Usually, when I have nothing in mind to blog about, I hit tag surfer and browse blogs based on my queried tags. And that’s what I did today, not having the energy to think, with my swollen gum and almost fractured arm, thanks to my little sister’s shadowboxing.

And thanks to a post I just commented upon, I suddenly remembered I should have had a fat account in some elitist bank in Switzerland.

I remember that day vividly. It was a sweltering afternoon, back in the days when I still had to go to Internet cafes to check me e-mails. I logged in, opened my Yahoo account, and there it was, a sort of golden ticket, informing me that I just won myself roughly 40 million euros.

The veracity of the e-mail  was overwhelming. I was controlling myself from shouting, but I had to verify one thing: for what reason am I given such an enormous amount?

I don’t remember joining any contest, but the e-mail informed me that my e-mail address was included in some charitable raffle, and luckily, my “entry” was electronically drawn among millions of other e-mail addresses.

Then here goes the easy (or hard?) part. To transfer the money, I was asked of my personal information,  a hundred dollar processing fee and my bank account. At that time, and until now, I didn’t have a bank account. And besides, I don’t have a hundred dollars at hand. I considered borrowing money from a once close friend, and being the same greedy person that I was, he obliged. Heck, this once close friend even hacked my mailbox once out of excitement to see further developments of the money transfer. But the bank account never materialized, thanks to my doubts and pseudo-powers of investigation.

As much as I would like to believe that I was about to be capable of buying my dream house, or even a mansion, there were creepers in my head telling me that I shouldn’t dive into this. The e-mail was too good to be true. What would I do with such an amount? I want to get rich, but not this type of rich.

I replied for further information regarding the matter, and the succeeding e-mails only fortified evidences of my instant winnings. That is if you would only base the matter on the e-mail itself and let your stupidity, greed, and gullibility distract you from your better senses.

I have a head of my own, and I wouldn’t graduate in my high school class as the valedictorian if I didn’t have good research skills. Yes, there were phone numbers, there were powerful (?) people and organizations for references, there were official websites, and bingo! They didn’t have permit numbers form the Dutch “chamber of commerce.”

These, according to the person e-mailing me, were confidential data. Ha! Permit numbers are blatantly shown in every contest and raffle for whatever purpose they may serve. When they couldn’t disclose this information to me, I knew I was gaining confidence, yet losing hope as well. They even threatened to redraw  the raffle if I wouldn’t give in the required information in a month. But I was unwavering. With a clear head, and heavy heart, I deleted all the e-mails from this person that cluttered my mailbox.

So what if they had credible people behind their backs? These people might not have any idea of this raffle. So what if they have official websites? Anyone can construct one nowadays, thanks to those guide books and online tutorials. And so what if they gave me phone numbers? They only hung up on people like me who are trying to get an assurance that they are really instant millionaires.

Instead, I ended up as a wannabe millionaire. But wait, I still have another 100 million dollars waiting for me. I still receive such e-mails.