#37: Whenever he's ready, I'm ready for whatever he's ready for.

[Iseeme]

CM - it IS indeed a small world!!! I love how the Claynation can come together and do something positive for a community in his name. To me that's better than giving him pajama pants and scrapbooks of pictures of himself. Or sending a bunch of pizzas to Jimmy Kimmel.

And it might just be the photograph but that left arm of his is looking mighty not-so-skinny anymore! And certainly a pensive look on his face.

Is anybody else going to answer the questions that Scarlett posed yesterday???

(just cause I haven't used that emotie yet.....)

[Claymatron]

I'm old, refresh my memory as to Scarlett's questions yesterday. Or are those the ones I answered this morning?

However, the answer to that ancient Chinese question in your emoticom is....

WOULD I?? YOU BET YOUR SWEET BIPPY, I WOULD!

[Iseeme]

Wellllllllll - you answered them this morning. I realize that was a looooooong time ago though!

[Claymatron]

Wellllllllll - you answered them this morning. I realize that was a looooooong time ago though!

Oh yeah, well, what did I say? (Senility is a wonderful thing!) :lmaosmiley-1:

[keepingfaith]

I was checking over at People.com to see if maybe there was a picture of Clay up .. and I happened upon this quote from John Mayer, which I'm not sure I get:

John Mayer: The 30-year-old songwriter also commented on life in the public eye. "TMZ is made of some garbage items," Mayer said. "I can't be killed by garbage because I'm made of garbage. That's the game and I'm okay with that."

Whazzatmean? That's he's a gossip whore and loves the papparazzi? One of the things that makes me most proud to be a fan of Clay's is that he has enough class and integrity not to give the gossip rags the time of day. People Magazine seems to be his cut-off point, and they have treated him with respect in the past.

BTW, I checked the top finishers at HDD today and Lil Wayne is back in front, edging out Coldplay this week. John Mayer's Live in L.A. album debuted at #5 with sales of 80,000. Things are tough all over.

Also, I emailed the UNICEF blog to some friends of mine who work with non-profits and children, and just got an email reply back from one chick friend ... He’s HOT in that picture!!!

Now I have to reply back, Which one? 'Cause he looks really good to me in both of them, but the one with the baby is almost more than my nervous system can handle.

ETA: I've been meaning to ask if anyone saw Ringo when he was interviewed on his 68th birthday Monday night. New Rule: I only watch Larry King for Clay Aiken, or a Beatle. Anyway, Ringo said you can't get played on the radio these days if you're over 21. Then he said that 21 was an arbitrary age, but his point was you can't get played on Top 40 if your music is meaningful or adult. The radio just ain't what it used to be. RIP Radio.

[Couch Tomato]

I'm actually going the other way..and I don't know the man from adam ... to say he's saying..they're nothing, they can't touch me. I know the truth and it's the price of celebrity.

[Iseeme]

Yeah Couchie - that's kind of the way I took it. But his comment about being garbage kind of did not make too much sense.

On a really (to me) sad note - I just saw on the Comcast homepage that the parents and family of Jon Benet Ramsey have been cleared from any involvement with her murder - and the DA sent them a note of apology! Holy crap. They put that family through hell for many years - with the Mom dying of cancer a year or so ago. It wasn't enough they lost their daughter but the media fried them with accusations and sensationalistic reporting based on little or no fact! I'm sure that letter makes the survivors feel soooo much better - NOT! Then the article went on to describe in alot of detail how and what they tested with new DNA procedures that finally ruled the family out. Horrible. Just horrible.

I haven't liked John Meyer since I saw him on Ryan Seacrest and he acted like a completely arrogant a-hole. That one time did it for me. But I'm glad he can ignore the tabloids because he's sure spread all over them now......

[Ansamcw]

Time to AWWWW and GAH!!!

Cindilu created this banner..so we do a quick change and we will bring back the other banner next week...

Thanks Cindilu!!!

[claygirl9131]

Time to AWWWW and GAH!!!

Cindilu created this banner..so we do a quick change and we will bring back the other banner next week...

Thanks Cindilu!!!

LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[Claymatron]

Awwwww, is right Cindilu! Beautful job.

Hint...could we have a new calendar (wallpaper) with that blend, even though I love the other one for July, maybe something for August?

[bottlecap]

Can you ever have too many pictures of Clay Aiken??

I hope not...

Thanks for the lightened and sharpened versions of the UNICEF pics. My ciomputer monitor at work is kind of dark, and the original pictures with their brownish tinge didn't look very clear on it. Your versions are bright and absolutely gorgeous on my laptop screen at home.

[aikim]

Just breathtaking Cindilu! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Kim

[FromClaygary]

First....LOVE the banner cindilu2!!

Not to get hopes up, but I read this on CH and went hmmmmmmm....

Sooo...anyone else looked at the NC State fair website lately? The Dorton Arena show for Oct 19th is listed as 'mystery entertainter to be announced no later than Sep 1'.

http://www.ncstatefair.org/2008/entertainment/dorton.htm

The Gala is the 18th. Just saying. Just wondering!

Hate to say it, but I'm thinking those just mean ....but I'm always into keeping high hopes!!

Stealing Scarlett's questions shamelessly from Claymatron's post....

1. Your part in the fandom: how has it evolved? Do you consider it a hobby or an addicition? How much time do you spend on your fandom?

I very joyfully consider it an addiction...of the very best kind! Addicted to love, joy, smiles, laughter...what's to not be addicted to??

2. What would you considered a "blowtorched puppy" -- in other words, what could Clay do that would make you stop being a fan?

I don't think Clay is capable of doing anything that would turn me against him or stop me from being a fan.

Yeah. That.

3. How do you feel about "shipping Clay?" Why do you feel that way?

I think it's kind of fun up to the point where it gets too personal, or someone is too invested. I want him to have love, love, love...and if he is happy with someone, and they make him smile even for a while, I'm all for it.

4. How does Clay combat the tabloid media?

I think he's doing the best he can, and we need to back off and let him.

5. Should Clay be a "superstar?" A "pop star"? An "entertainer?" Or all of the above? Does he really have to choose?

I don't think he has to choose; but my choice for him would be "entertainer/humanitarian".

6. How do you feel Clay's voice has evolved over the past 4 years?

It has acquired an adult depth and timbre and emotive quality influenced by his experiences these last few years that wouldn't have even been possible for his "teen voice".

should have come with a clay with baby warning...

Yup!!

I think that's always been there. Can't donate until tonight but I hope it works for Canadians this time. I've had trouble in the past with it accepting Canadian CCs.

Not a problem; they've revised the website permanently for us.

Thought you might like to see the latest update that I just received from my contact at Kalamazoo Communities in Schools, the recipient of all the books collected in honor of Clay's birthday.

Thanks so much for letting us know! That brought tears to my eyes as well! I HOPE we can do something equally meaningful for his 30th this year.

[keepingfaith]

I have had to work today, and I'm usually okay with that -- but not TODAY!

The banner is wonderful. Thanks Cindilu!

I still don't get the JM quote. Must be over my head.

[Danielle]

Being away from the computer all day is no fun! *stamps foot*

rohdy, the book donations were amazing. The generosity of this fandom is unmatched. I'm an elementary school teacher, so your efforts are so totally close to my heart, and I just loved it. Awesome.

To respond to the question about how my part in the fandom has evolved reminded me of something I did in the early days, when I was at the peak of my Clay Aiken frenzy. I hope you get a kick out of this... Clay was trying to sell his car. I don't remember how I found this out, but I'm sure it had something to do with a result number greater than 25,000 on google. (In reality I think it was a message board I was active on, where a friend of Clay's family posted a call for interested buyers). I decided I was going to buy it. Where I was going to get the money was irrelevant, but I HAD TO HAVE CLAY AIKEN'S CAR. This is not a logical mind at work, I know. But I rationalized this ridiculous idea by thinking...I would drive the thing across the country to raise money for the YMCA in Raleigh.

I am not kidding.

Oh, wait. It gets worse.

The car's color was listed as "raisin." So I thought, "OH. I will call this cross-country-fundraiser-in-a-car-belonging-to-an-American-Idol-contestant-which-I-really-do-not-have-the-money-to-buy 'RAISIN' money for the Y." Or something like that. And I was totally ready to make my friend Wendy drive with me down to Raleigh to pick this thing up.

Um. Yeah. (You may proceed to mock me now.)

Fortunately, someone who actually needed a car beat me to the purchase. Instead, I spent the rest of the summer swooping down on eBay for overpriced Idols concert tickets, making signs, and recreating the red leather jacket outfit from Grease to wear to said concerts. If it weren't for all the amazing friends and people I met, and the unbelievable stories I accumulated along the way to tell my grandchildren one day, I would so totally be hanging my head in shame.

Oh, and the best thing about my evolution in the fandom is that I met my soulmate (I know, totally schmoopie and cliche, but he is!) on a message board, moved five hundred miles, and we now have an incredibly happy life together. For that I will always be grateful to Clay Aiken (even if I am mad at him for capping his beautiful teeth).

[Iseeme]

Cindilu - ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - verra verra niiiiiiiiiiiiiice!!!

Danielle - that's a great story!

No news on mil's house. She has calmed somewhat today and is just accepting whatever happens. Had to laugh - she was looking in the paper for apartment rentals. Said the monthly rental on some was more than she paid for her entire house......(suffice to say there's been a gap in time since said purchase was made.....)

[aikim]

Great story Danielle! I can't believe the color of Clay's car was "raisin" (guess that is better than "Prune" )...that would have been so cool to drive across country "raisin" money for the YMCA...I bet Clay would have gotten a kick out of that!

And yay for meeting your soulmate...I hope you can tell Clay that story someday!

Kim

[Iseeme]

I kind of remember that story about the car - didn't some guy offer alot more than it was worth if Clay would sign the dashboard or something. Wasn't it a Honda Accord?

[jmh123]

I was checking over at People.com to see if maybe there was a picture of Clay up .. and I happened upon this quote from John Mayer, which I'm not sure I get:

John Mayer: The 30-year-old songwriter also commented on life in the public eye. "TMZ is made of some garbage items," Mayer said. "I can't be killed by garbage because I'm made of garbage. That's the game and I'm okay with that."

Whazzatmean? That's he's a gossip whore and loves the papparazzi? One of the things that makes me most proud to be a fan of Clay's is that he has enough class and integrity not to give the gossip rags the time of day. People Magazine seems to be his cut-off point, and they have treated him with respect in the past.

I'm not sure I can explain this specific quote. I don't follow Mayer that closely, but I've seen reference on other boards to his on-going battle with TMZ. I assume the latest gambit on his part is to say he doesn't care about their continual harrassment.

Here's one of his blogs, to give you a sense of his thinking. I particularly liked this one, which I saw linked at CH awhile back:

Go back into the annals of beloved '80s films, and you'd be hard pressed to find a movie closer to the hearts of thirty-somethings than The Goonies. I'll spare you the synopsis, as you most likely already know it, but if you don't, no need to worry - you've seen 20 other movies like it in its time. The template: nerdy but affable underdog(s) suffer unrelenting ridicule by jocks in varsity letter jackets but ultimately have their comeuppance, usually stealing a smoking hot girlfriend or two in the process.

In the case of The Goonies, a band of awkward, socially outcast kids set off to find a buried treasure, narrowly averting almost certain death and outrunning, among others, a popular high school jock named Troy. Troy is one of the classic cinematic archetypes of the 1980s; the jock. He's good looking, rocks a period-relative badass Mustang convertible, and he's a total prick. All we can do from the moment Troy enters the frame is to wait with baited breath to see Troy lose and the Goonies win.

And in that end, back in 1985 when the underdogs had their day, (and their bag of jewels), and the final credits rolled and we called our parents for a ride home, we realized something fantastic: It's true, we weren't Troy. But for the first time, thanks to The Goonies, we no longer wanted to be Troy. It was okay to be us, thank you very much.

Cut to present day.

What happened to the better part of a generation that once walked out of their local theater rooting for the Mikeys and Chunks and Datas of the world? They've turned into Troys. Troys who can't accept the differences in others and condemn the things they don't understand. Finger-pointing, shit-talking Troys.

Ask yourself: with whom do you identify more these days, Troy or the Goonies? And if you're reading this and you happen to be an Internet shit-talker, could it be because you think I'm Troy? Because honest to God, I've always fancied myself a Goonie; the underdog who toppled over the narrow-minded naysayers and walked away with a treasure.

So maybe this whole thing is one big misunderstanding and it turns out we don't need to go down as a generation remembered as having spent the '00s wearing our asses like hats after all. Maybe it will turn out that we needed a little time to figure out that in the end we're all just a bunch of Goonies.

So no, he isn't a "gossip whore [who] loves the papparazzi." He is dogged by the paparazzi and is written about in the tabloids, but I don't think we can blame him for that any more than we can blame Clay. He isn't courting it, unless dating a couple of women who are famous counts.

Here's another blog about his little friend Isaac: Isaac blog. I can go for months without thinking about John Mayer and I'm not a diehard fan, or even a big fan, but if he's going to be put down here, I'm going to present a different POV. Feel free to hate him anyway if you want to.

Love, love, love the new banner. Can we keep it forever???

[Danielle]

Oooooooooooooo! The banner is awesome. Love it!

Iseeme, you have an amazing memory! It was a Honda Accord! And I had completely forgotten about the guy who offered all that money for the car if Clay autographed it. It feels like forever ago and yesterday all at the same time.

[spikesmom]

rohdy - congrats again on a fabulous idea! It was an honor to participate! And the stacks of books were a beautiful sight to see!

cindilu - another beautiful banner!

Thanks for the lightened pics! The blog was very sobering and I look forward to the rest (I understand this was one in a series?). He makes me so very proud to be a fan...

Can you imagine a place where the average life expectancy is 45? Many of us here would be dead and gone by now.

This is very sobering also... I'd like to think I've got at least another 20 or more... but to think my life could already be over... sure as hell makes me stop and think how blessed I am... and I'm thankful I could raise my son in this country.

Danielle - funny story! Thanks for sharing!

[Iseeme]

Iseeme, you have an amazing memory!

Perhaps where Clay is concerned....but I can't remember what I had for breakfast this morning!

Spikesmom - is it really going to be a series of field notes? I hadn't heard that. Then no wonder it was kind of sparse. But something from the man is better than nothing at all.

[jmh123]

Something completely different, and OT. Most of y'all know I'm a dirty rotten cover lover. I just stumbled across this list of every cover the Grateful Dead ever did. Cathy's Clown?? Devil with the Blue Dress On?? Mack the Knife?? I hope the outrage over ATDW on the part of some fans doesn't stop Clay from covering songs any more, because he's so good at picking them and "making them his own." I'd love to hear Clay jam with a band for about 10 minutes sometime too, even though he doesn't play an instrument. I'm sure he could do it with his voice. He talked about doing that sometimes with the others during the intro to "Listen."

I ran across this list because someone on my Grateful Dead scholars list sent out a request for good thoughts for one of the members, the guy who keeps up the website this covers list is on. He's gravely ill, and the guy who send the message out said you probably don't know this but he also happens to be chairman of the British Cabinet Office Joint Intelligence Committee. Who knew? I love this quote from the article:

The police discovered, however, that he was well enough to visit his favourite website on the Grateful Dead rock group as recently as Saturday.

I hope someday a Clay fan will be chief of spies and so proud to be a fan that the police know to check FCA to see when she was last on line. LOL.

[Scarlett]

Just got home and I'm so envious of everyone who's been gazing at those pictures all day!!! Aren't they just wonderful! Can't he host a children's show in addition to a talk show? Can you imagine what seeing him surrounded by kids and looking like that every week could do to wipe away the stress and pain of daily life?

What a beautiful banner!!! Can we keep it twice as long? Cindilu, :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Danielle, how great to have found your soulmate on a Clay Aiken board!!! :image008:

I'm so jealous of your new avatar, Iseeme! Post some more, so that we can keep seeing it as we scroll!

Cotton, it's terribly inappropriate today but I couldn't help it that when I saw the horse picture you posted this morning, all I could think of was, "Some folks always get the rough ride."

jmh, thanks for posting that blog. I never really liked John Mayer's music but at least now I won't always go ewwww when I hear him mentioned.

I wish I had waited to see the blog & pictures before going off to work today. Right before noon, my teammates told me about a sale on hard drives at Fry's so I rushed off at lunchtime only to come back and read the blog and feel awful at my spree. I had something tucked away for Somalia but when you think about what can be done with just 6 cents, who needs another 1TB? I think I should just return this - I don't think Unicef needs an extra large hard drive (they already got one and it's verra verra nice).

Times like this I wish FCA really had that spa/camp that we've been talking about so that we could hold a bake sale or mini-fair or do some other type of fundraising together. I know that this is a tough year for the economy so it wouldn't be as easy to come up with what we had for Afghanistan. I checked the Unicef page for volunteer activities because I think those things help even more than writing a check -- when you do something that informs other people about Unicef it generates N checks instead of 1. BTW, my favorite activities are the 6th and the 2nd to the last one. Still wish we could hold that bake sale, though!

Thanks to everyone who shared their answers to the questions from last night!!! :thbighug-1:

And lastly,

[Chardonnay]

Is it ok if I'm late?

Questionaire:

1. Your part in the fandom: how has it evolved? Do you consider it a hobby or an addicition? How much time do you spend on your fandom?

It’s not an addiction because I really think I could stop at any time…

2. What would you considered a "blowtorched puppy" -- in other words, what could Clay do that would make you stop being a fan?

He could do a zillion things that would cause that… only thing is, he would never do any of those things and in that I feel confident. Examples? Ok… like peeling the wings off a butterfly. I don’t think he would do that.

3. How do you feel about "shipping Clay?" Why do you feel that way?

I’ve never understood the idea of shipping, what does that mean? It sounds kinky. But I guess if I ever had to, I would ship him overnight...

4. How does Clay combat the tabloid media?

By not blogging?

5. Should Clay be a "superstar?" A "pop star"? An "entertainer?" Or all of the above?

Happy above all.

6. How do you feel Clay's voice has evolved over the past 4 years?

This one’s tough, but I think his voice, at any given moment, is completely dependent on how much he is into any given moment… Does that make sense?

WARNING: ADORABLE BABY AND ADORABLE CLAY PICTURES AHEAD!!!

Another bright and shiny ovary just popped up while looking at that second one thankyouverymuch. Those pictures say in so many less complicated words than I could ever express why I believe I'm here.

Ack, this place moves so fast!... or maybe I'm just still getting accustomed to the look and feel of things. But I'm enjoying it here.

Tonight there's a THREE WAY. But it was pretty much a piece of cake for me. In fact I pretty much found that I didn't really even need the other two...