Unofficially, I think I made it through — thanks to all of you

To my surprise, I woke up this morning to find myself poised within one of the top five positions. I know how that sounds, and I promise it has nothing to do with something my wife would rather not talk about and even sooner just forget. I’m referring to the Performance of the Year voting that began last night at The Public Blogger, where I’m one of 11 nominees for this year’s award. I’m the only humorist in a collective that includes artists, poets, photographers, writers and singer/songwriters. I’ve always been a strong believer in the importance of humor, so to be counted among this group of talented artists from around the globe sort of validates something I’ve said all along:

Humorists can make a difference, especially if they have a current food handler’s card.

Though it’s still a couple of hours until voting ends at 10 a.m. (PST), it looks as though I will make it through the first round of elimination, barring a tie and the need for a dance-off. For everyone whose email and Facebook alerts exploded yesterday from all of my posts showcasing the other 10 nominees, I truly thank you for your patience and participation — and especially your support. According to The Public Blogger, this event had the largest opening-day numbers since the site was established three years ago. Given that the traffic I had here yesterday was nearly equal to being Freshly Pressed, I have to believe all of you had something to do with that opening-day success. Plus, I used the tag “boobs” in all of yesterday’s posts (A trick I learned from Chris De Voss over at Long Awkward Pause.)

My wife was the first to point out that I was in the top five, after scrambling down the stairs with her iPad mini and jumping up and down saying “You’re going to make it through the first round!” I smiled and continued watching her jump up and down with excitement, thinking to myself how special she is, and how long I should wait to remind her she didn’t have any clothes on.

So, I also have all of you to thank for that as well.

All kidding aside, I was truly blown away by all of the Facebook sharing, Tweets and posts (and one Myspace link from someone called LUVMONKEY) yesterday. When this all started last week, I have to admit I was a little uncomfortable soliciting votes from you because I don’t ever want to abuse the privilege of having you here. To see so much support from so many people is truly wonderful and deeply humbling. I write for a living and I can’t find the words.

Thank you for that.

As the eliminations continue over the next several weeks, and the winner is announced Dec. 30, I will keep you up to date. And if you can get my wife to jump up and down again a few more times along the way, all the better.

In the meantime, here’s a quick rundown of the nominees in case you still want to vote. The polls are open until 10 a.m. (PST), with the first elimination to be announced at noon today. The link is below…

You Can Vote Here [voting has closed]

UPDATE:

The votes were totaled at noon and, thanks to you all, I was much more than “safe” from elimination…

Wow… Just — WOW. Thank all of you so much for the amazing support. This totally and truly knocked my socks off (In case you were wondering what that smell was…) So it’s on to round two with the remaining 10 nominees as we continue eliminations each week until the winner is announced Dec. 30. It’s going to be a long road with new challenges each week. I’ll update you along the way and, regardless of how long you’re willing to continue this journey in my pursuit of “Performance of the Year” (especially with that stinky foot thing I have), please know how much I appreciate each and every one of you for helping get me this far.

You are truly amazing…