i will always love you ♪ ♪ here in the cnn newsroom, i'm don lemon. one last audience of millions for a singer who touched so many hearts. a final goodbye to a music legend at the place where it began. a celebration of the life of whitney houston. ♪ and i will always love you

♪ i will always love you >> the sound of houston's biggest hit "i will always love you" as pallbearers carried her casket out. the moment began with these remarks -- >> we're here today, hearts broken but yet with god's strength, we celebrate the life of whitney houston. [ applause ] >> opening the service, joe carter, pastor of the new hope baptist church, houston's famous friends one after another gave stunningly poignant tributes, like tyler perry. >> there was a grace that carried her. a grace that carried her from heaven down through cissy houston.

a grace that brought her up through singing. from what i understand, she wasn't supposed to be able speak, let alone sing because of an incident that happened as a child. but there was a grace that kept on carrying her all the way through. this same grace led her all the way to the top of the charts. sold all of these albums and done some amazing things, won all these awards she's sang for presidents. there was a grace that kept on carrying her. >> gospel singer and pastor marven winans gave the julie. he started by thanking houston's mother for bringing the service back home to newark. >> i want to thank momma houston, cissy, for your just willingness to forget about everything else and have this service here. [ applause ] that took a lot of courage.

and because of that, you brought the world to church today. >> houston made her film debut in 1992 in "the bodyguard." kevin costner recalled her struggle to land the role. >> it's a tree we can all hang on. the unexplainable burden comes with fame. call it doubt, call it fear. i've had mine, and i know the famous in the room have had theirs. i asked her to trust me and she said she would. half hour later she went back in to do her screen test and the studio fell in love with her. the whitney i knew, despite her success and worldwide fame still wondered am i good enough? am i pretty enough? will they like me? it was the burden that made her

great and the part that caused her to stumble in the end. whitney, if you could hear me now, i would tell you, you weren't just good enough. you were great. >> alicia keys, stevie wonder, art kelly, bb and cc winans all honored her. aretha franklin was scheduled to be there but had to cancel. as for houston's ex-husband, bobby brown, he was there for a while, but he says in a written statement that he wasn't happy about being asked to move three times, and that security kept him from seeing the daughter he and whitney houston had together, 18-year-old bobby christina. so he left because "i refused to create a scene." but he did mention his ex later

during a performance in this video just in to cnn. >> i want to give blessings to my ex-wife, whitney houston. i love ya. i want to give a lot of blessings to my kids. my fiance. my brothers. and all of you. >> that was bobby brown tonight. eloquence flowed from the pulpit as those close to houston offered their praise for her. bishop t.d. jakes was especially stirring. he's the producer of "sparkle" a movie to come out this summer. i had a chance to speak with him after the service came to a close. her family, cissy houston, and bobby christina, what they're going to have to deal with over the coming days, weeks, months,

years, it's going to be hard for a while for them. >> i told cissy, and i told whitney's daughter before i left, i said i'm only a phone call away. of course, i'm not their pastor, but i told them anything i can do to help in any way i would be glad to do that. one of the great things about church people is that we do come together in a crisis and undergird each other and my heart goes out to all of the families that are hurting in a unique way. all of them lost something different. yet i think this is a time they really need our support. the thing that blew my mind about cissy is she's incredibly strong. i prayed with her several days ago and she was shocked and hurt and weeping and i expected her to be emotionally debilitated. the lady i saw sitting there today, she was very strong. i also applaud whether itney's

daughter. until you have lost your mother, a mother that you have a very close relationship with, you would never imagine what that does to you emotionally to find yourself motherless in this world. and the whole family was incredibly courageous. >> i also had the chance to speak with the reverend al sharpton about the memorial service. >> everyone on the program were people that were involved in her life. we were all there, but those of us that were not as close were not on the program. so everyone spoke from a personal kind of testimony. whitney was a beacon of light to this community, and i'm very, very happy that her mother chose to do it in this way. >> one moment that was seen around the world during the service is we saw bobby out here standing, upset, he left. what happened inside? >> i talked to bobby. bobby did nothing but show love

and respect for the memory of whitney, and his daughter. and bishop jakes and i spoke with him on the cell phone. and he's shown nothing but love and respect. i wish they would leave him alone. >> we just heard his entourage could not be accommodated. >> i don't know about that. he said all he wanted to do is show respect and love. >> reverend, this is the program, beautiful program here. and i'm going to hold it and just look inside and come of the pictures. it's just lovely pictures of whitney houston at the height of her career, as a young girl, winning awards as you can see here, looking beautiful. and at the end all the people who spoke. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> we appreciate it. and god bless. we all went to church today and our faiths were all renewed. >> i'm going to look for you tomorrow. maybe it will develop a habit.

>> thank you, reverend sharpton. the reverend al sharpton, thank you. whitney houston was a talent like no other, destined for superstardom. but she did have help along the way, people who believed in her and helped her find success. like the man who co-wrote some of her biggest hits ever, like "how will i know?" we'll talk with him later in the show. story. syria shows new signs of weakness in the capital of damascus. security forces fired on a funeral procession. two people were killed, 15 more died across syria. damascus is considered the president's strong hold. violence there could indicate his grip on power is slipping. the president met with one of his few allies today. he hosted china's foreign

minister, who endorsed syria's plan to hold a referendum on a new constitution, but urged them to negotiate with the opposition. still, a peaceful end to this conflict seems unlikely. this video is from the city of homs. it's said to show the syrian military in action. cnn can't confirm the video's authenticity by the way. iran says a deployment of navy ships into the mediterranean sea is a sign of friendship and its military might. the vessels including a destroyer have passed through the suez canal. a year ago, a similar deployment seen here stirred fears in israel and other nations. the destination of the ships is unclear now. an arizona sheriff steps down from his post and mitt romney's presidential campaign after a newspaper publishes allegations about him and another man. the story in two minutes. every time of day.

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will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. an arizona sheriff has stepped down from a state leadership post with mitt romney's presidential campaign after a newspaper published allegations he tried to deport a former boyfriend. sheriff paul babo acknowledged he's gay but denied the deportation allegations. he's also a republican candidate for congress. he said the man was a volunteer for his campaign. he said he had no reason to believe the man was an illegal immigrant and vowed to continue his congressional bid. meantime, newt gingrich is going after mitt romney again for negative tv ads paid for by

a pro romney super pac. at a rally in georgia today, the state gingrich once represented in congress, he tried to undermine the money behind those commercials. >> you tell your friends and neighbors, tell folks on facebook, when they're seeing a negative romney ad, all they need to know is it's paid for with wall street money and it's false. that tells you it's not worthy of the united states of america and that's not worthy of the presidency and he's now doing to santorum in michigan what he did to me in florida. and it's unworthy for somebody to become president of the united states by shrinking their opponents. >> rick santorum is also criticizing mitt romney, questioning romney's role in turning around the 2002 salt lake city olympics.

he said romney's solution was to ask congress for millions. >> he bailed out the salt lake city olympic games by going to congress and asking them for tens of millions to bail out the salt lake olympic games. [ applause ] in an earmark. >> also today, santorum took time to explain remarks he made this morning at a gathering of tea party activists. he said that president obama has what he called a phony theology. in his words, it's not about your job, it's about some phony ideal, some phony theology. oh, not a theology based on a bible, a different theology, but no less a theology. later in the day he was asked to clarify what he meant. >> the president of the united states is exercising his values and trumping the values of the church. if you don't want to call it a

theology, you can let me know what you want me to call it. but sit a different set of moral values they are imposing on people who have a constitutional right to have their own values within the church. and that is a reflection -- that is a new low. the president has reached a new low in this country's history of oppressing religious freedom that we have never seen before. >> when asked if he thinks president obama is less of a christian than himself. he said "no one is suggesting that." the obama campaign called it the latest low in a republican primary campaign that has been fueled by distortions, ugliness and searing pes nichl and ne negativity. >> i was your pretend bodyguard once not so long ago and now you're gone.

>> they had a friendship and a spiritual connection few knew about before today. ..and... yeah... ...you just don't think that that's something that can happen to you. you really realize what's important. i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. it's a...ya know, first line of defense...right? [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone, so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. now i feel confident that everything's gonna be fine. [ male announcer ] learn how to protect your heart at i am proheart on facebook. [doors open] [dogs barking & grunting] [dog shaking water] [dog growls] [dogs bark]

whitney houston was already a music superstar when kevin costner approached her about starring in the movie "the bodyguard." and in his tribute today, he talked about convincing whitney houston that she was good enough for the part. >> i was your pretend bodyguard once not so long ago. and now you're gone, too soon

leaving us with memories, memories of a little girl who stepped bravely in front of this church, in front of the ones that loved you first, in front of the ones that loved you best, and loved you the longest. then boldly you stepped into the white hot light of the world stage. and what you did is the rarest of achievements. you set the bar so high that professional singers, your own colleagues, they don't want to sing that little country song, what would be the point? now the only one who sings your songs are young girls like you, who are dreaming of being you some day. and so to you, bobbie christina and to all those young girls who are dreaming that dream, but maybe thinking they aren't good enough, i think whitney would tell you, guard your bodies and

guard the precious miracle of your own life. and then sing your hearts out knowing that there's a lady in heaven who is making god himself wonder how he created something so perfect. so off you go, whitney. off you go. escorted by an army of angels to your heavenly father. and when you sing before him, don't you worry. you'll be good enough. [ applause ] >> kevin costner, whitney houston's co-star in "the bodyguard." a mystery thousands of years in the making.

stole henge, some believe it was a giant clock or a calendar. others suggested it was a burial ground. one u.s. researcher says, well, you guys got it all wrong. faci. first a gentle balm. then the removal cream. effective together with less irritation and as gentle as a feather. new olay hair removal duo. [ roger ] tell me you have good insurance. yup, i've got... [ kyle with voice of dennis ] ...allstate. really? i was afraid you'd have some cut-rate policy. [ kyle ] nope, i've got... [ kyle with voice of dennis ] ...the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance -- and you still get an allstate agent. i too have...[ roger with voice of dennis ]...allstate. [ roger ] same agent and everything. [ kyle ] it's like we're connected. no we're not. yeah, we are. no...we're not. ♪ the allstate value plan. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate.

okay. time to get mysterious. jacqui jeras is here. >> oh, don.

i miss you. >> i miss you too. i'm so tired, i'm punch drunk. saturday night mysteries, what do you have? >> it's president's day weekend, so we had to pick a mystery that has to do with one of the presidents. well, at least maybe the first lady. this has to do with our 16th president's wife, mary todd lincoln. it has to do with a portrait that's been hanging in the presidential library museum in springfield, illinois for years and years. well, guess what? turns out this portrait that you're looking at is a fraud. that's what it should be looking like. that's the original. this was purchased in 1929 by the lincoln family, donated to the museum and the curator wanted it restored. in the process, they learned that this portrait had been modified. so you can see she's wearing a cross necklace. in the next picture right there, she's wearing a broach of abraham lincoln. this walls allegedly a portrait

penned by mr. carpenter there, but they don't even know it was done by him either. her facial features have been mod feed. her hair has been modify t. they don't know who the sitter was or the artist was. but they decided it's the most famous painting in the museum, they're going to keep it around. >> now, that is a saturday night mystery. >> indeed. >> indeed. >> all right. our next story, this is interesting. it has to do with the milky way galaxy. there are so many mysteries surrounding the galaxy. some new aimages have created oe more. the european space agency took these, patches of cold gas. these are islands of carbon monoxide and they could help astronomers learn more how our

universe was formed. this has to do with microwave radiation. you see that spot in the middle? that's basically what they're calling microwave fog. they don't know why it's there. >> right in the middle? >> do you see the yellowish and whitish colors? it gives off this brighters light. so they don't know why. if one of them is correct, it could be a huge deal. have you heard of dark matter? they say most of our galaxy is made up of dark matter. they say that spot could be evidence of the annihilation of dark matter. so we don't have any proof that dark matter exists. that could prove it. >> i haven't eaten all day. now you have me wanting a milky way. is there a milk way way in the machine back there? i want one. >> maybe a snickers. >> there's a little machine over

there. i'm going to go get a milky way in a second. what else do you have? >> one more mystery for you, don. this one has to do with stonehenge. the basic consensus is this thing is basically used for worship, spiritual worship and burials. but one researcher says maybe it has something to do with sound. that's next.

all right, okay, time to get back to saturday night mysteries. two cool mysteries so far involving the milky way. >> did you get one on the break? >> there's no milky way in the machine. so i got this. >> the peanuts have protein. so that's better, right? >> it satisfies. that will do, since i don't have a milky way. number three, bring it on. >> number three, stonehenge, we were talking about this before the break. the big mystery surrounding this, everybody has always wondered how did they do this 5,000 years ago and lift those stones on top, what did they use this for and largely it's believed it had to do with spiritual worship and burial. but a researcher says they were created to give this special found phenomena. ancient people had a myth about

echoes being spirits in rocks. so he said it was used to create an illusion that two pipers would play music surrounding the rocks and it would create an interference pattern, so the sound waves would clash and give off louder and softer noises, depending on your location. it's something we've experienced, kind of an echoing thing. so he said they would have these piper shows and give these unusual magical sound illusion. >> that's really cool. >> it is cool. apparently the scientific community is a little iffy on believing that one or not. so you be the judge for yourself. >> so other people on twitter are laughing because i wanted a milky way. but you want to know my guilty pleasure? i will have a snicker bar -- >> yeah. >> there's nothing like a snicker bar, potato chips and

coca cola. it is awesome. it's like salty, salty, salty, sugar, good night. >> i don't know how you can sleep after all that, my friend. >> trust me, i won't have any trouble tonight. thank you. appreciate saturday night mysteries. >> take care. time now to check your headlines. an arizona sheriff has stepped down from a state leadership post with mitt romney's presidential campaign. that's after the phoenix newspaper published allegations he tried to deport a former boyfriend. the sheriff paul babo acknowledged he's gay but denied the deportation allegations. he's also a republican candidate for congress and vowed to continue his campaign. the pope is officially inducted 22 new cardinals, including two americans. the archbishop of new york and of baltimore. the new cardinals will play a

role in deciding on the new pope. also named was the first native american saint, a 17th century mohawk woman who suffered from smallpox. tens of thousands of russians rallied today to support presidential candidate vladamir putin. polls show putin should easily win back the position he held for eight years. the world watched today as whitney houston's family and friends said their goodbyes to her. a funeral was held for the superstar in newark, new jersey. so many famous faces were on hand to pay their last respects. tyler perry, kevin costner, stevie wonder, alicia keys and so many more. after the funeral, many of whitney houston's family and friends gathered at a newark restaurant. and cnn susan candiotti has more. >> reporter: friends and family

of whitney houston, including a number of celebrities, came to a private dinner after the funeral. they gathered together, no doubt to swap stories and to comfort each other after the experience they had just been through. a number of the notables, we saw kevin costner who spoke so eloquently at the funeral. afterwards he came out and even waved to spectators who were standing across the street. people who came here wanted to experience some peace of what happened earlier today. we also saw tyler perry and dionne warwick, angela bassett, jennifer hudson, the reverend jesse jackson and al sharpton, who also waved to the crowd. an inspirational experience for many here, and also a very comforting one. don, back to you. >> susan, thank you very much. whitney houston had the good fortune to meet and collaborate

with some of the best minds in the music business, like musician michael walden. he co-produced this hit for her and so many others. listen. ♪ i want to dance with somebody i want to feel the heat with somebody ♪ >> i want to welcome narda right now. what a great song. did you sing that for us the other night? >> i think i sang "how will i know" for you. >> yes, yes. tell us how that came about, "how will i know" and when she sang it, you did a little melody. how did it go? ♪ there's a boy i know he's the one i dream of ♪ i was a little struck by her power. ♪ takes me to

she had so much powerful at 19 years old, thin and gorgeous. >> what's interesting is that one of her voice coaches said, you no, it's very rarely you can get a singer who has a great tone, great tonality to his or her voice, and whitney houston was the rarity that had a great tone and she could just do about anything vocally. >> that's it. she had both. she could do very sensitive, like her aunt, a very sensitive creature. like a cat, stroking a cat. very tender. at the same time, unbelievable power. this is what we love about her. both sides of the range. >> yeah. >> and also she's a spark plug. >> knew when to restrain and pull it back and show just a little bit to get your emotions

up. i'm sure you watched everything closely, the services. what did you think? >> i felt the spirit of whitney in the room to comfort and to bring a deep love to everyone there. that was the magic i felt. and i was very happy that i was there. i was very happy to see stevie there and hear kevin costner's words. actually, the choir that first began the whole thing was incredible. that got it very whitney going. >> we saw it from a distance, even though the camera was in there. just one camera angle and one news organization is controlling it and we all just take the feed, so we don't see the faces, there are no cutaways, you just see that one camera. take us inside and tell us what people were doing, how they were reacting. >> i want to say everyone was very respectful. they sat in their pews until

they felt the spirit, then everyone had to stand, just to echo that sentiment. and in fact, i felt that people were being so respectful and very sharp to hear every word spoken and to hear every lyric sung. so if something hit them, they wanted to react right away. there was no lag time on anything. that was the most beautiful thing, they were so respectful for whitney, for her day. this is whitney's day. >> i told bishop jakes, when he would preach, when he did his thing, i thought to myself, like i was sitting in church going well, well, amen. it had that sort of real down home feeling to it. can we talk a little bit more about whitney and how you produced for her? how did you build those hits for her? what was it like to write and produce a track for whitney? >> with whitney, we always knew that we needed a strong chorus,

because she can sing anything. so the song would be the star and we found a hit chorus. and clive would most times say i think i've got a great song here, see what you can do with this. it was about trying to write an arrangement that would feature her the host. she's incredible. in writing or producing for her, make room for her to shine. again, she's an angel. she was a heavenly, earthly angel that nobody had ever seen before. so always very much aware of making room for her voice. >> you know, thank you, just the last thing, if you can. do you think she had another chart busting album in her? >> absolutely. i was excited to work with her again. and god took her home. there's a thing called god's hour, god's timing. so she's home now to rest.

but on my time, she was here with us, on the earth, i would be in the studio with her right now because i'm so e namerred with her talent and beauty and spark plug energy. >> we've got to run. but thank you. we'll always love her. >> love you, too. thank you, don. >> we'll be right back. [ cellphone rings ] [ female announcer ] with secret outlast, conquer your busy day. burn! let's do it! ♪ hi. [ female announcer ] outlast your day, any day, with secret's 48-hour odor protection technology.

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celebrated this year's carnival celebration. it kicked off yesterday and cnn's sasha is in the middle of it all. >> reporter: the party has gotten started here tonight, done. we're where rio holds its lavish parades. you can see here hundreds of dancer are lining up, ready to go in. and in front of them, one of those lavish floats. often with barely dressed women atop, dancing the night away. this isn't the only parade. there are going to be another two nights after this. and these parades go until the sun comes up. so we'll see a lot of partying. 80,000 people packed into the stands here. of course, this is carried live around the country. so another 200 million brazilians could tune in. these women here are the bianas. right here we have some gladiators. this isn't the only party in

town. in fact, across the city, neighborhoods are holding what they call block parties. but we're not talking about a couple hundred people. in some cases, more than a million people turn out. plenty of drinking and partying. don, this carnival is just getting started. >> all right. thank you, sasha. forget kobe and lebron. the only nba player anyone is talking about is this guy, jeremy lin. his popularity is spreading around the world. that story is straight ahead. but first -- tonight we're honoring a woman who has given many children with cancer what her own daughter couldn't have, a place to learn and make friends. this week's cnn hero gives these kids their own preschool experience.

>> morgan was a very happy child, had friends and then one day when she was 2 years old, she was diagnosed with leukemia. we were devastated. to make it worse, because of the chemo therapy, she had no immune system. she could not be around other children. i was driving morgan to the hospital, and all of her friends were going to the preschool and i thought we need to start a program where they can socialize and learn and be play. i'm nancy. i give children battling cancer a preschool experience. exposure to a simple childhood cold or illness can become life threatening to these children. we provide a safe and clean environment to have individualized supply boxes. they don't share. >> tell us about the special doll. >> i have leukemia and it has no hair, just like me. >> everything that you hoped for

your children, it's like you have to rebuild that. and it's a really difficult thing to do. it's wonderful to see my daughter be like a normal kid. >> they love school because they're around other kids. you live in isolation. we don't do anything. >> we can't go in. >> why? >> too many people in there. >> before we found the morgan center, the hospital was the only place my kids could go. >> to see the smiles on their faces and they're reclaiming their childhood, that feeling is such a joy that it's indescri indescribable. >> cnn heroes are chosen from people you tell us about. go to cnnheroes.com, your nomination could help them help others.

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so this was either a very unfortunate choice of words or just plain ignorant. espn ran a headline on its mobile site that read "chink in the armor" with a story about jeremy lin and the knicks

snapping their seven-game winning streak. a network spokesman later apologized, promising an eternal review. lin, who is of chinese descent, came off the bench and lit under a fire, leading them to seven straight wins before friday night's loss. so there's your joke, if it was one, not funny because they won. lin has taken the basketball world by storm. sports fans in china are also taking note. >> reporter: withis unbelievable performance on the court, he's become an american sensation. and the linsanity over the new york knicks' guard is starting to spread halfway around the world to china. he's winning over fans here, in a country where there are as many basketball buffs as there are americans in the world.

>> china is very wide and inclusive sense of national identity and embraces even a chinese-american born in taiwan who is a devout christian. >> reporter: he's already garnered more than 1 million followers on china's version of twitter. his jerseys are selling fast, and the harvard graduate's tongue and cheek video on how to get into the ivey league school has been viewed 500,000 times on the chinese internet, poking fun at asian stereotypes. >> step one, get glasses. >> reporter: while capturing the imagination of a nation obsessed with education and success. he proves that asians can succeed in basketball, says this fan. but lin's success here isn't a slam dunk. he didn't grow up in china and didn't rise through the rankles of the nation's sports system

like yao ming. >> yao was promoted as this national icon who represented the nation, who is standing tall in the world to show that china could stand tall. on the other hand, i think that jeremy lin will eventually grow on chinese. >> translator: he gives players like me a lot of confidence. he's not too tall, just like us. >> reporter: when yao retired from the houston rockets last year, the nba feared the game here could lose momentum. now they're hoping the 6'3" player, who the media have called a super nova, can one day fill yao's shoes. >> translator: this might just be a burst of talent, but i hope he keeps playing like this for a long time. >> reporter: that feeling is mutual among the linsane back in the u.s. >> good for him. go, lin. when we come back, whitney houston in her own words.

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all right. presidential politics now. rick santorum is mocking mitt romney's role in turning around

the salt lake city olympics in 2002. he says romney's solution was to ask congress for millions of dollars in federal earmarks. santorum says that makes romney a hypocrite. romney criticized santorum for bringing home millions of dollars while serving in the senate. checking other headlines right now. a crowd of mourners in damascus, syria flee as security forces fired on them. two people were killed as the funeral march turned into a protest against president assad. 50 more were killed across syria. president assad meanwhile hosted china's vice foreign minister. he urged syrian leaders to negotiate with the opposition. iranian navy ships have reportedly passed through the suez canal into the mediterranean sea. a deployment one year ago stirred fears in israel and other nations. iranian nations quotes an

admiral as saying the deployment is meant to show friendship and to display iran's military resolve. it was a day that was filled with emotions, sadness, reverence, but ultimately joy. stop the prompter right there. one week ago at this time, piers morgan and i were on the air breaking the news to the world that whitney houston has died and it does not feel like a week has passed and there's been so much said about whitney houston. but today was all about love and respect for her. so thank you so much, viewers, for watching us this entire week, bearing with us, going through this story and to the houston family, friends and fans, our hearts and prayers go out to you. millions watched today the funeral services for whitney houston, and we have heard so much from her and about her, from her friends, her family and her collaborators. tonight, we want to leave you

with whitney houston in her own words. i'm don lemon in atlanta. good night. >> it was about what would fit with my voice, what song did. when clive heard me sing "the greatest love," he grasped on it and said that's where we've got to go. we've got someone that can sing great ballads. ♪ so i am proud to carry that torch. when you're doing it, you give the best you got. i worked really hard and gave it all i had and that's all you can expect. i feel blessed to have, you know, received all of these accolades. that's -- i don't know, that's the way i feel.