#23: Lordy. He is one more hunkalicious dude!

[muskifest]

jamar1700 This is out of left field, but could you please tell me where your avatar came from? I feel sure I've seen that interview before, but don't remember him swiping his hand through his hair in that abrupt way. It is making me wonder what was being said at the time and if he was irritated about his hair or something else. Or not irritated at all. Thanks.

It's from the 2nd Valetine Kimmel. If you look close you can see he has on the Jimmy T-Shirt. I don't remember the context of what he was doing or saying at that moment but I don't recall him being irritated at all. I think the slow mo makes it choppier than it really was.

I was there! This was as Jimmy was introducing that woman whose singing I didn't like. Clay was looking at the monitor, maybe saw himself? , ran his hand quickly through his hair and then began clapping for that woman whose singing I didn't like. No irritation, though.

Well, except on my part because they stopped talking with Clay and made us listen to that woman whose singing I didn't like. heh.

[muskifest]

[Gibby]

Support Clay Aiken and the United States Fund for UNICEF!

Progress: 78%

Raised: $ 77519 Goal: $ 100000

[annabear]

Just dropping this off on my way out to Target & Starbucks..... :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[jumpingjacks]

Just dropping this off on my way out to Target & Starbucks..... :F_05BL17blowkiss:

WHOA...where did that come from?

[Bookwhore]

Just dropping this off on my way out to Target & Starbucks..... :F_05BL17blowkiss:

WHOA...where did that come from?

Wow! Love it! My boyfriend certainly is a man of many faces, isn't he? I wonder what the context of this picture was?

[luckiest1]

BWAH, play, I'm no newbie, but I hadn't heard that in quite a while. Thanks!

[aikim]

I believe that picture is from David Foster's Gala.

I was one that was pretty distressed at how Faye was attacked after LTS came out; just seem rather unfair to me since the book was from Clay's perspective and I dare say that a child's rememberance of incidents in their life probably would not correspond with what the parents remember. As much as I loved the book, it was rather disjointed and without having Faye, Ray's or any other family member's input and considering the mistakes I made as a parent, I did not feel comfortable judging Faye.

Clay was also influenced by his grandmothers, Aunt's, etc. so Faye was not solely responsible for his upbringing.

I think she did an amazing job given the circumstances and I can certainly see why Clay loves and respects her as he does.

I also wondered if some of the criticism Faye received was also due to jealousy on some fan's part because there relationship with their own children was not what they hoped it would be.

Kim

[LovesClaysVoice]

You are all invited to a Clay Party!!! I posted this at the OFC, but I know some of you don't like to come there. We are having a party tonight to celebrate the great year Clay had in 2007!! Please come and join in the fun!!!

Here is my post at the OFC!

Clay Aiken party tonight! Let's have some fun and celebrate the fabulous year Clay had in 2007!!!

Come and join in the celebration! Post your favorite pic, video, memory, or just come in and gush about the man!!!! Feel free to post in this thread all day, but we will try and start the party around 7:00 Central Time.

Oh, and Clay....if you are lurking...since you are the guest of honor, you are very much welcome to join in!

[cha cha trusty]

I hate to burst your flapping bubble, but you'll have to do some more research to fully debunk the flap flap. He wore two suits. The first half suit may have been the flap flap suit, cause you're right, the suit with the silver tie was unclipped. Have to go back and check out the suit with the burgandy to see what's up with its flap... LOL

I was going to bring the second suit up, but AIW was sung in the burgundy suit, so if cha cha trusty can cap the flap flapping at the end of that number we'll have the suit flap flap resolved once and for all.

Well - this could be the END of the flap flap!! I have capped the last few seconds of AIW where Clay raises his arm and the FLAP in question is DEFINITELY unclipped!! Here's the proof!!

I will have to postho to make a few other comments... are we still talking about where we grew up?? :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[brensmemaw]

I am desperately trying to find the site I went to last year to print out a month by month Clay calendar. Does anyone know where I can find the place that has a monthly Clay calendar for 2008? I love mine from last year, but in another day it will be finished. Thanks!

[cha cha trusty]

I will have to postho to make a few other comments... are we still talking about where we grew up?? :F_05BL17blowkiss:

(quoting myself as no one seems to have answered my question - I will plow ahead regardlessly!!)

I grew up on a farm about 3 miles outside of a small town in Northern VA. The town only had about 2000 people at the time, but was in a rapidly growing area. My dad was older and married late in life, so we grew up with the old ways of cooking, canning, raising animals, etc.

Some of the "townies" were actually afraid of my house because it was big, isolated, dark, and sat on a hill, I heard later that some even thought it was haunted!

When my dad died, and the farm was sold, I took my pittance of an inheritance and got the hell outta there! I spent the years between 19 and 25 traveling and living in different parts of the US and Europe (oops, forgot Mexico!), before settling down back in No Va with my husband. Our kids were brought up about a mile from the farm I grew up on, which is now a subdivision. That was about 20 miles from downtown DC. Now I live about 35 miles from downtown DC and this area is fast-growing as well, but my immediate neighborhood is rural and quiet. Even if we do have a municipal airport about a mile away! The sounds of the helicopters are sometimes drowned out by the braying donkey across the street!

I wasn't always a 100% great mom, as someone said, you are selfish and unreasonable sometimes, and I defend myself for that, because demmit, moms should be allowed to be selfish and unreasonable at times! It's a damn hard job!! I think my kids turned out pretty well, in spite of it all!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[skybar22]

I read LTS from a hospital bed and cried through most of it but it wasn't Faye I was most upset about, it was Ray Parker and bio dad. Faye was as much of a victim as anyone since she had been a battered woman and I think she did do the best she could. The proof is in the results and both of her sons seem to be doing well as adults although Clay took the brunt of the abuse. I was in the hospital for weeks and had no access to the boards so I don't know what was being said about Faye. Most families, no matter how it looks, are dysfunctional and Clay's wasn't exceptional in that sense, IMO. I worked only with child abuse for years and compared to what I saw, Clay's upbringing, though not ideal, was not extreme. I also think Faye did the absolute right thing for her child and herself when she left Vernon. That took courage and strength.

I'm sure he and his mother have had it out more than once and yet their love is strong and binding, Says volumes to me about both of them. I also think Clay was probably quite a challenging child to raise and whatever the circumstances were, Clay has taken his life and made it work for him in such a positive way. There is lots of strength there and determination. My belief is that we get what we need to grow. Clay's challenges certainly prepared him for his current life since he still has bullies out there trying to mess him up.

I grew up in a medium sized city 40 miles from Boston. Boston WAS the big city to us but when my cousins came to visit from NYC, I always felt like a hick. It's all relative, isn't it?

I'm loving the flap discussion here. You all crack me up!

[muskifest]

I also think Clay was probably quite a challenging child to raise and whatever the circumstances were, Clay has taken his life and made it work for him in such a positive way. There is lots of strength there and determination. My belief is that we get what we need to grow. Clay's challenges certainly prepared him for his current life since he still has bullies out there trying to mess him up.

skybar, this is what I believe, too. We've all faced less than ideal environments and influences in our upbringing--there IS no "perfect childhood/family/parent/life". I can only imagine the challenges Clayton presented for his parents...he's VERY precocious and stubborn and determined AND often very SURE he's right! The bolded part of your post is what I try to remember when I'm dealing with my mother---in early years I couldn't see things this way---now? I TRY to.

[RIFAN]

Couch Tomato,

Thanks for explaining "dog walker." Afraid I will not qualify for bodyguard any time "soon." More of a reader than a poster. Happy to walk those dogs. Hmmmmm--maybe the way to a man's heart is through his dogs--who knows?

Play Biller,

Thanks for the newbie clip of JLo's story. Did read about that on the notes on his MOAM CD. God, can you believe she didn't even look?!

Just so I can sleep tonight--is the flap thing over yet? Is it safe to watch HOI now? ('Cause I really did enjoy it.)

Want ya to know--if indeed the flap was unclipped, I will be happy to start leaving my jacket flaps unclipped as a show of solidarity. Heck, I could even sew up the clipped ones. Wonder if hubby would mind if I sewed his up? How would I ever explain that?

[skybar22]

Muski wrote:

The bolded part of your post is what I try to remember when I'm dealing with my mother---in early years I couldn't see things this way---now? I TRY to.

I also think it is very important not to minimize what our parents did or didn't do to raise us. I'm not into blaming parents but I am into people taking responsibility for what they did and that includes parents who mistreated their kids. To me, the important thing is to work things out for yourself. I have an older brother who was very abusive to me and to my older sisters. I'm the youngest by 9 years, and my brother has never taken responsibility for what he did while my parents were out making a living. We don't have a very good relationship because of that and to this day he is still an abusive man, although it is not physical.

[KAndre]

The total city girl wanders back into the thread...

Born in Portland, Oregon, in about as eclectic a neighborhood as you can get...moved to Houston at about 8 and unlike my girl, KeepingFaith, I always got the seriously urban vibe (could be the difference between the Heights and South Park). However, my grandparents lived in St. Paul Community, a seriously unincorporated area in Leon County Texas. Closest town was Oakwood - population maybe 400. If all the relatives from the city were visiting. I am related to everyone in a 50 mile radius, white and black. When I stopped getting annoyed at the "ooh, now Clay can be exposed to some real culture/civilization/sophistication, I just laughed at the "hick" image.

As for parenting, I don't even see Ray Parker as being that bad. For the time and place that Clay grew up, it just didn't seem anything out of the norm. Y'all would probably be horrified at many of my father's parenting choices - from the time he let me go to school apparently dressed as a small hooker - but then again, he was a man in his late forties whose wife abandoned him (for good reason) and left with two small girls to raise. Because of him, I am self sufficient, have a powerful sense of self worth, and tend to be happy with the way I look no matter what. And I have a deep and abiding love for him. And vividly remember every single spanking. Also remember vividly why I was spanked. I was not a good child. But I was loved by him. My mother, who reacquired me and my sister through kidnapping (it's a complicated story) - on the surface was a much better parent. I still don't particularly like her. But I deal with her, because that is one of the things she taught me. I suppose I have made less than optimal parenting decisions myself - hell, I have made less than optimal life decisions. But there are few things I would change about the way I was brought up, or the way I brought my child up - it's helped make me who I am, and helped created the person that my child is - and I like me and my child. I agree that it is important to put the appropriate weight on what our parents did or didn't do. And to keep it in perspective.

I don't really know a lot about Faye, Ray or Vernon. What little I do know is this: Clay, who knows all three better than I ever will, clearly loves Faye to death. He still refers to Ray as his dad, and Ray's family as his (which is just my interpretation, as I wouldn't call my stepfather "dad" if my life depended on it). And not even pretending to acknowledge Vernon's funeral tells me all I need to know about that.

I also think Faye has seen Clay as a fully functioning adult for much longer than many in the fandom - I think the implications of what they went through after Ray Parker's death (the whole issue of buying back Brett's car) and to be honest, I've never seen or heard Faye or Brett treat Clay as less than an adult.

[cha cha trusty]

I hate to burst your flapping bubble, but you'll have to do some more research to fully debunk the flap flap. He wore two suits. The first half suit may have been the flap flap suit, cause you're right, the suit with the silver tie was unclipped. Have to go back and check out the suit with the burgandy to see what's up with its flap... LOL

I was going to bring the second suit up, but AIW was sung in the burgundy suit, so if cha cha trusty can cap the flap flapping at the end of that number we'll have the suit flap flap resolved once and for all.

Well - this could be the END of the flap flap!! I have capped the last few seconds of AIW where Clay raises his arm and the FLAP in question is DEFINITELY unclipped!! (THIS IS WRONG!) CLIPPED! Here's the proof!!

OH CRAP!!!! In my hasty post - I said "unclipped" and I totally meant to say "CLIPPED"!!!

[keldanker]

Does anyone have a screencap or picture from the first half of the skating show when Clay was wearing the reddish color shirt? From the front? I have a theory, but I need to see a picture.

[liney23]

skybar...

I'm not into blaming parents

I AM into blaming parents for their actions, but not for how the kids turn out because of those actions. As children we have no control over our lives, but when we become adults, we have choices to make as to how we were treated creates our own actions.

If you are talking about normal parenting mistakes, no parent is perfect. But, some actions are undefensible. I experieced that, but made choices to never hurt anyone the way I was hurt, rather than pass it on. I like me, but I am the person I am because of how I reacted to what was done to me, not because of what was done to me.... if you can follow that??? LOL What happened to me made me stronger because I chose that direction instead of becoming what my parents were. It's all about choice!!!

Clay chose to be the opposite of his father. He said his mother taught him to always learn from what happens to him and he became the best lemonade maker around! He taught me to accept myself, because of the way he accepts himself. I love that man, plain and simple!

[keldanker]

I found some pictures re the flap flip: Do those who are upset about this realize that he changed suits during the taping? The first jacket had pockets that were angled. The second jacket had straight pockets. Are we to believe that the flap was unclipped on both jackets? Or is it just possible that the ding dang mic pack was bulkier than usual which caused the flap to flip? And who really cares anyway?

[FromClaygary]

In the middle of the flap flap (not something I'm going to lose sleep over), just wanted to say THANKS to all those who responded to my DivX plea. I was able to download the codec and burn the DVD's today just fine.

Thanks for the info!! Those are awesome clear videos!!

[skybar22]

skybar...

I'm not into blaming parents

I AM into blaming parents for their actions, but not for how the kids turn out because of those actions. As children we have no control over our lives, but when we become adults, we have choices to make as to how we were treated creates our own actions.

If you are talking about normal parenting mistakes, no parent is perfect. But, some actions are undefensible. I experieced that, but made choices to never hurt anyone the way I was hurt, rather than pass it on. I like me, but I am the person I am because of how I reacted to what was done to me, not because of what was done to me.... if you can follow that??? LOL What happened to me made me stronger because I chose that direction instead of becoming what my parents were. It's all about choice!!!

Clay chose to be the opposite of his father. He said his mother taught him to always learn from what happens to him and he became the best lemonade maker around! He taught me to accept myself, because of the way he accepts himself. I love that man, plain and simple!

liney23, I am sorry that you experienced what you did and I think we are on the same wavelength. I will qualify what I said about not blaming parents. I'm not into blaming anyone for what we choose to do as adults. I think that is what you are also saying. Of course abusive parents are the responsible parties for what they do to hurt and often damage their children for life. Sadly, I have seen many young men and women who blame their parents for their adult behaviors. It's a viscious cycle which is why what Clay did to not be like his bio dad is so impressive to me because abused kids often grow up to feel diminished and some, not all, become abusers themselves.

[Bookwhore]

Want ya to know--if indeed the flap was unclipped, I will be happy to start leaving my jacket flaps unclipped as a show of solidarity. Heck, I could even sew up the clipped ones. Wonder if hubby would mind if I sewed his up? How would I ever explain that?

:lmaosmiley-1: I nominate this for the funniest post of the day. Totally cracked me up! I think this whole flap flack is RCA's fault.

Does anyone have a screencap or picture from the first half of the skating show when Clay was wearing the reddish color shirt? From the front? I have a theory, but I need to see a picture.

Ooooooh...theories! I love theories. Is it a conspiracy theory? If so, the it's RCA and Clive's fault!

Regarding how we're brought up...I have a younger half-brother and sister, I'm 25 years their senior. They lived in deplorable conditions after our dad died. Step-mom wasn't too bright. They ended up being removed and placed in a home. My sister has overcome her past, has a master's degree in engineering, was an officer in the Army and is an Iraq war veteran now living in Germany (her DH is currently serving in Iraq). My little brother, coming from the same background, has chosen to blame everyone and everything except himself, and expects someone to make it right for him. He's been in prison twice, steals anything that isn't nailed down and is currently homeless somewhere in South Carolina. You would never in a million years guess that they were from the same family. Same circumstances, different choices.

[cindilu2]

I am desperately trying to find the site I went to last year to print out a month by month Clay calendar. Does anyone know where I can find the place that has a monthly Clay calendar for 2008? I love mine from last year, but in another day it will be finished. Thanks!

You're probably thinking of Clay's Daily Double - clayisouridol is a Clayboard member and I believe she currently has a thread on The Street with her 2008 calendar in it.

For those of you who don't use View New Posts *shamelessly sucks up to Admin*, there is a thread in the Spamalot forum with proposals for and FCA/Spamalot pin. Thread is here and any feedback is appreciated. We're aiming for a decision on the 2nd or 3rd, with the goal being pins-in-hand for the beginning of February. Thanks!