I was a grad student in Chemistry and our laboratory planned to listen to the radio as the numbers were read. (I was 1-A and slated to go….) I got stuck in traffic on Park Ave. and arrived late after the lottery had started–the numbers were already up to 30-something. Nobody obviously was focused on my birth date, so nobody knew if mine had been called. But, what were the chances? The night wore on, and my birthday was not called. I was getting pretty down and made plans to go to a local sports bar (remember this was pre-internet, so I planned to look up my low number the next morning). Just before I left, my birthdate was announced–number 354! Went to the bar as planned, and it was the strangest experience. About half the people had very high numbers and were celebrating, and about half were tying one on in discouragement.
