So, how did I get here from there? It started by reading a thread on CB, on Chris Daughtry, of all people. From there I was led to listen to his new CD on AOL listening party. Bored with it, I moved on to The Doors and U2. From there, I clicked on Billboard's site, where I found a poll on New Year's Eve concerts in rock history. Turns out I missed a goodie back in the day, when Jimi Hendrix played Fillmore East on New Year's Eve 1969. Where was I and how did I miss THAT??? Fillmore East was walking distance from my apartment at that time, but I was too hung up on a heel named Harold Lutsky, who did me wrong on New Year's Eve! LOL In the end, I got the last laugh, but that's a story for another day, another time, and another place.

Serendipty: Right now the U2 album has moved on to "New Year's Day"!

Well, anyway, it's odd to me now that at that time I was scared of my own shadow. I tried to be brave, but I was terrified of the world. Now, almost nothing stops me. I do what I want to do, go where I want to go. I travel solo when I can, and drive anywhere, as lunatic as that might be. Two years ago, I flew to Charleston, rented a car, and drove across the state of South Carolina, which I had never before visited, just to see Clay--yes, I would travel to the ends of the earth to see him, and will travel across this continent to see him in a few weeks. Clay makes me brave!

I wonder if he understands such devotion. I doubt it because I don't. I would imagine that if I were an outsider to this fandom, I'd say of myself, "What a nut! A crazy Claymate!" Well, Marilyn, say what you like. I don't care, because I am brave and I love Clay.

So far, I haven't had to travel to the ends of the earth to see him--just the end of this continent--quite literally, from the Pacific shore to the Atlantic shore. And I'm doing it again, because in my life, on this earth, there is NOTHING like a Clay Aiken concert.

Nothing.

[ETA: Clay and the Clay Nation are one entity in symbiosis. We WILL prevail!]