The TED Fellowship exposed me to a set of youngsters who had wilder ideas than I did - and almost all of them were pursuing their wild and crazy ideas without fear of failure.
I bet you think an egg is something you casually order for breakfast when you can't think of anything else. Well, so did I once, but that was before the egg and I.
Before I did 'How I Met Your Mother,' I was not considered a comedic actress.
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.
If you are cast in a different mould to the majority, it is no merit of yours: Nature did it.
What you feel spiritually. I think a lot of that has to do with it. If you have no spiritual life, chances are everything is going to aggravate you, you're going to fly off the handle at everything and that's what I did in the past. I've kind of got that under control now.
I saw someone the other day with yellow on their eyelids, and it looked so fresh. But I thought if I did that I'd look like a clown. So I went and I bought some yellow eye shadow from M.A.C. and I noticed that when you mix it with water it works better. So I tried it, and I looked like Big Bird. I will never do that again.
My father, the practical joker, did not care for practical jokes on himself; he did not encourage the practice in me.
Well, actually, I did start out in comedies. Very, very early.
To go from being an unpopular, chubby little kid who was chasing girls and couldn't seem to catch them, to being chased after and making sure I ran slow enough that I did get caught, it was 180 degree turn. It was being given the keys to the candy store.
What I did not yet know so intensely was the hatred of the white American for the black, a hatred so deep that I wonder if every white man in this country, when he plants a tree, doesn't see Negroes hanging from its branches.
When I did these psychological characters like the drug addicts, the ones who were rejected and dejected, I started to feel a sort of melancholia which was very unnatural for me to have at a teenage. Then I avoided those characters.
I still owe a duty of loyalty to my clients and former clients, so I cannot specify which clients I did not especially find congenial, but the cause was the same.
The Constitution did not mention women when it was first written, and it still doesn't.
In my free time, I'd written 'Sammy's Hill' - it had started out as a play. I just did it for myself.
Tobe Hooper - he did my favorite horror movie, 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre.' It's still one of my favorite horror films.
When I first met Mandela, we did not discuss anything of substance; we just felt each other out. He spent a long time expressing his admiration for the Boer generals and how ingenious they were during the Anglo-Boer war.
In about 9th grade, an English teacher told me I had a talent to act. He said I should audition for a performing arts high school, so I did on a whim. I got accepted. Then I got accepted at the Julliard School, and by then, I was serious about it.
I know who I am. I don't have to brag. I know what I contributed. I know what I did. You think you can do it better? Hey, go right ahead. The stage is yours.
And then, I was thinking of doing a record just like starting with voice, because I did this one song that was just kind of a cappella, and I did it for this art piece I did where people could come and play music to go with a voice.
If the right thing came along, I would absolutely direct something I did not write because I love the process so much, but we'll see. I'm taking it day by day.
In fact, ballet companies did not exist in the Midwest when I was a child.
I love Michael Bay movies. I don't think I'd be selling out if I did one. I happen to like his movies. I think selling out is doing something you don't believe in, and you're doing it for a selfish purpose.
You look at the pillars of the state: politics, the media, police, lawyers - they've all got their formal role, and then nestling above that is that power elite who are networked in through soft, social links, that are actually running the show. Why didn't I know that 10 years ago, and why didn't I rail against it? Why did I become part of it?
After the horse dance was over, it seemed that I was above the ground and did not touch it when I walked.
When I did Taming of the Shrew, I was very tired, and I decided to have a holiday and make a documentary.
But I loved the script to 7th Heaven and couldn't say no. It made me laugh and cry, and I was hooked. I'd love to know who turned it down, because I'm sure at least one other actor did. But I'm glad he did, whoever it was.
When I did 'Stardust,' I was fighting the studio for things I believed were right.
I'd had no particular interest in the Southwest at all as a young girl, and I was completely surprised that the desert stole my heart to the extent it did.
I did have fun, for example, in The Black Hole which was very popular among youngsters.
Canadians know that the promise of a recession didn't happen because of anything we did here. If you look at all the causes of the recession, problems in mortgage markets, the problems in the banking sector, the problems in government finance in countries like Greece, none of those problems were in present Canada.
But I enjoyed getting sick, I didn't mind it at all. So in that short amount of time, I did actually go from 121 right back up to 180, which is way too fast obviously. And that resulted in some doctors visits to get things sorted out.
I remember the first time I walked on that stage. Maxine and I were just a duet at the time, and we walked on that stage and did 'Looking Back to See.' Ernest Tubb introduced us at the time. I remember my knees were shaking.
I just didn't lock into being in the right role in the right big movie and it going huge. I did never really make the leap to hyperspace. Who's to say that it can't still happen. I just enjoy working, and feel fortunate to be doing the things that I am doing.
I loved doing 'Frisky Business.' I didn't come up with it. I think John Oliver and the writers did.
But when it became an international hoopla where careers lived and died on whether or not you did or didn't get an Oscar, then it got out of hand.
