I am an old guy, retired, finding myself in a mildly desperate financial situation, a situation brought on by my own actions, an old guy desperate to exploit my creative mind. That often leads me into fantasy, and not the fantasy in which you might expect a man to indulge, but in the fantasy of living a better life, a life provided by an imaginary source of funding, usually some sort of lottery.

Living a portion of my life inside that fantasy can relieve the drudgery of real-life, but it also can sometimes butt heads with my real-life goals and expectations. I often find myself considering the possibilities of life-enhancing purchases using a dual-perspective process that involves what is actually possible within the limits of my budget and what would be possible if some life-altering financial windfall should manifest itself in reality.