Two more days to go then I'm outta here! :D
Sorry if I sound gleeful. I haven't been overseas since June 2001, and that was a very short 3-day trip to Bali. Feeling a little deprived.

Here's something I'd like to share with you all, especially fellow Clay fans in Singapore.

You can view it at the Clay Aiken Singapore forum at this link:

CAS Forum thread

Or if you prefer to read it here, the transcript of the message is included below:

This is an email from Diane Bubel, the co-founder of The Bubel/Aiken Foundation, and mother of Mike Bubel, the autistic boy mentored by Clay before the latter joined American Idol. She replied after I wrote to her recently, telling her about Clay's fanbase in Singapore, how much we support the BAF for their wonderful vision, and how Claymates here are doing their part to help individuals with special needs in the local context. I also thanked her for including our country on a list of BAF / Clay Aiken Able To Serve Awards being handed out internationally ( I mentioned this in a prior post on the blog, so scroll down to look for that ).

She has kindly agreed to have her message posted on the CAS website, so I thought I'd put it here as well. Thank you, Diane, for your generosity! :)

From Diane:

"Thank you for your kind email. I am very proud of TBAF website. It's amazing to me the number of fans, like yourself, that are willing to help. As you can tell by the pictures of Clay and my son Mike, Clay has been a great friend to Mike.

We found that Mike had autism shortly after his second birthday.
We, as a family, have tried to make life experiences available to Mike. He is a challenge and a joy all wrapped into one young man. Having individuals like
Clay walk into our life and accept and strive to help Mike with his challenges has been wonderful. We have been truly blessed.

Thanks to you and your group for your support to Clay Aiken. When he left to try out for American Idol, I don't think we ever imagined that he would touch people as he has. Clay is an amazing individual and I hope he has many years of success. I look forward to working with him and making a difference through this foundation that he has started."

More news on Clay:

Catch him on the Perfect 10 for a 10-minute interview segment with DJ Carrie Chong. It will be aired this Thursday at 3pm, 9pm and 2am.

I've already talked about the AI X'mas special on cable. But watch out for the Diane Sawyer interview with Clay ( this is really, really good, so don't miss it! ) which will be screened on Channel NewsAsia on Christmas Day at 7:30pm. There're also features on Josh Groban ( Dec 22 ) and John Mayer ( Dec 23 ). Good stuff. :)

Okay then, that's it for now. Resus is going nuts again.