Sanjaya was booted off of American Idol last week. Of course, his fifteen minutes of fame is not quite up yet. Sanjaya attended the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this past weekend with folks like Valerie Bertinelli, Tim Gunn and Eddie Izzard and admitted that he’s just trying to “ride the wave and go one day at a time.”

Sanjaya has spoken to several publications since his departure. This week, he’s set to hit the talk-show circuit and has spots planned on Ellen and Letterman (at least). When asked about the negative press surrounding him, Sanjaya said that he learned “not to let any negativity get” to him. He prefers to “try to find the positive in everything.”

Sanjaya opened up to US magazine as well. He said that the “Besame Mucho” ‘do was his “dream hair” and feels that Simon “saw potential in me. When I didn’t fulfill that potential, he was kind of disappointed.” Sanjaya wants “to say to him that he is an amazing person and what he does is awesome.” He admitted that he “learned more from him than from anyone else” on the show.

He pooh-poohed the suggestion that either Howard Stern or votefortheworst.com made a big impact on his remaining on American Idol for so long and gives the credit to “support from my fans.” Sanjaya does plan to make a career in the industry but won’t “do something just for the money.” He also enjoyed the spoof on Saturday Night Live because “if you can’t [poke fun at yourself] then I don’t know what’s going to happen in your life. I think it’s really important to be able to make fun of yourself and just have fun.”

Watch this satire of Sanjaya’s time on American Idol, courtesy of SMOOTH-E and the peeps at SuburbanHomeboy.com: