When I first came in the business, I had a couple of close calls on planes going to London for shows. There was one time where the plane had to fly around until a storm ended, and then we started having a question about fuel, so we had to go through the storm. It was the worst thing that ever happened in my life. That really messed me up.
I have very little faith that I'll ever find someone. I've had some bad luck and I've made some bad choices - not in men, but in how I've chosen to deal with relationships.
If I had a talent, it was for looking askew at everything, possibly more than my contemporaries. But I had to really push myself to be a writer.
I had a very good job in corporate America, but I quickly knew that was not how I was wired.
Because I became a refugee in Macau during 1941, we had this war in Hong Kong, I fought for the government as an air raid warden for 15 days. Our government surrendered, Hong Kong Government surrendered, so I took a junk and came to Macau in 16 hours and I was a refugee, so that's why I was so much indebted to Macau.
Seafood was always my favorite food. I mean, fried lobster? Come on. Once I found out shrimp, scallops and lobster were my allergic triggers, I had to change my diet.
I've always just had sort of a dark take on life, I suppose, and hopefully, the music transcends that in a way.
I never had much education in English poetry as such.
I had worked on dogs for a couple of years developing a renal transplant operation. We had dogs running around with kidneys we had transplanted back into themselves.
Variety shows didn't disappear; it was the caliber of the artists, the classic vaudevillians that have passed on. They are gone, so there's a different caliber performer that's come along that hasn't had the time to work in the small clubs and get the experience.
I've written lots of songs on the piano. My mother had a piano and it was the first instrument I played.
If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is the other side of silence.
When I was straight, I had the courage and energy to become an actress. I owe my career to my will to stop using.
When I was coming up in high school, if you wanted to be in the musical it was during the winter, so I had to choose between playing basketball or being in the musical. And I ended up playing basketball.
I think a guy who's had just the right amount of booze can sing the blues a hell of a lot better than a guy who is stone sober.
I had the trade minister in China sit down as we were preparing for trade negotiations. He said, 'Please don't let people in the United States lose their confidence because when you lose your confidence, the rest of the world suffers'.
I have had dreams and I have had nightmares, but I have conquered my nightmares because of my dreams.
Before I wasn't sure what I wanted to say, but now, I have had so many different experiences that they have given me what I want to get across in my music.
The more studies that come out that talk about concussions and so forth, it makes me wonder. I wonder, more importantly than the stroke, the impact that concussions have had on my life, particularly as I get older.
Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water.
Well, I had the most appalling childhood.
We named the book 'Extreme Ownership' because we really found that when we looked at not only at leaders but at teams that were the most successful, we found that the ones that had this attitude of extreme ownership were the ones that did the best, and it's definitely an attitude that I had.
All of those things had been talked about, suggested, rumored, as a manager and as a member of the Knicks organization, I couldn't allow myself to think that way or believe that.
Think of your favorite teacher you ever had in school: the one who made it the most fun to go to class. They surprise you. They keep you guessing. They keep you coming back, wanting to know what's going to happen next.
In truth, I've never been a big superhero fan. I don't mind some of the movies, and a couple of the cartoons were alright - that Batman series from the early nineties where Mark Hamill voiced the Joker is sweetness. But largely, I've not really had much time for superheroes.
I was always the black sheep of the family and always told that I was dumb, and I had a low IQ and did badly in school.
But I was losing so much bone density that I would have been in grave danger. And I mean grave danger. If I had let it go just a few more years I could have broken my hip or spine just picking up my granddaughter.
Luckily, I'm only aware of about two or three concussions that I have had, but there's really no way of telling how many overall.
I've had opportunities. But I'm happy at Utah. I can do a lot of nice things and I love the kids. We work hard and we have fun.
I never went to film school, so I never had the chance to be rejected.
There've been periods where I had to convince the audience or win them over.
I was always aware of the ticking clock of time, always. I was very aware that I had a lot to do, and I wanted to do those things in the best possible way that I could and probably the biggest way I possibly could.
With respect to Iraq, I did favour the continuity of American forces to work with the new Maliki government. They had enormous needs for intelligence, for training on everything from airplanes to more sophisticated ground equipment and the like.
Living in China, I found out that the bright new world was not for me, not for defectors. My life in North Korea had been OK; suddenly, in China, I had to feed myself and earn money. Worst of all, North Korean defectors are hunted by the government.
I thought my dad was out of work, because my friends had fathers with briefcases who'd go off somewhere with bow ties on. But my father would finish breakfast and go back to his room.
I'm really just a regular guy who has had an incredibly blessed life.
