#46: Avoid the crazy, enjoy the good, and chill.

[Couch Tomato]

Maybe I don't follow clay as much as others..but just how often have we seen the man when he was Clayton Aiken and not Clay Aiken. And even if we pull out our trigabytes of photos that is STILL only .0005 *yes that's my number and I'm sticking to it* of his life. Clay has always done a lot of stuff with his looks - even before idol. I just don't read him as a man so insecure as to be "sad" but to each their own thoughts. I especially can't look at some kid's reaction to teasing and apply it to him to day. I hated being tall when I was growing up so I slumped a lot. Now I stand tall and proud even when I'm standing next to Scarlett hee.. Every tour he does is work. Every magazine article is work. Every appearance he makes is work. Every spamalot he does is work and there is no 3.5 seconds limit he has to remove makeup. I just don't know him when he isn't working. And maybe even going out where there could be papparazi may mean work to him. However if he is a man that likes make up, then why is that a horrible thing. Do women wear makeup because they have hangups or because it makes them look better and is ok for women because that's the societal norm?

And finally do people really think that if Clay mans up he will become more accepted? Although I'm not one to care what bloggers adn tabloids and mean spirted people say. I actually think his talent is recognized and he is accepted more than the fans give him credit for being.

[djs111]

Genuflects to Couchie.

Looks nervously around for KAndre.

I never thought much about guys with makeup before I saw Eddie Izzard.

He's hot.

Clay's hot.

Guyliner is hot.

All just IMO, of course!

I guess this is an area where differing opinions = disagreement to some.

Nah.

What I like has nothing to do with what other people like, so all they have is differing opinions on how Clay looks to themselves.

All y'all can speak with authority about is how Clay looks to YOU, not how Clay looks to ME.

So "disagreement" is not even logical!!!!

[wandacleo]

Maybe I don't follow clay as much as others..but just how often have we seen the man when he was Clayton Aiken and not Clay Aiken. And even if we pull out our trigabytes of photos that is STILL only .0005 *yes that's my number and I'm sticking to it* of his life. Clay has always done a lot of stuff with his looks - even before idol. I just don't read him as a man so insecure as to be "sad" but to each their own thoughts. I especially can't look at some kid's reaction to teasing and apply it to him to day. I hated being tall when I was growing up so I slumped a lot. Now I stand tall and proud even when I'm standing next to Scarlett hee.. Every tour he does is work. Every magazine article is work. Every appearance he makes is work. Every spamalot he does is work and there is no 3.5 seconds limit he has to remove makeup. I just don't know him when he isn't working. And maybe even going out where there could be papparazi may mean work to him. However if he is a man that likes make up, then why is that a horrible thing. Do women wear makeup because they have hangups or because it makes them look better and is ok for women because that's the societal norm?

And finally do people really think that if Clay mans up he will become more accepted? Although I'm not one to care what bloggers adn tabloids and mean spirted people say. I actually think his talent is recognized and he is accepted more than the fans give him credit for being.

This is the reason you are the Big Tomato!

The world is full of mean-spirited judgmental people. I'd just as soon they didn't clutter up the Clay Nation--which should be a place for fun and love and fantasy.

[jmh123]

Gotta echo the impatient drumming of fingers in anticipation of a travel report from KAndre.

[KAndre]

Heh. I was just PM'ing someone that I would see people start getting the Clay withdrawal shakes and then post my Japan recap...that'll teach me to go off a spend a night doing naughty things! I read just about everything on this thread - so no one gets to be ignored. Occasionally eyes rolled at, and very rarely stomped upon with really high heels, but never actually ignored. And yes, if I had been online, there would have been some heel grinding and frankly the ones who deserve it know who they are. PM me if you have any doubts. Pats the thread title fondly...

For the newbies on the board: I was a Science major. Things like punctuation, white space, noun/verb coordination, or even the consistant presence of predicates are therefore optional.

My Trip to Japan

(or Not Taking the eHP so My Son Could Prove He's Not a Baby Anymore. Sigh.)

My only child will be all of 22 on Jan. 18. He will explain to you, with no prompting whatsoever (and no way to shut him up) how mature and grown up that makes him and how he can take care of everything if I just give him a chance and I am not allowed to do or plan anything and it will be PERFECT just TRUST me. Of course, this is the same child who for one year I replaced 5 cell phones in 4 months, had difficultly waking up every morning without a physical assault and thinks camping outside in the WILD with BUGS and LIZARDS and DIRT and sleeping on the GROUND is a good thing...well, apparently one of those parenting rules they don't tell you about when you're gettin' busy 23 years ago is that smiling and sucking it up and saying things like "Of course, you're mature and grown up and it will be perfect and I trust you! No, I don't have my fingers crossed behind my back! But let me take care of everything else like the food and transportation." So I get my ticket in September, use miles to upgrade to 1st class, and by October, I'm watching the economy crashing around me. Ooookay. My child is sporadically emailing me details - a hotel here, a hotel there. I mention that I really would like to see Kyoto and ride the bullet train and look! The official Japan tourism site has a GREAT deal! Hotel and train! For less than the train alone! Not that I'm trying to PLAN anything, mind you! Just a suggestion! But Paul agrees. I send him my flight details. He sends me some of the hotel details (which I admit I should have looked at more closely).

Finally, it's the 22nd and since I'm leaving on the 24th, I email him to see if he wants to meet me at the airport (which is a frickin' long way from Tokyo) or at Tokyo City Center. Oddly enough, he doesn't respond. (Acutally, he does but to my work email, which I don't look at when I'm home. Which he knows.) I'm taken to the airport, while the driver keeps asking me about the "little one". Scarlett, no poaching of my drivers! I only have one suitcase and a roller bag, and I'm not checking anything. I get to the airport in plenty of time, hang around the airline lounge, and try and call my son again to find out where he plans for us to meet. No answer. I get to the gate in plenty of time, head down the little blue carpet (lord, I love airline status), find my seat, and notice that the steward has a bottle of champagne. Oh yes, I'm planning on enjoying this flight. The guy sitting next to me is quiet, the meals (all 6 or 7 of them) are lovely, and the champagne is good. It is a totally uneventful flight, as long as I don't think about how I don't actually know where the hell my son will be. We land with no problems. I meet the one and only Japanese person who is even faintly impatient - and it was only faintly impatient - because she said something that I think she thought was English and I didn't have a clue and I kept given here random responses until one of them satisfied her and she let me go. Though Customs I go, into the arrival area - and I don't see a cute 6'2" 200 muscly lbs of baby boy ANYWHERE! And he sort of would stand out in a crowd in Japan. I wander in small circles for about 15 minutes - and then spy a bank of phones that look like refugees from a 50's movie . The instructions above them look they were originally written in Sanskrit, then Babelfished to Japanese and then Babelfished to English. It took me 10 minutes to figure out it didn't take credit cards and I had to use the incomprehensable machine to the left to get a calling card, which didn't take credit cards either, so I had to get some yen. The paperwork lady made me fill out paperwork, bowed to me, took my stuff, bowed to the money dude, handed him my stuff in a tray...did a whole lot of stuff, handed my new yen back to the paperwork lady, who bowed and handed it back to me. I did think I could have walked the whole 5 steps to the window, but who am I to say? I stick a 1000¥ note in the calling card machine and it spits out what looks like a Stayfree box covered in Japanese. In the box is a credit card sized calling card and the rest of the box is filled with instructions. I swear, they had folded up the equivalent of 7 letter sized pages of instructions and stuck them in the box. I look around desperately for Paul, who is still no where to be seen. After another 10 minutes of following what I think are the instructions (periodically being interrupted by people who think I know what I am doing) I call Paul's cell and get him. Hallelujah! He, oddly enough, is still not at the airport because he apparently took the wrong train from Yokosuka, and then got off at the wrong terminal. As soon as he says this, the phone starts beeping because I am apparently out of time because APPARENTLY I should have dialed the number first and got a connection before putting in the calling card number - or the damn phone knew I didn't know what the hell I was doing and was just tormenting me. I purchase another calling call, get Paul back on the line, and do an airport form of "Marco Polo" - Here, here, here, behind the Starbucks, no, not the one by Au Bon, the one by the Money Exchange, no, there's no giant pink flamingo by the Exchange, it's a giant blue flamingo...Finally, after landing at 3:45 and being in the waiting area by 4:00, I meet up with my child at approximately 6:30. I hug him, partly because I'm so glad to see him and partly because jet lag is now totally kicking my ass and I need someone to hold me up. This is when I find my child and Scarlett are apparently long lost twins - he didn't actually have a copy of the hotel reservation either, and the bus service rep certainly didn't recognize the hotel he was telling here. I pulled out my copy and pointed. Pointing works wonders. The rep smiled brightly and said that bus would be here at 7. If I had been more conscious, I would have wondered at that, as the buses for Tokyo Central leave constantly. Paul eats about 5 lbs of junk food waiting for the bus. The bus shows, we hop on, and I fall asleep. Apparently we pass things like the Rainbow Bridge and the Tokyo Tower after dark, and I just miss it all. The bus stops, and I wake up at Hachioji Station - which is to Tokyo what the Woodlands is to Houston - in other words, a long fucking way out. But I don't know this yet (and neither does my child. And yes, he has been stationed in Japan no more than a local train ride from Tokyo for two years.). My child then realizes he doesn't know how to get to the hotel from the station. I pull out the map I printed out. He is very good at following maps, and the hotel was literally four blocks away on the main road. We check in with no problem, I write off going to see his ship today and we look for Christmas dinner.

Thus ends the evening and the morning of the first day.

[smittenwithclay]

this is merely a question on curiosity...I know Ive seen Chris Daughtry wear eye makeup in pictures when he's out...I dont think Ive noticed him without it (although I dont seek out pictures of him) why dont people say he looks like a woman? is it because he has harder features? and clays features are softer (and gorgeous might I add)

[tribeca]

Whew!! I worked a looooong day yesterday, and am just catching up. Ya'll were wordy!

Smitten, I'll But seriously, tribeca, please let your niece know that I'm sorry that it was disturbing to her, if she still wants to talk about it. I didn't mean for it to upset someone like her. Or you!

[.

:09:

thanks like I said I am done talking about. I just stated my opinion. I never asked anyone to change theirs or agree with me.

re-Clay and the make-up

honestly IMO - just think it is too much and it becomes distracting especially around the eyes. He has such beautiful eyes & when he wears that much eye stuff it takes away from it.

ETA

David Cook was sporting some real heavy guy liner on idol tour. I thought he looked like a racoon.

[keepingfaith]

Clay in make-up ... mmmm, I like very much!

[jmh123]

YAY, KAndre!!!!! Eagerly awaiting more. Thanks to everyone for noticing me.

Most everybody feels that way sometimes, is my point.

[keepingfaith]

The world is full of mean-spirited judgmental people. I'd just as soon they didn't clutter up the Clay Nation--which should be a place for fun and love and fantasy.

You said it, kid.

ETA

David Cook was sporting some real heavy guy liner on idol tour. I thought he looked like a racoon.

Chris Daughtry and David Cook are prime example of guys who will always look the same or similar -- balding or cueball.

Couchie, you killed me with the "man up" term. ... and I hope to God that Clay never mans all the way up to shaved head. That would be so wrong.

ETA: I have a son who shaves his head and I hate it, but he's military and it's his thing. There's time in the future to do that when male pattern baldness sets in, as it did with his father!

EATA: And another thing, people talk about Boobgate, and now Boobgate 2 ... but nobody ever mentions the Tonguegate picture that was on one of his friend's MySpace a couple of years ago ... with his extended tongue approaching the ear .... et tu, Bottle?

[ToldForThis]

this is merely a question on curiosity...I know Ive seen Chris Daughtry wear eye makeup in pictures when he's out...I dont think Ive noticed him without it (although I dont seek out pictures of him) why dont people say he looks like a woman? is it because he has harder features? and clays features are softer (and gorgeous might I add)

I would say yes.......

A friend of mine, who was not a fan, used to say he was too pretty. He does have fine features.

There are times when he is gorgeous and times when he is handsome..... and then there are those other times, like we all have.

[smittenwithclay]

There are times when he is gorgeous and times when he is handsome..... and then there are those other times, like we all have.

oh not me, I look fabulous all the time..I wake up in the morning looking like a better version of Jennifer Aniston.

what? dont look at me like that..its true hehe

or not..

[tribeca]

If you ever brave enough to read comments on YouTube actually their are comments about Chris Daughtry's makeup (not woman but him being gay or so full of himself). Guess it all depends where you read.

those pictures posted above of Clay are very nice

[wandacleo]

Wouldn't it be great to have a world in which people could just be accepted as they are without labels--too pretty, too handsome, not handsome enough, ugly as shit? Who decides these things? Why does it matter at all? I've seen pictures of Clay that made me laugh because they were far from flattering (and you should see some of MY pictures!) (OMG, and some of his outfits!!!), but it never occurred to me that this was a failing on Clay's part or that he needed to fix his hair differently or wear or not wear makeup or throw away his beloved frayed cargo shorts or that--because of a picture--I should leave the fanhood.

This just seems bizarre to me.

Who knows WHY Clay is wearing makeup (or not)--I think there is ample evidence that he throws on his clothes and doesn't shower at the theater---as he has come out of the SD for weeks on end with wighead. So, should we now have shower police to make SURE he takes off all his makeup before he dares let anyone take a picture of him? Will it make him less gay if he never lets anyone see him with makeup?

Is that the point?

[Penny]

ya know, I realize I'm a newbie here, but I thought I'd add my 2 cents' worth into the discussion regarding makeup on guys.

I personally like guyliner on some guys. Especially ones that are handsome already but are cursed with fair eyelashes or brows. Like Clay.

IMO, I think he's hawtter than he was before and that's difficult.

I'd do him in a New York minute!!

(retreats back into lurkdom with occasional posts)

[ncgurrl]

I would do him in a New York minute, too. It is just that some nights it would be with the lights out.

[Couch Tomato]

If you take a poll in Clay Nation..and take the top ten winning photos of Clay and posted them on the net..guess what you what get in the comments - the same types of comments posted under the Jenna Bush photo that everyone despises. You've all seen this. This is why I don't give a damn that Clay is Clay and will continue to look a thousand different ways for the rest of his life. It makes him interesting to me and really what else matters.

bwah... Ncgurrrl.

Penny newbies good

[jmh123]

I would do him in a New York minute, too. It is just that some nights it would be with the lights out.

He'd probably agree, right? I know he would if it were me.

[luckiest1]

wanda & couchie, standing O!

[wandacleo]

I would do him in a New York minute, too. It is just that some nights it would be with the lights out.

He'd probably agree, right? I know he would if it were me.

Do him by the brail method?

[jmh123]

I would do him in a New York minute, too. It is just that some nights it would be with the lights out.

He'd probably agree, right? I know he would if it were me.

Do him by the brail method?

Ooooh la--now that sounds like fun!

[tribeca]

Clay has changed his looks like a billion times. Sometimes I like it sometimes I don't. Know it's not my hair or my clothes.

Doesn't mean I think he should be less gay (what ever that means). People that are gay or gay. Some wear make up. Some don't. Not all gay people are the same.

ETA

I was more responding to this

Will it make him less gay if he never lets anyone see him with makeup?

[smittenwithclay]

I don think its a gay thing (whatever that is)...some straight men wear makeup...IE DC on tour (apparently) and Daughtry and other singers who I cant think of now.

[wandacleo]

I think it's safe to say that all performers wear makeup.

They have to under those lights.

And if they want to continue to wear it when the lights are out--go for it.

[Betty Jean]

AUSDON, since your time zone is different, and I'm going to guess, are you from Australia??? My time zone is a bit diffeerent than most of the posters also, since I live in Hawaii and in winter I'm 5 hrs. earlier than the East coast, and 2hrs earlier than the WEest coast. We don't have Daylight Saving time so when that happens I have to add an additional hour earlier. LOL Now all that was "off topic"" LOL

SMITTEN, have you started your "new life" in Calif. yet??? Sure wish you all the best.

As for that good lookin' man we all talk about, I sure hope we hear from him soon (not his soon) and hope he lets us see a picture of that adorable little boy of his. I bet Parker is really growing fast and starting to do fun things to see. CLAY, I'm sending messages to you, hope you hear them!!!

BJ