Launching a Career (We Hope)

UPDATE RE THE VOTING:  I hate it when my information is faulty.  Apparently now the voting is not until 9 p.m. tonight, but it goes through Saturday, so don't worry.  Just please do vote. 

First off, before I get started with the meat of this post, as of the last check-in from Doug yesterday, our little fund was up to $1,400 already this morning, 47 donors; $1576.00 total.  Keep up the great work!  We'll reach our dreams yet!

I know some people come here for news of the garden, so I will oblige those folks with a photo of what came out of same the day before yesterday.  We are big salad eaters in this house....

...which is a good thing right now.  It looks like we'll be eating nothing but salads for the rest of the week.  We have here two wonderful varieties of lettuce:  "Oliver" Butterhead and "Red Silvia" Romaine. I got the seeds for both of them at The Cook's Garden last spring, and they are terrific.  Yummmm.

And pardon me if I stifle a laugh at this next one.  Some people (do you really?!) come here to [hope to] see some knitting.  Well, believe it or not, there IS some knitting.  I know:  Life is like a box of chocolates. 

I still need to camouflage it slightly, but here it is -- a pitcher of knittin'. 

I don't think I mentioned, it's super-soft, superfine alpaca.  Soooo luscious. 

And now, see this guy?  <---click for his website

Kinda cute, huh?  He's been like a member of our family for about four years now, and I like him a lot (so does Abigail), so I take quite an interest in his success. 

Well, here I have news, and also a big favor to ask of you.  Gawd help them, they both are actors. Not one, but two starving artists trying to make it in this world.  Ryan has a year's head start on Abigail, since he graduated from college a year before she did and has lived in New York since that time.  I am very proud of his never-flagging efforts to work on his career in that time.  As I'm sure you know, it's a very steep uphill battle. 

So imagine my amusement when he said to me, "Your blog is going to be KEY!" 

Ha.  Youth.  So innocent and impressionable. 

But here's the thing:  Last spring, he auditioned for and was chosen to be in a reality show called InTurn 2.  A bunch of hot young people were put in a house together and were filmed.  This all happened during the time of Abigail's graduation from college, and he couldn't even attend that. The episodes have been airing online, rather than TV, throughout the summer. (you can see the archived episodes there on the website)

The process was like grueling daily auditions for an eventual hoped-for role on As The World Turns, with the stakes escalating by the day.  Long-story-slightly-shorter (you are asking yourself, "Will she ever SHUT UP and get to the POINT?!"), Our Little Ryan (not so little -- he's 6'3" or something) came out on top -- well, in the final three, anyway.  The only male, it turns out, as well. 

Go, Ryan! 

It was sort of a long time coming, but Ryan's special As The World Turns episode airs today at 2:00 EST, and the voting by the public for their favorite contestant begins at 6 p.m. tonight, August 7. 

(Fun fact:  Van Hansis, who is a regular on ATWT, was a schoolmate of Abigail's at Walnut Hill.  He was a senior when she was a freshman, and in his senior directing project, he cast her in her first role there. Awwww.) 

This is what I'm asking you to do:  Go to the website between 6 p.m. tonight and this Saturday and vote for Ryan.  Find as many computers as you can, and vote for him five times on each computer.  (each IP address is allowed to vote five times)  Vote at work, at home, stop by the library -- wherever you find a computer -- and vote, vote, vote!  Ask your friends and family to vote, too.

By doing so, you're (maybe) putting food on my daughter's table and better yet, buying my undying gratitude.  (hey, that's worth something.)

REMEMBER:  AS MANY COMPUTERS AS YOU CAN FIND, FIVE TIMES EACH!

REMEMBER ALSO:  The voting starts at 6 p.m. EST August 7, so go back after that time, k?

Comments

[Carole]

As the World Turns is my guilty little secret, you know. Of course I'll vote for Ryan. Too bad I'm on vacation this week or I'd have access to an additional 20 computers.

[DebbieB]

"a pitcher of knittin'." Heheh. :-)

[Danielle]

Where on the site do I vote? I can't find it!!

[Paula]

Vote as many times as I can on 5 computers. Got it.

(Don't throw things! It's not nice.)

[Sarah Ross]

Heh heh heh. I'm at Texas Tech University. I'm close to three computer labs and a library with hundreds of computers at my fingers, not even counting my own. What are the odds that he'll be very popular with college students in Texas?

[Annie]

I'll be happy to vote and vote often. I'll ask my daughter- who watches ATWT- to vote as well.

[Abigail]

Haha!! I officially love Paula's humor! Omg!

And I'm officially in love with Sarah Ross and her cornucopia of computers....

[marianne]

Of course I'll vote...there are 3 pcs here and you can count on 15 votes for Ryan, I'd do this anyway..for you..but for your undying gratitude? heh...that's amazing! ;^) (hey, whatever it takes to keep food on Abigail's table!)

[margene]

I've already voted 5 times on this one and when my home computer is safe (GDITH!) I will vote there, too.

[Carrie]

Hey, when does voting close? I need to know if I need to run home and vote on my computers there too, or if I can wait until the normal end of my workday.
I wonder if this would be a violation of the use of the All Company email address? ...

[Carrie]

Okay, and another question - is it 6pm EST or EDT? (It's kinda important because I'm in AZ and we don't save daylight - we want it to go away as soon as possible so we can go outside.)

[Tracey]

I'm there!
Can I come over for salad please? My lettuce looked terrible this year.

[Carol]

You got it! I don't know what that pitcher of green knittin' is, but it does look very pretty! We'll be voting from the south!

[Wanda]

Done! We've got a couple of computer at home and I'll definitely vote at work and as friends to do so. I love ATWT. I'm just sorry I might not be at home today to catch his episode, darn the luck.

[minnie]

ok! do you realize how many library branches there are in this city? and i have a puter here and at my house as well! i hear an onslaught!

[maryse]

i have access to two computers here at work and four at home. (four? wtf am i doing with 4 computers at home?)

[Kristen]

OK. Got my work cut out for me in the next few days... I have an entire campus of computers to work with...

[April]

See? I knew there had to be an advantage to working for a high tech company! Lotsa computers!

Ryan is about to become a HUGE hit in Silicon Valley. :)

[Cookie]

Will do, The Norma.

Btw, is this the same Ryan who doesn't want you drunk dialing him? ;^)

[Kathleen]

it didn't stop me from voting the sixth time on this computer... I wonder if it just throws them out if you vote too many times and doesn't tell you?? hmmm... computerp imponderables! :)

Good Luck, Ryan!

[kmkat]

I just gave him [my first] ten votes. Heck, Norma, if you can get people to knit so many red scarves that OFA has to revamp their entire plan to accommodate them, you can get enough votes to put Ryan on ATWT, no problem.

[Erika]

%%BY YOUR COMMAND%%

[Anne]

I'll keep voting, but.. gah, soap operas give me the creeps! Here's hoping he comes to a CSI Near You soon.

[sandy]

Can you pour me a glass of that wonderful scarf? On the rocks, please!
Voting for The Mr.

[ellie]

I voted! Good luck!

[Michele]

My son was on As The World Turns - so I'll get lots of people to vote for Ryan!!!

[Ria]

Though I don't have much interest in the show itself, I'm all for helping people get started on good careers. I threw in my five votes, and I'm wishing him the best of luck!

[janna]

Of course your blog is KEY! Most of us wouldn't even know about this without you. Oh - and we've got 75 or so computers at my library, although I'm not sure how many I'll actually get to vote from! ;-)

[cari]

Done. Got my five in. Now I'll throw in some crossed fingers for good measure.

[Alicia]

Voting... (sent here through Kay) Does he have any cute friends that also love fiber? :) :) :)

[Betty]

Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!

[britt]

Voted on three computers