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Claytonic said: I was lucky enough to visit Australia for 10 days (three-week Australia-NZ vacation!), I think in 1995. We signed up for all sorts of little "Australian" experiences - rode camels in Alice Springs, saw the teensy penguins come in from the sea at sunset, walked around Uluru, etc. One thing we did was go out into the bush to an aboriginal encampment with a guy who showed us the food (grubs and little fruit that was hard to tell from its poisonous cousin, etc.) and he explained how the Aborigines had a quite sophisticated method of sharing food, and were quite blindsided by having spent their whole lives just trying to find enough food to live, and then seeing a grocery store with food that they could not touch because they could not find jobs. And "jobs" was a whole new concept, too! It was a whole culture shock - from sharing to, well, not sharing. And having an entire heritage being sneered at, and being treated like dogs. He said even simple things were bizarre to them - if an aborigine need to clear their nose, they just did it, onto the desert sand where it dried immediately. They were disgusted that the invaders blew their noses into pieces of cloth and then put that cloth in their pocket!!! Ewwwwww! I learned that the nice shy doggie that I was trying to pet near Uluru was a dingo, and petting was a BAD idea. Anyway, I loved my vacation there, and it (and New Zealand) look like wonderful places to live - but there are very strict rules against who can settle there, and I do not qualify. It always makes me laugh when some criticize the American immigration policies, as if all the other countries welcome people with open arms. Sounds like everyone who was actually there at GFI had a wonderful time, it was lovely to read about it, and thank you soooooo much for sharing!!!!!!!

Living here in Tampa - I have been hearing about the big parties, the debate about the Lingerie Bowl, and last night I was afraid that the week-long local TV coverage was gonna interfere with Big Bang Theory - whoever set up the feeds for on-site coverage messed up and there was no signal at all for a little bit. It seems the Bucs players were blind-sided by Gruden's firing, but the fans never liked him and we want Tony back, since Tony moved back home here. But that's not gonna happen. Most people believe Gruden won that Super Bowl using what Tony set up, and it was downhill ever since, especially quarterbacking. Yeah, I love watching the commercials! No dog in this hunt, either. Any way, I was so pissed that when Philadelphia finally made it to the Super Bowl, many many years ago, when I lived in Illinois - and they stumbled around the field as if they were a high school team. And the guy I bet a drink with decided to get the most expensive concoction in the bar, instead of his usual beer, and left me broke. (I was pretty poor). So I stopped getting invested in the winner. When Tampa won, I refused to believe it until I saw the news!

Oh, I clicked on the pictures instantly, myself!!!!.....I was just thinking that if the guy really sold the password, that not only sucks but may be grounds for a lawsuit. I didn't think the fans obtained the password through nefarious means. All the photobooth sites assure people that pictures can be password-protected, and certainly anyone of the posers who gets a password can share it. Just think it sucks if the booth owner also owns the pix and can sell for profit. Hopefully someday, Clay can appear in public with a friend/partner/whatever - and not have his appearing with a guy meaning anything deep or newsworthy whatsoever. It would CMSU if he and Reed posed like that just for grins, too. Not that I think they did, I just think it would be funny if there was a complete curtain pulled over another relationship. So, I guess I am enjoying the pictures, taking them at face value without dissection, and hoping Clay or somebody else can sue if that is appropriate.

I think they should have been able to make that decision for themselves. but....isn't that exactly what you are wishing for? I feel badly that evidently there is no part of his life that people consider off-limits or not usable. I emailed a photobooth rental company, asking them who owns the copyright on the pictures taken - this whole thing has convinced me to never rent one or step into one, if the results can then be shilled to the public.

Top chef - Colicchio blogged that so much more happens that they can't squeeze in to an hour, but says that at no time are the judges aware of how people act in the kitchen or in private. He said this week's elimination was pretty much due to the "customers" - both leads were weak, but the customers like Stepan's desserts and that left the last impression. I don't really care who wins this year - no heroes and villians, really. Just kinda nice and sorta unpleasant. I almost long for a Hung dish that he describes as "marinated sauteed poached baked grilled hummingbird tongues and squirrel testicles that are of course still medium rare, garnished with caviar and jicama foam, nestled on a bed of baby greens gathered in the Himalayas, with a dressing that I cannot even tell you about, it is so difficult to create - in fact, I am not even going to serve it because ALL of your palates are unschooled and unworthy! Pah! Just take my word that everybody else's food was disgusting and sucked!" This year? Devilled eggs, fried green tomatoes. Filet mignon sammich. Boiled ostrich egg. Sigh. Chopped is pretty good.

Because they are Pure Capitalists and Help Make America Great!!!!!!!!!! Not that I am cynical or anything.

Note to self, after perusing the internet - if I have any interaction whatsoever with Clay, I will not say one fricking thing about it on the boards. The snippyness is getting, well, embarrassing. Especially from people who have neerner-neenered about not being able to spill things from RCA.

What a lovely thoughtful recap!!!!!!

Heeeee. The big bucks went for charity, it could just as easily been from some corporation.

Bwah! to bottlecap!!!! Couchie, that is awesome about your mom!!!! I agree that if Clay is not gonna do the OFC stuff, it should be taken out. I did not rejoin the OFC - partly because of money problems, partly because I did not feel like scraping the money together to read a bunch of harsh nasty crapola. The year I did belong, I often wondered if being a fan was some sort of unpleasant job for some people. Blargh.

Heeeee.....too many cool people at FCA to really leave! I do wish that people elsewhere would stop wrapping their personal wishes up with "The Fans'" wishes. Sure, there are burnt puppy scenarios for me with Clay - but then, there are burnt puppy scenarios for me with everybody. Communication - not even a hair off a puppy-dog tail. But leave me out of that "The Fans" stuff, pretty please. Own your feelings, don't spread them to me. (That is not a board-specific request.) Jeezy-creezy (tm Eddie Izzard!) - we have had more communication last year about the most personal life of Clay than I would have imagined possible (or needful, really). He is an entertainer, not a full-time court jester that got hired to provide full-time coverage. Anyway, I am kinda glad I will not be reading about the dinner. Because Clay's friends and family get castigated even worse than he does, just for being with him, and it creeps me out. Heh, yeah, I will stay here today, because, as Randy Newman sings for Monk, "It's a jungle out there!".

toni7babe is a class act. No good deed goes unpunished. I will never stop being a fan of Clay, but I can see myself edging over to quitting the boards because the constant bitching and nitpicking takes the fun out of it. What a stupid way to spend my time. No, the dinner was not a fan function and has nothing to do with blogging. Now, I am disappointed because I have not read any more about The Trip To Japan, starring KAndre - have I missed something?????

gbmifan, don't forget to tell us all what gets discussed! Seriously, that dinner last night was NOT a fan function, it was a function that fans happened to attend. I am just as happy to not have to wade through or skip critiques of the conversation, attendees, restaurant, etc..

Not to mention that if the whole conversation was detailed, there would be mind-numbingly boring posts whining about what questions were asked, what questions weren't asked, killjoy rants about what was revealed, if anything......and then the next group of people would prolly get detailed and indexed instructions on what they should be asking about instead of enjoying an intimate, non-fan, dinner. I mean, it could just as easily been a non-fan who won - I don't think the dinner falls into fan territory. Those people were there as people who donated to BAF, being fans was certainly the reason they donated, but a big-wig from a donating corporation could just as easily have won.

Apropos of nothing - whenever I see this commercial I feel like striking the hostess with a blunt object. Several times. THEN there will be something that needs to use electricity in order to clean up..... She makes me think of Rachel Ray on crack. Also, I saw an episode title from Survivor that made me wonder if KAndre was there - Episode 1603: "I Should Be Carried on the Chariot-Type Thing!"

You are doing very well with the words and feelings thing! For me, I am not seeing "changes" in Clay, because I never really knew Clay, just bits and pieces cobbled together. I never thought he was pure and innocent like some sort of angel, I thought he was an intelligent snarky bawdy really good guy who has a fabulous voice and presence. To me, each facet that gets revealed is not a change in Clay, it is a change in what I know about Clay. I guess he can't help if people think Oh he is not what I thought he is, because everybody built their own Clay. He has said he was no angel, the halo would be crooked, and I never thought he was kidding about that. He has already done more good than I can ever hope to - that's all I need to know, really. Mostly I just want to hear (and if lucky, watch) him sing. This is not a repudiation of anyone else's feelings, it is an explanation why I just can't agree with those who are somehow disappointed. And how fans take his actions and appearances and run in all different directions with them has nothing to do with Clay. IMO, etcetera etcetera, and so forth!

I never thought Clay didn't have a drink whenever, I just thought he didn't do the getting drunk in bars and needing a ride home thing. It was the bar he mentioned, not the drinking. I have a bit of trouble with people announcing that their preferences are a "high standard", as if anyone who doesn't live the way they prefer is somehow "low", but I'm trying to work on that. Perhaps a good standard would be how much good one does, not how one lives their own private life - which is really no one's business, I believe. I have always hoped that Clay had a full, rich private life, away from prying eyes. Also don't think his facial expressions and actions and such need to be explained or somehow sanitized. I just enjoy the show. He is a human being. Me too. And then there is that Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged thingy, which seems more rare than cheery clams at low tide. Thank y'all for the pictures! He certainly is gorgeous and joyful! Okay, that's enuff schoopie for the week, from me.

One of the great things I learned when working in Japan was not to say "The Japanese" are anything, do anything, etc. Because it wouldn't be true. Just putting 99% in there doesn't change that. Somehow the experience in two schools seems to have been extrapolated to "Asians". My first week of working in the office in Japan - software and testing engineers - swept all of my preconceived notions away. Some people were brilliant, some smart, some dumb as posts, some lazy, some over-achievers. Just like in America. I do think Kimiye's experience as an actual Asian might give her a bit of insight.

Public Service Announcement - http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/16/salmo...ref=mpstoryview I was at the grocery store yesterday, and I saw someone picking through the cracker-snacky-thingies that I used to include in my son's lunches - and I thought - well, I was complacent about this latest thing, but who knows where all that commercial peanut butter went? Jaycee - I think Clay is still Clay. I lurve him. I am totally squicked by some of the stuff by fans concerning actual sexual practices and positions - no matter who with! - but that has nothing to do with Clay, and I quickly learned when to avoid or scroll. That's just me. Heeee....down here in Florida, there is a tempest in a teapot about banning nudity and get-ups like a freaking sock on a penis, held there by a piece of fishing line around the waist, on family beaches. Evidently if you don't wish for you or your children to see someone's junk, you are a PRUDE!!!!! Just like some say if you don't really need to know about Clay's actual sex life in great detail, you are a HOMOPHOBE!!!! I don't even want to know about my own sister's actual, um, positioning, when she has sex with her husband. IMO everyone's entitled to what they like, just not entitled to force me to like/look at it too. And make judgements on me if I don't care to see it. That logic escapes some people down here. There is not a person in the universe that can affect my Clay fandom but Clay himself. Other fans? or haters? or nabobs of negativity? None really affect me except those fans that I have grown to like and respect - just like in person.

That was my subdivision!!!!! Heeee....no I never saw anything about Fancytown, I never went into Bahama downtown (pop. 162 when I lived there) unless I had to get something at the post office. My house was in the woods, though, I lived on Blalock Road, we voted to keep it gravel (less kids speeding) and everybody had at least two acres of woods. Pretty cool except you could get shot just sitting out on your deck during hunting season. Ah, the lull before the storm named What Label Does Clay Belong To and Who is he Gonna Hang Out With Career-wise. FWIW, I don't think David Foster forced Buble or Groban into any niches or boxes - I doubt he could pry them out, really. I think Foster just goes with strengths. (In the event that Clay is gone from RCA and signs with Foster). Never a dull or predictable (Clay, not the fans' reactions!) or non-contentious moment! :-O

jmh123 said: Heeee.....to get home, in Bahama, I had to drive on Orange Factory Road, took a right off of Roxborough, north of Durham. I was terrified of black ice, the asphalt road twisted and turned and went waaaay down a hill and then back up again - until they built the dam, and that was frightening too! I always drove as if all the roads were covered with ice. When it snowed the aerial shots of 15-501 were comical, except that it was real people shooting off the road all over the place. One time a woman slid into the ditch off Orange Factory, neighborhood guys got her out, she went back in twice because she could not understand about not flooring the gas pedal. Ended up, someone drove her car for her up to Roxborough, followed by another car - because they were tired of pulling her out of the ditch. While the area I lived in was gorgeous, weather was a big factor when I decided to take the first job offer in Florida! No more ice and snow, Bloomington and then NC were quite enuff. It never got as cold in Philly, and I was used to calmly thinking "Okay, I am going to slide all the way back down this hill, but it is OK because no one is behind me and I will just go even more slowly on my next attempt. No problem!" Plus it was too hard to order unsweetened tea in NC.

When I lived in Bloomington, Illinois - sometimes it would be -20 or -25 BEFORE the wind chill factor - in fact, it is -18 before the WCF right now - Frickin' cold in Bloomington Illinois!!!! we would get sent home from work and kids would not have school when the weather got really bad. And we all went shopping at the mall :-O I can still remember driving along very slowly, bags of Sakrete sitting over my car's rear axle, muttering "don't stop don't stop, pleeeeeze don't stop" to the car in front of me! Amongst the many culture shocks from moving from Bloomington to Durham NC (I had never recovered from the shock of moving from Philly to Bloomington, really), was the shock that when the schools were closed because there MIGHT be a half-inch of snow - they closed the malls!!!!!! Good grief!!!!! Of course, after I saw how people there drove in the snow, I understood. Couchie, I am happy things are going a bit better, but I believe you still need many many more good thoughts and wishes beamed your way!

I think that if the Ohio votes had been counted correctly, Bush would not have "won". I do not think there is any such thing as "us" the American people, really!

Mine too - but I think part of this is due to the reappearance of the Wild Card. Clay is usually mentioned whenever they talk about it, seems to me. I doubt they do anything without pumping up their show in mind.

Scarlett - the message is coming from them, not their computers - they feel WOW will be better and faster, etc. Big babies. Although my grandson can't get Spore to run, so I think he does need the new card. What a day you had!!!!!! Our day here sort of revolved around the use of a 50-foot sewer tape - which "fixed" the stoppage at 47 feet - cost $29, cheaper than a plumber. AI was boring - needed more Clay!