In China, because Chinese is a tonal language, it can be kind of hard to follow people's emotional tracks. There was one moment where a woman I was interviewing just sort of burst into tears, and I can usually sort of tell when things are coming on, and in that moment, it was very unexpected.

We did a play of 'Frog and Toad' at my elementary school. And I'm not sure if this is part of the book or it was something that we made up on our own, but I auditioned to play the black hole, which somehow makes sense to me.

At one point, we were across the street from the Sharon Tate house; at another, we lived in Elvis's old Bel Air bachelor pad. It was where he first met the Beatles.

I have always been very into pagan hairstyles. If I were alive a long time ago, I would probably have been burned at the stake.

I would wear entirely one color: tutus, furry pants. It was totally outrageous. My family was deeply embarrassed to be seen with me.