Yesterday, at some point, something changed on my Top Host page: I climbed back into ninth place.

Yes, I was happy. Very happy. I had slipped down the rankings, watched that number move in the wrong direction, and wondered whether I could recover enough ground to stay competitive. Then your votes started moving me back up. Ninth place appeared again, and I admit that seeing it felt pretty damn good.

Now I want more.

I do not mean that in some manufactured, motivational-poster sort of way. I entered this competition intending to compete. I have made it through previous cuts, reached this stage, fallen in the rankings, climbed back, and watched people return day after day to cast another vote for me. At this point, settling for simply being glad I made it this far would feel dishonest.

I want to get to number one.

Ninth Place Is Good. It Is Not Safe.

There is a strange psychological trap in seeing a single-digit ranking. Ninth sounds secure. Ninth sounds like I have room to relax. Ninth can create the impression that the work is mostly finished.

It is not.

The competition is still active, rankings can change, and I have already seen how quickly a position can disappear. I know firsthand that ninth place today does not guarantee ninth place tomorrow. Every person ahead of me has supporters doing exactly what I am asking my supporters to do: vote, share, return, repeat.

That makes consistency far more valuable than one dramatic burst of attention.

I am asking you to cast your free vote every day. If you voted yesterday, you can vote again today. If you vote today, come back tomorrow. You do not need to purchase votes or spend money to support me. Go to my page, select “Free Vote,” and verify through Facebook or your phone.

That is it.

My voting page is:

https://tophost.org/2026/jay-santana

This Has Become Bigger Than Watching a Number Move

I admit that watching the rankings has become slightly addictive. I see ninth, tenth, nineteenth, ninth again, and every change produces a reaction. Yet the ranking itself is not what has kept me invested in this competition.

I keep thinking about what I could do with the opportunity.

The Babblings of JT has never been intended as background noise. The entire premise is contained in its tagline: Where Silence Gets Loud. I want conversations that people sometimes avoid. I want stories from people who are talked about more often than they are listened to. I want room for uncomfortable subjects, absurd contradictions, serious public issues, humor, lived experience, advocacy, and the occasional moment when I ask, “Are we seriously doing this?”

Anyone who reads JTWB768 already knows that I rarely run out of things to say.

A larger podcast platform would give me another place to say them, ask better questions, bring other voices into the conversation, and introduce people to stories they may never encounter otherwise. That is what excites me about continuing in this competition. The possibility is much larger than seeing my photograph beside a number on a website.

Your Free Vote Is Doing Something

People sometimes assume one vote cannot matter in an online competition. I understand the instinct. When thousands of people may be participating, a single click can feel insignificant.

My recent ranking changes suggest a different lesson.

I slipped. People responded. I climbed back into ninth.

No single supporter gets to claim that movement alone. It happened through accumulation: one person voting, another person voting, someone sharing the link, someone returning the next day, and another person deciding that sixty seconds was worth giving me.

That is how a campaign like this moves.

I have seen people I know personally vote. I have seen people who discovered my writing vote. I have seen friends share the link with people I have never met. Some of you have returned repeatedly, which matters more than you may realize.

I appreciate every one of those votes.

Now I’m Asking You to Help Me Climb

Getting back to ninth place gave me something I needed: evidence that moving upward is possible.

So I am setting the target higher.

I want eighth. Then seventh. Then sixth. I want to keep moving until there is nowhere left to move except number one.

That requires people showing up consistently.

If you have already voted for me during this competition, thank you. Your job is not finished yet. Cast today’s free vote and come back for the next one.

If you have been seeing my posts and thinking, “I’ll get around to it,” this is the moment to actually click the link.

If you have never heard The Babblings of JT, read JTWB768, or followed my work before this contest, you are still welcome on this slightly chaotic adventure. Give me a vote. Stick around. See what I do with it.

And if you know someone who would enjoy my writing, my podcast, my commentary, or the causes I spend so much time talking about, send them the link.

I regained ninth place.

I am grateful for ninth place.

I have absolutely no intention of treating ninth place as the destination.

Cast your free vote today:

https://tophost.org/2026/jay-santana

Then come back tomorrow and help me climb again.

Let’s see just how far we can take this.