The day in 2004 when the radiologist told me I had invasive cancer I walked down the hospital corridor looking for a phone to call my husband and I could almost see the fear coming toward me like a big black shadow.

The fear of the never-ending onslaught of gizmos and gadgets is nothing new. The radio the telephone Facebook - each of these inventions changed the world. Each of them scared the heck out of an older generation. And each of them was invented by people who were in their 20s.

It wasn't not being famous any more or even not being a recording artist. It was having nobody who needed me no phones ringing nothing to do. Because I'm still too young to do nothing. I was only 24 when all that happened. Now at 40 I feel I've got more to give than I ever have.

The most famous person in my phone is Lindsay Lohan. We starred in 'Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen' together in 2004 and we've stayed in touch.

A close family member once offered his opinion that I exhibit the phone manners of a goat then promptly withdrew the charge - out of fairness to goats.

When I go back to family reunions everybody goes 'Hey cousin! Hey Auntie!' And I'm like 'Okay I don't know you I have no idea who you are.' I am auntie and cousin for so many and even the ones in prison call me collect. And I'll be like 'Which of my family members are giving you this phone number?'

Like a lot of you I grew up in a family on the ragged edges of the middle class. My daddy sold carpeting and ended up as a maintenance man. After he had a heart attack my mom worked the phones at Sears so we could hang on to our house.

Basketball is my passion I love it. But my family and friends mean everything to me. That's what's important. I need my phone so I can keep in contact with them at all times.

The joke in our family is that we can cry reading the phone book.

Marimba is much more of a wood-type experience and there is no real possibility of getting a dry sound and getting that contrast in the same way that you can in a vibraphone.