This is a shocker.

Clay Aiken Impregnates 50-year-old Producer Jaymes Foster?

GET. OUT.

I fully expected the AOL link to "Former 'Idol' to be a Daddy?" to be anoter Corey Clark "Look at me, look at meeeee!" story. Holy crap.

A Good Week! Yay!

I've seen the best
I've seen the worst
I wouldn't change what I've been through
I've touched the sky
I've hit the wall
But I did what I had to

On my way here
Where I am now
I've learned to fly, I have to want to leave the ground
I've fallen hard
But I've been loved
And in the end it all works out
My faith has conquered fear
On my way here
Clay Aiken, On My Way Here

Part of the lyrics from the first single on his new album that was released Tuesday (May 6th) - I love it. It makes me cry, and it's almost like he's been living my life for the past few years (although I realize he didn't write the song.) Anyway, the whole album is good - his best yet by far, in my opinion. Of course, I will always love that voice, and the production quality and the songs seem better this time around.

So! I finished my first week back at school and I have lots to say, but I just wanted to let y'all know that I have had a GREAT week, and I am loving life right now, and I'm all-over-the-place thankful to my Lord, from whom all good things come. He is so good to me. I'll write more later about what I've been up to this week, for those of you who are interested! But for now, I'm a sleepy girl and I need a nap. :-)

Before I went back to school, I got my hair cut and my hair guy (Ron Wilson from Ron Wilson Hair Gallery, he is fantastic) talked me into highlights:

I decided after awhile that they were too red and were making me look a little washed out (and I'm translucent anyway) so I bought some Perfect 10 at Walmart and darkened the red a little. The red still shows through, but not so much, which is exactly what I wanted. I was scared as I was washing out my Walmart dye, though, because the suds? Were purple. Lavender, actually. So I was terrifed that I'd end up like one of those little ladies with violet hair. To ease your troubled mind - I didn't.

More later.

American Idol Randomness

I've only been randomly watching Idol this season - I keep forgetting it's on, and then usually I've fallen asleep (because I've felt so crappy for months) and if I do watch it, I don't feel like sitting at the computer and blogging. With that said, tonight I'm feeling a smidge better and I have a few thoughts.

I've only seen Danny Noriega sing once, at Hollywood, but he did this one thing that reminded me of Clay Aiken for a second. I'll keep an eye on him.

And speaking of Clay Aiken, every time they say "Hotlanta", it reminds me of the crazy Clackhouse. I'm not so sure why that is - Clay Aiken must have done something in Atlanta (besides audition - hey, I *am* a PRoCer at heart, after all - I do remember some random Clay trivia.)

I might have to call shenanigans on Asia’h Epperson's story about her dad. She just wasn't reacting the way that I would be if my daddy had died suddenly two days before (God forbid.) Also, her apostrophe reminds me of a post that I need to do, because it's something that really grinds my gears - people who name their kids stupid things with phonetic spellings and random punctuation scattered throughout.

I like Amanda Overmyer. I'm thinking she may scare the old people at the nursing home, though.

I also like Josiah Leming, but I don't understand why he has this occasional British accent.

Nice to see that Pauler is still talking about happy spirits and magicalness. Randy is sitting in the middle, though, and it's throwing my world off a little bit. Also, about Randy - he doesn't know how to work percentages. And so he should just stop saying things like, "Eleventy billion percent yes!" Because it annoys me when people mess up percentages. And it's all about ME.

Perrie Cataldo - oversang everything, like his life depended on it. Good thing it didn't.

That guy who kept talking about the "tingly feeling" that he only gets when he sings (didn't catch his name) reminds me of a junior-high version of Scott. A little bit.

Amy Flynn & her abstinence curriculum (not that there's anything wrong with that) always looks freshly scrubbed. And also, unfortunately for her and her Caruso hairstyler, freshly eliminated.

Dear Bruce Dickson, it's very creepy to have one of those "half" necklaces with your DAD. You probably shouldn't tell that to the entire country (and my BFF Corrie, who I'm sure is watching from Dutchlandia.)

Kristy Lee Cook, Amazing Grace is a great song - no doubt about that. But things usually don't fare well for people who always sing the same song. Just ask ... uh, that one girl. Whose name I can't remember. See?

It's hilarious that Jeffrey Lampkin is singing so passionately about PEE-kan pie. (Speaking of PEE-kan pie - I can't eat it normally. I'm allergic to tree nuts, so I have to scrape the PEE-kan layer off and just eat the filler goo and the crust. It's really good that way, too.) Anyway, Jeffrey Lampkin. I might like him if he's not too Ruben-esque. Not rubenesque, Ruben-esque. You know.

Angela Martin's dad just died too? Geez - all the other contestant's dads better watch themselves.

Oh! Did I tell y'all about the American Idol concert that I went to back in the fall? It was actually pretty entertaining (shut up!) - I went with my mom, and met a random person who is now my Facebook friend (she's applying to my medical school.) But the most interesting part was afterwards, when I met Scott at a movie theater (within walking distance of the concert arena) to see 3:10 to Yuma. A few minutes after the movie started, two guys walked in with a few other guys and sat right in front of us, and I am like, 95% sure that it was Blake Lewis and Chris Richardson. Well - 97% on Blake and about 90% on Chris. "Blake" spent a good bit of the movie IMing on his phone, and I spent a good bit of the movie watching Possibly!Blake and Possibly!Chris - so much so that Scott gave me a quiz on the movie on the way home. Heh. I can pay attention to two things at once, you know - it's installed in the female brain.

Pat Kiernan is tricky

First of all, I'm furious that I'm not a contestant on The World Series of Pop Culture for 2007 on VH1, because I can rock these questions and I'm at least as interesting as these people.

And also, even when I hear the lyrics of It's Tricky by Run-D.M.C. READ by Pat Kiernan, I still have to dance to it. Just in case you were wondering. (By the way, I was totally amused with Pat's lyrics-reading in the "Rump Shaker" category. Hee.)

I'm having trouble finding non-school stuff to talk about since I'm not in the middle of the Harry Potter craze (I think I'm the only person on earth) but I am going to see Order of the Phoenix tonight with Scott and Huan. At least I think that's the name of it. Speaking of movies, Transformers was way better than I expected. It made me wonder if Shia LeBeouf is too young to be added to my Geek Love list (which also includes Zach Braff, Clay Aiken (shut up), and Adam Brody). *quick IMDb check* No! He's 21, which makes his addition to the list legal, but slightly creepy. Oh well. The movie also made me want to name my kid Optimus Prime. Would that be wrong? I mean, it's better than Pilot Inspektor (sic).

Sometimes, I'm still a Clay Aiken fangirl.

Once a Clay Aiken fangirl, always a Clay Aiken fangirl - I guess. I mean, I'm not as looney tunes as these people, and I usually point and laugh at all of their video montages (seriously, if these people used their time and talents more constructively, I wonder what they could get done?) But this one is so pretty - particularly from 3:20 to the end - and I like the song (Ordinary World by Katharine McPhee.) Clay does make me smile, I have to admit. But I don't want to have a million of his babies or stalk him around the country. Nor do I want my first thoughts to be like this:

I woke up this morning wondering what Clay will wear for the Hard Place Tour this summer. I'd love to see him in some beautifully fitting soft linen pants (unlined of course) and a gauzy shirt tucked in (no undershirt) with the sleeves rolled up and at least three buttons open at the top.

Ack.

This reminds me - Mia? Corrie? Misfit? Katrina? Jodi? Karen? Are y'all still reading? I was thinking of you today.

Crazy Clay Aiken fans skeere me. I mean, look at this, from Gilded Moose - these people have to realize that they're insane, or maybe they're just happily oblivious.

I admit that I'm a fan of Clay Aiken, but I'm not crazy. Well, I am crazy, just for other reasons. And I'd never write about my ovaries with puff-paint on a T-shirt. By the way, shaking ovaries must indicate a serious medical condition. I haven't had female reproductive pathology yet, but it certainly doesn't sound normal. None of it does, actually.

You know, I wish Clay Aiken would just come out (pardon the pun) and answer the gay question already. Just a yes or no. Not that it matters to me - I still love his voice, I just won't love his morals if the answer is yes. But doesn't he get that by refusing to answer the question, most people assume the answer is "yes"?

Surely he gets that. He's a smart cookie. (But what was with the short-lived stubble which made its debut on Leno? Has Clay been watching too much House MD?)

Also, calling Diane Sawyer "rude" on Good Morning America*? Boo. I like Diane Sawyer. She's supposed to ask intrusive questions, that's her job.

In other Clay news, if you buy the album from iTunes, you get a bonus track called Lover All Alone that is just so pretty. I would have preferred to have a whole album of songs like that, personally.

Full songs from Clay Aiken's A Thousand Different Ways

Update 11/25/2007 - Files Removed. Don't hate on me - blame GoDaddy.

Clear Channel had a "sneak peek" of Clay Aiken's upcoming album, A Thousand Different Ways (to be released on Tuesday, September 19th - eeee.) Please right-click and "save as" on the mp3 links below. And if you want to pre-order the album from Amazon, it'd be swell if you'd use my referral link at the end of this post! Thanks. :-) You know, this sounds like a pretty good album. I think I've worked up a little bit of excitement here. Although he still hasn't covered Hands to Heaven. Boo.

1. Right Here Waiting
2. Lonely No More
3. Without You (this one is on Clay's MySpace)
4. Every Time You Go Away
5. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
6. When I See You Smile
7. A Thousand Days
8. Everything I Do (I Do It For You)
9. Because You Loved Me
10. I Want To Know What Love Is (with Suzie McNeil)
11. These Open Arms
12. Here You Come Again
13. Everything I Have
14. Broken Wings

Mp3 Clips and Track List from Clay Aiken's New Album

Update 11/25/2007 - Files Removed. Don't hate on me - blame GoDaddy.

For those of you who may be interested, here's a track list (not sure it's necessarily in the right order, but who really cares about that?) from Clay Aiken's third album, A Thousand Different Ways, and 30-second preview mp3 clips for each song.

1. Right Here Waiting
   Originally recorded by: Richard Marx
   Written by: Richard Marx / Produced by: John Fields
   
2. When I See You Smile
   Originally recorded by: John Waite
   Written by: Diane Warren
   Produced by: John Fields
   
3. Without You (first single)
   Originally recorded by: Badfinger, Harry Nilsson, Mariah Carey
   Written by: William Collings, Thomas Evans, Michael Gibbins, Peter Ham, and J.C. Molland
   Produced by: John Fields
   
4. Lonely No More (new song)
   Written by: Andreas Carlsson, Samuel Waermo, Mimmi Waermo & Clay Aiken
   Produced by: Andreas Carlsson and Samuel Waermo
   
5. Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word
   Originally recorded by: Elton John
   Written by: Elton John & Bernie Taupin
   Produced by: Per Magnusson & David Kreuger
   
6. Everytime You Go Away
   Originally recorded by: Paul Young
   Written by: Daryl Hall
   Produced by: Adam Anders
   
7. Everything I Do (I Do It For You)
   Originally recorded by: Bryan Adams
   Written by: Bryan Adams, Michael Kamen & Robert John "Mutt" Lange
   Produced by: John Fields
   
8. I Want to Know What Love Is - Guest Vocals by Suzie McNeil
   Originally recorded by: Foreigner
   Written by: Michael Jones
   Produced by: Russ Irwin, Marti Frederiksen & Charlton Pettus
   
9. These Open Arms (new song)
   Written by: Jon Bon Jovi & Desmond Childs
   Produced by: John Fields
   
10. Because You Loved Me
    Originally recorded by: Celine Dion
    Written by: Diane Warren
    Produced by: Eman
    
11. Here You Come Again
    Originally recorded by: Dolly Parton
    Written by: Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil
    
12. Everything I Have (new song) - Featuring William Joseph on Piano
    Written by: Jeremy Bose
    Arranged by: Jeremy Lubbock
    
13. A Thousand Days (new song)
    Written by: Christian Leuzzi, Aldo Nova & Emanuel Olsson
    Produced by: John Fields
    
    
14. Broken Wings
    Originally recorded by: Mr. Mister
    Written by: Richard Page, John Lang & Steve George
    Produced by: Eman