ncgurrl

I guess it is too late to tell you that the Food Network has a 30 minute version... ?

Visiting Australia Must Sees: Sydney Harbor Get the city bus/ferry pass and use it. Use it to see the sights and ride the ferries and rivercats all over the bay and down the tributaries. Take the bus out to Bondi Beach. Shop at the street fair at The Rocks. Stay in botique hotel in The Rocks area under the Sydney Harbour Bridge within walking distance of the Opera house and Circular Quay. ULURU Spend at least two nights so you will have one full day and two half days. Stay in the Emu Walks apartments at the Ylara area and rent a car. Lots to see. Go in the shoulder season but no later than mid-September unless you love flies- flies swarming your face and settling all over your back. Those silly hats with the corks bobbing all over the front or netting to cover your face are not a joke. Get there by way of Alice Springs or fly direct. Do not take the overland bus from Alice unless you really want to spend 6 hours staring at desert bush. You will see plenty of that at Uluru. It is not respectful to climb the Rock but lots of people do it anyway. Go out to Kata Tjuta. Drive yourself or take one of the SMALL van tours with a guide. Skip the big bus tours. Must do a night tour. Either spend the bucks for the catered dinner out in the desert complete with digeridoo concert and story telling with night star viewing or do the really cheap Night Sky Observatory tour. Do anything to get away from the lights to see the sky. You will be right under the thickest part of the Milky Way. Great Barrier Reef I go by way of Cairns or Port Douglas. Both are fine with lots of boats going out to different places on the reef. Favorite place to stay: Silky Oaks raintree forest lodge in Mossman. It is not on the coast but it is on the river and there are no crocs. Must see if time is not an issue Perth I love this town. Tasmania Take the ferry across the Bass Strait, rent a car and drive from one end of the island to the other. Eat lots of Raspberry goodies and buy lots of local cheese to take home. Darwin area Tiwi Island Kakadu (Where the original Crocodile Dundee movie was filmed.) Katherine's Gorge [b]Do New Zealand on the way to or from Australia. Just fly in, rent a car and start driving. It is easy to get around. When you want to stop, find an Information office and let them make local reservations for the night. Do not travel in either Australia or New Zealand during the school breaks unless you like to travel when all modes of transportaion to be jammed and all hotels booked. I want Clay to go to Australia.

You lost me somewhere between "Clay seems to want me to lick" and "balls."

That would be, yes. Many of whom will be wearing shorts.

Who can concentrate on the sunburn when there are some long, lean legs in a pair of nice fitting jeans? Nice pouchy tummy. It would make a great pillow. Now which way should I turn my head? Up or Down? Maybe I should just be restless and toss and turn.

I guess I have been told ...

The last time I got told by another poster that my opinion was not wanted because it was not the majority opinion I disappeared for a year from the board. I do not think I will take that route this time. Since no one has even remotely hinted that their dislike of covers, sad songs, strings, and/or loud out of tune pianos equates with dislike of Clay I will remain of the opinion that it is ok to say any and all of those things on a fan board even if others think it is being done "ad nauseum."

I'd say it was more of a long jump than a bit of a leap. I call it my personal opinion. A bit of speculative perhaps, but as valid as most opinions about Clay which means not particularly valid at all. Now, comparing Sorry to Mary Did You Know? is a jump over the Grand Canyon on a motocycle for me. ETA to change 'any' to 'most'

WOW that is impressive, a green and gold pav! You're very creative to come up with that! I have a couple of Aboriginal friends who are very sensitive about their situation and I hate seeing them upset about issues that mean so much to them. I also used to be good friends with one of Australia's best-known Aboriginal actresses and she taught me a lot about Australia from their perspective. She gave me her own copy of the book "Black Like Me", which means so much, especially now that cancer has robbed her of her life. There's been much progress since then but we still need to do a LOT more. My biggest problem with Australia is that we still pledge allegiance to the Queen and after what happened with PM Gough Whitlam, the day we cut loose from those apron-strings and have our own unique flag is the day I will wave the Aussie flag and truly celebrate my grown-up country. However, having said that, I agree with you... this is one of the best places in the world to live and I feel very fortunate to be here. ETA: Vote on the online poll. Should the date of Australia Day be changed? http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24961907-421,00.html I forgot to include this link which one of my Aboriginal friends sent me. Ausdon, please vote! I am putting this here rather than sending to you privately in case anyone else is interested to read about it. Australian politics isn't important enough for the super-powers but I know there will always be a few humanitarians who care about the plight of our Aborigines. The YES vote is dismal at this stage; it's sad that so few care that we are celebrating a historical date considered to be a day mourning for the Aborigines. They don't get it, they don't understand the power of symbolism. A change of date won't change history, but it will be a powerful symbol for reconciliation. We need a date that is INCLUSIVE of ALL Australians. (Love that word "inclusive", since it means everyone counts....) aikim/liney, re our conversation about accountability and personal responsibility. The Aborigines are accused of being lazy, 'bludgers' and drunks and told by white Australia to take personal responsibility and be accountable. The thing is, the ancestors of white Australia invaded their land in 1788 and tried to exterminate them. As recently as the late 1960s, they were considered to be part of flora and fauna, i.e. not counted as human inhabitants in the census. Basically, they've been "chopped off at the knees" and then expected to "pull up their socks" just because they've been handed a few "special privileges". Their life expectancy is drastically lower than the average non-Aboriginal Australian. It's not that simple to recover from generations of abuse and discrimination, particularly when the reminders are always there. This is basically what I mean about situations where the cycle is repeated because they don't know any other way. Education is really the only light at the end of the tunnel. I have visited Australia five times since 1995. My first trip was to a conference held in Darwin. I visited Bathurst Island (Tiwi Islands north of Darwin) and did the bush tucker tour. Since it was a small group the guide was pretty open about how plopping down some western style homes in the bush for Aboriginal people to live in just did not work. No account was made for the importance of fire in the people's lives. What did work was building basic walled shelters with shuttered windows that could be thrown open with outside cooking campfire areas. It was school break while I was there so no children were around in town. The families all headed for the bush during break and taught the kids their own cultural traditions. Art is a major part of the Tiwi culture and of the economy of community. There are some good photographs of the Tiwi in the book Portrait of a People. If you ever get a chance to visit Darwin, take a day and go out to Bathurst Island. There are travel restrictions as it is isolated and there are no hotels so I believe you still have to go via a tour. The tour was a good experience and made some of the conference talks more interesting as I could put them in context. Providing library service to an Aboriginal community has some challenges. Those running oral and photo history projects have to be aware of culturally dictated boundaries. One library back in Darwin that we visited had closed stacks because that was the only way people would trust their stories to the library. The purpose of the library was to support the land claims of the Aboriginal people. It was a difficult task when the transactions had no paper trails or the artifacts fell under cultural taboos. Just keeping hold of the evidence was tricky when at the end of the trials/hearings the artifacts disappeared into the homes of the judges and lawyers. The stolen generation story was just coming out in the public media so that was quite a revelation. Mixed race children had to be saved so they were removed/taken/stolen from their mothers and placed in white homes. Some children had good lives while others were basically servants. All lost a portion of their cultural identity. The results are still a source of pain and controversy. The history of Australia is unique in that the original white settlers were for the most part not there by their own volition and the country was not familiar to them in climate or in landscape. The people already inhabiting the continent were certainly not familiar either. A culture clash exists to this day with the old and the new. One would think that a people who were thrust upon a new continent might be more accepting of others who came later but that is often not the case. Australia is a wonderful and beautiful place with a fascinating story that is still unfolding. I made some dear friends in my travels to Australia, one of whom talked to Clay during the IT in Houston. But that is another story, as is how her daughter's ex mother-in-law is a fan of Clay. I wonder if she is on any boards?

I think the new Album is going to be all covers and its title will be "Only Sad Songs for Me." I am a bit unimpressed with tonight's selection of songs. I am a bit disappointed that Clay not only sang "Sorry ..." but forgot some of the words to it. Out of all the songs he knows he picked a downer that he does not like enough to remember the words to. The whole entertainment section felt out of kilter. I know if I had been at this event I would have reveled in seeing Clay and hearing him sing. I will enjoy the clack especially This is the Moment. Cellcert connections never really do the voice justice as the sound is not balanced. Clay should never, let me repeat, NEVER apologize for soliciting donations for his foundation. He needs to tell the story of the foundation and give people the opportunity to dig deep.

BWAH! canfly...that made me hoot out loud here at work! Thank you. Hey, quit giving canfly credit for my line!! Don't you mean va-jay-jay??? (I don't think they even like the word! ) I do not think it is dislike. I think it is that the word and what it represents simply does not trigger the response it does in a heterosexual man. I do not dislike vaginas. Hey, I have one, myself. I am just not interested in getting up close and personal with yours.

You have received some good advice. The reality is that you have to report this. The problems are not going to go away on their own. Start with your neighbor but be prepared to be told to file a police report. Go to a safe place if you feel you are in personal danger. Be prepared for the possibility that the story you are hearing from your sister is not quite as it seems. Your sister may have gotten herself into a situation about which she is ashamed and unable to get out of on her own. It may have an element of physical or mental illness. Whatever the situation she needs help and your family needs help. DO NOT try to handle this on your own. Get help. Laws have been broken and people are in danger. Take care of yourself.

One of those others sponsored must be mine. I have yet to hear from Aron, though.

Blog or not blog that is Clay's business. However, promise me exclusive products (blog, videos, audio, pictures, etc.) in exchange for my money and I tend to get testy when they do not come through. It has nothing to do with me loving the voice, the show (when I get one) or the man. It has a lot to do with reliability. I keep saying I join the fan club because I support the man and I do. However, maybe he should honor that support by keeping up his end of the fan club contract.

I would eat the cost to me. I would not expect TBAF to foot the bill. Shit happens. Now if Clay thinks he needs to give a little more personal time to the attendees then I would think that appropriate. Maybe a kiss on the cheek for each person would be enough to off set the inconvenience. Or a song. Or a peek at Clay's little man. (No, not Parker.)

I wish another song had been used. The event and its results do not match the song.

Try this on for size. Reed was the photographer of the Hannah photo. They had a hot threesome going. You should see the rest of the photos from that session. I would post them, but Clay still needs to text me permission.

Clay never said he never drank. Early on he said he occasionally drank wine with meals but did not drink when around children because he was a teacher and wanted to set a good example. If he ever did say he was a non drinker I would expect it would be in the context of me being a non-drinker. I rarely drink but rarely is not never. However if you ask most of my friends or my grandchildren if I am a drinker they would say no because they have never seen be drink but have seen me turn a drink down. Clay has always told people to not put him on a pedestal. Anyone who did was picking and choosing what to believe about Clay's words. If what he said or did fit a certain ideal it was accepted as true, if not it was rejected, sometimes through elaborate mental gymnastics. The Boobgate photoshop is an excellent example of how easy it was/is for people to only see what they want to see and how intricate the mental gymnastics could become. There is also the little thing called an AI contract that clearly states the show had the right to tailor the 'story' of each contestant. Truth was not a required element of the construct.

A US Airways flight from LaGuardia to Charlotte NC has crashed on take off into the Hudson River. It was a 'controlled' water landing and they are reporting all have been rescued.

I love a man in a ma'awis.

I would agree. I would much prefer to see you dressed long before Clay.

Now that is just scary. You know, not everything thought needs to be spoken. Clay has been known to actually listen to the fans a time or two. What if he likes your idea? Are there headphones that block out everything but Clay's voice?

I am easily amused. From the home page the title of this thread is Avoid the crazy, enjoy the goo ... So appropriate.

Malware can be found at downloads.com

The CH IT thread has a good discussion of some of the current virus problems. I tried Malware on my computer last night after Corabeth and Kimye suggested it. It worked like a charm (knock on wood). I was hit by the latest version of the Vundovirus. It repopulates on boot up so everytime I cleaned things up it was still hiding out and hitting me again. So far with Malware it looks ok.