You won’t win if you don’t play, is an expression I have heard a good bit from people that play the Lotto. While I do 
admit to being an occasional Lotto player myself, I am not counting on the Lotto to fund my retirement. But what I enjoy most most is the time between buying my tickets and checking my numbers…. until those numbers are checked…. it still could be me with the winning number combination! This possibility of hope is founded as long as I played!
Since I have been on disability, I do not have a lot to hope for day to day other than hoping for a good day, a break from disabling Multiple Sclerosis, or do I? I have discovered online sweepstakes. I enter as many as I can. There are some that require help from friends. 
There was one for me to win a new shed, friends could vote that the shed we did have was original and creative – it is a 18-wheeler trailer that Dad took the wheels off of and added a storm door! lol Instant shed. At the end of the contest, our shed had the most votes, but we will have to see if the judges agree! I should know soon if I won. But like the time between buying a ticket and checking the numbers, so was the anticipation to check each day to see if my vote count had increased, had my friends and family taken the time to “help” me possibly win.
The new sweeps I am asking help with is “about.me”. It is a site that for me is like an online directory. This one site has quick links to all of the other places I “am” on the web – including this blog. It also links my facebook and twitter. As my presence online grows, I will include them on my about.me page (www.about.me/thomasjohnston). 
In the about.me contest, the winner will receive a trip to New York City and be featured on a billboard in Times Square. Not since my early 1980s modeling days with Nunnery’s and Our Gang or being photographed by Barry Boyd and Tuminello’s Photography have I been a possible model on a Times Square billboard!! lol (long ago days at that).
After 24 hours in the about.me sweeps, I was in the top 10%…. then 48 hours I was in the top 5%, but now I have stalled in the top 5%. I have 245 friends on facebook and yet when I post to go vote for me on facebook … I am lucky if 5 go to actually vote. 😦 
I have received a few compliments on my writing, but to date – NO ONE has felt the need to used the paypal button to donate and encourage my efforts financially! lol So I need to find a way to be more persuasive with my writing. I am finding it difficult to get friends to simply click one link then click vote (it does not even require anyone to enter an e-mail lol). 
I have had over 8,500 people view my blog in the last year, but only 9 have been persuaded to subscribe to my blog. So now I will ask the few that read this post to this point to maybe comment on how I may persuade friends to vote, subscribe or possibly even donate. I NEED a NYC Times Square billboard appearance! lol 😉
I will anxiously check each day to see how many hits I get for this post, how many votes I get in the sweeps and enjoy the moments of hope that comes with each. Although it can be discouraging at times it is what keeps me aspiring to be more. With feedback, help and encouragement from my readers…. I’ll find winning numbers one day! But it can’t be said I won’t win if I don’t play – I am PLAYING!!
Thomas Johnston 