I am not a lucky person … never have been, in fact.  When it comes to things like random draws, I can remember only one occasion in which I won anything even remotely substantial.  It happened when I was approximately four or five years old, and the prize was a ten-pound bag of flour.  My mom was pretty impressed with the victory, but I was not particularly amused.  Since then, the best that I have been able to manage has been on the order of a free lottery ticket, or a $5 prize.  But yesterday, for the briefest of moments, all that changed.

The dojo at which I study martial arts recognizes the anniversary of its inception every year by inviting students, friends, and family to spend a Saturday celebrating with us.  We do some training – each attendee who has attained a rank of shodan or higher is invited to demonstrate a technique from his or her school of study for the remainder of those present.  Another part of the celebration – the part to which most attendees look forward the most, I think – is the tameshigiri.  We (by “we” I mean the dojo students) spend several classes before the anniversary celebration cramping the living shit out of our hands by rolling and soaking an endless number of tatami omote and then spend the day itself hacking the living shit out of the mats we prepared so painstakingly.

So … to the point.  Another part of the celebration involves a draw for those students who participated in the tameshigiri.  For each mat purchased and cut, one ballot is placed in a bin on that student’s behalf, and at the end of the day a number of winning ballots are chosen.  This year’s grand prize turned out to be a ninjatō brought back from Japan by one of my fellow students.  To my surprise, the number that was chosen turned out to be one of the three entered for the mats that I’d cut, and it turns out that I am now the owner of a brand new sword.

I guess that I’m going to have to buy a lottery ticket quickly. Before the luck wears off.