#39: "The little man is healthy, happy, and as loud as his daddy"

[luckiest1]

I'm not really sure who zed is..

Heh, not who, but what? Zed as in Z. The letter. Which you Americans insist on calling Zee.

[KAndre]

KAndre very carefully examines the "Z" luckiest presented in a delightful Canadian accent, and manfully refrains from pointing out the lack of a "d"...

[luckiest1]

So where's the e? LOL

Perhaps we should pronounce it zzzzzzzzzzzz and split the difference.

ETA: And so I wasted my 3500th post on a consonant? Pfffffft.

:babies_100:

[Claymatron]

I'm not really sure who zed is..

Heh, not who, but what? Zed as in Z. The letter. Which you Americans insist on calling Zee.

Yeah, that! Personally, I've always thought that "zee" was much more sensible, though....and the only time I've ever heard the word "hoser" is by the McKenzie Brothers, eh?

(CM walks away singing."Why do we have to fight, why can't we spend our time TRYing"?)

[Bella19]

What? Canadians ain't Americans? Why didn't somebody tell me? Whodathunkit? heh!

I really can't get my mind around the idea that somebody would be bothered that Jaymes is Canadian - Hell, the Mounties are Canadian! I saw it in Due South (man, I loved that show). I personally think Clay just likes the exoticness...that accent is hot!

A woman after my own heart! Due South was great (they used to film in downtown TO all the time) and Paul Gross is hawt!!! Never knew my accent was exotic - my cousins in Queens, NY used to tell me I sounded English, as in from the UK.

I'm thinking we need to get the eHP up to Tarranna (how we natives pronounce it) up here to acquaint them with our beer and manners and stuff...

I think marriage is like the little girl with the curl on her forehead - when it's good, it's very, very good; when it's bad, it's horrid!

It probably doesn't help that I am aware I would make most people a perfectly horrid spouse - not big on the compromise thing, real big on the running everything thing, and then can't stand men that I can totally run!

Sounds like my own experience, which thankfully ended 18 years ago. After all these years I can't even imagine being married again, although I have dear friends (waves to Claymatron!) who have lovely marriages. They sure don't work for everyone!

[djs111]

Do Canadians say "aught" or "nil" for zero, in reporting sports scores? For some odd reason, I always found it cute when the sports were covered on CNN International - 3 - nil, etc.

[clem231]

I have no sympathy for these people either. All their negative whining drives me nuts......they should start their own message board so they can all enjoy being miserable together.

Heh, I'm pretty sure they already have, but they just enjoy bringing their scintillating thoughts to the main boards to cause a stir.

Yep!

And, I'm keeping my Cheerios far away from them.

Clay and Jaymes...I think they are "dear friends".

If it's more, or leads to more, that's great too.

I think this is the happiest time of Clay's life...that makes me happy.

[luckiest1]

I'm thinking we need to get the eHP up to Tarranna (how we natives pronounce it) up here to acquaint them with our beer and manners and stuff...

Problem is, it's hard to entice them without a Clay appearance! Maybe now that he has even more of a Canadian connection, he'll come back again. And hee about the pronunciation of "Tarranna"....I was listening to some Toronto JBT on my iPod yesterday, and Clay was talking to the lady in the audience about her flights from Vancouver to Vancouver Island to Edmonton to Toronto. He impressed me so much that evening with his knowledge of Canadian geography and the national anthem, but I just had to laugh at his very typical American pronunciation of Toronto, which of course is how it is spelled. LOL

Can you tell I don't want to work today? Eeep, I'd better get something done here!

[merryclay]

Claymatron- Let me say this in defense of this entire board. When I first came here, people knew that I was friends with Chexxxy. I explained how I felt about all that and defended her, of course, and we moved on. Since that time, no one that matters has ever been disrespectful to me. My posts are taken at face value, and no one has ever been rude to me. I feel accepted and if the truth of matter is known, we are all a bit different, because we come from different backgrounds and are carrying different baggage. It's just like RL, if you feel passionately about something, you should speak up. If it's not worth your passion, than lay it down. IMO, lurking brings nothing to the table. I think this board is fun; that's why I come here. Whatever your views, this is message board and I bet we all have a message and one is just as important as another if they are presented with mutual respect.

ETA- Claymatron-- Hang in there because diverse opinions are what make conversation. Soon, you'll feel accepted, too.

[Bella19]

I'm thinking we need to get the eHP up to Tarranna (how we natives pronounce it) up here to acquaint them with our beer and manners and stuff...

Problem is, it's hard to entice them without a Clay appearance! Maybe now that he has even more of a Canadian connection, he'll come back again. And hee about the pronunciation of "Tarranna"....I was listening to some Toronto JBT on my iPod yesterday, and Clay was talking to the lady in the audience about her flights from Vancouver to Vancouver Island to Edmonton to Toronto. He impressed me so much that evening with his knowledge of Canadian geography and the national anthem, but I just had to laugh at his very typical American pronunciation of Toronto, which of course is how it is spelled. LOL

Can you tell I don't want to work today? Eeep, I'd better get something done here!

Here's hoping he ventures north of the 49th parallel again!

djs111 - We don't usually use/hear "nil" - in sports scores, they just say "zero."

I'm enjoying the quiet while the boss does interviews on another floor and until the staff start giving me their reports to edit today but unfortunately, it won't last.

[Lotus]

Ansamcw

Oh and the marriage thing....we know Clay wants to have a family...did he actually say he wants to be married? Even if he does...we don't know how Jaymes feels about the subject.

As has been pointed out he has said in the past that he want to be married but I think it is more likely that Jaymes doesn't. She has more experience of the world and perhaps the age gap of 21 years will seem much more significant at 49 and 70, than at 29 and 50. While I know that the average life span of celebrities marriages is not that long, IMO once Clay makes that commitment he will stick by it.

Bella19

Never knew my accent was exotic - my cousins in Queens, NY used to tell me I sounded English, as in from the UK.

Even after 57 years in Canada I still have a slight British accent but when I visited relatives in England they thought I sounded like a Yank (their term).

[cha cha trusty]

Here's a lovely post from Cap at RHT. She apparently knows a lot about his car:

Not a very family friendly car, a 2009 Saab 9-3 Convertible. Wonder how many vehicles Clay has?

I'm a few pages behind, after more birthday celebrations yesterday!!

(one year ago right now we were preparing to leave Knoxville after Clay sang to meeeeeee at my birthday concert!)

RE: the post above.... was there a link posted? Or was the post brought over? I'd love to read it!

SidiDenak - That must have been a horrendous experience. My sister lost a breach baby in 72, it was a sad time for all. WORD to the part of your post about the RATS PATOOTY!

{{{merryclay}}} - I am so sorry for the loss of your baby's twin. I don't know if I could have handled that. Seriously.

I'm only on page 17 y'all. It'll take a long time to catch up since I've been playing the last couple days, and I have to get ready for the American Idol concert tonight!! YAAAY!

:F_05BL17blowkiss:

Chardonnay - congrats on finishing that paper! :04: :nana: :11:

[muskifest]

For what it's worth:

My 13-year-old daughter knows only that Clay is now a daddy and that the mother is a woman he's known for years and who produced his cds. She has no opinion--or rather, we haven't discussed it other than to give the facts.

My 17-year-old daughter goes 'ewwwwww' and has said, "It's just weird. Too weird." She knows how the baby was conceived and I've told her that to date Clay's only called her his 'dear friend'. She is definitely in the camp that believes this newest development seals the deal re: Clay's sexual orientation.

My husband just says, "I don't get it. Are they a couple? It's really odd to me if they aren't."

And I say...

I don't know jackshit. Except what Clay tells me. And since he's ONLY telling me she's his 'dear, best friend', etc., BUT is having a child with her, choosing to spend much of his time with her (in the studio, on tours across the country for the past four years, with his family during holidays at his Raleigh home, on vacations with his extended family at the beach, when he visits So. Cal. and British Columbia, when he's on Broadway, and most likely soon in NYC in his pad there....

...I get to fill in any blanks that I want to! And I can't help but think there's more there than mutual respect and admiration of each other's DNA for procreation purposes. But again...I don't really know jackshit. I have no problem with the age difference if they ARE or DO EVENTUALLY announce to the world that they are a couple. None. I've always thought Clay would gravitate to and most likely need an older, more "self-arrived" woman than the females around his own age he might have the chances to meet in his line of work. Did I think that woman would be 20 years older? No, not really...but then I know how I feel now at my age and I know some 30-year old men who don't seem too 'young' for me, were I not married. (and wearing the size clothes I do :lmaosmiley-1: )...

I end this rambling tome with this erudite summary:

Whatever.

[me myb]

<<snip>>

I would hope that his own fans, many of whom are not spring chickens themselves, would not be age prejudiced either.

This reminded me that earlier I was thinking this relationship may actually stop the media from always mentioning his "middle-aged" or "blue-haired" fan group.

Maybe they will follow Clay's lead (he is such a leader!) and see "people" as "people" and "fans" as "fans". Never knew what age had to do with anything!

(well, not entirely true, I always thought that age deserved a little extra respect when dealing with people on a day to day basis, but that is another topic entirely)

[KAndre]

Hey! Wait a minute! I don't know about this "Tarranna" place y'all are talking about, but I went to Toronto sans Clay last year - where the hell were y'all, and why weren't you entertaining moi and showing me where the actually edible 'poutine' is?!?!?

And look, I even have PARAGRAPHS! Ha Ha!

OK, as y’all probably noticed I decided to go to Canada for my birthday and after much research, querying actual and artificial Canadians on the boards and looking up Canada in Wiki, I decided to go to Toronto because PerusingOne was planning on bribing me with tickets to Idol the Musical and freakin’ good seats in Newark. I choose the Metropolitan Hotel because it looked pretty on the website (yes, I know I’ve been burnt this way before – I like doing the same thing over and over again. One day I shall get a different result and do “neener neener neener” at all of you!) and for downtown Toronto it was only a hundred bucks a night. But these weren’t the old delightful Canadian bucks, nooooooo, these were those new expensive Canadian bucks! Of all this time for you people to get rich! So I have a 6:45 pm flight from Houston. I tell my boss I’m leaving at 3:30p. I actually leave by 3:45p (which is a miracle because my boss has got to be related to Scarlett – we also have to provide that hour “leeway”) Go home, get my suitcase, notice it’s only 4 pm, look at the foot that had surgery and wonder why my podiatrist just didn’t do the pedicure thing while I was under – with what I’m paying him, I should have had spa pedicure as well. So I go get one. I love my manicure and pedicure people as they let me cut in line and I get done by 5 pm. Unhappily for me, I realize that 5 pm is the actual start of rush hour. So what is normally a 35 minute drive turned into like a 75 minute drive. Why the hell don’t people get off at 6? Having remembered what happened to me at the damn Terminal C parking (y’all will have to hear about that in the Philly recap – suffice it to say that when the revolution comes, they will have to fill out their OWN damn paperwork to be lined up and shot.) So I whip into Terminal E parking – plenty of parking besides no one but an idiot would do daily parking at the International Terminal. However, I am such an idiot as it is now 6:25 and you know those bastards plan on shutting the door at 6:30. I clear customs by delicately growling at people who didn’t bother to get a pedicure an hour before their flight and thereby were embarrassed to show their gnarly little toes and go in front of them, hoof it down the runaway, and slow down when I get to the gate. YAY! Rain delay! (That was clearly karma foreshadowing my ass; however, I didn’t actually pay any attention as this benefited me. Unhappily for me, Mother Nature is a bigger bitch than I can ever dream of being. We leave 15 minutes later than schedules, I get upgraded to first class, all is well with the world, the lovely stewardess serves me lovely wine, then a Bailey’s , then another wine and I’m sayin’ to myself, “This is tasty” until she figures I’m wasted enough not to notice the inedible crap she lovingly placed before me. I swear it looked like some kind of K-9 rations. But I digress. (I digress a lot, because I feel linearity is way overrated).

I land at Pearson and excessively helpful Canadians in uniforms tell me where I need to catch the Airport Express bus – then they actual walk me over there. I like Canadians in uniform! Though they weren’t Mountie uniforms. As I’m waiting for the bus at 1 in the morning, other helpful Canadians offer me rides in their car. One mentions he has money. I think to myself, “My! How oddly friendly and generous these strange male Canadians are!” Happily, the bus driver shortly appears before I demonstrate friendly though not so lucrative hand gestures at the nice Canadian men. I am the first on the bus, but not the last and off we go to downtown Toronto. I swear, if I’m lyin’ I’m dyin, the bus driver and all the other people on the road – drive less than the speed limit. It is almost beyond my comprehension. And those signs with the numbers in the crowns are freakin’ misleading. If I see something that says Speed Limit 90, I expect to haul ass, not let little old ladies merge safely! I get to my hotel, which is right behind City Hall, and I recognize the outside, thought it is now clearly the photo has been seriously cropped, but the lobby is impressive. I am very fond of impressive lobbies. I get my key to 1222, and head upstairs. As soon as I get off the elevator, I recognize the style of hotel – it has “atmosphere” which can be translated as “there is no remodeling budget in the foreseeable future as our damn chief accountant has discovered Photoshop and can fool people!” It was also weird to be in a hotel room in July that honest to goodness the air conditioning was superfluous. I think I had Freon withdrawal for a minute. I crawled into bed and dreamed of conquering Canada.

Popped up around 8 the next morning, pulled out the ever-present “My Lord! We are so frickin’ grateful you came to our fair city! Here’s a magazine full of ads of places that the native people don’t go because they are stupidly overpriced!” I circle many of these places and off I go. The concierge was excessively helpful (y’all are gonna see this phrase A LOT) and seemed to be proud of me taking the effort to walk to see the CN Tower. He told me to cut through the park, turn right on Queen, left on John and I would run into the Tour (that’s French for tower according to a variety of signs up there. I noticed they had everything in English and French, but the French stuff was longer. Apparently they don’t charge by the word). In the hotel magazine, they mentioned a breakfast brunch place that was a Quebec landmark, so of those I had to go there. The guys in line let me cut (did I mention, I really LIKE Toronto guys?) and the breakfast was to die for. Then I went up in the CN tower, danced a little on the glass floor, went up higher in the observation thingie (147 stories is way up there – especially if you can’t see jack). The lovely bus and boat ride dude was excessively helpful and showed me how white he was (though I have to admit, it was hard to miss, but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings) and I ‘admired’ the pale fishbelly whiteness. Just like I do with Clay. He let me pay less than the other people because it was my birthday. Oddly enough, in a way Toronto reminds me a little of Houston, in being so freakin’ needy about being important. They have a Flatiron building. Back in the 70’s they had the tallest skyscraper outside of NYC, LA, Chicago and somewhere else – which was such an odd fact and fit in with the rest of the odd facts – trying to beat the idea that “We’re a world class city, really! I swear”. I boated around some islands and the tour guide said they had the Guinness record for the the short ferry boat ride – like 30 seconds or something and they had built a new boat for millions of dollars to make the ferry ride more efficient (‘cause you know that 30 seconds was killing them) and the thing cause on it inaugural voyage) and I’m thinking, if the ride is only 30 second, build a damn bridge. I got back on the bus and the driver (who was an even better flirt than the guide) offered to drop me off back at my hotel so I could change. I didn’t realize that he planned on doing it in the middle of the tour. Using the bus. But I was appreciative. Just not appreciative enough to go out with him later. So I change to go out in the evening, and in the park by City Hall was a food truck. And on the food truck it said, “Poutine – large - $5.00”. And I vaguely remembers that it was some sort of high end Canadian food. So I ordered it. And the cook of thrilled. And he put extra cheese and dark brown gravy on my fries. Because apparently that was was Poutine is. Like Heinz gravy in a jar. And some he claimed was cheese, but seemed way too organic (and I mean that in a petrochemical way, not some sort of health nut way). I took a mouthful, and proceeded to nod and smile with no teeth showing until I got around the corner followed by a huge number of pigeons and seagulls who apparently know what was coming and he couldn’t see me expel that stuff much faster than I took it in.

So I head to the Laugh Resort as there is supposed to be some sort of Comedy convention going on, and sort got on the front row and now a group of Canadians think I’ve some sort of golddigging American invasion force. Not sure how they got that idea. Though I might have told them. The LI iced teas were good. The show was done by ten. I was back in my room by eleven. I pack my stuff, ask for a wakeup call at 3:30 am, and watch about 15 minutes of the oddest show I’ve ever seem. Some guy from a romance cover steals some bride and the groom is killed except some other guy puts a bracelet on him that cleans the skin but not the clothes and he comes back to life and the cover boy’s homies kill more people and cover boy who’s never seen a car does a Vulcan mind meld on bridey…and it goes downhill from there. So by 11:50, I’m in bed since I’ve gotta get up at 3 in the frickin’ morning, when I think my wakeup call goes off. Which I ignore ‘cause I’m tired and I accidentally knock the phone and the alarm clock off the nightstand but noise doesn’t go away and I finally realize it’s the damn fire alarm. I’m ashamed to say, I then spent 10 minutes trying to turn the damn thing off, including hiting it with whatever was handy. It finally dawned on me that perhaps there was something wrong – maybe even a fire – and I stopped hitting it, found the phone and tried calling the front desk. Who oddly enough didn’t answer. Keep in mind people, I really was exhausted, but then I though, “Well, if the front desk won’t answer, maybe I should just go back to bed.” It seemed like a reasonable though at the time. Then I thought, “Oh, shit, I need to put on some clothes.” Then I though, “maybe not – if I don’t get dressed now and run out of the hotel naked later, I could take a nap now.” I was really that tired, people. Someone came over the intercom and babbled the fire trucks were on the way – don’t panic stay where you are. I stuck my head out the window, no smoke or fire – stuck my head out of the hall – nada and then proceeded to lie down everytime that damn alarm went off. They finally cleared everything by 1:30. The bastards called me at 3:30. I get up, check out, explain to the desk clerk that I want to hurt a variety of people for me getting less than 3 hours of sleep. She agreed it was terrible and bum rushed me out of the hotel so I didn’t miss my bus, which arrived at 4 am. My flight was at 6:45 am, but I knew I had to do international customs and the duty-free shop was calling my name. We get to my terminal by 5, I stroll my happy ass in there – and there are lines as far as the eye can see. Which is not reassuring. I go to the delightful Elite counter and say, I’m not checking anything I swear, I just wanna get on my plane. I’m meeting my friends, I’m gonna see my boyfriend, it’s a frickin’ hour flight. She sez, “Where ya goin’?” I sez, optimistically “Newark”. I can see the demonic aura overlaying her as she sez, “All the Newark flights have been cancelled. Continental. Air Canada. American. United. All of them. “ I asked what the hell did they do? She said none of the flight showed up from last night. I stand at the counter for 45 minutes while she tried every permutation known to mankind to get my butt to NYC, including routes through Cleveland, Chicago, Boston and Atlanta on any airlines available. Finally she offers a US Airways flight to Philly that lands at 11:18 am and taking a connecting flight that leaves at 11:40 am. Sure I have every faith in the freakin’ world I can make it. I go to my gate. I board the plane. I have a row all to myself, in the back of the plane. I realize I will have to run over people to escape. I have no problems with this. The pilot proceeds to then putz around on the damn runway, claiming more bags had to be loaded. I had my damn bag. We needed to get the bag of bolts in the air! We finally take off. Make pretty good time. Touch down about 11:10. A little early, good, good. We then spend 15 goddam minutes taxiing around the concourse. Solo (who’s timing is impeccable) then calls me to ask where the hell I at, as it’s clear I ain’t in Newark. I tell her Philly and I got a connection to make. She tells me to stay my ass in Philly as she’s on the damn turnpike since Scarlett is also now on her way to Philly. I guess some giant force field decided to surround Newark because it turns out PerusingOne missed her flight to Newark and ended up at JFK. That’s why the eHP says “Screw planning”. That shit does NOT work. As I finally exit the plane at 11:30 and ask the gate attendant how to make my connection, he explains I have to run to the end of the terminal, catch some freakin’ bus on the tarmac, and it would take me two terminals away in time to miss the goddam flight. So I decided to take Solo’s advice. Three hours later, Scarlett shows up. And I’ll be damned if for the first time in her life, she didn’t bother checking something. She did bring Express Mail packages though. Not to mail though. Apparently just to carry from city to city. We notice Solo’s still hasn’t shown up yet. We call her and find she still sitting on the turnpike. PerusingOne, who was the last to leave her frickin’ house (having missed her plane because of her own fault – and no matter what she says the plane did not leave two minutes early)\ actually beat us to the hotel. Solo’s eventually shows up, we pile into the car, Solo for some unknown reason puts her stuff by the water cooler that leaks whenever it feels like it. Especially when it’s next to stuff we don’t want to get wet. We arrive at the hotel just time to shower, spread Solo’s soaking wet clothes all over the room, teach Scarlett how to iron, and listen to PerusingOne explain that it didn’t matter that she missed her flight, she still beat us here. We eventually remember to call Playbiller as we are meeting her for dinner. We take the PATH successfully although Solo did not know how to work the card reader – we would not have let her jump the turnstiles though. Under, maybe. Explained to PerusingOne that the Penn Station in New Jersey was different than the one in New York. (No, she did not realize this). and caught up with RunningFree who provided me with a yellow rose. I liked that. Playbiller eventually found us, and took us to the restaurant in two group after showing us lots of Jersey City (somebody might wanna tell someone left turns on each intersection is really convenient. Really). We order, and the chef goes out and clearly kills every fish in the harbor just for us. Scarlett who is physically unable to leave food behind, insists on taking the 10 lbs. of seafood she has left with us. We then go to the venue, which freakin’ GORGEOUS, and immediately line up to go to the bathroom.

[Couch Tomato]

And I say...

I don't know jackshit. Except what Clay tells me. And since he's ONLY telling me she's his 'dear, best friend', etc., BUT is having a child with her, choosing to spend much of his time with her (in the studio, on tours across the country for the past four years, with his family during holidays at his Raleigh home, on vacations with his extended family at the beach, when he visits So. Cal. and British Columbia, when he's on Broadway, and most likely soon in NYC in his pad there....

bwah but but but they were producing...... an album! LOL. Well that was my response anytime anyone said over the past few yars..uh why is she there.

Kandre..you are cracking me up this morning. Love your husband material.

[djs111]

(fans self)....KAndre, your travelogues always leave me breathless! Thanks! and Bwah!

bwah but but but they were producing...... an album! LOL. Well that was my response anytime anyone said over the past few years..uh why is she there.

Heeeee.........when I think about how much was made over who rode next to Clay on a roller coaster. Once. Any gender. :-o

[Claygasm]

And just FYI, while I found the word "kid" as initially used in your post to be dismissive and maybe even a bit disrespectful, I accepted your explanation for it's use, and moved on. However, I find your use of "kid child" to be even more disrespectful, since you seem to be doing it to further irritate the people who were already offended (otherwise, why keep doing it?) It's like a 6 year old saying "na na na na na".

To continue your 6-year old theme - :mockery-046:

Ok, I was making a point by crossing out kid. And you want to know what the point was? I would write my entire post, just words coming out of my head, and when I would go to proof it, I realized I had used the word "kid". That is how natural it comes to me! So, I decided I could go back and post words that are more acceptable to many here, or I could just be me and talk the way I talk - you know, like everyone else has the privilege of doing here. So it was a compromise. I used my words for me, but crossed the "offensive" word out for all of you. So from now on I wil just refer to Clay's son with whatever words I happen to type, and if they say "the kid" you all will just have to deal with it. It is how I talk. Maybe its a regional thing, but I asked around my work and my friends here and not one of them saw anything dismissive or offensive or disrespectful about it. So I will just continue using it. Ok?

Well y'all have just proved whatever point I was trying to make last night. And no Claymatron - I am NOT jealous of Jaymes...believe it or not, and I think that was kind of a rude thing to imply. This isn't an age deal here. People DO have different opinions about this but unless someone is flat-out over the moon and shipping these two....there has to be some kind of ulterior motive for their opinion. Just like the NC thing. When did Clay spend months and potentially months in Los Angeles or Vancouver? I would hazard a guess he was in North Carolina more last year than any other state.

Whenever anyone comes in here and posts that maybe they are JUST dear friends as Clay has said, at least umpty-two people have to come in and post ...yes, but!

There are some who cannot abide the fact that maybe they are just friends who wanted to bring a child into the world. I'm not going to do as some and go back and pick my post or anybody's else's post apart with quotes and comments to make their point. Clay has said he wants to be married - he said it on Ryan Seacrest and he's said it at least one other time that I know of. Yes MARRIED!!!!! Not hiding or misleading or speaking in tongues and giving off secret messages.....married! But then he probably didn't know what he was saying at the time and has no doubt changed his mind or whatever else. (sarcasm there...)

And who knows how Jaymes' marraige ended. Maybe she hated the guy. Maybe she didn't want to have a baby with him. The speculation about all this is just beyond belief sometimes. How anyone could know how Jaymes feels about marraige is beyond me.

I'll be glad when Spamalot starts so there's really something to talk about. It's not enough to just be happy for Clay and his new little child - you have to slap someone who says "kid" instead of child or Parker and read meanings in to it. What the F difference does it make? He's a child/kid/baby/infant/kiddle/heir/adorable little Aiken, etc. Clay and Jaymes' friendship has to be sliced and diced ad nauseum and labels have to be put on it. Why can't it be "my dear friend" and leave it at that until you have factual evidence to something else. But instead, the fact that he didn't say "just" in his blog (which he probably wrote in 5 seconds and was too excited about being a new Daddy to ponder his words) has a whole meaning to it that implies whatever.

Let me say again - I am thrilled that Clay has a baby boy. I am totally thrilled that he's going back to Broadway and will reprise his role as Sir Robin. I think that's an awesome decision. I honestly don't care who he lives with while he's in NY and THAT is none of my business or anybody's else's business. People keep preaching his right to privacy - and this is an area that right should include.

I will be VERY surprised if we hear much about little Parker. Clay was sooo protective of Chamberlin's privacy - saying the little boy didn't ask to be a celebrity. I'm pretty positive he'll be even more protective of his own child. So I expect the speculation will continue to run rampant.

HUGE WORD!!!!!!! You pretty much hit the reality nail on the head!

And whoever it was who said Iseeme was reading with blinders on? Sorry, but it is the other way around if you can't see her point.

And whoever said he didn't use the qualifier "just" - well that would have made for an awkward statement! "My just dear friend Jaymes and I..." Come one. Get real! However he DID use the words "dear friend". He didn't have to. He didn't have to qualify their relationship in any manner. He could have just said "Jaymes and I...". But he didn't. He CHOSE to define their relationship as dear friends. And it seems many (of course not ALL or maybe even most, but certainly most around here...) have just chosen to ignore what he said and start looking for hidden clues that "dear friends" means "we're a romantically involved couple".

I take Clay at his word. That is all I can do. If I was looking for hidden meanings I would be more inclined to take this whole baby-making thing with a friend as his way of coming out of the closet! To me, that would be a much more logical scenario. But he said once upon a time he isn't gay, so I take Clay at his word.

He is straight and he and Jaymes are dear friends, not a romantically involved couple.

Everyone is entitled to believe whatever they want, but whenever someone around here dares to suggest they are just friends, as Clay said, its like many of you come out of the woodwork to suggest otherwise! Why do you feel the need to do that over and over again? If you want to believe they are a romantically involved couple, fine. But don't go piling up on those of us who don't and express that! And if you don't think that is what is happening, those blinders are really way too tight!

This kid's birth is a good thing for Clay because it was obviously something he wanted. I am sure he is beyond happy and enjoying every minute. I am sure he and Jaymes talked about how he would be raised, where, where everyone would live, etc., but when I said playing it by ear, things change, plans change. Maybe they planned to figure things out as they go depending what is happening with Clay's career and Jaymes career. Isn't that what most parents's do? And there are many, many, many kids being brought up by 2 parents who don't live together, so why would that be so odd? Parenting is always a challenge. They may have more unusual challenges than most but somehow I bet that they'll work it out.

Now if only the fandom could do the same. It seems ever since this kid was born sensitivities have been running awfully high. None of you gave birth. That kid is no more yours than mine. Why so defensive of him? And especially, why so defensive of what some of you want Clay's relationship with Jaymes to be??

If you can't get all schmoopie over baby booties and the idea that Clay and Jaymes are probably a romantically involved couple you are treated like a traitor (by some - not all). And that is not fair. NONE of us know anything but what Clay has told us so ALL of us are entitled to "fill in the blanks", as muski said, anyway we want and we should be allowed to without being told we'e just jealous (and trust me, I am NOT!) or delusional or hating on Clay, etc.

Fact is, dear friends do the things Clay and Jaymes have done together (except maybe the making babies part) on a regular basis. I used to travel with my male friends on vacation, spend time with his family, spend tons and tons of time together - and we didn't live in the same state. We respect each other and love each other and would do anything for each other, but we were never in live with each other. Most of our friends in the beginning believed from what they observed from the outside that we were romantically involved. Hell, even my parents did with on of the guy friends and were shattered when he got engaged to another woman! My point is, NO ONE KNOWS the true nature of their relationship. All we have is what Clay has chosen to say to us. He chose to say "dear friends".

Now if that is not what you believe. I respect that. But why do some feel the need to shove it down the throats of those of us who are non-believers? I feel sometimes like I am being attacked by some right wing evangelist! If someone mentions they don't believe, it is like it is the mission of some to convert the heathen!

I don't think anyone on this board - including myself - isn't happy for Clay and doesn't wish all three of them happiness. Shouldn't that be all that matters?

I can't wait for Spamalot too. I HOPE that maybe then the talk in this fandom will be less about fantasies and babies and stuff like that and more about the only part of Clay's life we should be involved with - his career.

But somehow I doubt it.

[Cotton]

Clay is not a child, he's an adult and capable of making his own choices

(hope I didn't mess up attribution)

This is my bottom line.

His life.

His career.

His choices.

And he IS a grownup.

Even if he does act like a big kid sometimes!

And - since I'm one of the ones who "posited" that Clay and Jaymes may be married, I have to say I resent the implication that because I see that as possibility, I also have some kind of NEED for them to be married or that I think he's "living in sin" if they are not married.

I just see many possibilities.

I was married for nearly 8 years, had a son, then realized I wasn't happy in the marriage and ended it. I was VERY AFRAID to trust my feelings again. I thought I had been in love and was living the "fairy tale" and it failed. So it took a while for me - not to trust my DH, but to trust myself and my heart. DH and I lived together before we married. But we have now been married for 30 happy years. I'm so lucky to have him in my life!

In other words - I can also see Jaymes being the one holding off on marrying for the same reason I did.

Clay also lived in two less-than-ideal marriages in his life, so I can see him being hesitant to trust marriage.

I don't have a need for Clay - or Clay and Jaymes - to live according to my expectations or beliefs, so I have no pony in this race.

Actually, I have no expectations of Clay - except that I expect him to entertain me for years!

I also see the questioning of the baby first scenario as partly a generational thing. I could be wrong. Often am.

I hope that Clay is happy - and he certainly seems to be.

I hope that Jaymes is happy - and I'm pretty sure she is, though she hasn't told me so and I haven't seen loads of pics of her.

I am pretty sure little Parker is one very fortunate baby. He has lots of people loving and taking care of him. And one of them is a Big Black Mountain that will make sure he's safe!!! I'd love to see a picture of Jerome holding Parker while he is still such a tiny little human!!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

On another not so happy note . . .

Woke up with a sinus headache (or migraine) and it's still hanging on! pffft!

[djs111]

Claygasm, no one is shoving anything down anyone's throat, unless you feel that we should all stop being schmoopie in deference to your feelings. I really don't care how you feel about all this stuff, not enough to try and convince you otherwise. Why would I? And I have read all your reasons for not believing the couple thing many times, at great length. I assume you are not trying to change MY mind, either.

And posts about jellus, etc. - I thought it was made clear that this was around all the boards, not about anyone in particular.

[luckiest1]

Whatever your views, this is message board and I bet we all have a message and one is just as important as another if they are presented with mutual respect.

Yep, wouldn't that be nice. Until then, thank God for the ignore button.

Hey! Wait a minute! I don't know about this "Tarranna" place y'all are talking about, but I went to Toronto sans Clay last year - where the hell were y'all, and why weren't you entertaining moi and showing me where the actually edible 'poutine' is?!?!?

Heh, that was your first mistake. You shoulda went to Quebec if you wanted the edible poutine!

[saltwaterdog]

Fact is that unless Clay and Jaymes decide to give us a lot of details, we may never know. Even if they do, all we'll know is what they want us to know. Speculating about this is no more effective a way of determining the truth than speculating about his orientation is. Likewise their living arrangments on a day-to-day business are not something Clay is obligated to share with us. It's silly to make assumptions about their relationship or their daily lives based on what we know, because we know so little. It's even sillier to argue with each other about what they are. All we know about this latest period is that Clay, Jerome, and Faye picked up Jaymes and Parker from the hospital in Durham. Plus the statement from Clay in his blog. The end.

I think one of the reasons that it's hard not to speculate is because we make assumptions about other people all the time, based on what we "know" about them - which may be nothing more than how they look. Neighbors, coworkers, family, even casual friends, can be known only by what they allow us to see and what can be observed. For me with Clay, I am far more interested than if I didn't follow his career so closely. From a close friend I might hear about an upcoming marriage or domestic problems or whatever, but from the guy working down the hall, probably not.

My biggest frustration is that all the talk and speculation seems to leave little room for pretty pictures!

[wandacleo]

Since none of us know shit about what really goes on in Clay's life and loves, I think it's perfectly fine to think he's married, not married, in love, not in love, has a traveling baby, has an at-home baby.....whatever....as long as it's just speculation and not laying judgement on his head or insisting on a point of view.

I don't know one single thing about the private man.

My only hope is he's getting it from someone because it would be such a waste if he's not.

[duckyvee]

I must say I am pleasantly surprised that I haven't read expressions of horror that Jaymes gave birth in the backwards South, on a bed made of kudzu vines!

Or that ultimate question...... did they put the placenta in the freezer or bury it in the back yard?

[KAndre]

KAndre makes a note: Edible poutine = Quebec/learn to say "Give me the good stuff and not the crap off the cart in Tarranna" in French...

I ain't schmoopie and nobody's bothering me. Just listening to my favorite singer-man and trying to imagine how a Carolina/Canadian accent will sound...

oh dang, duckyvee! I had managed to put a mental block around that discussion!