I never felt I was quite the ticket academically. I always felt I had to put in an enormous amount of effort not to be disappointing. So I worked really hard, but at the time it suited me, because I didn't do very much else.
I really don't think I have that much of the gift; I have a little bit, but I wish I were Schubert or Chopin or Beethoven, though Beethoven had a very difficult time writing melody, too.
I am in an adolescence in reverse, as mysterious as the first, except that this time I feel it as a decay of the odds that I might live for a while, that I can sleep it off.
The first time I was homeless was when I went to Atlanta. I was in a homeless shelter, then when I got a job I used to miss the curfew for the shelter. So I ended up sleeping outside in the streets.
I don't remember the first time I won. I remember the first time I lost, and it sucked. It was go-karts; I was, like, 6 years old.
I remember the first time I spoke to an editor. I thought I'd be sick, I was so nervous. The first time I spoke to a large group at a conference, I had the jitters for days beforehand.
When I was younger, before I was married and had children, I really was nit-picky, a perfectionist. I was very much into different people's approval. I had too much time on my hands, I think.
I've written a song for Prince. I never showed it to Prince, but just to see if I could do it. At the time, when I sort of knew him, he was recording a song a day. I wondered if I could do that. So I wrote it.
I was very outgoing, and a good-looking kid. I started doing all the catalogs. I made 60 commercials by the time I was 6. I must have been a natural, because I never took an acting lesson.
I always told my mother I wanted a job where I could have a lot of fun and have a lot of time off. She asked me where I was going to find that, and I said, 'I don't know, but it's out there.'
Every day I think, 'Gosh, I wish I could be like George Carlin, Bill Maher: I want that edge.' But every time I start to get that edgy thing, I get kind of mean.
I wish I could say I see my little brother more. We used to fight all the time but now that I don't see him very often I cherish the time I have with him.
I don't buy a lot when I travel, but when I do, I like to send gifts from wherever I am. It's fun to find the local post office.
I know it when I don't know it. Sometimes I know it when I don't think I know it. I need to trust myself in these moments, these rare moments of self-doubt.
I'm not pretty. The truth is I didn't think I could be a model at all. I was looking at some of the guys on the walls at Irene Marie and I thought to myself 'Jesus Christ. I can't do this. I don't look anything like these guys'.
Robert Graysmith: I... I Need to know who he is. I... I need to stand there, I need to look him in the eye and I need to know that it's him.
I regret I didn't ever learn how to fly a plane. I had the opportunity when I started to make some money, and I regret I didn't really take the time out and put the effort in and do that.
I decided to pursue music, so I dropped out of school and I told my parents I didn't want any money from them. I got three jobs and I just hit the ground running.
During the Eighties, when I was hurting for money, I thought, 'Hang on a minute - I can paint.' I was living in New York and I thought it would get the grocery money coming in, and it escalated from there.
At the moment I am a little bit politician, yes. I think that could be my next step. It is not because I want power, it is because of what I think I could do for the people.
The older I get, the greater power I seem to have to help the world; I am like a snowball - the further I am rolled the more I gain.
