#47: That's not just any man... That's OUR man! You're a GOOD MAN, Clay Aiken!

[cindilu2]

A tiny bit of Greg Brady (lol) and a lot of Jake Gyllenhaal. "October Sky" was on the other night and I would have sworn it was Reed in the ads.

Welcome back, aikim!

Oh yes!!! (^tm Sir Robin) I was saying this exact thing to my friend yesterday, about Jake Gyllenhaal. There are some photos of him (Jake) where you would swear it was Reed. Humina humina!!!

[annabear]

Hee! cindilu, I believe I've been hypnotized by your avi... so much CUTE!!!

[00lsee]

Okay, cindilu, please tell me how you made your adorable avatar? And does it come any larger?

*envy*

Periodically during the day today I've been peeking at those photobooth pictures again and again.

Whether I had the 'right' to see them or not, I'm so grateful they ended up in my greedy hands. There is so much to enjoy about them. The goofy faces, the close proximity of their bodies, all those long limbs tangled together...the hugs, kisses, and smiles...And I can so easily imagine either of them, in the course of that celebratory evening, glancing over at the other...only to find a warm gaze already looking back. It does my heart so much good.

[aikim]

A tiny bit of Greg Brady (lol) and a lot of Jake Gyllenhaal. "October Sky" was on the other night and I would have sworn it was Reed in the ads.

Welcome back, aikim!

Glad to be back...talk about withdrawal symptoms!

Kim

[annabear]

Periodically during the day today I've been peeking at those photobooth pictures again and again.

Me too. :clay:

Whether I had the 'right' to see them or not, I'm so grateful they ended up in my greedy hands. There is so much to enjoy about them. The goofy faces, the close proximity of their bodies, all those long limbs tangled together...the hugs, kisses, and smiles...And I can so easily imagine either of them, in the course of that celebratory evening, glancing over at the other...only to find a warm gaze already looking back. It does my heart so much good.

A big ol' WORD to all that. *happy sigh*

[cindilu2]

Okay, cindilu, please tell me how you made your adorable avatar? And does it come any larger?

*envy*

Periodically during the day today I've been peeking at those photobooth pictures again and again.

Whether I had the 'right' to see them or not, I'm so grateful they ended up in my greedy hands. There is so much to enjoy about them. The goofy faces, the close proximity of their bodies, all those long limbs tangled together...the hugs, kisses, and smiles...And I can so easily imagine either of them, in the course of that celebratory evening, glancing over at the other...only to find a warm gaze already looking back. It does my heart so much good.

You can envy my avi, and I'll envy your way with words. Whether it's for always or just for now, I love the thought of him experiencing that ^ ^ ^

*schmoopie*

P.S... sowwy, the avi doesn't come any bigger - but it was easy to make. Just four frames in Animation Shop. Yeah, I had to study the pics very carefully, for a long time, to get them just right of course - but I sacrificed myself.

[nicki503]

I'm Back!! We have switched from Comcast to AT&T and I am loving it...seems to be much faster!

Kim

Hi all, some of you know me from the CB as I mostly post there. Kim, I am so glad you posted that about AT&T. An AT&T fellow came by this afternoon to tell us we could get that now so soon we will get a 30-day free trial on our PC and TV. We have Charter now. If we like AT&T and its faster, we will switch. May switch anyway as it is much cheaper than Charter.

I wanted to share my new baby. I had to put my other black cat down last January and I so miss her to this day. Meet Scruffy Rose (named to honor Rose and because she has the scruffiest coat). She will be 5 in July! She's not Clay but she is cuddly and adorable.

My departed Rosie -

[liney23]

Okay, cindilu, please tell me how you made your adorable avatar? And does it come any larger?

*envy*

Periodically during the day today I've been peeking at those photobooth pictures again and again.

Whether I had the 'right' to see them or not, I'm so grateful they ended up in my greedy hands. There is so much to enjoy about them. The goofy faces, the close proximity of their bodies, all those long limbs tangled together...the hugs, kisses, and smiles...And I can so easily imagine either of them, in the course of that celebratory evening, glancing over at the other...only to find a warm gaze already looking back. It does my heart so much good.

00lsee... what you said above is just beautiful! I've always wanted him to be loved for the snarky, goofy, gorgeous, loving, caring, good man he is. Whether this relationship is short, long, in between, from those pictures it seems to me that he has been loved that way and it warms my heart.

nicki... welcome! I love black cats! Did I say welcome???

[Couch Tomato]

and I survived San Francisco.... by not going to San Francisco. She got a tour of my grand city including local hangout, favorite Chinese fast food place, drive by my apt and a short visit at my sister's to pick up my mom where she got jumped on by a rambunctious puppy. heee.

Cindilu.. you are the bomb. I love that avi!!

[smittenwithclay]

never mind..i didnt realize how far back it was, its completely not relevent anymore lol

[aikim]

Welcome Nicki...You're babies are beautiful. We have a couple of stray black cats in our neighborhood; one is quite large and we have named him Arnold in honor of the governor of California...he really is beautiful and so is the smaller cat that follows him around. Makes me sad that they are living outside but they appear to be well fed so I think they are being taken care of somewhere. If my hubby wasn't allergic, I would probably give them a home. We have one cat and that is about all he can handle.

Kim

[Couch Tomato]

oh it was fine smitten. And I understand... they wouldn't have been allowed to be posted here until they went public because it did seem somehow ill gotten.

[nicki503]

Liney23 & aikim- thank you. Would post more often here but I have a really hard time getting used to linear threads.

Hi smitten & cindilu!

[smittenwithclay]

oh it was fine smitten. And I understand... they wouldn't have been allowed to be posted here until they went public because it did seem somehow ill gotten.

thanks...I still feel "new" and I dont want to overstep

hi nicki!!

[00lsee]

Oooh! Pretty, pretty kitty!

[merrieeee]

Hi nicki503 welcome. I too love black cats. They are really lucky you know. My kitty died 18 months ago and I still miss her. She was about 24.

Well here I am surfing instead of packing!!! Oh well I doubt I'll sleep tonight so it will get done.

[bottlecap]

<= Something to entertain the kitty.

[Couch Tomato]

just wanted to see them again without searching.

[merrieeee]

No no no don't post any more pics....I just keep staring at them!!!!

[00lsee]

Oh my. "Prayers for Bobby" was amazing. I'm so glad I didn't miss it.

[justclay12]

I watched it too 00lsee and I cried almost the entire last hour. I kept thinking of Clay and the fear he must have felt before he came out and I'm so glad that he's as strong as he is and that he does have people around him that love and accept him just as he is. But it also made me feel so sad for all those still struggling and who don't have someone who accepts them. I really hope it made some people open their eyes.

And Couchie, it wouldn't bother me at all if you posted those pics on every page. It makes me feel good that he is so happy and has so much love in his life right now.

[tribeca]

According to a post at CV the photographer and owner of the photo booth released the photos for money and was proud that they were on JustJared and TMZ.

I really thought they were released to put posted on places like that

[annabear]

Oh my. "Prayers for Bobby" was amazing. I'm so glad I didn't miss it.

Yes. I don't think I quit crying the entire second half. Excellent movie.

[Scarlett]

No no no don't post any more pics....I just keep staring at them!!!!

Mooooore!... *puts hands over merrieeee's eyes* There, now you can post more pics!!! Pretty please?

Nicki, your kitties are beautiful!

[georgiesmybaby]

Just wanted to wish all of those heading south to Disney World :lmaosmiley-1: safe travels, especially my dear friend From Claygary. Like a few others, I, too, spoke with Jerry Aiken about GFI at the Gala, and he said much the same thing others have reported. That the economy has severely affected sponsorship, and that in times like these it is especially difficult to obtain support in a state where TBAF is not well known and has few ties. I was left with the impression that TBAF may be considering moving the tournament to NC in the future. I do suspect that under the circumstances the turnout may be a little less than TBAF had hoped for, but I know that FCA can count on all of you to make sure that TBAF and the cutesexysingerguy feel surrounded by love and affection. Can't wait to hear all of your recaps!

Merrieeee You rock! Thank you so much for putting together the sponsorship of a junior golfer-what a wonderful gift. I'm sorry I wasn't able to contribute. There's a lot of shi....stuff going on in my real life at the moment, and coming on the heels of WFI , couldn't have been a worse time. I did have $20 tucked away just in case you needed it at the end, though. So I'm going to set it aside for the next project.

We're all family here...right? The real life shi...stuff is so unbelievable that I really don't know what to do. I apologize for this being long and convoluted but it is very complicated. I'm feeling rather desperate and am hoping someone here might have wisdom or experience to share.

My mother, sister and I live together in a town home which my mom and sister co-own. Since September we have had worrisome things happening. A few of you have been privy to bits of this. Money borrowed and not repaid, which evolved into huge sums of money disappearing, and much to our dismay, discovering that mortgage and other bills had not been paid for several months, despite the fact that the money was gone and checking accounts were even in arrears.

It's been really strange. My sister was unemployed last year until September, so we had been using a lot of our savings to pay bills, but when she started working again, at that point we assumed she would be able to resume her responsibilities, and financially things should have been back on an even keel. But she never deposited any money into the household account...yet never had any money either. It got so bad, she was begging for $20 from my 91 year old great aunt who stays with us from time to time. Try as we might, we could not see where the money could possibly be being spent. My sister, like my father, is bi-polar, and we are used to ups and downs, but the past few months have been hell. There is no other word for it. Any attempt to confront her turned into a screaming match. And ended with no answers. We'd begun to suspect drugs. Or gambling. Neither of which appeared to fit...but how else could huge sums of money disappear?

Finally, Thursday evening, the truth was revealed. A man who works with my sister has been physically forcing her to take money out of her account/our accounts and hand it over to him. Extortion. He's 6'6" and huge-think Jerome sized. You should see the bruises all over my sister. Other than her first 2 paychecks back in September, she has not been allowed to keep a dime of her money. And there's more. He forced her to buy a computer on our joint Dell account, and to pawn her $10,000 engagement ring from her former marriage, among other things. Her job involves driving, so they are required to have a cell phone-and she told him last month that her phone was turned off because he had taken all of her money- so he gave her a phone that was supposedly an extra. Ummmm...NO. We have discovered that he set up an account in her name with her information, and she now owes T-Mobile over $200. This is on top of the money she already owes for her own Verizon account. How could this happen? And if he did all of this...what else has he done in my sister's name? Apparently he obtained her personal info from computers in their office.

The man has already used violence against her and has threatened her life....and our lives as well. We would not let her go into work yesterday, so she called in sick. Well, it was pay day...and he tried calling our home over 30 times. You can guess what he wanted. She is petrified. And I am scared, too. We are trying to get her to go to the police but she is so afraid. There IS some possibility that he has mafia ties. Obviously this cannot go on. She wants to just tell him "NO MORE" but I am afraid that without an official record of some sort, my sister is in even more danger. I don't know. It's bad enough that thousands of dollars are missing and we may lose our home....I don't want something far worse to happen. She's talking about quitting her job, although she loves the work, other than this man who is abusing her, and in this economy she could remain jobless for some time. I think her employer needs to be informed of the situation. This goes beyond my sister, and he may well have a history of things like this in his past and/or may target someone else at the same company in future. She is afraid he will be fired-and yes, I would think so-and that he might then retaliate against her or us, if that happens. She is so traumatized that she wasn't able to tell anyone what was happening until this week, when it all finally spilled out.

The past few months my mother and I have scrambled to set up protected accounts, find some way to avoid losing our home (although with no financial assistance from my sister, a solution seemed impossible.) All the while trying to make sense of what was happening. I have been frantically worried about the affect the stress is having on my mother, who is 77, and has serious health issues, including two prior strokes. And, as most of you know, I am disabled myself, with my own health issues.

So has anyone here ever dealt with extortion? Or has anyone here ever heard of anything like this before? She has to go to the police, right? There's more risk if she doesn't, isn't there? Advice? If you know something and feel more comfortable sharing by PM, I'd welcome that. This really does seem like a bad Lifetime movie, but it's not. It is very real.

Obviously prayers are welcome, too.

Forgive me for going so far off topic. Let's see if I can drag this back on topic.: I hate that the Spamalot company's privacy was invaded, especially Clay's and Reed's, but those photobooth photos have been a welcome distraction for me. I love seeing them so happy.

Darn, I missed "Prayers for Bobby" and I had been looking forward to it. It sucks when the drama in your own life rivals a Lifetime movie.