This breaks my heart a little bit.

Today's less-important headline (important ones are the presidential race and things like that, although it's important to her) was that the pop star, Britney Spears, is in the hospital today and has lost custody of her children. I think that even the most hard-hearted, callous celebrity watchers are beginning to see that she's no longer an object for our amusement.

I've been involved in the lives of people like her. My brother is severely mentally ill, for starters, and there have been other incidents in life's journey where I've seen things like Ms. Spears' troubled life. She's been hospitalized more than once and she can't seem to find a way to set a course that allows her to be a happy, prosperous person. I'm sure she feels trapped and can't find a way out. Now she's had a meltdown and is in the hospital, she's lost her children, and it's hard to imagine a stable professional future for her (Although her recent hit singles will probably help cushion her, what will she do for a living in ten years? Twenty?).

As I write this, I'm listening to a diet expert talk to us about how it's one thing to know what to do, it's another to actually do it. That goes for all of us, but perhaps a little more for lost souls like Ms. Spears, who probably does know what she's supposed to do (stop partying, spend more time with the kids, stop fighting with their father, work hard), but doesn't know how any more. She's been trapped in this life for quite a few years now, this entertainment thing, and I'm sure that her family's neglect of their duties so they could enable her career as a child star has combined with the sheer force of habit of years of her lifestyle to leave her foundering.

She has so much, but all she can see (and all we can see) is her troubles. I hope someone will manage to help her find the key to make those changes.

CDs listened to today:

• Lightning Bolt: Hypermagic Mountain
• Dario Castello: Sonata No. 12 for Two Violins and Trombone
• Garbage: Bleed Like Me
• Esa-Pekka Salonen: L.A. Variations
• Morton Gould: Stringmusic
• Kevin Puts: Dark Vigil
• The Kills: No Wow
• Matias Aguayo: Are You Really Lost
• Peter Lieberson: Piano Concerto