Sunday, January 28, 2007

A four-year journey... and counting!


Hello everyone,

It seems hard to believe, but it was actually four years ago today that Clay Aiken came into my life - oh, sorry, our lives.

This talented and loving young man doesn't know it, but knowing him has given me so much joy in my life, a greater appreciation for everything, a desire to be better, and focus more on love in every aspect of my life.

It has been an extraordinary journey for us Claymates, following OMC (Our Man Clay) over the past few years, watching him grow as a singer and as a man, and growing along with him, and each other.

I never would have thought I would become a devoted fan of anyone, to the degree I am with Clay - I found that sort of tacky and desperate, before. But when Clay appeared on my tv four years ago, walking out quietly and confidently to sing to Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson (how I wish Paula Abdul had been there that day - I would have loved to see and hear her first reaction to Clay!), when he opened his mouth and pearls of sound came out, I was hooked, then and forever.

I had tape-recorded American Idol that evening, so at the end of the show, I replayed over and over the audition of that geeky-looking kid from Raleigh with the confidence to say he could have been in the previous year's top ten, each time with tears in my eyes. I did so many times for the next few weeks, each week hoping Clay would move on to the next stage of Idol. And despite being voted off at one point, he did make it to the end, the final two officially. But unofficially, he was the real, true winner of American Idol that year - it doesn't seem possible to me that he lost, after having been the only person in the top 10 that year to never have been voted into the bottom three, having received consistently the highest number of votes, etc. The voting system had to be rigged on finale night, for whatever reason at the time, and however that happened technically. I don't see any other way in which Clay could have lost to Ruben, because he was certainly way more popular, and in my opinion - though I do like and admire Ruben - way more talented and charismatic.

Four years later, we know that Clay has generated the biggest fan base, sold the most CDs and concert tickets, of any American Idol top-10 finalist ever (after five completed seasons now!), including the winners - except for Kelly Clarkson, an amazing talent herself.

Regardless, even if Clay had not won in any way over the past few years, I would still love and admire him - the singer, the man, the human being who is such a contribution to peace in this world, just by being who he is.

Congratulations on the past four years, Clay! Here's to at least 44 more! Let's celebrate, ClayNation!

-- ClayKat

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Sunday, January 14, 2007

GoodSearch - search the Internet and raise money for the Bubel-Aiken Foundation

Hello everyone,

I always believe that as much as possible, it's important to show solidarity and contribute to community actions and non-profit organizations. So when I learned about Good Search, which makes donations to charitable organizations upon every search, I always try to do searches from their search engine, rather than just Google everything (although I love Google and all its online services, don't get me wrong! I'm subscribed to lots of Google Alerts and have Gmail and Google Docs accounts, all of which I use regularly).

Whenever you want to find something on the Internet, check out Good Search. When there, in the field which asks "Who do you GoodSearch for?", type in all or part of a charitable organization you want to support and verify that it is in the list of recognized organizations, choose it, then do your search. A donation will be made each time you do a search, and the next time you return to Good Search, if you haven't erased your computer cookies, it will remain memorized.

Because this is a blog about Clay Aiken, I of course want to support an organization that is important to him, and a main one would be the Bubel-Aiken Foundation, which Clay set up in the summer of 2003 with Diane Bubel, and whose mission is "Creating communities where ALL children can learn, live, and play together."

If you have a blog or a Website, you can put a button which will link to Good Search. Check out the button I put in the right-hand column of my blog, which actually links directly to Good Search, with the Bubel-Aiken Foundation as designated charitable organization: GoodSearch for the BAF. If you show the source code of this page, you will see the code to copy and put on your own blog or Website.

Let's work together in small and big ways to make this a better, more inclusive world - as Clay would have it!

-- ClayKat

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Sunday, January 07, 2007

Clay in my dreams...

Well, it finally happened. It was bound to occur eventually, given the big Clayfan I am. I'm not sure whether to be happy or... worried. I dreamt of Clay last night.

Before you go thinking any funny thoughts, no! It wasn't that kind of dream! Though it was sweet and cozy. I don't remember everything, but I do remember being in a big house - not a house I know from somewhere in real life, though. There were a lot of people around, and I recall sitting at a large round table at breakfast, among various aunts and uncles, cousins and other family members of Clay, people of all ages. Lots of people, yet the mood in the house was quiet and peaceful, no stress, no yelling, no loud noises. The man himself was still upstairs sleeping, and I was expecting his Mom Faye Parker to come down any minute to join us for breakfast. At one point I was thinking to myself: "Why am I wearing jeans and a t-shirt? I should have worn nicer clothes than this". Whis is funny, because I never wear jeans. I think I have this idea that southerners dress up more often.

I have vague memories of what had happened the evening before, alone with Clay, and I was aware that there were lots of people in the house. We were lying down and chatting, and I felt so at home with him. He had his former look: the spiky, short hair, and somehow, though he was his current age, I was also his age - about 15 years younger than I am in real life. I remember thinking how much we had in common and how comfortable I felt with him, just being myself. And I even thought of other Clay fans in my dream, telling myself that I almost felt guilty, because other Claymates would so want to be where I was at that moment.

I think I'll leave some other details of the dream for myself - gotta keep some of the mystery personal! Suffice it to say we were decent. :-) I wish the dream had gone on longer. I woke up when Clay and I were talking and sharing an emotionally intimate moment together...

-- ClayKat

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