#54: Clay is like a box of chocolates (with a pickle on the side)

[justclay12]

I'm almost speechless. CF was starting to cross over into my territory with her sappiness.

It's ok CF, we know bitching in your case just appears to be genetic or something. Trust me people, she don't just bitch about Clay. It makes her happy so just pat her on the head and give a "there, there" every now and then and all will be good.

[canfly172]

Not sick yet huh? At this point I can deny all culpability cuz you've been back working with kids for 3 days!

I hated to do it but I told them I wasn't coming in yet tomorrow. The girl who is supplying for me is quite happy. She said I sounded worse today. For whatever reason it's more bronchial today and I sound decidedly more froggy. No way I could project to a class without hysterical coughing. She said the kids were asking about me. Awwwwwwwwww... Principal was likely not so happy cuz tomorrow is a big TCLP meeting (don't ask...teaching kids to be critical thinkers) with 4 other schools for half of the day. She said she wasn't sure at what point I needed a doctor's note cuz I've been off 5 days straight but at least she could hear how bad I sounded and agreed it was a good idea to not come and make everybody sick. I think I'm coughing more now cuz I'm not loading myself with 5 times the recommended dose of anti-cough meds now like I was on the weekend, lol.

A cool mention by lindylo at CV:

I won't do a recap because others do it so much better but I do have a Clay story from Raleigh. On the Friday before the Gala we went shopping at a mall and being a bit of a tech geek I went into the Apple store. I was buying a cover for my iPhone and the 20-something guy waiting on me wanted to put it on my phone. As he was doing so he accidentally turned it on and my screen saver, of course, is guess who. He looked at Clay's picture and without mentioning his name said "he comes in here all the time. He is so nice and so knowledgeable about Apple products and everyone here loves waiting on him." He then said that he didn't know what he had been doing career wise so I told him about Spam and the Decca deal, neither of which he knew about. He said that he hoped he had another CD coming out because he loved his voice and repeated how smart he was and such a great guy.

[justclay12]

I love hearing stories like that. Of course, we all knew Clay was smart and nice, but it's always nice to hear others talk about it.

And CF, I reserve the right to still blame you if I get sick for at least another week. It made me feel good today because my students were asking about me. I had to go for training this morning for my work and when I got into the school, a lot of them came up to me and seemed glad that I made it in. I'm really gonna miss them when my student teaching is over in December.

[Couch Tomato]

CanFly loved you post..you crack me up.

Honestly we are all gonna love some things and not like others. Frankly I don't mind that. I just hate when he is psychoanalyzed. I don't mind - he had an off night..but when he is called lazy or it's said he lacks professionalism then that bothers me. And his taste in songs is who he is. There's no wrong in someone's taste... well unless you like Mandy

I picked the kids up today and we pulled up next to this big truck at a stop light...and blasting from the stereo was Hotel California. My neice asked me -- what kind of music is that Auntie? For some reason that cracked me up.

[claylove]

Here are a couple of photos that Christie Cookie posted on Facebook. I am so glad they posted them :-)

[canfly172]

Oh, while I'm being semi-sappy (don't get used to it BTW)...

I LOVE that tie that he was wearing at the gala!!! It's gorgeous! I couldn't see it from where we were sitting but I noticed it in a couple of pictures. Iz a vewwy pwitty tie! Iz all shiny 'n stuff....and it actually almost matches his shirt!

CanFly loved you post..you crack me up.

Whoah dude. I gotta stop doin' that. It's messin' with my middle ear infections.

ETA: I love the profound statement my doc made at the walk-in last night, "You have lots of fluid in both of your ears". Really? No shit? I hadn't noticed" D101.

A fun, silly clothes poll:

http://clothespoll.blogspot.com/

You can vote for more than one item. I went with items worn on the lower extremities and the fugly green sweater cuz I feel sorry for it...and it's snuggled with Clay's neck lots.

[FromClaygary]

The breakfast was great. Good food, good friends. I met so many people from Canada at this Gala. It was really refreshing. I'll let FromClaygary tell you about the raffle but I sold quite a few beads.

The group at Tyr na nOg was AWEsome to work with, and the food was wonderful...I would DEFINITELY recommend them to anyone in the area that is looking for a place for a function. I'm hoping WE have the opportunity to go back there next year!

Annie, who is the restaurant GM I worked with, donated a $25 gift certificate to our raffle which I thought was awfully nice.....and we made $203.50 on the raffle! :04: I'm thrilled! Claylove suggested we donate it through America's Giving Challenge and see if we can win another day or so, and I will do that, alternating with my donations until the close of the contest.

Making this a new post, I hope -- if someone finds the total amount raised for the Project on Saturday night, could you please post it? Thanks!

As noted, the amount from the live auction was $184,200...but that's not nearly the total from the evening; they usually announce the cumulative total in the next week or so, so we should hear soon.

The silent auctions and proceeds from table sales and donations that evening need to be added.

Just wanted to let you know we sold about $800. worth of jewelry on Sunday. I'm going to take the rest into work and call a few friends. I hope to have $1000 to send to them. I'm also going to tell them it was from a group of Clay fans attending a fundraiser for the organization he started with Diane Bubel. Maybe they would be willing to help the next time we have to vote.

What a great idea!!

Lookie here! Today at the NC State Capital

Oh, too funny!! We were there Sunday...and met the exact same girl, the younger one, who is a page at the front desk at the Capitol building. Damn! Bad timing!

Here are a couple of photos that Christie Cookie posted on Facebook. I am so glad they posted them :-)

That second picture I'm sure was taken the exact moment the announcement was made to the VIP room....look at the looks on Diane's and Clay's faces....

Not only for the children...but for THAT, do I vote my fingers off on these things.

I cried when I heard. Schmoops R Me!

Haven't been so thrilled in ages.

Just got home. Recap later. About the time you don't give a dang anymore.

[canfly172]

I like reading recaps cuz everybody notices/sees different things. I suck at recaps and I hate doing them...but I like reading them!

[ausdon]

Yeah, me too

[luckiest1]

I started a recap the other night and then forgot about it. So I dug it back out and finished it this morning. It's probably long winded and boring and doesn't contain much Clay content, so feel free to scroll. But it's tradition so I figure I may as well post it.

Raleigh Gala 2009 recap

disneykid, Claymatron and I left London at 6:48 am approximately. LOL, inside joke. Picked up cindilu2 along the way, then crimsonice at the Kiss n Park lot near the 403. Had an easy drive to the border, where we were asked our occupations. The guy paraphrased it as "3 students, a programmer and a wino". Bwah. On to the Buffalo airport, only to fly to Detroit (which kind of felt like going back home). However, it was over $100 cheaper than the direct flight, so we sucked it up. We had a nutritious breakfast of fast food chicken burgers, fries, veal parmasan and pizza in the airport before boarding. For some reason we had 5 separate seats. Some of us heard the life stories of our seatmates. Note for next time, take noise cancelling headphones.

We had just enough time in Detroit to deplane and board again.We found goldarngirl & hubby waiting to board the same plane as us. Landed in Raleigh where they announced it was a balmy 48 degrees Fahrenheit. I don't think that was much warmer than what we'd just left. However, since we found out it snowed after we left, we felt pretty good about it. We found preden in the baggage claim area and went out to find the shuttle bus. Did I mention it was also kind of rainy? Oh well, on to the car rental place to pick up our kick ass Ford Edge SUV. disneykid's GPS unit was a welcome addition, so no one really had to navigate. Our hotel was out by the Crabtree Valley Mall, so we quickly checked in and headed over there for some dinner & shopping. We dined at the Cheesecake Factory and took advantage of their free curbside valet service. We planned to have dessert, but after we ate our dinners (which were quite impressive) we decided that a little shopping might be a better idea, as we couldn't eat another bite. We wandered the mall for over an hour and ended up finding each other at the Alumni Hall store, where much of their NC team wear was on sale 3 for $10. You can't beat that!

We headed back to the Cheesecake Factory for our dessert, even though we probably shouldn't have. How often do we get the opportunity? So we indulged. I have never seen so much additional whipped cream in my life. Seriously. Back at the hotel everyone stayed up to keep me company while I voted my last 100 emails for the Christie Cookies contest, which was set to end at 1 am. Then we all passed out.

Friday morning we went down for the complimentary breakfast, and then headed out to visit with our old friends NCDonna & mandmlady in Bailey. Claymatron was excited about the real cotton field opposite the house, so disneykid ran over and picked her some to put in her purse. After a delicious lunch at Chik Fil A in Wilson, the girls & Claymatron headed to Smithsfield for some outlet mall shopping, while I went home with the ladies to hang out and chat. They eventually came back to get me and we hit the highway for, where else, the Crabtree Valley Mall. There, we met up with 9 other fans & travellers, most of them from Canada, and our old friend sassafras from Cary. We had 2 tables all to ourselves at Kanki Japanese Steakhouse. Our chef insisted he was from Japan but eventually admitted he was from El Salvadore. He was pretty fast with the knives. Highly entertaining. We all had a delicious meal experience with much bad behaviour thrown in for good measure, and then headed into the mall for more shopping. And more team wear.

Saturday we attempted to sleep in a bit. I think I made it past 8 am which is basically a miracle for me. We really had nowhere to be until 12:30 pm, when we were supposed to pick up our tickets at the Marriott. Of course, after breakfast we ended up back at the mall. disneykid needed to return some boots and crimsonice got it in her head that I needed new shoes, because she was embarrassed to be seen with me in the ones I was wearing. What the heck, they were cheap enough since I can fit into kids' sizes. They made a big show of throwing my old ones in the garbage can in the food court. We munched on Cajun food, more Chik Fil A and Subway, followed by Dip n Dots, before heading off to the Marriott. Unfortunately we had not thought to look up the street address of the hotel and therefore had difficulty getting the GPS to cooperate with us. We took a gamble on an address that sounded familiar and luckily for us, we were right.

The Marriott was abuzz with Claymates. We ran into lots of people we knew. The lines were not evenly formed.....way more people in the A - L line than the M - Z line. Weird. We were thrilled to find out that our table was #23, meaning it was in the first row of tables behind the VIPs. Wheeeeeee! Much better than last year. We thanked Aron profusely. Then we bid on many, many silent auction items that we couldn't afford, like a few NC vacation packages. We would have scraped the money together somehow if we had won, which of course we didn't because we were outbid within seconds. In fact, crimsonice had a woman following her around in an effort to be sure she outbid her on just about everything she touched. It was highly competitive! It was cool to see a set of the goldarngirl & luckiest1 DVDs up for auction, and people were actually bidding on them! Wheeeee!

By the time we finished mingling and bidding, it was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for the gala. There was much ironing and primping going on in that room. I think I spent the time uploading pictures to Facebook. It takes me all of 5 minutes to get ready. Claymatron was beside herself in anticipation of her meet & greet, but she held it together pretty well.

Somehow we managed to get a parking spot on the street, and after wishing Claymatron good luck, we headed over to the Sheraton to hang out with cindilu2 & her buddy Karen until it was time for those of us in the "cheap" seats to enter.

Our table was great, just off centre but well within view of the stage and the sign language interpreter, which is what we'd requested. Our group of me, crimsonice, disneykid, cindilu2, Karen, mblovesclay, megaclayfan, smartcookie and preden was joined by Ruthie, who took Claymatron's open spot. She was from Georgia and had just lost her husband a few weeks prior.

What can I say about the gala? I loved every second. As much as they served the same menu as the last two years, I still enjoyed the meal. I always enjoy salmon and asparagus. Most people prefer the steak and it's a shame to see all that salmon going to waste, so I try to eat it. Heh. Great cheescake for dessert. Wonderful speeches. Wonderful award recipients. Amazing and inspiring performance by Patrick Hughes. Clay wore glasses and a suit with a purplish tie. He was charming and funny as always. He goofed around during the auctions. I wanted to bid but everything started out of my price range. Some of the winning bids were astronomical. I would have 2nd mortgaged my house for the "Day With Clay" had I known about it in advance. One of the funniest moments, I thought, was the whole exchange with Clay & Sean and the McVargas girls and Ethel (who has seriously changed! I didn't even recognize her She looked great.) Clay slipped up and said Sean would "do it" with all 3 of them, then tried to correct himself. LMAO. The auction for the Back For More track was pretty exciting as well. He teased us with bits of it when the auctioneer was talking, just because he didn't want anyone who was recording to get a good clip of it. He encouraged the winner not to share. Poop. I like sharing. I was really, really disappointed when the BOTW shirt didn't get many bids. So was Clay, I think, but he's not one to look $10,000 in the mouth (heck, it funds one whole camp!) so he took it and moved on graciously. Still, really makes me shake my head and wonder WTF happened there?

Clay's performances were mesmerizing. So awesome to finally hear Grace Of God and As Long As We're Here live. disneykid could hardly believe her luck, as they are her 2 favourite songs from On My Way Here. So the performances weren't perfect, who would expect them to be? They were live! He is human! And I still say they were wonderful. When he sang the first line of My Eyes Adored You, I just about fell off my chair. I couldn't believe it. How does a 30 year old man pull out a song from who knows what year, nail it, and turn me to mush so quickly? I'll never understand it. I knew every word and crimsonice kept shooting me looks like "what the heck is he singing?" LOL. I hoep you can't hear me on mblovesclay's clack. I was excited. I apologize in advance. Then I knew we were in for something special the way he started introducing the next song. You could hear the sobs in the room as he started singing Moon River. What a mesmerizing and intimate performance. What a gift. Thank you so much Clay for finally giving us a performance we've been waiting 6 years for. I was sad when it ended. I wanted it to go on forever.

We all kind of floated out of the room to peek at the results of the silent auctions (which of course we did not win). Claymatron picked up her M&G photo. disneykid had a wicked headache so we didn't linger long. Back to the hotel where we all crashed, except for poor Claymatron, who was ready to party and had no one to party with. Sorry!

Up early Sunday to organize the mess we called our hotel room. Claymatron was smart enough to have packed her suitcase the night before, but the rest of us.....well, it was a mad rush. Trying to fit things in that didn't fit, trying to figure out who owned what, and trying to get down for the free breakfast before we had to leave for the buffet brunch (hey, we can't resist a free meal!) Luckily this time we remember to look up the address of the restaurant we were heading to so we could program it in the GPS. Unfortunately we parked as soon as we saw a familiar street and ended up walking about 4 blocks in the cold. We ran into FearOfH20 on the street who was bringing the Beads For Life in, and gave her a hand. We were first to arrive but the restaurant filled up quickly. The staff were friendly and the food was abundant and pretty interesting......different from our usual Sunday brunch fare in Canada, that's for sure. I had to try a bit of everything, and it was all delicious. Tacos and shrimp grits for breakfast, yum! LOL The girls decided to wait for airport food instead. We had to cut out early to catch our 1:20 flight, so didn't get to say hi to too many people.

We met cindilu2 at the Delta check in and everything went smoothly from there. Our first flight to Atlanta seemed wrong somehow, since we ultimately needed to go north, but what the heck, we got there eventually. I had fun watching much clack (aka My Eyes Adored you on repeat) and surfing the internet with the free Wi-Fi service on the plane. We arrived in Buffalo around 5:45 and had a long drive home, which included an unscheduled visit to Niagara Falls, since the Queenston border had a 2 hour delay. Again, thank God for the GPS! This time the border guy asked how we knew each other. From previous experience, we decided NOT to say "from the internet". LOL. Once across in Canada, we stopped for one more nutricious meal of McDonalds and then we had a jukebox moment in the vehicle when the stereo would not function. Luckily there was a plug in for my laptop which of course contains every song Clay has ever sung, so I took requests. Much good music ensued. Walked in the door around 10:30 and was attacked by my very energetic puppy. It felt like a very long day when we finally crawled into bed a couple hours later. And the next day, I of course woke up sick.

[aikim]

39 Days until Clay's Birthday!

102 Days until GFI!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[ldyjocelyn]

luckiest, thanks for the recap. I know you guys had a great, great time!

canfly, I don't know if anyone answered your question about the naming of linear threads. Yeah, I think the CH is to blame for that. and to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how or why it happened. All I know is that I kind of like it -- when I go back over old threads, the titles suggest to me what was happening at the time.

My new favorite picture:

[Claymatron]

Thanks for the excellent recap, luckiest1. It's amazing how many of the little details one misses when they are in the Aiken fog, which had me blanketed from Friday night to Sunday morning.

I think the coolest thing was how the WTF reaction of the younger girls at the Gala turned into "Please play MEAY and MR again...I love those songs!" on the way home!

[luckiest1]

Yes, it sure didn't take long for them to become addicted!

[FromClaygary]

I'm just off to work, but a quick request.....

Does anyone have the NON-Facebook link to donate to America's Giving Challenge?

I've always donated signed in to Facebook, but I now need to do so not signed in.

Thanks so much to anyone who can provide!

Never mind, I found it!

America's Giving Challenge

Now.....if there is anyone who is NOT voting every day on the challenge, either a FB member or non-member and would like to....could you PM me?

[Carolina Clay]

Wonderful recap, luckiest1! Thnx for sharing your weekend.

That's the main theme of the latest Carolina On My Mind blog. Featured are videos by bigappleforclay and yollie950, as well as AmazingCA's graphic of toni7babe's photos. Here it is as a clickable:

Clickable by AmazingCA

Love the pix on the Christie Cookie Facebook site! I enjoyed reading through some comments, too. Clay's "thank you" came in about the time I posted the blog, so I included that with a pix and a link. How great the entire Clay Nation could celebrate the Charity Giveaway together!

Two of today's students are home sick with the flu. Hope you and your families are well.

Have a great day, all!

Caro

[jmh123]

canfly, I don't know if anyone answered your question about the naming of linear threads. Yeah, I think the CH is to blame for that. and to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how or why it happened. All I know is that I kind of like it -- when I go back over old threads, the titles suggest to me what was happening at the time.

Thanks for reminding me to answer. The earliest source I know is Television Without Pity (TWoP), from which CH was born (after they were thrown out for being too fangirlie over Clay). TWoP has a tradition of naming threads for each AI contestant who makes it to the round of finalists (top 12 or 13). You can see some of the old Clay thread titles from there here: About the PRoC - People's Republic of Clay. Back then, TWoP also named new thread titles after 80 pages or so; now there's only one thread that goes on and on. Clay's is called "Clay Aiken VI: The Thing That Wouldn't Die" because it was the 6th thread in the Performer's forum. The VI is misleading, because there were also 17 threads in another forum.

[Couch Tomato]

Oh I was going to answer that question. I agree JMH. I think CH was TWoP influenced - that's where CH basically sprung out of and then when we started FCA we dfinitely kept that fun tradition.

LUCKIEST -- love your recap!!

[wandacleo]

Luckiest Great recap! Wish I had been there with you.

[treenuts]

I got a kick out of this blog: Straight Eye for the Gay Guy

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/memo...or-the-gay-guy/

Loved the Clay mention in it too -

It’s been years since I’ve found a straight man sexually appealing. Even old crushes that at one time were the lovepuppets of my fantasies and daydreams, don’t do much for me now, physically or emotionally; anymore, I don’t see straight men as love interests, but as friends. I didn’t realize how far things had gone until recently. I was watching Kenneth Brown on HGTV’s The Big Reveal. Brown is an interior designer who used to have his own show on HGTV, ReDesign, and I loved to watch the show, mainly because I liked his design style and the way he hosted the show. The show’s been off the air for some time, but when they showed a recap of one of the shows on The Big Reveal, I found myself lusting for Kenneth’s body. Furniture, what furniture? Yes, okay the furniture is nice, but Kenneth, you’re making me forget how to breathe!

Only certain types really do it for me. I love the way Ricky Martin dances, love the way George Michael sings, but they don’t turn me on. I find Adam Lambert, the runner up on American Idol last year, moderately attractive, whereas Clay Aiken can put his shoes under my bed anytime. Therein lies the hitch, of course. It’s one thing to find straight celebrities sexually attractive; you may want George Clooney in the worst way, but first you have to attract his attention. On the other hand, getting Kenneth Brown or Clay Aiken between the sheets with a chick makes the odds of getting Clooney into bed look pretty good by comparison.

I soooo hear ya, sistah!

[TimetravelerPax]

LUCKIEST and FearofH2O -- recaps were terriffic!!

Carolina Clay--loved the recap blog!

canfly--your audio clack sounds wonderful!

My new favorite picture:

Mine too.

Thank You Shamrock.

Thank You everyone for pictures, recaps, clack and just plain sharin'.

[liney23]

Luckiest... Great recap! Thanks... I like the details, even the one not Clay related, but trip related. Fun!

I have been so busy at work and home that I haven't even watched any clack except the songs. Things will be better next week, so that will be my Clay Gala week!

I LOVE that the fandom came together to win Christie's Cookies. America's Giving, here we come!!!

Fear... is there a website for the Beads for Life? I'm thinking Christmas presents. How do I get them to support NIP?

[aikim]

Had to call the Tech Services Dept. for the company we order books from due to a problem on the website and what do I hear when the phone is answered...."Hello, this is Clayton, can I help you" in a southern drawl...almost dropped the phone! The Aiken Fog took over and I actually was struck dumb for a couple of seconds, almost couldn't remember my name or why I was calling...finally got it together to explain the problem (it's on our end, unfortunately)...he was very sweet and helpful...made my day!

Of course...if this is how I react to a random mention of the name Clayton...Lord knows what would happen if I actually won a meet and greet and met the man...probably just stand there with my mouth hanging open and stare at him!

Kim

[FearofH2O]

Luckiest... Great recap! Thanks... I like the details, even the one not Clay related, but trip related. Fun!

I have been so busy at work and home that I haven't even watched any clack except the songs. Things will be better next week, so that will be my Clay Gala week!

I LOVE that the fandom came together to win Christie's Cookies. America's Giving, here we come!!!

Fear... is there a website for the Beads for Life? I'm thinking Christmas presents. How do I get them to support NIP?

Hey liney,

The website is www.beadforlife.org

You could say that you saw the site mentioned on a Clay Aiken message board. Or perhaps mention Clay was in Uganda. Or mention that some fans went to the Gala for the organization he cofounded. I'm sure it won't be the first time he was mentioned or his foundation.

[Scarlett]

(with apologies to aikim)

5 Days since the Gala and still giddy!

8 Hours since I last heard MR -- way too long! i was at work ... but will be fixed in 5 seconds!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great evening!