#20: Clay is just so frickin' cute! Cute, cute, cute!

[aikim]

Good God....he is no more looking at her crotch in that picture than I am!!! Truth be told, I think her body angle is more away from him than the picture indicates.

WTH is wrong with some of these people? Surely that can't think he is still the virginal little boy from AI? Seriously...they can't, can they???

Loving ALL the clack from Vegas...thanks to all the clack gatherers...the pictures are beautiful.

She has just clarified that it was a joke...very bad taste in a joke in my opinion .

Kim

[Gibby]

Anyway, as someone relatively new, I find that some of the people who have been around from the beginning and have deluded themselves into believing they are essential to the fandom, not only can't accept differing opinions, but have a clique that runs around to Word and Ditto their every utterance. I hated that crap in the 7th grade and my attitude remains the same after all these years.

From Invisible926 at CH:

NCT Kicks Off 25th Anniversary Season with Quiana Parler in Dreamgirls

North Carolina Theatre is very excited to announce that Quiana Parler will star as "Effie White" in Dreamgirls! Quiana has toured with Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson as a background vocalist and is thrilled to make her NCT debut in January.

EEEEEEEEE! for Quiana! I hope they'll be a little Quack, because I'd love to see her sing a couple of big numbers.

Quack! BWAH!!! I agree, I'd love to see some of her performance. I'm sure she'll be amazing. Maybe Cotton will go and can report for us!

Very nice jeans!

http://www.people.com/people/gallery/0,,20159324_6,00.html

Kim

Very cute!!!

OTT'ness? I was just over at the OFC in the Skating thread and someone posted a picture of Sasha skating...she is doing a spin on one foot; with the other leg in the air...typical skating pose and Clay is seen in the background. The poster actually blurred out Sasha's lower area because she felt it was dirty that Clay was able to see that area while he was singing...it was a beautiful picture and the editing made it look Clay was pervert for watching while he was singing. I could not believe it when I saw it and what really made my jaw drop was that a mod saw no reason to remove it. A new low in the fandom in my opinion and I hope Clay doesn't hear of it.

Kim

That sounds like a beautiful picture - too bad it was modified! I would have loved to have seen the original pic.

It was so nice to meet several of you at breakfast on Tuesday. I was a little nervous about that since I'm so new here at FCA, but everyone was very welcoming. Then at the preparty, I got a big hug from couchie, which was terrific. :F_05BL17blowkiss: I wish I could have sat with all of you, but felt I needed to stay with my little traveling group. I also won a raffle prize -- the lap desk with my CUTE boyfriend's picture on it.

I enjoyed meeting you at breakfast, Keldankar! And I'm glad you got the lap desk. It looked really nice!

Now I'm off to work. I'm still tired from too little sleep and too much fun in Vegas. But I don't regret a minute of it! It was soooo much fun to meet everyone here, to see a little of Vegas, and to go to the skating show. Wonderful memories, fo shuh!!

[Couch Tomato]

Each person in my company went in for a dollar and bought lotto tickets. I cant' wait for the grand march out. heh.

Anyway, back to Vegas. When I arrived at the Orleans I ran into so many of my buddies from the past few years. NOrthern Carlifornia was representing!! Unfortunately, I didn't see anyone from FCA. And it hit me as I stood in the heat, I don't really know anyone from FCA hee. Well I knew Play. So I kinda walked around staring at people daring them to ask if I was BerkpodCouchie. And yay finally Liney walked up with an FCA pin. I had forgotten mine. And the gathering had begun! Liney is a sweetheart. And we have a connection. She knows as much about her phone as I know about mine hee. Everyone was so nice and it's just fun to put faces with names. It's so weird and great to actually be able to have our own little group stuff. Because many of us have several board homes this interboardal party was the best thing that could have happened. It was fun to meet Lucky and herdaughter Crimonice. I got to do mea culpas in person and swear I'll get my head back into FCA main soon and not Clay's soon. So much to do cuz our boyfriend is busy busy busy.

I wish that I could have spent more time there but the timing just didn't work with my boss heading off to hong kong for 3 weeks. I'm the accounting department. She's the only check signer. Just way too much to prepare for. I would have loved to do Hoover dam with ya'll. That's the one thing I wanted to do while I was in Vegas in August but then my mom got sick and I didn't make it.

There were some I only met briefly like Keldanker and Cotton. ReikiforClay it was nice to meet you. It was cool to see KarenEh if only for a few minutes. One of these days I'll get to talk to her for more than 3 minutes! Keldanker, thanks for coming over and introducing yourself. Coming out of the event I ran into a bunch of CH folks so waves to Salamander, QOATG (those two and I have shared many a Clay event), MsMarm, Spot, Salad, Dolly, and geeze this is where my brain fades away. All I know is everybody was smilin!

Play, a sprain can be worse than a break sometimes..at least that's what they told me when I fell flat on my ass running to take out the trash at 5 am when I heard the garbage truck. heh. It was about as severe a sprain as one could get and it took months to return to normal.

Hopefully this Xmas there can be a few FCA lunches or breakfasts or after parties. I know we're going to have something after the final show in Merrillville so we'll make sure to have an exact place and time. I'm just looking forward to seeing Clay and putting more faces to names.

Off to catch up. Hopefully I'll figure out what in this time of great joy and anticipation could cause a freakin' smackdown. :F_05BL17blowkiss: to all that need them. Hell hugs to everyone!

An AmericaninTX - sorry we missed you. We were alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the way over to the right when you walked in so you could have walked around and walked around and still missed us cuz that place was huge.

ETA: You know... some people you know cuz they are clack goddeses. heee I met several folks I knew by name only like Zippy. hee.

Oh and SmartyPantsSuz was soooo great for sharing her Clay shirt with all of us. It was so soft. I didn't expect that.

[rohdy]

rohdy...I'm another one who just didn't get a chance to respond to your post earlier. Sorry.

I like the book idea. Even if you didn't get a huge response, what's wrong with having only 29 books donated in his name? One for each year. Still sounds like a nice gesture.

Laughn....thank you for this. And you're right. The idea should be to collect books, not to try to distract from the kazoo attempt.

Which is the whole reason I started this idea....the kazoo's just give me the shivers.

I thought if I offered (what I considered) a better....quieter idea....birthday solution, people would jump at the chance.

This (fan orgainzed stuff) is not something I would normally do......but embarassment over kazoo's in Kalamazoo...

Well....I figured, something's gotta be done!

Maybe I will regroup and just go with the book idea anyway and hope it distracts a few kazoo-er's and produces at least 29 books.

For those who are interested, this is the group anxiously awaiting the books....

Kalamazoo Communities In School

Bagels and Books

The Summer Bagels and Books events were very successful. Many thanks to all of our volunteers who came to read with the elementary school children. The children loved having the readers there, and, as was true in May, each child was able to keep a book. Books were provided by a Kalamazoo Community Foundation’s Spirit of Community grant and a private donor. Some books were also provided by the Ready To Read program and Kazoo Books.

Thank you everyone for you thoughts.....and sorry about my whining. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[Couch Tomato]

YAY for Quiana. Hope there will be QUACK and hope she gets support from those in the area. Whoo hooo. But I do think Dreamgirls kinda sells itself right now.

WORD! DITTO! to Keepingfaith. There's not a sacred cow left in this fandom as far as I'm concerned. Everybody's post gets the same weight. Some of the so called expertise is laughable. All is well/Daughtery anyone. My favorite.

Yay I'm caught up..and I still have 32 minutes left to shower, get dressed, eat breakfast and get to work. heee

Well cool for hte album news.... he sounds excited. Hope it's a great song and that it makes the album!!

[bottlecap]

For those who are interested, this is the group anxiously awaiting the books....

Kalamazoo Communities In School

Bagels and Books

The Summer Bagels and Books events were very successful. Many thanks to all of our volunteers who came to read with the elementary school children. The children loved having the readers there, and, as was true in May, each child was able to keep a book. Books were provided by a Kalamazoo Community Foundation’s Spirit of Community grant and a private donor. Some books were also provided by the Ready To Read program and Kazoo Books.

rohdy, if you have the organization in place to use the books, I say Go For It! I would think the venue might be willing to let you set up a table in the lobby for collection, as I get the idea the theater is pretty family-friendly. The more I think about this, the more I'm starting to love this idea. What better way to honor the birthday of a Teacher that has almost everything he could ever want materially than to help provide an educational opportunity for a child?

[laughn]

laughn, I totally understand your "all kinds of fans" things, and in theory, I agree. But, like ansa, I do feel the need to rant and rave sometimes over some of the more OTT things I see or hear about. For the record: KAZOOS!?!?!? They are NOISY! Will cover Clay's singing!!! Bad idea, IMO. Also for the record: I don't mind planned visual shows of affections (birthday hats, glow sticks) nearly as much as something involving coordinated singing or such. JMO.

I don't mind a good rant either ldyj. In fact, I think it's good for the soul. Say what you want, let it go, move on. I think the only fans who truly bug me are the ones who post following someone's rant with the express purpose of trying to change the opinion of the ranter.

I don't mind if someone has a different opinion. Post your thoughts and I'll read and maybe I might change my opinion, but don't expect that either. I can be a stubborn cuss. See, Clay and I do have a con.nec.tion.

...and yeah, I will not be kazooing in Kalamazoo either. Not my style...I do think it was just to Happy Birthday though, if I read correctly. I think it would be totally rude to do that over Clay's singing...If that was the plan, all I can say is, are they nuts?

That man is such a ham! And I'd believe the act too, if the image of Clay gliding around on the ice singing "I Will Carry You" at the Hurricanes game wasn't so indelibly burned into my brain.

:20:

Man, how long until Christmas? I can't wait to see the Skating show on my TV!

...or the image of Clay skating with a bunch of kids pushing and pulling him during the Raleigh skate. The man is a born actor.

Oh and SmartyPantsSuz was soooo great for sharing her Clay shirt with all of us. It was so soft. I didn't expect that.

OMG...I never knew it was soft! Now I can imagine Clay in a touchy soft shirt all day...agh! like I can get any work done now...lol

[Guest Toots]

From Invisible926 at CH:

NCT Kicks Off 25th Anniversary Season with Quiana Parler in Dreamgirls

North Carolina Theatre is very excited to announce that Quiana Parler will star as "Effie White" in Dreamgirls! Quiana has toured with Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson as a background vocalist and is thrilled to make her NCT debut in January.

EEEEEEEEE! for Quiana! I hope they'll be a little Quack, because I'd love to see her sing a couple of big numbers.

Little Quack, :cryingwlaughter: Too funny!

Kazoo's, I was once invited to a luncheon at a very nice restaurant. Apparently the women in this group always played their kazoos as some kind of a ritual. I have never been so fricking embarrassed in my life, well maybe not, but I wanted to sink under the table. I'm sure it's fine in a private group but in public? Jeeezzzzzzzzzzzzz. as some kind of tribute to Clay? Can't you just see the headlines "middle aged claymates play their Kazoo's for their idol" :cryingwlaughter:

Please don't throw your kazoos at me!!

[playbiller]

. I have much experience with orthopedic doctors, beginning with breaking my leg stepping on a piece of soap and doing the split in the bathtub. I am limber as all get out, but the dang tub ran out.

OUCH!!!!111!!!

Very nice jeans!

http://www.people.com/people/gallery/0,,20159324_6,00.html

Eeeee, he does appear in people often - er, was that Roger who had connections there? J/K

Rhody, If you are really set up to collect books, I can copy it to the concert thread on the CH.

Now if Fear was not going to be up here at the end of January (and didn't have a dislike of driving in Raleigh), I could expect that she would have gone to see Quiana. Too bad it is a short run.

With a name like Toots, I would have thought you liked the Kazoo.

With the length of time Clay keeps his clothes and wears them I would assume they would be washed a lot and very soft indeed! BTW I do not think rewearing clothes is cheap but rather what a normal person would do. I do believe Clay likes to act like a normal person and not a shallow celebrity, always worrying about his appearance..

[playbiller]

And I came here to post this comment!

Columbus arts briefs

Broadway Across America: Monty Python's "Spamalot"

Monty Python's "Spamalot," directed by the eight-time Tony Award winner for his innovative leadership of the musical, Mike Nichols, is a stage adaptation of the classic movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Audiences will witness first-hand wacky Frenchmen encounters, killer rabbits and flying cows. American Idol's Clay Aiken has received great reviews for his performance in the show, which runs Sunday, Nov. 25 at the Ohio Theatre, located at 39 E. State St. Tickets can be purchased for $24.50-$67.50 through Ticketmaster. For more information call (614) 228-8600.

Huh?

[bottlecap]

rohdy, another thought about the book collection at Kalamazoo: Would the organization be open to setting up an Amazon Wish List or maybe accepting gift cards (Barnes & Noble, or whatever else else is local, for example), so that Clay fans that aren't attending the concert but still wanted to participate in the donation could do so?

Also, if they have a list of recommended titles or authors (Dr. Seuss maybe?), I would find that to be helpful in figuring out what to buy.

[luckiest1]

Hee, play, I think that is called lazy journalism. And piss poor writing.

Anyway, back to Vegas. When I arrived at the Orleans I ran into so many of my buddies from the past few years. NOrthern Carlifornia was representing!! Unfortunately, I didn't see anyone from FCA. And it hit me as I stood in the heat, I don't really know anyone from FCA hee. Well I knew Play. So I kinda walked around staring at people daring them to ask if I was BerkpodCouchie. And yay finally Liney walked up with an FCA pin. I had forgotten mine. And the gathering had begun! Liney is a sweetheart. And we have a connection. She knows as much about her phone as I know about mine hee. Everyone was so nice and it's just fun to put faces with names. It's so weird and great to actually be able to have our own little group stuff. Because many of us have several board homes this interboardal party was the best thing that could have happened. It was fun to meet Lucky and herdaughter Crimonice. I got to do mea culpas in person and swear I'll get my head back into FCA main soon and not Clay's soon. So much to do cuz our boyfriend is busy busy busy.

couchie, it was great to finally meet you properly, too. Hee, I'm never going to let you off the hook for not remembering me in NC way back in 2004. crimsonice got a kick out of you, and is eagerly anticipating a shipment of San Francisco postcards.

I met so many people, and I'm sure that if I try and list them all off I'll forget someone, so just :F_05BL17blowkiss: to everyone. I hope to meet more of you on the Doing Clay in the Heartland tour. BTW, awesome pin designs, cindilu2! I placed an order yesterday.

Oh and SmartyPantsSuz was soooo great for sharing her Clay shirt with all of us. It was so soft. I didn't expect that.

Me either! I just had to smell it, too. Didn't smell like anything, though. Probably been fondled by so many people that it lost any scent it had.

[laughn]

rohdy, another thought about the book collection at Kalamazoo: Would the organization be open to setting up an Amazon Wish List or maybe accepting gift cards (Barnes & Noble, or whatever else else is local, for example), so that Clay fans that aren't attending the concert but still wanted to participate in the donation could do so?

Also, if they have a list of recommended titles or authors (Dr. Seuss maybe?), I would find that to be helpful in figuring out what to buy.

...also the public library in their area should have a list of recommended books for various age levels.

Lots of great children's authors out there...Munch, Wormell, Wood, Flemming...agh...don't get me started...lol.

If you decide to go with this project rohdy you can put me down for a few.

[Guest Toots]

With a name like Toots, I would have thought you liked the Kazoo.

Tsk, Tsk play . Never judge a Toots by her cover. I'm the least likely Toots you'll ever meet but it was a term of endearment from someone I loved very much and it's always stuck. That was pretty funny tho!

I think the childrens book idea is great and certainly something Clay would appreciate!

[rohdy]

Oh my gosh...thank you for such great ideas!

And thanks to you guys and my core group of friends at the OFC...I am once again optimistic this can be done!!

Plus my daughter, who is Director of our local venue, is friends with the Director of the Miller and she has offered to handle getting venue permission for me!! Let's hope she gets it.

Thanks again! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

And keep the ideas coming. I have no clue what I am doing.

[lilyshine]

I decided to burn a DVD of the Vegas Skate, but it didn't fill the entire thing so I added the Hurricanes IWCY at the end. Perfect combination! I love watching Clay ham it up. One moment he's all over the place and the next he's gliding securely along.

[bottlecap]

Oh my gosh...thank you for such great ideas!

And thanks to you guys and my core group of friends at the OFC...I am once again optimistic this can be done!!

Plus my daughter, who is Director of our local venue, is friends with the Director of the Miller and she has offered to handle getting venue permission for me!! Let's hope she gets it.

Thanks again! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

And keep the ideas coming. I have no clue what I am doing.

If it would be useful to have a couple of the actual volunteers from the Kalamazoo organization at the venue to help collect and transport the books, I'd be willing to chip in on buying concert tickets for them. They'd have to sit in the balcony, though, because there's only one unsold seat on the main floor! Wooo HOOO!

[rohdy]

Bottlecap...I am stunned at your generosity! Thank you.

In the response I had received from them, they indicated that the Executive Director would be thrilled to attend the concert and accept the donations for KCIS.

I took that to mean she was willing to get her own ticket....

Do ya think?

Arrrrgh.....I hate not knowing what I'm doing!!

But I will figure it out.....

[Bookwhore]

I hate the Kazoo idea too and I think the books would be something he would like.

So I'm not invisible.

Thank you for your response. But it probably isn't going to happen...no one seems to be interested. Which is a shame as I found a great organization to take the books.

And now it looks like it's going to be glow sticks and faux candles fighting with the kazoo's for Clay's attention.

Happy Birthday Clay.....

*sigh*

I love the book idea, too, rohdy. Of course I would, I'm a librarian. In fact, I'd like to see us make this an annual event. I'll bet it would grow in size through the years and I know Clay would be thrilled with the gesture. Here's another suggestion for the recipients of the books....not for this year, you understand...I'm just thinking about the possibilities ahead.

http://www.booksforafrica.org/

Our library helped a Girl Scout troop with this project a couple of months ago and had a fantastic response!

STOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPIT!!!!!!

From Invisible926 at CH:

NCT Kicks Off 25th Anniversary Season with Quiana Parler in Dreamgirls

North Carolina Theatre is very excited to announce that Quiana Parler will star as "Effie White" in Dreamgirls! Quiana has toured with Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson as a background vocalist and is thrilled to make her NCT debut in January.

EEEEEEEEE! for Quiana! I hope they'll be a little Quack, because I'd love to see her sing a couple of big numbers.

Very fantastic for Quiana! I hope there's Quack, too. I'm couldn't be more pleased for her.

[Bookwhore]

rohdy, another thought about the book collection at Kalamazoo: Would the organization be open to setting up an Amazon Wish List or maybe accepting gift cards (Barnes & Noble, or whatever else else is local, for example), so that Clay fans that aren't attending the concert but still wanted to participate in the donation could do so?

Also, if they have a list of recommended titles or authors (Dr. Seuss maybe?), I would find that to be helpful in figuring out what to buy.

...also the public library in their area should have a list of recommended books for various age levels.

We actually have so many librarians right here on this board, I'll bet we could come up with a wonderful list of suggestions.

[keldanker]

Couchie, I was so glad I got to meet you, if only briefly. You know, you walked up to me outside while we were waiting to get in and asked if this was the place to wait for the preparty. It briefly crossed my mind that you might be you, but I thought it might be odd to ask a perfect stranger if her name was Couch Tomato. OTOH, maybe that is not so odd in the Claynation. Anyway, when I saw you talking to the FCA people I had met that morning, I just had to ask. By then we all had nametags anyway.

[rohdy]

Rhody, If you are really set up to collect books, I can copy it to the concert thread on the CH.

Playbiller, as soon as I get venue approval, I would love for you to post this info at The CH. Thanks.

[bottlecap]

My reasoning for asking about the recommended book lists is this: Does the KCIS organization prefer to have, say 10 or 20 copies of the same book to hand out to each member of a class, or do they like to have a variety of age-appropriate books available?

Yeah, I'm full of questions today. It's a slow day at work....

[liney23]

Not all boards are created the same ... this is true. But Aikim, sweety, I'm very glad you post at OFC because if you didn't Clay wouldn't have read your beautiful post and gotten so "misty" that he had to respond -- and even disclose personal info about the meds. That whole thing still resonates with me -- I can't begin to tell you how much it affected me that night -- and every time I think about it. That was one of the most special moments I've felt in this fandom. And I can't help thinking that Clay got misty about the "we were there from the beginning" comment because he knows what's ahead for him, or at least the long term career plan (which I believe must exist). Also, I think your post and Clay's response to it led him to answer questions in Chat that night, which led to Kareneh's name change!

keepingfaith... I totally agree with this quote (couldn't take the risk of saying WORD )

aikim... please don't stop posting, just stop letting their idiotic response get to you if you can manage to do that. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Couchie... funny story... you were not the first black woman I went up to and asked if they were from FCA. The first one was just looking to buy a ticket... She got accosted by this craz...enthusiatic fan, poor woman!

I am still gaga over being able to see this event, since I have had to miss so much that he has done back east. Even more gaga over meeting so many of the FCAers that were there! That made it even more speeshul!!!

Quiana in Dream Girls... yeah for her. Wonder if Clay will fly down to see it, seeing as how he'll be in the last days of rehearsal for Spamalot. He might have to miss it... bet that will hurt and she'll have to miss opening night for him. Pangs on both sides, I'll bet!

[aikim]

liney :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Unfortunately, it is hard for me not to let things get to me; I inherited my mother's Italian temper and sometimes it gets the best of me and its hard for me not to say anything when I think I have been wronged.

Just going to chill out for a while and see how things go.

Kim