00lsee

If Clay's happy, I'm happy.

I don't care shit whether he rocks, sways, or jiggles.

Oh yeah I vote for the jiggles!!

Me, three. And a glinting rivet.

Thanks for the update, Couchie. Hang in there, my dearie-dear. I'm still looking for employment, too. One thing I have started saying to myself lately is, "Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours". There are a lot of things working against me, but I'm not going to help them work against me anymore. LOL Your determination inspires me!

And yes, I think 2010 is going to be an exciting year.

Hi guyths! (Sid the Sloth voice, for those familiar with "Ice Age")

Still alive and kicking here in Houston. Hope I will catch up on the conversation one of these good old days. (((Much love to all in the meantime)))

Happy birthday, ldyjocelyn!

What a beautiful smile in that banner up there! I've missed all the latest Clay news. Real life can sucketh mightily, y'all. (waves to merrieeee...mouths 'call me')

Off topic, but does anyone have a recommendation for a reliable used car for my soon-to-be licensed older daughter?

Is there any clack? Has the gala already happened? Seriously, my life is not my own these days, but if Clay sang something somewhere, I'd like to hear it.

Thanks for the alerts today from my friends about Clay's great news. So, EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! Baybee...can't wait to hear more.

Well, Grandma used to call children 'little nippers'...

Regarding acronyms, I would ban acronyms from all public speech and text -- if I were king of the forest.

You'll never be king of the forest, honey, because you're much cuter than this guy!

but not this guy:

Yeah, it seems to me they had so many options with the new name that choosing one with potential hyper-politically correct problems could have been avoided. But the new website is awesome.

Haven't been posting much..got some not so good "stuff" going on right now but i'll participate even though I know that a certain someone will have my least fave pic there.

(((((merrieeee)))))

Hark ye, verily, I say to thee

Some days doth sucketh mightily

But sloggeth onward, never quail

For worse than rain, there cometh hail

Hence with the hail, a hurricane

Doth multiply thy tortuous pain

The earth doth shake, the heavens break

And Uncle Sam his tax doth take

But take ye heart, for verily

If thou still liveth, good days these be.

~Book of Smartass, Chapter 7

(Basically, Grandma used to say, 'it could be worse!' and 'any day above ground is a good one') LOL

I'll keep telling myself that, if you will. MUAH!

Oh! I am so sorry for the job losses and disappointments, y'all! I have been up late just about every night looking at job postings (y'all have any super-duper job opening websites you like?) and I might get excited about this one or that one, only to realize the commute is, like, downtown...or I must speak Spanish...or the pay is positively abysmal...or I must be proficient in some software I've never used...or I must have a degree in something or other...or the hours would totally suck for my 'kid schedule'.

It is discouraging, so I sympathize.

luckiest, Paul on Letterman is already on YouTube. Good quality, too! A quick search finds him.

Sorry I missed your birthday, kimiye, I haven't been around much lately. Real life is kicking my tail. Also, happy birthday, jmh. Same reason/excuse. Geez, y'all. Sorry!

Hope your mom is doing better, couchie. (((HUGS)))

FromC... that Bon Jovi YouTube was awesome! The clarity or the video and the fantastic sound was the best I've ever seen on YouTube. Do you know if that is available to download anywhere?

Sorry, liney, I don't! I have Realplayer and DL'd it to my player, but I can never figure out if it's possible to get it OFF of there. It it is, I dunno how.

I got it from Facebook. If you're a FB member, just go to their fanpage and the link is there if someone can figure out how to DL it......Scarlett?

I really enjoyed it too!

Sure thing! I'll grab it and convert....

ETA: Wow, I didn't know you could upload higher quality files to YouTube. I may start uploading some HD clips. Thanks!

How did your conversion turn out, Scarlett? Mine was such poor quality, even in flv format! But, silver lining y'all, there was a download link (right click and save as) for the mp3 of the song, at least. So you can download that. If you have any problems, I saved it and could upload it to yousendit or something. That was a lot of fun.

I was watching 'Pay It Forward' the other night on cable and never realized that the abusive ex-husband was Bon Jovi! He did a convincing job with that role!

bottlecap, cute shoes! LOL

ncgurrl, our neighbors are patriotic that way several times a year. So...colorful!

Wow, clayzycoffin, Reba?! A quick Google confirms the possibility.

According to the Boston Herald, "Country stars Reba McEntire, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw have all confessed to using Auto-Tune in performance, claiming it is a safety net that guarantees a good performance."

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I saw her in concert in the 80's and she was probably not (at that time) using anything to alter or improve her voice. I suspect her aging voice may need more technical support than it did then, but you simply can't outright fake a voice like hers. Don Williams opened for her and he was superb.

For a humorous look at what autotune can do, check out

EEEEEEEE!!! It's the night of the living Claaayyy!!!

00lsee, I saw your post at CH and was hoping you would bring it over here. It was beautifully written and expressed what I felt, except I didn't feel the relief. I still feel sad for that sweet little boy who had such a tragic life, but I hope that people will mainly remember him for the good things. I know that I am one who has been turned off in recent years by his personal issues, but watching and listening to him perform has made me want to go back and remember the Michael that I grew up with, and unfortunately, since his death, I can again appreciate his talent without all the negative.

Your last sentence incorporates all I was trying to say. Maybe relief was the wrong word? Hm...(reaches for Merriam-webster)...Well, it says: relief: feeling of ease from grief or trouble; reduction of or freedom from pain. So, maybe that's the meaning I meant, after all?

Anyway, that's probably a word to describe what I felt about Farrah, too. As much as I admired her battle to live, she was so battered by the end that her death represented a release from that pain. I hope Redmond can get his act together.

I have to say, y'all, that since the deaths of Anna-Nicole Smith and Heath Ledger and now, possibly, Michael Jackson, I have become very vigilant about the medications I take! I kind of hope it was ordinary coronary disease, but the people close to him sure are raising some red flags, aren't they? Sad.

I'm very curious about MJ's kids. I thought all his kids were biological, but they were saying this morning that Blanket, at least, was adopted in Europe...and the other two are mysteries. By all accounts he was a loving and engaged father, so I hope his caring extended to having instructions for their welfare set in writing in an ironclad will somewhere. My gut tells me there will be a battle over their custody, regardless, more shame to the grasping, greedy family members/leeches of all varieties! For their sakes, I hope not.

luckiest, I'm glad your Luckypuppy is doing okay. That is so scary! That reminds me that I never updated you guys about my dog vs car victim Jack. He returned to normal really fast, so fast that we were having to confine him to keep him still, as the vet recommended. I would love to see his x-rays NOW, since I was appalled by the break in his pelvis, because you'd never know he was hurt at all, the way he bounces around! So, yay to that!

aikim congrats on your lovely pie! My grandmother used to make rhubarb and also gooseberry pies. I never had her way with pie crust, unfortunately.

Anyway, I know there are many more people I want to make remarks to, but I'm so behind...and really, I need to spend some time reworking my resume and trying to make some sense of the bills. This has been a crazy month for my family and I have made discouragingly little headway in the job search.

So, ta for now!

When I heard that Michael Jackson had died, I admit that my first reaction, after surprise/disbelief, was RELIEF! I immediately thought that his death would at last allow people to admire and love him again. Not the strange, possibly perverse person he had become in adulthood, but the amazing and iconic artist they remember from his, and their, 'younger days'. Or the artist they first learned about from his old videos, without really being aware of his career rise and fall or who he had become in later years. I'm watching "So You Think You Can Dance" again this season...and even now, all these years later, some of these young dancers say that Michael Jackson first sparked their desire to become dancers. That's a piece of his legacy his shocking downfall could not totally destroy.

While he still lived, his physical appearance, his money woes, and his scandals were a constant reminder that the "Old Michael" was no more. The present-day Michael Jackson was irrevocably tainted, making it difficult for people to express positive feelings about him without adding disclaimers. Now that his life has ended, the artist he once was can be mourned and acknowledged and, yes, loved again. Even a successful come-back tour could never have accomplished that. So yes, in a way...relief.

They say that the music people gravitate back to in their adult lives is what they heard as teens/young adults. I was the perfect age to be imprinted by Michael Jackson. His music played in my bedroom and then my dorm room and then on my car radio as I drove around as a young married woman. Some of his songs literally take me back to certain times, because they are inextricably linked to the soundtrack of my young life.

I sometimes call myself a 'child of the 80's'...and as such, Michael is unavoidably jumbled in with all of my favorite groups and singers from those years. Other baby boomers may have similar recollections. I mean, the high school band played "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" for the drill team to dance to! "Thriller" was one of the first albums I ever bought with my own money.

When his personal life regrettably overshadowed his music, I reluctantly let him go, but that young woman I was never forgot the young man he once was. Before the criminal allegations, before the overt weirdness, before the worst of the physical transformations he went through, he was once both brilliant and beautiful. THAT'S the Michael Jackson I will remember. THAT'S the Michael Jackson I, and many other fans, have missed for years and years.

Of course people are free to have a negative opinion of him...free to find him reprehensible and repulsive as a person...and if he did the things he was accused of, I hope his victims find peace. I'm not blind to any of those disturbing elements of his life, nor am I excusing any criminal behavior. What I am trying to do is to describe why the 50-year old Michael Jackson who died and the bad or just plain weird things he may have done in his adult life are somewhat compartmentalized in my mind from the "Michael Jackson" I'm thinking about today. That Michael is forever young, forever singing and dancing.

As for Farrah Fawcett, I'm sorry her life and death will be overshadowed by the sensationalism of Michael Jackson's passing. She was the reason I and all my friends had feathered 'wings' in our hair as teenagers. I watched a retrospective about her last night, having missed "Farrah's Story" when it came out, and I was reminded all over again how much I admired some of her work and how much I enjoyed "Charlie's Angels". Hey, I loved "Magnum P.I." and "Miami Vice" back in their heydays, too! Her courage and will to live is an inspiration.

She deserved a lengthier tribute than fate allowed, but then again, so did Ed McMahon. We were hardly beginning to walk down those memory lanes when this spectacular "third of three' came about.

I watched a biographic special about Michael Jackson a long time ago...and it really did illuminate why and how his personality might have become fractured, as it apparently did. I have compassion for that sensitive child who was savagely and callously damaged, just as I have compassion for anyone else damaged by the person he later became. Somewhere in between, his life affected me in a happy way, and for that, I can remember him with fondness.

Howdy, y'all. I'm so behind, but I wanted to drop in and say hello to everybody. Shuttle is about to come get me so I can ransom my car from the repair shop. I'm trying to be grateful, at this point, that the cost is below $2000 and not above. After two and a half days without a vehicle, my kids and I have been going stir-crazy. Anyway...figured my friends here could relate to the groan-inducing joys of the unexpected summer expense, since I see we had some A/C problems and other stuff going on here. (((HUGS))) to all with the throbbing pocketbooks and may all our 'things' stay together, running perfectly, for a while for all of us!

Topic? Love that Clay Aiken guy. That's about all I can muster at the moment. heh

Lotus,

One thing that I forgot to add is that a lot of people in Europe are heavy smokers, and the trains stink of smoke, even the really nice ones. Sometimes we would get out of train and our clothes and hair would stink of smoke.

I wonder if this stuff would help with the odor? Cigar Aficianado magazine even recommends it.

I'm going to buy some to try after eating at certain restaurants because I hate the way some food places make my hair and clothes smell. Letcha know if it works or not! hee

Hope y'all are having a good day.

(((((merrieeee))))), sorry about your A/C! Ugh! My parents were without cool for a week, after the AC company came out for 'pre-season maintenance' and broke the darn thing! LOL

I can't make it to the eHP dinner, either, y'all. Just...not possible, sadly. Not that I could taste even the most delicious Italian food right now, anyway. Haven't been able to smell or taste anything for a week now!

Sure miss chocolate.

Sure will miss seeing my friends.

*sigh*

Well, I did actually like Adam on the show. He seemed respectful of the others, including the band, and I liked some of his performances, except for the shrieking. Just not into that. But the RS interview, as well as his responses to what Clay said about his performance, have totally turned me off from him. I don't think its cool to brag about drug use or being drunk or who'd you'd like to or not like to do it to. And don't see why he thinks it's so much cooler to "come out" in RS than the way Clay did, especially when the only reason he had to come out in the first place is because he went in to do well on AI. And in case Adam forgot, or didn't know, Clay was the first AI contestant ever to be on RS, so

All of this just goes to show that there is no one like Clay Aiken. He's one of a kind. Totally unique and a complete class act. Hope that if he is out there somewhere on one of his Unicef trips that he is safe, and really hope to hear from him soon. He is one tough act to follow.

I was inclined to like him, too. But now? Nickelback's 'Rockstar' lyrics come to mind, but time will tell. I'm not dazzled by this particular comet.

*************

Clay's Rolling Stone cover will always be one of my favorite 'moments in time'...with that shy little fan-blown expanse of skin. Remember the excitement when the high def image surfaced? LOL

*waves limply*

So behind, y'all. Bronchitis. Kicked. My. Tail. Sorry I missed out, my darling eHP. I was hoping to be well by Saturday, but turns out I was just getting started. Just happy to be semi-vertical today.

Pleh.

MOLEY

MOLEY

MOLEY

MOLEY

MOLEY

hee

OK so when is the eHP having a get together???? My place???

Ears perk up.

Raleigh and Durham are both Border Terriers, if I remember correctly.

Not sure which border, though. Pretty sure Canadian.

Frid, important meeting with social worker and special educator for my son Thursday morning, please send us good thoughts. He has special needs that need to be worked on, takes a lot of patience and energy.

{{{preden}}} Hang in there. My special kid is graduating high school next week! I never thought I'd see the day.

Thanks! He's beginning a 29 week program in July in order to get him eventually a job. He gets so stressed out with anything new. I'm so thankful for special educator assigned to him.

Good luck to you both!

Niiiiiiice banner.