Hey, this is hard
Well I'm a very lucky man. As I get older I realize one of my most favorite characteristics is my optimistic attitude. I guess it's one of those things, you either are, or you aren't. It's the lineage of "finding a sliver cloud", or making the best of what you have. Usually, I love my outlook on things, I think it propels me toward the lighter side of life. However, this weekend, my optimism caught up with me. WOOFER and his ST. Louis (Missouri) Bear Club, The Show Me Bears were having their MR. HEARTLAND BEAR 2008 Contest. I was asked to be a judge and was very flattered. The 4 judges met Friday night to discuss questions and good ways to really get to know the contestants, what to look for etc. I guess I'm like the Paula Abdul of the judging world, I thought all of them were awesome contestants and actually would have been great winners. HOWEVER, you gotta pick one.. there can only be one.. but who's the one??? Matt, director bear, won the contest and will represent the heartland bears very well. I thought being a judge would be easy, but I realized how dedicated these bears were and they told us as judges some pretty remarkable things. This bear contest raised alot of money to send kids with HIV to camp and I am so glad I got to be a part of the event. THANKS big time to the contestants (you guys made it hard in more ways than one..LOL), thanks to Woofer-Matt and THE SHOW ME BEARS, CLUB JJ and the other judges who took it very seriously. MOSTLY, thanks to the bear, and gay community and everybody who came and watched the contest, watched the performances, donated and helped raise $4,000 for these kids.