It's back to work for Shawn MacDonald even if this morning he is Canada's newest multi-millionaire.
"No, I have no plans to change any of that," the 33-year-old federal civil servant said yesterday as he picked up a check for $7.5 million.
"I'll just live my life as I always did."
MacDonald, originally from Cape Breton but now working for the immigration department of the federal government in Halifax, picked up a ticket for last Friday's Atlantic Lottery Super 7 draw during a visit to a mall.
He usually spends about $5 on tickets most weeks, because "you never know what can happen."
A check on ALC's website shortly after Friday's draw proved to MacDonald that, even with odds of about 20 million to one, anything can indeed happen. He was a winner, and a big winner at that.
His lucky numbers 2, 8, 33, 36, 38, 44, 47 and bonus number 3 - were generated at random by the ticket machine.
"I was in utter shock," MacDonald said after receiving his check at ALC's Moncton headquarters.
"I kept reading them over and over and over again. I just knew it had to be a mistake."
MacDonald called to his girlfriend of the past two years to confirm what his eyes were telling him but which his brain was refusing to believe. But it was true, Cheryl Beesley confirmed for him. Even better was the news that only one winning ticket was sold in all of Canada, so MacDonald gets the entire jackpot.
He still had trouble believing he had won even after hearing on the radio that the single winning ticket had been purchased at the lotto booth in Halifax's Scotia Square Mall, where he bought his ticket.
He kept the ticket in his wallet, not wanting to let it out of his sight.
"I checked it every 20 minutes, probably."
MacDonald was still having trouble coping with the reality of his good fortune yesterday, even as he held the check in his hand.
"Everybody around me will benefit from this," he said, promising to share with his family who cheered loudly as he accepted the money.
"It's just surreal. I never really won anything in my life."
In fact, the only lottery winnings MacDonald could recall was a $120 prize about five years ago.
Despite his vow not to let the money change him, there will be two major purchases in MacDonald's near future: a car and a house.
"I've lived in an apartment long enough," he said, relating how he and Beesley had been considering buying a home in Halifax but had been dissuaded, so far, by the high prices.
That's no longer an issue.
The couple also had firm plans on how they would spend the rest of yesterday after picking up their check.
"I'm heading to the bank," MacDonald said, "then I'm going to relax."
It must be a very very cool jo
If you have a job you love you should keep it, but if you dont, then go find something you love and do it!
That sounds about right.