A small dream.

I have never been a person to ask for very much out of life, but I do have a dream--and today I will share what the dream is. For 26 years (33 technically), there has been a show that I have been following and it all started when I was only 5 years old. It was when I first moved into my home on the southeast side of town. It began with a fascination with a big colorful wheel... As this wheel spun, it had numbers--and on the screen was a large puzzle board that was filled with letters.

As I sat there, I simply watched it. It was the summer of 1982. I hadn't started kindergarten yet, and every morning at 11AM on NBC, I watched this show faithfully. The first time I watched this show, I was just amazed with the wheel and the letters that popped up. The next morning, when I woke up, I was so excited to watch this show--I got up, had a bowl of cereal, and sat in front of the large, color console television and watched it at the same time... Once the NBC logo appeared, the next thing that followed would later become one of the most watched game shows of all time.

In 1983, this same show became a syndicated hit! It had been on for years already, but one sure time that I watched this show, was when it appeared on WBNS-10TV (where it has been the entire syndicated, nighttime run) for the first time and they were at the Ohio State Fair and the audience screamed out--WHEEL OF FORTUNE!

From that time onward, I have been a fan. So much so, that every single night while I went through elementary school and middle school in the 80s, I watched it faithfully. I have watched many, many episodes, and in all that I have seen--I have wanted to be part of the "fabulous studio--filled with fabulous prizes..." I wanted to be a contestant that got a chance to ask Pat finally, "Can I buy a Vowel". I wanted to thank them for helping me be a wicked speller--which helped me a lot in school--in which I aced all my spelling classes and tests. I wanted to spin that big wheel and win some prizes--and even hit a lose-a-turn or two just to have the experience of saying I did it...and I lived it! Not to just savor the win, but to feel the despair of a loss. I wanted the excitement of solving a puzzle and being able to win it! If I had a chance to go to the bonus round, and be lucky enough to not only guess the right letters, but then turn around and solve the puzzle and win it big--that would be the most exhilarating feeling ever!

As I watched this show from 1982 on, it began like this...



As I continued to watch it, in 1995 (the year I graduated high school), it began like this too...



A couple of years later, in 1997 it looked like this...



In the fall of 2006, we get to see a fresher looking Wheel!



And finally, in season 26--we have something new added...



And before anyone says that the Million Dollars can't be won--well I'm here to tell you--it can! This past October, a winner beat the odds and won it all!

So, just when you think the impossible can't happen, it happens anyway! I just want to be a part of a very long and interesting story, that being a contestant on Wheel of Fortune!

So... I went to their website to check out how to become a contestant. I did apply. I hope that someone out there can make this happen. I am not asking for much... am I? Maybe. One person out of a quadrillion--but it's one shot in the dark I am still willing to take!

--ThunderChyld