while all of the men in the audience came out shaking their heads saying, "What a weird movie." When I mentioned that to my wife, she said it appeals to women because the two primary characters experience what 90% of girls in high school do. That seemed like a good enough reason for me not to question her logic.

This morning I received another invitation to a free screening for the same movie. I do not plan to attend but I sent it out on our family text message stream should anyone else in the family be interested in seeing it for free. Perhaps my daughter-in-law wants to see it a second time or something.

This got me thinking about a study I once read regarding people that feel lucky. The study organizers asked a group of people to come in and answer a bunch of questions. The question book contained a message to study participants to show the message to the organizers and they would receive actual money. I think it amounted to something like $50 but I could be wrong. At the end of the study, the same people that claimed to be lucky happened to be the same ones that received money. Those that claimed to be unlucky missed out on the extra cash. The takeaway from the study is that sometimes people are not more nor less lucky, they are just more observant.

Being more observant is very important in today's society. While I received an invitation to a free screening, I also received an invitation to participate in a number of scams this morning. Your powers of observation will allow you to determine legitimate offers and bogus ones. 

I remember once getting a call from a guy telling me I had won a free Samsung tablet. He immediately blurted out that I really had won something and not to hang up thinking it might be a scam. I remembered entering the contest and after a bit of conversation provided the necessary details for them to send me the tablet. Fortunately I didn't have to provide much more than my physical address as asking for personal information such as my Social Security Number would have been a deal breaker.

There are lots off opportunities out there and it just takes a bit of careful research. You might get free movie tickets or even a free tablet. The trick is to ask the right questions and use your common sense.