Here we go again! Thank you for whomever it was who nominated me again, I am humbled by your endorsement. This is the 4th time this year that I am on this list, and this time I have a strategy. Up until now, being a marketing and advertising expert in the real world, I figured that I could gain the crowds appeal by bucking the trend, and instead of riding the traditional burro or even a mini clown car in the parade, I tried to get attention (and the sympathy vote) by riding my little armadillo. Since you all saw the fiasco last time, and fully remember the pictures of me sitting atop my overworked and deceased Armadillo, just inches from the reviewer's desk... it was ugly. I will not repeat that mistake. This month, I will be riding a mount specially trained for this event, and one capable of handling the stress of this sturdy girl on its back during this increasingly longer and longer event, especially since the new trend is for nominees to stop at Teddy's moderating table, give an overly long speech, and then, especially for the girls, have an engineered wardrobe malfunction that gives the crowd a preview of the swimsuit competition, always to many cheers and cat calls. The guys tend to do fireworks and explosions at that point to get attention, but that has never been my style, but I greatly look forward to what the guys all do to curry the judges favor. You never know what will happen, we have seen sharpshooters, juggling, fire walking... the guys will amaze you sometimes.
So this month, it will be hard not to notice the newly trained and brightly pink colored Ostrich that I will be riding in the event, especially since I have trained her to make that honking noise on command. I also especially look forward to seeing what special surprises Denise brings to the competition this month... I heard she was training up a tiger to walk alongside her in the parade... now that would be impressive. Even my Ostrich is intimidated, and I caught her with her head in the sand worrying about it! This is not good, but I am committed to my pink Ostrich now, and it is too late to train a Lion to compete with that darn Tiger.
Good luck to everyone this month! It is going to be one whale of a competition! I have been preparing hard for the smokeout part of the competition, and have been working hard to get my tolerance up. I am sorely afraid that some of the old tokers on this list might have an edge in this one. Luckily, I just had an excellent crop, and I think I am ready for them.
such a great place is not all the great growers, but all the great people who also happen to be great growers. Best of luck to ALL the nominees! 
... lotta great members on the list.
