Kareneh

kf, hope you feel better soon! You Tube is telling me that video is not available in my country. And that makes no sense because the brand new Indiana Jones movie is available downtown on DVD. Go figure! Anyway, would it happen to be "Somewhere Down the Lazy River?" I do like that one very mad passionately much...and you've got me wanting to go find a copy of "The Last Waltz" with all of those clips you linked. I got to see them all but the one you wanted me to see. I'm not counting the days for a tour, yet, but I've sure got the rest of my year compartmentalized. All these nice tidy chunks of time so I can keep living in the present. The more I think about it, and despite the fact that I want "all Clay all the time," sharing the cost burden of touring makes a lot of sense. I would think heading out on the road, for a lot of acts, would be a scary proposition this summer and who knows how long into the future. Tickets are expensive and MOST people are buying for two. I know when I choose a concert to attend at $75 to $100 a ticket, I'm looking for a sure thing. I know I can count on Clay to give me a great show, so I'm falling all over myself to plunk down the money. But my husband, who was always a big Stevie Nicks fan, refused to upgrade our lawn seats at the Woodlands to front row when there were some last minute releases on the day of her concert last year. He thought $250 for the two of us was too much to spend on a concert. Performers who want to get out there and tour are going to have to find ways to keep their costs in line since I don't think there is a lot of room to raise prices any higher for any act. My cousin's wife is surprising him with a trip to New York to see The Eagles play at The Garden at the end of the month. It's their 25th anniversary or something big like that. They are average people with 2 incomes and a thing like this is a rarity in their lives. So, maybe Clay is back in Raleigh brainstorming with Mary and all those good people he surrounds himself with trying to come up with someone to share a billing with.....if it gets him out on the road this fall, I'm all for it. As much as I like parts of the status quo, the ability to take pictures being at Clay's discretion and it being a little easier to get half decent seats.....I know that's far from the most important thing in the long run. I'm ready to see some new people and see the joy of discovery on a new face in the crowd. I would reserve the right to pout about no pictures, though.

Where the heck has Shania Twain been lately? I'd think that would be a kick ass concert but Shania coming down from the Alps might just be a wee bit too big. I bet she'd put the kibosh on the pictures, too.....but it would be fun. Gosh, muski, this is a toughie......I was just checking out who is going to be at the Woodlands Pavilion this summer to see if I might be in Houston when someone I really wanted to see was playing and I noticed that most of the acts were doubling up. Counting Crows is out with Maroon 5. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers with Steve Winwood. Sheryl Crow with James Blunt. Bryan Adams & Foreigner. Journey & Heart. Steve Miller & Joe Cocker. I know some of these guys have been around for a while, but those are none too shabby names up there. John Mayer is back again this year with Colbie Calliat (I saw that name posted somewhere but I have no clue who she is.) I bought Duffy's Rockferry the other day on a whim but still haven't listened to it, maybe tomorrow I'll do that. Who knows maybe she'd be a good one. But, as usual I haven't got a clue who she is other than I liked the CD title. Let's see if he shared a bus with Alanis Morrisette, she could right some intriguing little songs when it was all over and we could spend most of 2009 trying to figure out the implication of each and every word. So there is an interesting side benefit to that pairing. Norah Jones? Maybe.....too serious? I'd love to see Alison Krauss someday so.....Alison Krauss it is for me. Though I do think Clay can make himself big enough, live, on any stage so I do think a Shania pairing whether it makes sense on paper, or not, would be a great show. That's the best I can come up with on short notice, my evening ended up being spent searching the hairiest dog on the planet for ticks. Found one and maybe a second. That doesn't count the one I spied on the kitchen wall tonight. The one that prompted the fine finger pat down. The day I came back here to Azerbaijan, John presented me with a little present inside of a folded paper towel, courtesy of Lena, the cleaning lady who found seven of the little bastards on Kenai. He also showed me a tick collar, still in the box, and I REALLY didn't think that would be enough. That dog hasn't ever been out of our courtyard! So.....those freaking things are creeping around out there waiting to attack. ICK!! Time to bring out the heavy artillery......as much as I hate to get into chemical spraying in a pretty much unregulated country. I am most certain there is a chemical available, probably down on the corner in a two liter pop bottle, that will solve my problem. Do I want to take the chance, that if I choose the blue nasty stuff in the two liter pop bottle, that it isn't really agent orange. We decided tonight that we'll get out of Dodge for the application and spend a few days at the staff apartment.....I'll send in recon to peer over the wall to see if we're defoliated or not. I will inquire at the vet's about a reputable bug killer sprayer but we have no Orkin men here....just probably some guy in slippers and a suit jacket. Who isn't going to understand 1) why I can't live with the ticks in the first place and 2) why I won't shake his hand when we agree on a price. I need a bug master in the worst way, and I want to go home. On to happier thoughts..... Since everyone is the master of something here in my little corner of the world, I'll let Clay be the thigh master tonight.

:bday: lajeterfan!!

Ooops! I made a big omission.....saw Elton John and the Red Piano when I went to the skating thing, too. muski, I just watched a You Tube or some such thing of David Cook on Leno, and I agree. He will do well....cute, funny, articulate, and seems like a pretty good guy. Everyone is gone downtown to swill a few brews...... Shakira, Madonna, and Rhianna, lovely gals that they maybe are now serving as coasters on the end tables in the living room and only one slot in that 3 CD player is full....AND IT"S MINE, ALL MINE!! Nice to have the children visit, but when your size 18's are barely zipping you definitely don't need to be hearing "Hips Don't Lie" echoing up three flights of hardwood stairs day in and day out. Though by Tuesday, and after 4 days of Baku Belly, I should be able to do up the 16's......Saltines make a lovely breakfast, lunch and dinner washed down with some Schwepp's. Crap! They just came home! Must have run out of MGD at the local watering hole.

Halifax in the 60's and 70's would have to have been the eastern equivalent of Penticton, B.C. we didn't get much of anything back then and for the size of the city it is now, it still gets precious little. Seriously lacking decent venues. Who wants to pay $100 for a general admission ticket to stand in a field all day where there is at least a 50% chance of rain....so that would really qualify as a mud field. They try to combat it with hay but really....... Anyway, my aunt and uncle took me to see Johnny Cash in 1968 and a year later I went with them to see Gordon Lightfoot....both in the beautiful Capitol Theater that was torn down many years ago by Maritime Tel & Tel to make way for their office building. I still think that bloody telephone company owes the city a decent theater! Anyway, again......first concert I went to, alone, was Steppenwolf when I was in high school. They played on the football practice field at St. Mary's University, and since I had plans to go there anyway in a few years, I gate crashed. There was a huge gate crash that night, the opening act was a local band that totally rocked, Steppenwolf wasn't too happy, probably since security had just kind of thrown in the towel on the rush and I don't think they even finished their set. Didn't matter the local band that opened, Peppertree was better that night by a mile. Beyond having April Wine be a regular group at my Hi-Y dances in junior high, I can't remember seeing anyone else in Halifax until the Beach Boys played the Metro Center and by that time I was fully grown......and one of them was dead. All in all, the best time I ever had at a live music venue was when kd lang and the reclines would come through the bars and the clubs in Grande Prairie, Alberta. Maybe it was the beer or because they were relatively small places but back in the early eighties put that girl in a cowboy bar and you had something special. Really really special. I've had some very special moments at Clay concerts but as of yet no drunken, foot stompin', wild abandon ones.......probably because I'm not 29 anymore....oh yeah...and I'm somebody's mother. Oh....I guess I was a mother then, actually. So....I wasn't pregnant. Yeah, that's the ticket. Not pregnant. More recently, in addition to Clay I've seen Rob Thomas, The Doobie Brothers, ZZ Top, Stevie Nicks, and Heart. Would love to have seen Roy Orbison! I wonder who is coming to Baku next. Those would be the seeds of a maple tree, encased in these little wing-like things. When we were kids we would pry them apart and use the sap to glue them to the end of our nose....... becoming maple tree unicorns. There were lots and lots of maple tree helicopters in Halifax.

footloose, I owe you something BIG for those pictures you brought over. Gorgeous! And thank you KAndre for your recap of the eHP's Kimmel adventure. I'm looking forward to Scarlett's side of the story with great anticipation. Somebody have a Corona for me at your lunch next week, okay? I'll be in Houston on or about July 9 - 10 to pick up my car. We have to get together then for sure. Welcome, Tijala! :nature-smiley-014: I updated my blog Sally Rand McNally this afternoon/morning....I think it's only 7:30 am central right now. Been waiting all day for someone to wake up got bored, so I wrote something. Not much just something. Man, it's hard to get started again once you get slack and kind of enjoy it. I can't believe I spent the better part of this past week making non-Clay travel plans. We are actually going to take two vacations as a family....not one....but two! Taking my daughter to New York in May created a deficit on my son's sibling equality spread sheet, so I guess we are ALL going back for a few days at the end of July. John included. I have to wonder about John sometimes. He isn't a fan of New York City....his only experience being that I've made him drive through Manhattan a few times on our way home....BUT....he didn't believe me when I told him his son wanted to go to New York and so we were going. He thought that a 24 year old guy would find New Hampshire more to his liking. Two things I know for certain. John works too hard. And he doesn't know that Clay's run in Spamalot is over. I know this because I got the 3rd degree about what plays we might see when we are there. I have carefully planned a big wide open space for the fall....because while searching the internet camera sellers for a handy dandy slip in my pocket little camera, I found this other one.....that I think will be perfect for concerts. Ain't that just the way it works sometimes! I think I'm going to have to have myself a little used camera sale one of these days. Not only does John work hard....he works hard to get the money to buy me cameras. And it is getting a little ridiculous. My old standby rationalization is that you don't shoot a whole round of golf with one club, do you? But at this rate, I'll have more cameras than there are clubs in his bag. OH....I went to see Spamalot a bunch of times. I took one picture.....this one with the pitching wedge. Sheesh! Yeah.....I REALLY need that camera. OH....OH.....Who's going to the gala?

Too long for a thread title?

And I didn't have a thing to do with that. I bought my copies of ONMWH when I was in the states for that last Spam weekend and hung around for a couple of days. I'm going to have to check with the folks back home to see if the single is getting play on C100 the most expensive radio station in the market (I guess that should be the most popular station.....I used to do radio ads, so I think of the stations in terms of what they cost me.) Anyway, it's AC or Hot AC or some such animal and they were very Clay friendly back in the day. When I was living back there I always hoped that Clay would come to Halifax and that station would comp me some sweet tickets.....never happened, of course, instead I got tickets for everyone else who came through town. I used to use them for give aways at the gym. I'm back in Baku again and slowing down the pace so my biorhythms don't get too out of sync with my download speed. Leno and Kimmel, each, took me an hour to get. I am clinging to my love for mpeg files by the very tips of my fingernails here. I fear the bloom is coming off the rose. I'm not a whole lot into reviews of anything beyond what I think they may influence those who are curious and malleable. I know my kids (both in their early twenties) wouldn't know a review from a Shakespearean Sonnet. I don't think they have much influence of their buying (not that they buy all that much) patterns. They both find their new music on You Tube and My Space and via word of mouth. If their friends like it and recommend it they give it a listen. I believe this CD's longevity will come from word of mouth and people stumbling across that gorgeous blond in profile in Walmart when they're in the electronics department picking up a DVD for a birthday present. I surely wouldn't complain though, if I had to spend more hours here waiting for TV appearances to download. It's time well spent and I can do my nails while I wait.....stuff like that. I'm more quite lately about my obsession now that I was during the first couple of years, but I wasn't all that vocal in the beginning either. The first year pretty much everyone who came is regular contact with me knew I was a fan, knew I was trotting off to multiples of the same concert, and hung around internet message boards. Now, I tend to quietly drift off into the sunset with my wheelie carry-on and my laptop bag. I gifted CDs to people who seemed interested. I haven't done that this time 'round, mostly because I had planned to bring some back to Baku to share but waited till I was back in Canada to make the purchases. When I went into Walmart and saw that they were charging $16.97 for them, I passed. The citizens of Baku can wait a few more months until I get back to the states to collect the Best Buy $7.99 ones I ordered. It's a big difference when you're getting a handful. I didn't get too much crap from anyone, a little from my son, and that's about it. I think as time went on me, and my little obsession, became old news and just a part of who I was......that was the end of that. A few times, while I was in New York, I pulled a St. Peter and denied my association with "those Clay fans." The last time was when I was taking my seat at Gypsy and it so happened that the man and the woman next to me had been seated right behind me at Spamalot the previous night. We recognized each other and spoke. She asked me how I enjoyed Spamalot. I told I thought it was very funny, she said they thought it was "way out there" and did I know that Clay Aiken from American Idol was in it. I told her I did and she proceeded to tell me that the two women sitting on her right were big Clay fans......and "you won't believe this.....BUT....they had pictures of him stuffed in their bras! AND.....they drove all the way from Boston to see him 4 times!" I'm not sure if I said "WOW" or "GOSH!" But my jaw dropping deadpan face worked well for me that night and I gave no twitches of recognizing myself or anyone else in my response. Only 4 times from Boston, eh? More and more, though, my time fandom has become more personal. I don't feel any pressure to be or behave in a certain way. I have made many wonderful friends through it and that is the best thing to come from it for me. I could be as big a fan of Clay Aiken whether I was on the boards or not.....how I feel about his music and how he comes across to me on television are my own feelings and they don't change because of a review or because someone else feels differently. I find the differences of opinion interesting they don't really alter my feelings. I try to accept that I don't have any influence over the person or persons (and other such dumbasses) who came up with the bust thing on Kimmel....puhleese! There are many many people out there who are getting paid for jobs they just arent' that good at. Why should TV be any different? Nepotism is everywhere, no? Speaking of which the kid and her Dad will be home for dinner soon, so I should get up off my butt and go cook some really tough meat. When the Air Canada guy in Halifax asked me, out of curiousity, what kinds of things a person would pack into an extra suitcase (that cost $225 to bring back)....I told him packets of marinade, Milk Bones, and twist ties. I have developed a new appreciation for those little twisty things that give some people a really hard time. Try living without them for a while! Oh...I almost forgot. The kid, unbeknown to me at the time took a little video of Clay on the roof after the last Spam show. It's only 15 seconds but I was proud she had her wits about her enough to start taking it. My camera, in its case, was firmly lodged in the bowels of my purse and nothing was getting it out of there in time. I didn't even get the zipper down. Before I knew it, it was all over. Kinda like high school. She took pix from the stage door that afternoon and so far, no amount of parental nagging has gotten her to put them on a memory stick for me. Where is her sense of urgency in these matters? Certainly not inbred, though, she may just take after her father.

Hi, it's me. I'm packing to go home. The kid and I are flying out Monday night. I got nuthin' but a beautiful new avi and I wanted to see what it looked like in real life. *Sigh* I do believe it will do quite nicely.

Hi! Just rolled into the drive at 2:00 AM after a whirlwind trip down to New York with the girl-child (who surprised the hell out of me when she said "I took some video of Clay on the roof." Now if she would just come home with her camera I could upload it to my laptop to see what it looks like.) Anyway, we left on the spur of the moment early Saturday morning with one bag each hastily tossed into the trunk of my rental car (the wheel fell of my beater the other day) and 16 hours later we were in the big city with all the bright lights. Forty-eight hours after that.....as they were ringing up those first sales at Virgin in Times Square, we were sitting in northbound traffic on the Henry Hudson Parkway......kicking ourselves for pretending to be sensible and leaving when we did! Found out this morning that she doesn't have to work until Friday night and we came home early for nothing.....well, we have to pack up and move her out of her apartment over the next couple of days but heck.....packing and moving....I KNOW! But what a great weekend! All worth the 32 hours in the car....the last 7 of which we had "On My Way Here" to keep us company. Sweet! Do any of you eHP peeps happen to work in the vicinity of the Holman Rd. or West Loop Houston Community College Campuses? I need a huge favor.....I kind of messed something up by blowing off real life to go to New York this weekend and I'm in a bit of a sticky wicket. I need a textbook for my next class and I was going to order it from Amazon....now it's out of stock!. I tried the campus bookstore today but it wasn't exactly a reassuring experience. So what if it doesn't sell a gazillion copies in the first week. I'll take my album sales like I take my sex, please....did I really say that? Um....so I did. Time to slow and steadily slip back into lurker-dom. BWAH!!!! I am so far behind and I know there are lots of pretty pictures and interviews and videos out there for me to see. See y'all later! Oh.....and I guess I missed everyone at O'Lunneys the other night. By the time I showed up everyone was gone and there was just cha cha and a few stragglers walking along 45th Street. The stragglers straggled on home and cha cha and the kid and I went in and had a few more beers. Someday will someone just tie a rope to me and take me to the place I'm supposed to be.....I tend to be an aimless dawdler. I never end where I'm supposed to be at the time I'm supposed to be there. Now, where does doing him line start.......and do I need a wristband for that, or will these handcuffs be enough?

I'll be there for both shows on Sunday the 4th.

kf, I have GMA tickets for Tuesday but that's the day Josh Groban is on....Clay is the next day, dang it! And I have no tickets for that one. Come to think of it, I haven't heard who has....though I'm sure there will be tons of people camping out on the sidewalk again. Does anyone know anyone who is hanging around until the 7th? Maybe, I can hang out and take shots through the window again. That worked last time and I wouldn't have to be a good line up do-bee and move when they barked at me because...."I'm not getting in anyway." And....oh..isn't Bryant Park just like a little bit o' heaven?

I got your Economic Stimulus Package right here, bay-bee! Give it up? Where do I line up? He's been stimulating my economy for quite some time now....maybe the government should fund a 100 city national tour so a lot more economies could be stimulated.....now, that's what I call a Bush Plan. Ooooh! That is a delightful slice of banner up there. Sometimes, I wish these were part of a poster series, they are so damn gorgeous. Thanks KAndre and keepingfaith for your recaps of the latest eHP adventures. I missed you all by a week. AGAIN! But I was lucky enough to see Scarlett and Solo in the theater on the 24th and get some hugs. (I miss Houston, dammit!) Claygasm, thanks, too, for recapping your experience at QVC. I thought when I first watched it on the wee little video that they put up after the show that there was something indefinably off/odd/weird about it, as well...I wasn't sure what it was....maybe my own expectations or something. I love the songs and that is ultimately what will make me play it over and over, if the songs touch me. This morning I watched it again on the downloaded videos and it seemed okay, the weirdness was gone. The eyeliner was still there but the weirdness was gone. And the stubble showed up so much better. And I really really liked the music. So, I got very handsome boyfriend singing some very good songs that I really like to me over my coffee this morning and life is good. Except I tried to order from Amazon, and even though I am a US customer with a US billing address, my little old IP address ratted me out and I was refused entry to the portal. Just because my ass is sitting in Canada doesn't mean I'm Canadian.....well, technically I am....BUT.....I think I should call them up and wave my Social Security number at them. I can't believe this is Spam's last week! So much has happened in the past four months and continues to happen. I'm heading back overseas right in the middle of album promo which kind of sucks. One more week and I would have made it through most of it! Oh well.....I am getting to be here for the drop and the last night of the show (one of these days I'm going to have to let someone here know I won't be around this weekend). That long plane ride back to Baku will be that much better with these tunes on my iPod. I keep wondering what, if anything, will happen on the 6th in NYC. I didn't sign up for any parties or anything like that but I was planning to go to the Virgin store at midnight and snag me a K Mart copy before I left the city, too.....and probably a couple more pastrami sandwiches.

Did a hi res of the photo that is the CH banner ever turn up?

Yeah, that was me!! That waitress, who is an absolute doll, and I are like buds now. We got to chatting the other day when I was in there, and she told me that she had mentioned me to some other ladies at one of her tables. She was telling them how she had served a bunch of us one night and there was someone from California, someone from Toronto, someone from Alabama, someone from New Jersey, and then someone from as far away as Azerbaijan. Lisa, the waitress, was pretty impressed at the whole phenomenon of us traveling so far to not only see Clay, but to gather together as friends from all over the country.....and the world. We had a few laughs that night. I've think I've seen her at least a few times since....she sort of did a double take when I showed up again last weekend...."Like weren't you just here a couple of weeks ago?" Um.....yeah. She has a nice new very downtown looking haircut.

Does anyone happen to have a large file of the album cover? More school stuff....but all done this coming week! YAY! I skipped of to New York and kind of, sort of, left something major undone.....accidentally on purpose, couldn't be helped etc etc etc. But I'm back and have my nose to the boards grindstone. Recap of my week in New York City that ended yesterday. Sunday night's performance of Spam was punctuated by the following during the finale....during the part where Robin, Belvedere and Patsy are at stage right and they've been coming up with those little routines every night? Well...Sunday night's little routine was a very lovely combo of two hip circles followed by a pair of exquisite pelvic thrusts. Nice blend of lyric and choreography there. "Find Your Grail", indeed.... And then Tuesday, they did this little shoulder shimmy, then jumped in unison to face backwards and presented us with a nice little butt shimmy while bending over just far enough to make me wish there were no tails on that jacket. *Sigh* Life can be good but it sure isn't always fair! More than that happened during the play (which I saw four times with my Mom and my aunt). Thanks Mom!! The crowds on Sunday night and Tuesday night were positively electric and the actors sure seemed to feed of the energy in the audience, those 2 nights stand out as particularly great performances. The whole place was rocking! Mom had a great time and today tells me she misses the noise and can't get "The Bright Side of Life" out of her head. I will have to slip her 50 bucks to keep her from ratting me out on the money I spent getting a Polaroid done....I split it with my aunt....so it wasn't all that bad. And had I known that I was going to get an email from John today asking me to go out and find a 2000 Mercedes C-class for some guy over there and have it shipped to Turkey, then I would have gone for the full meal deal...all by myself. But dang it! He wants me to do what? God, my life is weird! Last night the wheel fell off the 1991 Mazda 323 I bought for $500 to drive when I'm home in Canada. I think I'll be heading to Houston to get my real car out of storage and I wonder what color C-class he wants. I guess there are more used Mercedes in Houston than Halifax. Jeez Louise! Speaking of Louise's...go see Gypsy if you have time in New York you need to fill. Patty Lupone was awesome! Loved it!! I was so happy to see Scarlett and Solo at the show on Thursday night! It seemed like such a long time since we had said goodbyes in Houston and I'm glad I made the decision to go on the final day so I can see even more people. On Saturday night, the 19th, I got to see so many of my Broad buddies at Juniors and after at the Hard Rock (including cha cha and Mr. cha cha). It was great to see them again. It's been quite a while since so many of us had been in one place together. I'll be leaving Halifax on Saturday and doing the 14 hour run to New York via car with wheels that hopefully will stay attached since I'm renting it. My GMA tickets are worthless unless I'm still up partying at 6:00 am on the 6th and decide to go see Josh Groban. Last time when I got my own GMA tickets they ended up being one day early, too. Bummer! If anyone hears of a spare one floating around out there.....(digs out knee pads to use for secondary purpose...begging.) I leave to go back to Baku on the 12th, so I'll be catching all the TV promo that week via download. If John has let the internet lapse while I've been gone his friend's Benz won't get off the dock! Speaking of getting off...the dock.....Good news this week...our shipment will be LEAVING Houston on the 30th....two months after they picked it up and about when it should have been getting there. Expected date of arrival is now June 17th.....I might have some summer clothes to wear after all and Kenai will have Milk Bones again! More begging...anyone have a center orchestra ticket for the night of the 4th for sale? I guess I should stop asking for things, that's 3 in this post alone. Sorry! This is a sunrise I shot one Christmas from my daughter's balcony in Halifax. I remember waking up and I could see all this bright orange glow through the slit in the curtains. I gasped when I pulled open the curtains and ran for the camera because moments like this in the sky are so fleeting. It sure was cold that early in the morning as I stood in my night gown and slippers in freezing temps....but the pix were well worth it and standing beneath that sky was an incredible feeling. (Almost as good as a certain left arm wrapped around my waist the other night.) And this one was from Asheville, the view from the side of the seating area just before dark. *Sigh* I want a tour. I want a tour so I can watch Clay sing those new songs to me. Ooops! That's four things I want. I guess I'm having a needy day......and all I came to ask for was a hi res of the album cover. ETA: Thanks, bottlecap, it helps immensely. I know I have that file somewhere but for the life of me couldn't find the darn thing!

So, remember I was a little concerned about dragging my Mom to see Spamalot three times in one week? Welllllll......I bought the tickets to the third show the other day and wouldn't you know it, some REALLY great ones turned up this afternoon for Sunday night. Before you know it (and before I told Mom we are doing three shows) we are doing four. In the interest of not having to listen to how she went on this BIG trip to New York where all she did was see Clay Aiken poop his pants every night.....I've decided to sell the tickets I'm holding for Thursday night....my heart isn't in it, but they're up for grabs. Row D in the Right Orchestra, Seats 4, 6 & 8. These Thursday night ones were the second set of the four I bought and they're at Will Call. I guess it makes sense to sell them since I paid for two tickets for every show and that's enough outlay to keep me off th $300 picture podium. Besides my aunt spilled the beans on the cost of the pix so there's no way I'd get away with sneaking that little gem home unnoticed in the hand luggage. Somehow that little piece of insanity would accidentally slip out 'round a camp fire or something and John's glare alone would over toast my marshmallow. With my luck, I'd drop the tax receipt into the embers as I tried to pass it to him....you know...to prove that it was all for a good cause etc etc etc. I do think I will get a signed poster, though. That would make an excellent framed keepsake of the wacky winter and spring of 2008. And I have a lot of wall space to fill in that gigantic empty house I'm living in now. I should go to bed, I guess. We're flying out in the morning. Can't wait to see it again!

I caved and got seats for the last two shows. Please, kick me awake if something develops party-wise. I'm always up for that kind of shiznit.

Couchie, by the end of next week I won't even be able to buy a whole hot dog for myself. I'll be looking for someone to share my bun. Do you like all the trimmings or am I going to have to give up my sauerkraut?

This is something I want to do , too! I went ahead an bought tickets for us on Saturday night when some good ones were released today. I snagged three in Row D Right, starting on the inside aisle. Maybe this will give me a better chance of hitting a photo night......my youngest kid owes me $200......time to call in the debt. OMG! I can't eat anything between now and then because I am sure I can lose 50 pounds between now and Saturday if I only try hard enough. Faith can move mountains or so I'm told. It better be able to move these ones. Rick and Tom AND Clay!!! Please let them do this again! Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday...... But...gawd.....I wish I was just a wee bit photogenic. Maybe for $210 they would let me just go up and take a picture of Rick and Tom AND Clay!! Oh and before I go....thanks to all you enablers who reminded me that a mother's love is all forgiving (eventually)....so I was able to get those tickets for the 3rd show in a week with a good conscience. I didn't tell her yet....but we're having dinner at Juniors on Saturday, so there'll be time as we walk across Schubert Alley at 7:30 to will call.

Yep....that's one mighty fine cup o' sugar. You rang? The chimp cage is kind of nice, ya' know? Much better than the penguin habitat from last week......fish, fish, fish. Had enough of that after three days. I think by the end of the week I'll have had my fill of bananas and will be more than ready for a heaping helping of Spam. Move over Your Popeness.....Karen Eh is coming back to the big Apple and the Eh-mobile doesn't want to sit in traffic for too too long when it has to get up to 51st and 8th. My biggest concern is how am I going to be able to have dinner in Juniors on Saturday and not go to the show that night. I feel a bout of mega weirdness coming on.......I guess I have to chose between creating a truly weird situation by not going, or having my mother think I am weird/weirder by taking her to the same show three times in one week. YAY! For the list of places to go and things to do. There's been so much going on I was beginning to get confuzzled over some of it. Double YAY! for our evil Houston Peasant, Scarlett!! How cool is that? Must see the polaroid!

Yes! heee Another affirmative vote here!!! :F_05BL17blowkiss: What? There's a get together that doesn't have alcohol? Booze is always welcome. Congrats, CG, that's one thing I wish I could see live. I think it will be a blast.

No need to pay for me, darlin.' I'll go freely.

Couchie, explain this traffic court thing to me....I just had to be re-educated and pay money to some judge in Texas. Now....back to playing with Clay's widget. I think I should embed it somewhere, too.

Sabahiniz Xeyr! It's me.....saying Good Morning and doctoring up the foreign lingo a little bit since I don't have those upside down "e" thingies to work with or the undotted "i's" , either.....but that's okay nobody's gonna know, are they? I had a great four days in New York last week....did a lot of walking and sight seeing and took in a couple (okay, four) episodes of Spamalot. I ate almost as many pastrami sandwiches and highly recommend the "Run Chcken Run" salad from Bubba Gumps. The Spam was delish, too. Served up with a heaping helping of Clay Aiken, it went down verra verra easily and left me with a nice warm full feeling that lasted until I was home two days. That was the point at which I realized I needed to go back for more (more than next week which I already had in the bag)....but to closing weekend. I caved! I wasn't going to go near that event with a ten foot pole, but I caved and bought tickets for both shows on the fourth. I have to be there......and I really have the urge to take a little road trip...so....I'll be there. I got seats in the the back orchestra and the mezzanine this time. Out of the four shows I went to this week, Clay did the stage door once and I didn't manage to get my Playbill signed that one time. I think I was close enough, but I tend to be a little lame in close proximity and didn't exactly hold it out very far. Same thing happens to me at concerts when he walks to the edge of the stage in front of me. My camera involuntarily goes to my lap and my lower lip falls open so that I resemble some form of sea bass. I don't think I'll ever be able to take stage door pictures. I took my camera out after my first show in January and I just stood there with it in my hand. What a dumbass..... So, many thanks cha cha for the new wallpapers. I love the naughty and nice twins. LOVE. I peed gasped a little when I opened them. Seriously! Among my top 5 favorite hair moments. It took me forever to decide if I liked the one with the tie or the one with him leaning on the soba better. In the end, I resigned myself to the fact that I would do either one in a heartbeat on the xalca, the stol the yazi stolu, the divan, the kreslo, and the doshama.....and that's just in the livingroom. I was at the show on Tuesday the 1st through Friday the 4th. I went alone the first two nights, and sat in the first row and then second row in the center. Damn fine seats.....but definitely had to concentrate on not doing my sea bass impersonation for the entire two hours and ten minutes. Same went for Thursday night when I went with guitargirl and bonnechance.....first row on the end of the center section right below Robin in his first scene. There, my sea bass impersonation would have served me well if only to catch spit but I was trying so hard not to look like a dumbass. I don't think I succeeded. I just sat ther and gaping up at him.....fiddling with his straps.....and there is something terribly sexy about the roughness of the cloth around his wrists in that costume.... On Friday night bonnechance and I sat in the dead center of the third row. Since bonnechance was only going to be able to make one very short trip to New York to see one show, we decided at the last minute to squeeze in a second one for her (yeah really.....I wasn't going to get a thing out of it). And since we both have gained twenty pounds since the fall and most of our pants don't fit anymore, we were depressed enough to treat ourselves to premium seats. bonnechance (who some of you might remember as my invisible friend, Lynda) also has a lot of work and moving stress going on, too. OH wait! I have moving stress! All of my stuff is STILL sitting somewhere in Houston and the mover won't call me back!! ANYWAY......we had no idea when we bought them that our premium seats came with the added benefit of sitting next to the most infamous *snerk* parent in the fandom....and her fidgety sidekick. I would take the madonna over the sidekick (who I hardly recognized with the darkened locks) any day. They switched seats at intermission and I got the fidget for the second half.....fidget didn't shut up the whole time, screamed and whistled at even inappropriate times throughout the show and generally behaved like she was at a basketball game. People who were sitting far to my left down the row were looking up to see what was going on and rolling there eyes. The the two girls next to bonnechance were appalled. I couldn't help but think what Clay had said a few days before in an interview about seeing boogers in the 3rd row......made it all bearable. Except, I have a feeling he really did see them on Friday night and he didn't seem all that amused. I, on the other hand have been cracking up over the whole thing ever since.....and I know that's not nice but seriously......what a bizarre world that is. I can't spend anymore time thinking about that...... I have to get my CD purchasing organized. It seems like there are going to be a thousand different ways to get that sucker into my hot little hands....but I have to make sure I have the timing down. If I order from Amazon Canada when can I expect to actually get it. I'm going back to Azerbaijan on the 12th of May. I'll have to arrange for someone to get me a Music Pass, since I won't be here for that one and I wouldn't attempt to download it over there anyway......but I think I'm lost about the rest. There is iTunes on the release day, and something else....can someone jog my memory? I'm making a list here in my notebook so I can keep track of what I'm supposed to be doing. Hugs to anyone who is affected by these airline cancellations! I knew I always hated flying on MD-80's for a reason other than I just made up my mind to avoid them. I've always irrationally disliked those planes. I hope this weekends attendees get stage-doored but good. I hope they get lost of pastrami, too. Are we organized at all for the final weekend? I think I'll go check the right thread for that and then do some homework. One more project to go.....an artwork mock up of two web pages....like I"m not going to do it about Clay and further out myself to this class. You gotta love the partial anonymity of the internet.