Greetings! I’m here to ask you to democratically elect this extraterrestrial as your monarch! That…that makes sense, right? No?

Okay, here’s the deal: I’m competing in the King of the Web Contest. My chances, are slim, especially as there are folks in the mix with much higher viewership than my relatively meager efforts can claim. But if you can vote for me, and tell your friends and their friends and so on to vote for me, I think I have a shot. At the least, I can get close, and even that would be something.

Voting requires that you register at KingOfWeb.com, but once you’re registered you can vote ten times every day. If you don’t want to commit to me, votes can be spread out to multiple people, but given how low a vote count I’ve got right now, I’d love you forever if you voted for me ten times a day.

I talk a bit about why I want to win in the video above, but basically it comes down to this: I’m still on a slow recovery from having my home condemned out from under me just weeks after moving in back in 2009. I used all my money moving in, and had a carefully crafted financial plan to build my money up again, but it depended on things staying stable. Less than three weeks after moving in, I got home from lunch to notices on the building door, from the city and the fire department, saying that everyone had to be out by that night.

I was briefly homeless – not living on the street, as I had a floor to crash on, but still very much without a home – and from then on, it’s been a struggle. I was, that very month, beginning a review period at work, and the stress caused my job performance to suffer. I was let go before I could pull everything back together. I’ve since lived on donations, odd jobs and self-employment as a videographer and editor.

For the latter part, jobs have been sparse, but I’m starting to pull myself up, get more clients, and whatnot. But I’m still jumping at any chance I get to better get out of the hole I’ve found myself in. I competed in YouTube NextUp unsuccessfully, and now I’m trying my hand at King of the Web. Some of the smaller monetary prizes would, at least, help me rebuild a rent buffer, but the larger ones – even second place – would help me purchase new equipment with which to better find work in my field.

On that point, I’m especially working at buying a new camera; mine died last spring. I’m currently utilizing a borrowed camera, but I have to return it by Christmas. Right now, I’m not sure if I’ll have enough saved up by then to buy a new one of the quality that I need to make the videos that I do (both for myself and for clients). It doesn’t help that self-employment comes with a lot of cost: trips to promote my business, license fees, etc.

I don’t mean to sound like I’m sure I do; I know everybody has their own sob story, especially in this economy. But that’s a little bit of mine, simply because I want to let people know why I want this so badly. I love making videos, films, movies…it’s what I live and breathe. I have some lofty goals, and many stories to tell. So please consider helping me get there. And thank you for taking the time to read this.