This used to be my playground....

We all need a "special playground": A place where we can go and hang out, and people with whom we can have fun and get support when we need it. Whether it's brick-and-mortar, or just a virtual playground, we have to have it to survive. We may even have several playgrounds.

What happens when your favorite playground becomes unrecognizable? Or when you become unrecognizable there? Like walking into Cheers and nobody knows your name? Where you don't want to be the center of attention, but you would like to be acknowledged now and again.

Soul Patrol! Soul Patrol!

Well, as you know, Elliott was voted off last week, in an extremely close vote. My heart just broke, but things go on, and I know that Elliott will go on to great things.

The finale just ended, and I'm trying to get through for Taylor (obviously!) ... he flat rocked tonight. Except for Levon ... he did better on that the first time. But he really really did well on his others, and Katherine had the (mis)fortune of choosing a less-than-great debut single.

And I'm so sick of "Bad Day" I couldn't even stand to watch the live rendition of it.

SOUL PATROL! SOUL PATROL! SOUL PATROL!

Torn between two singers

I never imagined Chris Daughtry NOT being in the final three. But he's not, and with that, I have to choose between Taylor, Katherine, and Elliott.

For starters, Katherine's out for me ..... I am just so so so so over the Mariah-Celine-Whitney-Babs soundalikes. I think she has a magnificent voice but it belongs on Broadway, not in my CD collection. If I close my eyes and listen, I don't know if she's trying to be one of the above mentioned divas or not. After a while, all those extra runs begin to sound the same. Blech and double yuck.

It comes down to Elliott and Taylor.

First is Elliott -- I love his sound to death! As someone who is a "blue-eyed soul sister" (don't believe me? ask my coworkers!) I love that old soulful sound. When I found out he'd be doing "What You Won't Do For Love" I nearly flipped -- one of my very favorite songs. No, he doesn't have the look or the personality that Chris had. But what he has is magnificent.

Then there's Taylor -- whom I also love to death! Same thing -- an old soulful sound, with a class clown personality and complete ability to have fun with himself. I got complete goosebumps listening to him sing "You Are So Beautiful" ... I mean full-on shivers.

So who gets my vote tonight?...........

Petrified but proud.....

I bought a gift for myself tonight. If things go as they are supposed to with this gift, I will have given myself a longer, happier life. Seeing as how I'm 36, I'd love to get 64 more years on the deal.

I joined Weight Watchers.

I'm proud of myself. It takes an awful lot for me to ever admit that I need help with something. I'm one of those classic independent, stubborn people -- pulling myself up by my own bootstraps (so to speak) is something I pride myself on. For me to walk in that door, fill out the paperwork and -- the real horror -- stepping on that scale ..... well, it took ovaries, and I'm glad I had enough of them to do it.

Strangely enough, I am also absolutely scared crapless. I am scared of failing. I want so much for this to succeed. I really do. There wouldn't be many other alternatives except The Surgery -- and while some people have had great success with it, I would be the 1 out of the 200 who'd die. I know it. Can't prove it, but I know it.

I can't believe how excited and frightened, optimistic and scared I am. All this jumble of emotions.......

My very own cocktail!

How to make a Annette

Ingredients: 3 parts intelligence 3 parts courage 5 parts leadership

Method: Combine in a tall glass half filled with crushed ice. Top it off with a sprinkle of caring and enjoy!

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Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

What Have You Learned Today?

Just a few moments ago, I was sitting in Ruby Tuesday, and thoroughly enthralled by a conversation taking place in the booth across from me. Two gentleman -- one who I think is perhaps a professor, the other an engineer -- were discussing how to help young people and our community. It wasn't a hand-wringing, "woe is us" session -- they were engaged in very lively talk about real problems and real solutions. I was completely and totally enjoying every second ... and even thanked them and wished them well as I left (and luckily, they were not upset at all that I had listened in -- as if it really could have been helped).

Anyway, one of them relayed a marvelous story, one that I hope will be as inspiring for you as it was for me.

He was a young boy at his grandmother's, and she had an old apple tree. He had apparently spent much of the day climbing the tree to get apples. At the end of the day, as she tucked him in, she asked him, "So ... what have you learned today?" He didn't have an answer, he said, other than "I spent all day eating apples." She told him that he needed to learn something every day -- to always have an answer to the question. It inspired him, he said, even today to ask himself that each night: "What have I learned today?"

With that in mind, here is what I have learned so far today:
* I really need to work on accepting compliments on my accomplishments -- not to feel guilty because I stepped in to correct a situation but to say "Yes, and I'm so glad everything worked out so well."
* I learned that I'm never too old to learn.
* I learned that I need to stop putting limits on myself.

So ... what have you learned today?