Everyone goes home for Chinese New Year. I didn’t.

For Chinese New Year in China, most people go home to their families. This year, I didn’t. A week before the holiday, I bought 30 scratch lottery tickets in Shanghai and decided to let luck determine my New Year dinner. If I lost, it would probably be instant noodles at home. If I won, maybe I could afford a proper holiday meal. So I sat down and scratched them one by one. This video follows the entire process — all 30 tickets, the small wins, the long losing streak, and the moment when it finally turned around. After a difficult year of losing my job and starting over in a new city, this felt like a strangely honest way to end the year. Sometimes rebuilding life doesn’t look dramatic. Sometimes it’s just sitting at a table, scratching tickets, and hoping the next year might bring a little more luck. ⸻ Chapters 00:00 Chinese New Year is coming 00:12 Buying 30 scratch tickets 00:38 The first ticket 01:20 Early wins and losses 03:05 Halfway through the stack 05:10 Still losing 07:40 Maybe luck will show up 09:20 The final tickets 10:55 The result 11:30 New Year dinner ⸻ About Eric I spent 15 years working in Big Tech (Content & Growth). Fired at 40. Now rebuilding my life while documenting the reality of starting over. Sometimes it’s city walks. Sometimes it’s strange experiments like this one. #ChineseNewYear #LivingAlone #StartingOver #ShanghaiLife #SoloLife #UrbanLoneliness #BigCityLife #LifeAfterLayoff #RebuildingLife #PersonalStory