DV-2018 - Not Selected
I'm not that entushiastic anymore...for me 2-3 more year's and that's it, i'll give up. I'll move west europe and go on with my life.
I see the guys with 14-16 lottery participations, i don't know how you do it. I belive that this is verified and not a true lottery somehow. Maybe i am to angry with it all.
Good luck to all the winners! I'm really happy for you guys.
What does it mean to give up? It takes 5 minutes once a year to enter, it's not like you're actively doing anything. You just have to keep your expectations incredibly low, under no circumstance count on winning, and get used to seeing "not selected". I've seen that screen every year since I turned 18, 12 years in a row now. It's routine for me and I don't really think about it too much. I would honestly be amazed if I was ever selected, it would be next to a miracle. I mean the chance is between 1% and 2% which means you win between once every 50 and once every 100 years, so I am far from a statistical anomaly. I've lost 12 years in a row and I expect to lose for at least another 20 years before I start to feel like I have below average luck. It's much more likely I'll have permanent residence in the US thru another means by then, or the lottery will get canceled or the world/America will end before I win this lottery. You can easily play for 80 years and not win. How anyone wins is beyond me honestly, I keep reading about winners, I've met a few, and I am amazed considering there is a 98-99% chance of losing. I don't think most fully realize how lucky they are.
There's also a statistics reality which is that every year your chances reset. I was recently made aware of that. I thought the more I played the higher my chances became over time, but that's completely incorrect. It's called gambler's fallacy. Basically, there's a certain chance that you'll win once in the next X years, but once you've lost X years in a row, your chance the next year is the same as everyone else's - 1-2%. So if you've played for 20 years and lost, don't think you have a leg up on anyone else.
Anyone who seriously counts on this lottery for hope in his/her life or for a source of motivation is really doing themselves a disservice and is bound to live in disappointment for a very long time. If you want to move to America, go study there and then try to get a work visa or do MAVNI or fall in love, or get a job with a multinational company in your country and then get transferred to the US, something like that. And in the meantime, do play the lottery, but as soon as you enter forget about it and follow thru with your plans as normal. You gotta get serious, otherwise you can die trying with this lottery.
I typed way too much. Oh well, it's that day of year.
See you in October.