Libra Trio

I'm looking forward to my 33rd birthday. Yes I'm a Libra. I decided to take a trip to the west coast. My destination....Seattle. I know I want to see the Space Needle (that's pretty much the tourist standard spot...*LOL*) but outside of that, I don't have any solid plans on things to do. I think seafood is pretty popular out there so I'll definitely be feasting on a few crabs & lobsters & shrimp & scallops & well you get the idea. I fly out the morning of my birthday, October 15th, and return to Chicago on the 18th. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. I'll probably do some research in the next week or so.

I had a training class today, which in a way was like a break from work but not quite...*LOL*. The topic was on one of those soft skill sets...Internal Consulting. The instructor was a cool sista (we don't have too many of those in the training department at my company so that made me notice...*LOL*) who definitely seemed to know her stuff and engaged the class in participating. The gist of the class is to present ways to better interact with our customers within the corporation. I have one more day of class. Wee.

In other news, I went out during lunch yesterday and picked up Toni Braxton's latest effort titled Libra. (Toni's also a Libra. Her birthday is on the 9th.) I was a bit dismayed to see that the CD I picked up at Target only had 10 tracks. Of course, it was on sale for $9.99 so I couldn't complain much. I still thought it was a mistake or a different edition CD since Amazon claimed there was 12 tracks. So after work I went to Best Buy and Walmart and both had the album with 10 tracks. Guess Amazon was wrong. Unless someone out there has the one with 12 tracks I'm gonna scream...PLEASE! (Heh...had to throw that in there.) Fortunately since I purchased my CD at Target, I was able to download a bonus song.

Since Mariah released the comeback album of 2005, my hope was that Toni would also come back strong this year. Her last CD, More Than A Woman, was okay but it didn't to me exemplify the type of music that made her a force to be reckoned with in the early 90s. Does she recapture that magic with Libra? Here's my unbiased review.

The total running time of her CD barely makes the 40 minute mark. That was disappointing, though the bonus downloaded song made the total jump up to a little over 44 minutes. Better. The CD starts out with the single Please that's been out for a minute now. When I first heard it months back, I thought it was a bit too radio friendly. It took me a couple listens but now I can say that I enjoy the track and it's a good way to start the CD. The next song, Trippin', which is rumored to be the 2nd single released, sounds cool, though it reminded me a bit of Usher's You Got It Bad. Nonetheless the song's mellow and it gives Toni some acrobatic exercises to do with her voice, which is nice to hear. The rest of her album was a bit of hit or miss for me. If you compare it to Mariah's, there's no contest. Mariah wins hands down. Toni just seemed to play it safe this CD, not really belting any of the songs. She mostly does this breathy singing that just scratches the surface of her true talents. None of the songs, other than Please (barely), are that memorable. It didn't help that Take This Ring (which potentially could've been another single..and it still might...*LOL*) sounded like the bastard child of Amerie's One Thing and the lyrics didn't make sense to boot. "I'm gonna take off this ring but don't tell nobody?" What does that mean? Is she stepping out on her man or something? It was confusing. To her credit, the producer of that song also worked on Amerie's song. Variety is the spice of life people!

So no, I don't consider this the comeback album for Toni. It does let us know she's still alive, though, and for that it gives me hope that maybe she'll get it right next album. I think if you're a diehard Toni fan, like myself, you should add it to your collection. If not, you could probably wait until you can get a used copy at Amazon. I still love you Toni and I'll still support ya.

Speaking of Libras, my Mom's birthday is on the 2nd. I went and got her some fresh homemade snacks in a basket. I hope she enjoys it. I may make a surprise visit next weekend as well. Unfortunately I can't this weekend. At the risk of quoting a Spice Girls song....'Mama, I Love You! Mama, I care!'

Toni, Mama, and me. We're quite the Libra trio...heh!