diamondjake2001

I've been using Audible.com for about 5 years. I love it. If you sign up for 1 year they will send you an mp3 player that works with their system or a discount on an iPod. They also have a 2 book/ month membership for 19.95 (I think.) Audible's format is unique and will not play on every mp3 player. You can see a list of players that will work. If you have an iPod Audible will download directly into iTunes. The other nice thing is that you never lose the right to download the book. I had a computer crash on me & I lost a ton of books. I was able to go to Audible.com and go to 'My Library' and redownload everything I had lost. I tend to read non-fiction but I recently bought The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. I read this book when it was first mentioned on one of the Clay boards 2 years ago. I decided to get the Audible version a few months back. The reader does an amazing job bringing life to the characters especially the young man with autism. I found that I skimmed too much when I read the print version. The audio version made me love the book. I can't recommend it enough. I tend to buy unabridged & classics. The only audio book I was disappointed with was A Beautiful Mind. The book was great but the reader was too monotone for me. All of John Grisham's books are great. Of course Learning to Sing is always a good choice. They do have the unabridged version but for some reason I got the abridged version.

This is exactly how I feel. Of course I want it ASAP but I know the wait will be worth it.

couchtomato I have thought about doing the same thing. There are several sites that sell the frames with foam? to stick the pins in. They are very expensive. I think the cheapest one I found was about $60. I would really like to see one in person so I can see what the material is inside. I'm not sure what it would cost to make your own. Shadow boxes can't be that expensive. Lucia, your pin sounds like a great idea. What concerts will you be going to?

Oh man that is the cover I must have. Oh, who am I kidding, I want all 3!

Oh Man, I would love to get my hands on that. No, not that. Just the magazine. Wow, oh wow that is one intense picture. I think it may just be the most intensely sensual professional picture I have ever seen. He gets that look when he's singing so there have been several fan shots that show that intensity but rarely do the professionals ever catch it. He sure doesn't look like a goofy kid any more.

Bwah! Chrysador. This pin craze for me has been tons of fun. It's made me more excited for the tour. It's been a great diversion from angst. I've spent way too much money but I'm sure I would have spent it on some other less enjoyable hobby. The funny thing is, I probably will never wear any of my pins. It is definitely just a new collecting hobby for me. I have actually started expanding my collection. My son works at Sesame Place & now I have a Grover pin. My husband travels alot for work & is always struggling trying to find gifts for me. He is now in Japan & I told him to get me pins. I was aim'ing with him tonight & he told me he found a pin for me. I can't wait to see it. It will be proudly displayed with my *cough70+Claypinscough* Ooo saying that outloud makes me look obsessed. Ah well, if the shoe fits.

Hotmom, your 8 yo son sounds ALOT like my son. He has always had problems with transitions. I learned early to let him know several times before a change in activities. For example, if we were at the park I would tell him 30 minutes before we were going to leave, then at 15 minutes, 5 minutes & 1 minute. If I followed that pattern he would very easily leave with me. If I just said, okay it's time to go (like I could do with any of my other children) he would absolutely melt down. He would appear to be a spoiled brat, but that wasn't the problem. He just couldn't handle sudden changes in his own internal plans. He is just now learning to recognize this about himself. He also gets totally absorbed by what he is doing to the point he can't hear anything else. He was a thumb sucker until he was 8. When he sucked his thumb he totally zoned out. When he stopped sucking his thumb he began playing with his hands in a very ODD way. I just learned last year that this is called self stim. A friend told me to get him a key chain that he can play with. Looks more normal but fullfills the need. He also was very rule & justice oriented. The interesting thing was that he didn't care if he was treated unfairly but if he saw anyone else treated unfairly he had a fit. This young man is a very very deep thinker. He is tender hearted & loves deeply. The last 2 years have been very very hard. We thought we were losing him. Thank God he decided to move to PA with us. He has made a life for himself here. He's got a good job, church group & is planning on tackling college again. Hotmom, we were able to get an IEP for my son based on qualifying for the gifted program. This was in FL and while we had the paper, the school never managed to do any of the things they were supposed to do which is one reason we began homeschooling. I really wish we had known about the benefits of inclusion. When we first tried potty training I got so frustrated. I know I punished him because I 'knew' he was able. What I didn't understand was that he may have been able physically he wasn't emotionally. I figured out that we were both driving each other crazy so I just quit. I waited a year. When I presented the idea again, I used the sticker chart. Ansa, your conflict with your daughter choked me up. I imagine it was awfully upsetting & frustrating for you but wow what a wonderful success your daughter had. The way you describe your daughter's response to potty training was exactly the way my son was. He would sit on the potty and look at books and then would act like he had actually done something and then go hide behind the couch and pee or poop. It was sooooo frustrating. The sticker chart helped both of us remove the emotional side of it. If he wanted a sticker he had to produce, so to speak. He figured it out and when he trained it was day & night and it only took 1 week. Good luck & I hope you will keep us informed.

One of my sons (20yo) is has (undiagnosed) high functioning autism. Probably Asperger's syndrome. He was not diagnosed partly because his 'quirkyness' was written off to having a 160 IQ. We ended up homeschooling partly because he just didn't fit in a classroom. Knowing what I know now about inclusion I would have done things differently. He really struggled in his first year in college. He crashed and burned and is now ready to start over. I think that I interceded for him too much. I wish I had known about AS when he was young. However, because we homeschooled (all 4 kids) and we did it through a private school with 160 other homeschooled students I got to know him very well. We have a great relationship & we talk about AS and why I think he has it. He is learning to find his own solutions to deal with some of the manefestations (self stim). My youngest son is currently working at a theme park called Sesame Place. As the name indicates it is based on Sesame Street. He is a shallow water guard & he works with the kids on the water rides & shallow pools. He is amazing with children & I've encouraged him to consider teaching. He has recently decided he wants to go to school to be an Elementary Special Ed Teacher. One day I came home and he had done hours of research on special education, starting with Autism & Fragile X (which I had never heard of.) He was so excited he had to show me the pages of notes he had taken and talk about everything he was learning. Something he NEVER liked to do for me (as teacher). He even told me that if he does end up going into special education he wants to write a letter to Clay about being his inspiration. And all this time I thought he was just humoring me when I talked about Clay. (He's not a Clay fan, but not a hater either.) While my AS son was verbal he was also very very stubborn. We tried potty training initially and it was a disaster. I eventually used a form of bribery or as I called it reward. He loved stickers. So we made a sticker chart. Basically it listed the days at the top and columns drawn down the page. I had him help me make the chart and pick out stickers. Everytime he went potty he got a sticker that he got to put on the chart. Amazingly it worked. It took the control issue out of it. I had a serious issue with control with this child. (Still do, ) I am very, very interested in special needs kids. I look forward to hearing about your challenges & successes. eta: I just went to the link cincy posted and Wow we did something right. The Potty chart. Worked like a charm.

I rarely go to the movies but I did decide to join my dh & 2 grown sons to see Batman Begins. I went just because I felt like I was spending too much time online and I wanted to spend time with my 'men'. My dh & dss love comics & graphic novels but I'm not into those at all. They all love sci-fi too & I'm not into that at all. I wasn't expecting to really enjoy the movie. However, I absolutely loved it. The movie did just a good job of telling the story in a realistic way, and I've loved Christian Bale since Newsies. I can't wait for it to come out on DVD. The last DVD I watched was The Pacifier. That's another one I want to own. Vin Diesel is fantastic, not bad to look at, ;-) & the humor was hysterical. I am a big Gilmore Girls fan so I wish they had done a little more in exploring Lauren Graham's character but other than that I really loved the movie. I can't wait to see Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. I loved the books as a kid & read them both to my children. The Gene Wilder version initially disappointed me because it doesn't follow the heart of the book very well. I learned to love the movie anyway. The promos I've seen for the Burton version appears to follow the book very well. I have heard wonderful things about the movie so I will definitely go see it as soon as I can.

My impression of the TV Guide article, once I got past that smokin' hawt picture is that Clay is an introspective young man. He's keeping his priorities in order and he's allowing his experiences working with UNICEF affect him deeply. I grew up in LA and what he says about LA in general is true. Of course there are wonderful people there but how is Clay to know who, is who? Those in the entertainment business tend toward the superficial. It must be very frustrating for him. If the interview took place before the last 2 weeks he may have still been coming to terms with his experience in Uganda. I'm very happy that he got to go on vacation with friends in NC. I'm sure the success in the recording studio the past week has also helped bring him back to his music career and how much he really does love it. Also the fact that the album may not come out as soon as we would like may be a good thing for Clay. It means that RCA is not forcing him to produce something quickly just for the "almighty dollar." I absolutely do belive that Clay had to fight with Clive over the direction of this album. That would explain the talk of going into the studio, the delay and then the meeting that JFL had in May. Assuming that is true is mindboggling really. I knew that Clay was stubborn but does he really have the guts to stand his ground with an industry giant like Clive. Clay sounds very happy & excited about working with JFL (in the radio interview) so I'm confident that Clay is finding the songs & the sounds that excite him & that is what excites me. I am looking forward to this album even more now. And hearing 100 Songs on the JBT *dies* I know they will mostly be medleys & I love medleys so what more could I ask for. Oh yeah, a smoking HAWT photo as the lead in to the story. Woah! That is one beautiful man, and does he know how to look at a camera. Less than 2 weeks to the tour & I'm still wondering why I chose to skip Tom's River. Ah well, 6 shows really should be enough.

Well, pre-Clay I was an avid stamp collector, so it didn't take long for the collector in me to jump into the pin craze with both feet. My paypal account hasn't seen this much activity. It would be much easier to list the pins I have NOT bought than the ones I have. I will definitely be heading over to the trading thread.

Hi, everyone. I am diamondjake2001 everywhere on the net. My name came from a need for a new email address & I'm not very creative. My husband had just given me a gift for our 20th anniversay. He was going to buy me a diamond but I chose a dog. He is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Jake. And yes, it was in 2001. My home board is Best of Clay, I post at Clackhouse and in the last 2 months Clayadelphians. Hubby & I moved to Philly last winter from Florida. Fortunately 3 hurricanes caused my insurance company to have to pay to remodel our house so we were able to sell it and buy a home here just north of Philly. I have 4 barely grown children. I have recently 'retired' from homeschooling all 4 of them through a private school in Florida. The youngest one graduated this year. I also worked for the school as a curriculum counselor & bookkeeper. I don't remember exactly when I got hooked on Clay. I know that when I heard him sing Somewhere Out There I was intrigued. I went to the Fox website & watched the Jaded Journalist interviews. I love snarky Clay. I tend to be very cynical so I KNEW Clay wouldn't win but I knew he was too good to disappear. I had not even bought tickets to the AI2 tour until after pulling the first all-nighter in 20 years. That night was spent trying to download the "OMG OMG What is that move" video -sideways mind you-. The next day I bought tickets for 1 show. Then 2 days before that show I bought 2nd row tickets. (I had never heard of 'upgrading' for better seats & if you'd have told me a year before that I would do that I would have told you that you were nuts. That's absolutely crazy. Yep - That's what it is, but it's soooo necessary.) After that show I went to another one, then 4 IT, 7 NAT, 3 JNT & planning on 5 or 6 JBT. Clearly I’m over the top. Fortunately hubby is a wonderful supportive hubby. He likes that I have a new hobby & has attended most of the previous concerts with me. Though this tour he’ll only be at the last one with me. I'm currently nuts over the pins.