# 19: Clay Aiken: glorious voice, excellent comic actor, master of character and man in tights!

[Gibby]

It's a supplemental part time job..work from home, create my own hours, basically internet research and data entry and it will pay my rent every month which leaves the rest of my money free to do..oh I don't know... stuff. heee. Unfortunately I can't really stalk support Clay full time as I still have somewhere to be 8 to 5 daily.

Congrats, Couchie!! That sounds perfect.

Zena, what a funny story! You're quite the Clay ambassador. Those beauty products are pretty funny - they guarantee to do things that aren't possible. Time will have its way eventually, ya know?

[Scarlett]

Kids: some wacky ideas that may have helped, though like Thankful4Clay says, it's a toss-up; who knows how they'll turn out?

- tidiness and sleeping late are non-issues (DD's a morning person, DS is the opposite)

- pick what you want to eat from what's available and you only have to finish what you took (the little kid who stuck to chicken fingers and french fries for over a year figured out that it was really boring; nowadays, he's the one who cooks lamb and asparagus)

- setting fire to the couch makes mom upset for 2 hours; with honesty and trust issues, she'll be on your back for weeks and will occasionally bring it up months later

- everybody goes to at least 1 activity that someone else loves (my daughter adores POTO and dear god I really *hated* the show but I got everyone good seats anyway because she picked that as her choice; my son likes baseball and football, DD not so much but she brings something to keep herself amused; there's no explicit rule stating "no whining" but people generally know that if they whine, others will deliberately pick the same activity again just to torture the whiners

- everyone goes to support others when they're competing in something

- after a certain age (i think 10), kids got to decide what they were ready to read, watch and surf as long as it didn't affect the way they spoke and treated others; this only helped because they ended up watching everything at home so everyone could all watch together (it's risky, wouldn't recommend it if you're too busy to pay attention to what they're doing)

- mom doesn't really care what they wear (unless it's something she can borrow); hair changes and may occasionally get washed; sometimes boys take longer to do hair than girls

- forgetting that you have a History project due on Monday until 6:30 pm on Sunday evening is really stupid but if everyone keeps calm and yelling is kept down to a minium, and it may turn out that someone can turn out an award-winning diorama of the Seneca Falls convention in under 5 hours.

(can I borrow some kids, even for a while?)

[muskifest]

Ah... Black Leather Pants Thread... do you still have the posts about going shopping for the slinky basketball shorts. I don't think I've ever laughed so much in my life! You single-handedly won us the Clammy for Funniest Thread you know!

BWAH! Omg, liney! Funny this should...er...come up. Saturday I got a wild hair and checked out that old thread---and read those silky black boxer shopping trip posts again. God, I'd forgotten some of that stuff.

Yep, Scarlett....I agree with those 'tips' and we actually use them here with success for the types of situations you mentioned. Lawdy, if we were uptight about tidiness and sleeping in, I'd be the first one thrown out of the house. :lmaosmiley-1: heh. Nope, I'm talking about the BIG things---trust, honesty, respect. BIG things...non negotiable things in my book, so we have our work cut out for us.

But Carrie's a sweet girl with a big heart and she knows we love her and aren't going anywhere. I think hormones are doing their work on her, to tell you the truth. Even though she's only 12 and WAY behind Alex in emotional maturity and that sense of 'right and wrong'; physically, she's way ahead of my 16 year old! So her 'self' is lagging behind her changing (and disturbingly developing)body and tumultuous hormones, you know?

Hey! We haven't seen this guy in a while!

:865538451:

YIKES! never mind....

I'll stick with this guy, thankyavrymch!

And with that lovely image, I bid you all g'night! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[YSRN]

LOL zena... loved that story. Hilarious.

I'm so glad they figured out how to include pets in rescue and emergency situations!!!

Ok, weirdness... Clay blogged and then it was gone... Hee.

From CH:

Clay blogged.

I don't know what happened. I saw it and then it was gone. Sorry... that was weird.

10/23

Said he got his new iTouch and wanted to see if he could blog. Said he was sick.

Weird.

Post-hoing to say that I did notice that there was only one comment on it. I didn't have time to read it, though. So at least one other person saw the mysterious Blog that Hardly Was. *g*

eta: He just posted the emoticon- Mood: sick.

Wait.... Clay has an iTouch? Oh, there are so many places to go with that, I'll just leave it to the experts....

[Couch Tomato]

What's an Itouch. The man loves his toys.

And what's a honey crisp apple heee. Do they sell them in the bay area?

Nothing to add on the kid front...thank god. heee

Merrieee, love your banner. Good work. I need to join the class!!

Well looking forward to reports from Sekaka. This isn't televised is it? I hope Clay isn't sick...lord knows the show must go on and all that but I really hope he is at hsi best for the industry folks and everyone with a ticket.

Enjoyed the dental horror stories, the kid stories, the pretty pictures and everything else. Hope you're ok KAndre!!!

[cha cha trusty]

It seems like a lot of people need hugs right now!

So.........

:big hug:

and finally

:garfieldodie-grouphug:

Good thoughts going out to you all!

I'm way behind - been trying to get ready for the Lincoln Center thingie, and so I just want to quote merrrieeee and send BIG HUGS to {{{{{ldyj and hubby, scarlett, and all the SoCal peeps affected by the fires.}}}}} and also to anyone else who needs them!!

And happy Birthday to all who had special days in the past couple weeks!!

Oh and merrieee! nice work on the banner!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[luckiest1]

I figure that only some of what I do as a parent will determine how my kids turn out to be. Parents are simply not omnipotent, as much as we might like to be. So, the best parent in the world might have a rotten kid, and a rotten parent might have a fantastic kid. Kids will make their own choices.

That said, of course I'm going to be the damn best parent I can be. But, I'm not going to blame myself for all of my kids mistakes. Nor can I really take complete credit for their accomplishments. Kids have, and will exercise, free will, sometimes with good results, and sometimes with not-so-good results. The most important thing to me is that, whatever their choices, they know that I will always love them. Knowing that you're loved and valued helps so much with the lows, and highs, in life.

I have always believed that the most important thing is to let them know they are loved. I've been known to say "I love you, but I don't like what you did" a LOT. Big distinction.

Wheeeeeeee! The paisly jacket of perfection! One of my favourite animated gifs!

Since I think this is my first post here ( I've been lurking for a while), I leave a couple of pictures.

Welcome, shamrock! I love this pic.

To you moms with the teenagers, my worst kids are the best adults. No way to know what to do at the time other than just love them and let them know everything you do is for their own good. Mother was the hardest job I ever had. Working mothers have a difficult situation because we have stress from the job, stress from the kids and stress from thinking we aren't doing the best job we can with either the job or the kids. No easy fix for the problem other than just go with your heart. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Awww, nice post, and thanks. Mine are 16, 19, and 22, and some days I just want to pull my hair out. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

- setting fire to the couch makes mom upset for 2 hours; with honesty and trust issues, she'll be on your back for weeks and will occasionally bring it up months later

Hee, great points, Scarlett, especially this one. I'm a stickler for trust and honesty as well. I try not to sweat the small stuff.

(can I borrow some kids, even for a while?)

Wanna 16 year old? I can ship him COD.

Aww, poor Clay, playing with his new iTouch, blogging when he's sick. Probably left it up there for 30 seconds and someone caught it. :clay:

[Scarlett]

(can I borrow some kids, even for a while?)

Wanna 16 year old? I can ship him COD.

Aww, poor Clay, playing with his new iTouch, blogging when he's sick. Probably left it up there for 30 seconds and someone caught it. :clay:

Will he/she sometimes let me win on the video games?

an iTouch? Ooooh, this is too easy!.... "He was playing with his iTouch and it went off?"

{{{{{ FCA Moms -- all we can do is love them; they will be who they want to be}}}}}

{{{anyone feeling under the weather}}} :thbighug-1:

[keldanker]

Yay for your new job, Couch Tomato!

Kids.....yeah, they're all different. My 22 yr old son is driving us nuts right about now. Problem is, I can't ground him. Its really hard to step back when we see him going down a road that we know will cause him difficulty, but apparently he is going to have to figure it out for himself. Neither one of the girls have ever given us much trouble. I better not say that too loud since the younger one is only 15.

Have a great day everybody!!

[gbmifan]

Children! Now that my three boys are in their 20's I look back at the teen years and shake my head. All three have totally different personalities, making those years very interesting. All of my children are very indepentant, my second being the most stubborn, and the hardest to get along with. My husband had the most clashes with him. I would remind hubby that his personality and his son were the same, thus the problem. I gave up grounding because when my husband would ground them he was also grounding me since I was in the house with them all the time when I was not working. Instead we went with what I called "community service hours to me." Depending on the offense they were given hours to burn off either by jobs around the house or actual volunteer hours . They hated the fact they had to clean out the garage or pull weeds or many other chores and I would assign the number of hours that each earned. I was not easy on what they could burn off. They are all employed, on their own, and I look back and think I loved that time in their life. Everyone raising children in their teen years, know that one day you will realize what a wonderful time those years were, and all you can do is your best and hope all works out.

[ldyjocelyn]

Morning all!

OK, admission time: the way most of you seem to feel about dentists and doctors? That's how my husband and I feel about having kids! My husband and I got married at an age when most people have been married and had a few kids for a few years. Also, both he and I were babies of the family, both being born when our parents were in their early 40's. In both our cases, the experiences were OK, but not fantastic -- in my case, it always seemed to me that Mom didn't have as much time for me and what I wanted to do. In my mind, that equated with her age. In hindsight, I know that's ageist. Anyway, my husband and I decided that we really didn't want children, partially for that reason, but also partially because it is a crap shoot, as many are saying here. You never know what you'll get -- and for some reason, my husband and I just didn't feel that the risk was justified. I'm sure we're missing out on a LOT....but we also have nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews that we love dearly, and get to experience kid joys through them. (We're also making plans NOW for who will take care of us when we're 80...)

On other lighter topics: Honeycrisp Apples. From what I know of them, they are a fairly new "breed," and they are fantastic.

So Clay got himself an iTouch, eh? Man, he really is an Apple geek. (For those who don't know, an iTouch is the latest iPod -- except that it works like an iPhone with the huge touch screen. iTouch.)

Wouldn't you like to see an ad for this product with Clay -- theme song being "iTouch myself?"

Wonder what's up with him and blogging and deleting said blog? Poor baby if he truly is sick. I hope he's well enough by Friday.

[cindilu2]

He's sick? Oh crap! Is it time for me to start holding my breath now??? It's unreasonable how much I fret for him when he does a live appearance (just ask luckiest1, lol), but I do just the same. Heheh, maybe it's because I don't have any kids?

Okay, in further perusing I see he only posted the 'sick' emotie - which looks rather more like a wtf/omg/thisisweird emotie to me. So I'll take off my Mom hat again. Carry on.

[aikim]

Good Morning Everyone,

2 Days until Clay is Live at Lincoln Center!

8 Days until Clay is on AYSTAFG!

13 Days until Clay Tapes The Skating Special!

33 Days until The Christmas Tour Starts!

59 Days until Christmas in Merrillville!

62 Days until The Skating Special Airs!

75 Days until The BAF Golf Outing!

86 Days until Clay is on Broadway

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[Cotton]

Wait.

You mean he had a blog posted for 30 seconds and nobody copied and pasted it??!!!!

What's wrong? Is the ClayNation slipping??!!

Wahhhh! I didn't see it.

[lilyshine]

In line with all the kid posts today, I had a weird dream last night.

It involved Kristy and Clay and babies (yes, twins) and secrets.

I'm not much of a shipper, but I guess my subconscious is!

[FromClaygary]

OK, who else had to go over to OFC to see if it maybe was back? Just me? Yah, I didn't think so....(little mama voice) Sure hope he's OK.

Kids....are sent to us as revenge for our childhoods. My Dad told me it would happen, and it did.

Fortunately, they're all grown up now and are (most of the time) responsible adults, with good jobs, good lives and good friends. And as far as I know, as they're old enough to now have confessed most of the major transgressions I didn't know about at the time....noone was killed in the process. Including me.

My youngest son, as I've mentioned, has spent the last two months in SE Asia and I have received neither requests for money nor requests for a lawyer....now THAT's an accomplishment!

He should be home today and I'm dying to hear more about his trip when he visits me next month.

Further prayers are going out for all those in SoCal who have lost their homes; I hope it's over with for y'all soon.

[duckyvee]

another:

What's that?

[ldyjocelyn]

An extreme closeup of this:

Remember the good times when this Rolling Stone cover was discovered? And how we're all like "Nah. That CAN'T be the cover! " And then it was!

[laughn]

duckyvee, the properties on that photo say 'tummy', but I say, let your imagination run wild with that one. lol

ldyj, kudos to you and your hubby for making your choice. Not everyone should be parents. My son has two children, my daughter has stated parenthood is not for her. It's a wonderful thing to know yourself.

I've been teaching little ones (early childhood, age three to third grade) for about 25 years now. Way back when I remember reading that there was so no such animal as the perfect parent. Just like teachers seem to find their 'perfect age to teach' some parents may suck at 'baby' but excel at the early teen years. Some parents might kick ass with a teenager and be pulling their hair out with a 10 year old...all two year olds are exempt from this theory because they are a force of nature and by that fact they are a group all their own.

I had to Google iTouch this morning just to see what Clay is playing with now...lol...since it comes in two sizes, do you think his is the biggest? wink wink nudge nudge

[duckyvee]

duckyvee, the properties on that photo say 'tummy', but I say, let your imagination run wild with that one. lol

Now I see it. I think the angle threw me off. I was thinking it was a piece of hand made paper.

That Rolling Stones picture always makes me giggle a bit. I really don't see the sexy, but it's sure cute.

[manderly]

Now I see it. I think the angle threw me off. I was thinking it was a piece of hand made paper.

Hee...do did I for a second. I never found it sexy, either. He was too skinny and looked about 15.

[cindilu2]

An extreme closeup of this:

Remember the good times when this Rolling Stone cover was discovered? And how we're all like "Nah. That CAN'T be the cover! " And then it was!

Ahh, The Shadow. Anybody who was around the CB in those days will know what I'm talking about. Good times!

[jamar1700]

Now I see it. I think the angle threw me off. I was thinking it was a piece of hand made paper.

She's in denial I tell ya.

----

This was posted elsewhere and I'm bringing it here...*g*

LiveDaily

Clay Aiken sets out on holiday trek

October 24, 2007 05:10 AM

By Kym Kilgore

LiveDaily Contributor

Clay Aiken [ tickets ] is gearing up to spread the holiday cheer on his "Christmas in the Heartland" tour, which launches next month.

But first, the "American Idol" alumnus has a couple of special shows on deck. On Friday (10/26), he'll take part in the star-studded "Neil Sedaka 50 Years of Hits" tribute concert in New York City, which benefits the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Then, on Nov. 6, Aiken will head to Las Vegas to serve as the exclusive musical guest for the "Capital One Holiday Celebration on Ice" show with 2006 Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen and a host of other champion skaters. That program will be taped for a Christmas Day broadcast on NBC-TV.

Aiken's holiday outing is officially set to kick off Nov. 26 in Wichita, KS. The tour will visit theaters across the Midwest and East through late December. The itinerary is listed below.

Meanwhile, the singer is already filling up his calendar for next year. He will make his Broadway debut in Monty Python's "Spamalot" from Jan. 18 to May 4 at New York City's Shubert Theatre, according to his official fan club website. Aiken will play the role of Sir Robin in the award-winning musical.

"Clay Aiken is amazing beyond that glorious voice," "Spamalot" Director Mike Nichols said in a statement. "Turns out he is an excellent comic actor and a master of character."

America is also about to find out if Aiken is a smarty pants. The performer is slated to appear on the celebrity edition of FOX-TV game show "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" He'll play the game to earn money for The Bubel/Aiken Foundation, which helps children with special needs. The episode is scheduled to air Nov. 1.

Aiken has sold more than 6 million albums since becoming the second-season runner-up on FOX-TV's "American Idol," according to his fan club website. His latest set, "A Thousand Different Ways," surfaced last fall and debuted at No. 2 on The Billboard 200. The record comprises cover versions of love songs spanning the last three decades, along with four new tunes.

[Note: The following tour dates have been provided by artist and/or tour sources, who verify its accuracy as of the publication time of this story. Changes may occur before tickets go on sale. Check with official artist websites, ticketing sources and venues for late updates.]

October 2007

26 - New York, NY - Avery Fisher Hall (Neil Sedaka tribute)

November 2007

6 - Las Vegas, NV - The Orleans ("Holiday Celebration on Ice")

26 - Wichita, KS - Central Christian Church

27 - Saint Louis, MO - Fox Theatre

28 - South Bend, IN - Morris Auditorium

29 - Waukegan, IL - Genesee Theatre

30 - Kalamazoo, MI - Miller Auditorium

December 2007

2 - Washington, DC - Warner Theatre

4 - Wilkes-Barre, PA - F.M. Kirby Center

6 - New Brunswick, NJ - State Theatre

7 - Albany, NY - Palace Theatre

8 - Poughkeepsie, NY - Mid-Hudson Civic Center

9 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun

11 - Red Bank, NJ - Count Basie Theatre

12 - Easton, PA - State Theatre

13 - Morristown, NJ - The Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts

15 - Williamsport, PA - Community Arts Center

16 - Erie, PA - Erie Civic Center Complex

19-20 - Minneapolis, MN - Orchestra Hall

21 - Omaha, NE - Orpheum Theater

22 - Merrillville, IN - Star Plaza Theatre

---

I honestly couldn't pinpoint what I did right w/my kids and so I really don't try. Their Dad left suddenly when they were 13, 15 & 17. To tell the truth, I was scared shitless most of the time. But I suppose if I was asked for parenting advice I'd narrow it down to... choose your battles and pay attention.

eta...and laugh. Don't forget to laugh *g*

[atinal]

An extreme closeup of this:

Remember the good times when this Rolling Stone cover was discovered? And how we're all like "Nah. That CAN'T be the cover! " And then it was!

Ahh, The Shadow. Anybody who was around the CB in those days will know what I'm talking about. Good times!

Looking at that picture now, he looks about 12. I still love it, he was so full of wonder and excitement. It's hard to believe how much he has matured in a little over 4 years.

[Couch Tomato]

eta...and laugh. Don't forget to laugh *g*

That is GREAT advice for just life in general.

Have a great day everyone.