Congratulations, Idol, you win

It's funny to look back at all the things that I have at one time boycotted and said "I will never...", and then eventually succumbed to. Cell phones. Guitars. DVRs. And now American Idol. The first 5 seasons of American Idol's existence I couldn't have cared less about the show, and probably did everything I could to defame the show and its viewers (conveniently, I can't really remember just how much I used to dislike the show, though). Last year I started to soften, as I watched the first few shows just simply for the gag-or-laugh factor of all the terrible vocalists that shamelessly subject themselves to the chuckling of Randy, the pitifully sympathetic waffling of Paula, and the wrath of Simon. Once it really got into the show, though, I started to lose interest, especially once my favorite contestant, the chubby curly-haired worship leader dude from Charlotte named Chris got eliminated. This season, however...I'm afraid I may have become a full-fledged Idol fan, painful as it is to admit.

I actually lost sleep last night because I couldn't turn my brain off after watching the first round of Hollywood auditions. I literally broke out in a sweat as my heart pounded on behalf of the contestants! I know how tough auditions can be, but I've obviously never experienced an audition with the pressure and weight that rides on an audition like that. So I sweat and shake on their behalf. I found myself shouting at the judges for their patronization of the 17-year-old who lives in his car and, though he was awfully likeable, has no business on Idol. I nearly cried in joy along with Brooke White when the judges finally announced that she was through, after the usual painful drawn-out speech about how tough it is to be a judge and to say "no" to people...Yikes! What has become of me...alas that these days should be mine, that I would foresake the last vestige of sanity and dignity within my soul...God help me.