keepingfaith

Haven't read anywhere else, but my opinion is that Clay doesn't, and shouldn't, give a hoot, a tinker's damn, or a rats ass what any of our opinions are about his son. When Jaymes and Clay feel like showing off the baby they will. I'm sure they are both extremely proud. When they want to shield him from the public, which will probably be most of the time, they have the means to do that. But proud parents generally like people to see their babies! I'm not one to go for extremes in any case, neither overprotection nor license, but believe that parents capable of making rational decisions can raise their children as they see fit, and without thumbs up or down from the gallery. I also dislike too much career talk. First, as I've held to for a couple of years now, I don't think planning his career is our business at all. It's HE HIMSELF I'm crazy about and however he wants to structure his career, whether long-term or spontaneously, I'm taking the ride, and I don't need advance notice to adjust. I think too much career talk opens worm cans and sticky wickets and such. It's very simple for me. I just love him, and that magical voice, and his face, and his eyes, and his heart, and his mind. Very simple.

Speaking of Diane, does anybody ... and in this fandom I KNOW somebody must ... have that short clip from around the end of Idol when Clay says, "I love you, Diane." I loved that when I saw it and somehow must have lost it along the way.

Back in 2006 when Seacrest asked him what happened after that interview with Diane Sawyer and Clay said (something like) ... We went in the back and made out. He's so CLAY!

playbiller, I want it (assumING you're talking about the BCA/EB playbill ...) and Gibby, or someone, could you please please copy the text of the broadway.com article here. It won't open for me. When I came in to the school this morning, our head of security (and his name is Jerome, too) held up a sign that said "New hires report to HR" -- he thinks he's funny. GMA on Thursday and Friday ..woo-woo! Maybe music? Maybe baby?

FromClaygary ... we are one on the sideburns. I've held my tongue (fingers?) but the sideburns are definitely my sNOwflake.

So it's not just Clay who speaks in we's and us'es? merrieeee, I'm going in for a while today for the first time since September 10 -- time sure flies during a disaster! Centerpoint finally got my parents' power back on this weekend, but no Comcast yet and my dad is jonesing for football. After what they've been through, he needs some diversion, poor baby. I never thought I'd see the day when my father and mother waited in hours long lines for ice and MREs (not that they actually ATE them.) Happy Birthday to Aikim and congratulations on a beautiful, smooth experience for the wedding! I think I missed some occasions along the past days .... Ldyjocelyn? Didn't you have a birthday? Hope it was wonderful. merrieeee, you had an anny and I'm glad you and hubby were together ... even under the circumstances. Today should be interesting at the office since I work in finance and with endowments, and the board of directors meet in two days. Maybe interesting is the wrong word. Maybe hellacious is more apt, but hey been there, done that.

No prob, Gibby. I'll change mine. Anybody have Sir Robin with a lipbite yet? Or maybe this one ....

If there's such a thing as picture ho'ing -- GUILTY! From BroadwayWorld: I think the first time around there may have been an attitude of "American Idol stunt casting" by the Broadway crowd, and now it's "Thank God Clay's back!" YAY!!!

I love that Clay is out and about and that there's almost this 'toast of the town' feel to it. I think he's hot in the city. The red carpet for TOTC was extremely excellent. I hear that song in my head by Glenn Frey ... You can feel it, you can taste it You can see it, you can face it You can hear it, hey, you're getting near it, hey You wanna make it, cause you can take it You belong to the city, you belong to the night You belong to the city, you belong to the night You belong, You belong

pics from the broadway blog .... edited to fix the spacing on the pretty, pretty pcs. ~bc

toni's pics are great, as always! Chest Hair and that Killer Smile of Wonderment again!

My God he looks great! Like he's on top of the world. I think the wig had a trim -- it seems a bit bangier now. I like alot. Oooo what a hot sexy face he has. Yes, HeidiHo, that pull. The moth to the flame thing. Resistance would be futile, if we had any resistance that is. Guess we're just smart chicks who gave up without a fight and saved the energy to work and make money to see more Clay.

OMG. This smile does me in EVERY time!

I'm back, and not a minute too soon. No way I can go back and read from last Thursday and catch up. Are there highlights? It feels so good just to know I'm back on line for The Big Night! And I got my mail this afternoon and received the pins, too, so that makes it an extra special day. Power. Pins. Spamalot. Triumphant Return, indeed! And for me, a special "homecoming" treat. Not so for my mom and dad. Today's their 65th anniversary and they have no power at their place. We just got it over here and we have damage. Go figure. I think we'll all postpone any celebration until next Friday night. There's too much work to do now. We have the National Guard or some kind of military outfit down the road in the parking lot of my Target and Home Depot doing the POD thing. "Pod people" has a completely different connotation now. I listened to Clay sing for the first time in over a week today and it was a slice of heaven. I haven't gone a day without listening to Clay in over two years until last week. Absence makes his voice all the sweeter. It's simply amazing. I missed this place badly. And thank you, thank you Perusing One for awakening the texting maniac that was lurking within me. I'm looking out my bedroom window and noticing that the chimney is leaning against it. That seems odd. This whole thing out here has an alternative universe feel to it. Clay comes through for me at times like this. Big time. When I got the computer all put together again, and before my router was finished doing its thing, I watched Clack. Scarlett's AI5 XviD was on my desktop and looked ever so clickable .... and it has been months really since I've watched it ..... so now I'm on that jag again cuz I can't watch it only once. It's a guaranteed multiple for me. A moth to the flame I am, and that two minutes still singes and sears like the brand on my brain that it is. Praying for SD tonight!

Okay, being two miles from water we're told to leave. The essentials are packed and we're heading out to my sister's house in River Plantation this afternoon. Don't know how long it will take. My neighbor said the Beltway is backed up at 45, so it's the backroads today all the way. I think my son and his family are headed for Dallas this evening to stay with family there -- we have big dogs and the Dallas relatives have a few acres. My next door neighbor is boarding up and staying. Says he'd rather suffer at home than on the road again. Residual "damage" from "Highway Rita" is rampant in the minds of many here. People died, animals died, but I guess everyone knows that sad story. Neighbor says he thinks we won't get more than 3-4 feet from the tidal surge here, but I'm not into sitting around hoping for the best like he is, especially since the winds freak me out anyway. eHP, I'll try to stay in touch by phone, but it's getting harder to get through -- so don't be surprised if I just show up, merrieeee. However, since I heard that winds could be 115 mph up in Montgomery County, I don't know if any of us are safe. All those trees could be a problem. Not to mention the San Jacinto River. Oh well, it's Houston. Solo, I hope you're on the way to Louisiana by now! :F_05BL17blowkiss: ETA: Mittens? I'm melting from the heat.

You non-rock-fan sisters are killing me. It was Chris "Pimple Neck" Martin, husband of Gwyneth Paltrow. Speaking of hurricane party, that would be much preferred over a hurricane. And I've been through a couple of direct hit Cat 3 hurricanes -- Carla and Alicia -- but I wasn't this close to the water either time. Even 30 miles inland back then the winds scared the crap out of me. I can still hear those screaming winds. And, I remember that Carla leveled Seabrook and Kemah (2 miles from me) when I was a child, so if it continues to track north it will be panic in the streets tomorrow. I rode out Alicia but had to leave when the high water subsided because of no electricity or running water. Water was the more critical issue and when something is more important than electricity in Houston in August, you know it was bad. Downtown Houston was covered in glass blown out from the tall buildings. Nasty business. Last I heard they waited too late to evacuate Galveston Island, but the Bay Area will have to go in the morning if it tracks any closer. One thing I remember semi-bitterly about Alicia. It came in on the first day of my vacation. The first vacation I'd had in a year and a half. I was working in convention sales for a hotel at the time and had to evacuate to ......... my workplace, for the duration of the vacation! At least it was free -- but it still sucked.

If we're voting, I thought it was funny and I didn't get half the references, so it must have been hilarious. Speaking of NOT funny, just got the latest alert that Ike is now predicted to be an upper-end Cat 3 or Cat 4 with winds of 125-135 gusting to over 150 mph. A direct hit just west of Freeport (the newest forecast) could result in a storm surge into northern and western Galveston Bay of 20-25 feet. o no guess who lives on the northwest side of Galveston Bay? merrieeee, you may be seeing lots of me in days to come ...... But if I have to evacuate, how will I explain my car full of Clay products?

Maybe MOAM's selling a bit because Walmart has restocked. I was pleasantly surprised on my monthly trek to Walmart for whipped cream to see that while the CD section had been downsized to one aisle, there was a fresh restocking of OMWH, ATDW and MOAM with three whole bins for Clay Aiken. Maybe Walmart will have a sole distributorship in the future. I recently read that Christina Aguilera's next album will be distributed exclusively through Target. Seems to be the way it's going. Fine with me, because if Walmart had been the sole distributor for OMWH I wouldn't have had to repurchase so many copies for the bonus tune, which is my most favorite song on the whole CD -- on odd numbered days.

Goodsearch.Com A purdy little picture on the home page and then, when you lick click on his purdy little face, it takes you to an even purdier bigger picture! I read through the article and thought, Hmmmm, no mention of Idol in this bio. Then I saw the first four words ... American Idol Clay Aiken .... which totally pleases me. I don't like American Idol contestant, American Idol runner up, or even American Idol winner (which I've seen more than a few times), but just American Idol Clay Aiken, I'll take that. It's dead on accurate.

YIPPEEEEE for so much happiness today .... the pins are coming, the blog, the contest, the UNICEF field video. Wow. I'm not surprised that Clay looks more gorgeous than ever in that video. He's Clay, you know. The hotness intensifies as time goes by.

I love reading the diversity of opinion over one picture. I think it's a hot picture and I don't see sad -- I see expensive champagne.

Time lapse photography? As you can see, I'm not yet ready to rule anything either in or out.

Holy Crap what a picture!!! I don't know what to say about this except that they both appear to be feeling alright, and that Hannah's proud of it. I rather love this photo.

Quickly reading through, I don't get the rumor that Clinton was stiff-arming Pelosi to keep impeachment off the table because Hillary didn't want to have to run against the Bush/Cheney replacement. I didn't hear that rumor, but it makes no sense because the Bush/Cheney replacement would be the Speaker of the House, who is .... Pelosi. So, my opinion is that Pelosi took it off the table because she didn't want to look like she was trying to grab the presidency -- you sure couldn't impeach and convict Bush without having Cheney go with him. However, after the election is over, I wouldn't be surprised at a post-election censure vote. I hear that Hillary is mobilizing against Palin, and will be campaigning for Barack in Florida soon. Somehow, I'll be surprised if Palin is still on the ticket in November. I've read some things that freaked me out about her. Religion should be part of one's personal life but since she belongs to a church that doesn't believe in separation of church and state, that makes it not personal anymore, IMO. Her daughter's pregnancy should be completely off-limits, but will be an issue because Palin used the line item veto to cut the funding for a center to shelter pregnant teenagers in need. That will make it an issue. And there's so much more to come. Funny thing about politicians, so many of them just lie and assume nobody will care enough to check it out. The true believers will always believe, and the opponents who jump up and down about the lies are demonized. It's a lose-lose situation. There are problems with her story about cutting taxes (not true), about turning down the money for the Bridge to Nowhere (which she didn't), even about the plane she sold on e-Bay (actually, she sold it for less than it was worth to a campaign contributor). Nothing is as it seems on the face of it. That little town of Wasilla, population 8,000 or so, she left those people with a $20 million dollar debt for a sports complex. Ooooo, that is so similar to GW Bush leaving the huge financial burden on Arlington, TX for the Rangers' ballpark. ETA: To finish because I was so rudely interrupted by my JOB, I get depressed not by politicians, but by apathetic citizens who have the power and don't lift a hand to participate in democracy. That's the reason the country is totally screwed, because we ALLOW the crooked politicians to get elected. And we ALLOW them to do all manner of evil in our name while looking the other way. And this isn't partisan, because some of my bestest friends have different opinions about things, but we do stipulate to the facts and discount the propoganda. Once you've settled on the facts of the matter, disagreements about how to proceed are clearer and the distinctions between arguments are more reasoned and respectful. Maybe we've never had that in this country. Maybe it's time.

merrieeee, I would have loved to have been at your house. Where have I been? The paramedics, the emergency room, and hospitalization, for my mother again. I'm so grateful that the storm missed us, and I am hopeful that there's a chance my mother is finally being correctly diagnosed -- that she's not having mini-strokes, but altered migraine onsets. Instead of auras and confusion, she now becomes catatonic and numb. The fact that she has horrible headaches when she comes out of it seems to be the tell-tale sign. Funny thing is, my youngest son who also suffers from migraines suggested this three months ago. Maybe I should send that kid to medical school. This has been a rugged time for my mother because she also has been battling a non-contagious lung infection for five months. There was something else I was going to comment on, but I think I'm slightly catatonic myself at this point. Have I ever mentioned that my mother is the world's worst patient? Oh yeah, Miley Cyrus. I laugh everytime I think about my 8-year old granddaughter informing me that Miley Cyrus was just "over" and that she and her friends did not like Hannah Montana now because she had "nekkid pictures of herself on the internet." I have no idea whatsoever if that's true or just a rumor in kidworld, but she changed the station playing her song. Clack? What would I ever do without clack? It's only been in my life for two years and I still have tours undiscovered and so much more JBT Motown in my future. At least that's what I'm told by a certain super adorable, world-traveling, Empress of Clack. :F_05BL17blowkiss: I just realized tonight that there's internet in her hospital room. Monitor, keyboard, connection, cool.