Martial arts is what pulled me through tough times, and it is one of the reasons for my happiness.
There's nobody tougher on the players than me. Nobody.
My brother was a huge Charles Barkley fan - my brother went to Miami. He played power forward, and he always used to tell me stories about Barkley and college. And I watched Barkley growing up. I loved what he brought to the game. His toughness and just his attitude, being as strong he was.
When you've toured for about 10 years like me, you end up feeling like you're always waiting for somebody or something. The whole day is a drag.
I love traveling and touring, but I have to bring the little things that make me feel at home.
I work in areas related to child protection and family safety, women's empowerment, the creation of opportunities for youth, and culture and tourism. Daunting? Yes. Impossible? No. In fact, such challenges energize me.
No, I don't want to be a brand. Brand means I cannot go out for a quiet walk without tourists and fans constantly following me.
If they let people go fight jiu-jitsu tournaments, they can't stop me going to fight a boxing fight.
I love the crowds in Miami. I feel that is one of the tournaments where I get more support. That helps me a lot.
I would wake up really early and go into the hotel bathroom, put a towel over the toilet, and put my laptop there. I'd put my headphones on and just write. And so now when I do writing sessions, and I am stuck on a part, or I can't figure out a chorus, I'm just like, 'Give me a second,' and I'll go to that bathroom.
From my perspective, if I say that I'm done, I would hope - and I trust - that my corner would throw in the towel for me.
I'm always in a hotel room, and I spend a good portion of my day setting it up so it's comfortable for me. Whether that means making paths out of towels so I don't touch the carpet or removing the comforters or just not touching things. Even sitting on a plane with a bunch of other people - it's really hard for me.
When I was a kid, I lived in a poor part of Chicago, and I remember my brother and me using towels as capes. My son does it, too.
Whenever I left New York, the Twin Towers welcomed me back in. It was a symbol of my city - the most unique city in the world, so when I moved to Virginia and later to Maryland, it meant even more.
In 1962, I wrote a series about 42nd Street called 'Welcome to Lostville.' One result was that the young Bob Dylan read it and invited me to his first concert at Town Hall; the result was a kind of friendship that years later led to my liner notes for 'Blood on the Tracks.'
So, for me the town hall meetings are really an opportunity to engage in two-way dialogue with people, and they've been very helpful.
We have more and more one-newspaper towns, and that troubles me.
Before acting, I wanted to become a journalist. I also toyed with the idea of being a chef - but that's only when people asked me what I wanted to be. In fact, I always used to say I wanted to be an actor, but I didn't ever believe that I was good enough to be come one.
I have a photograph of myself when I was 2 years of age, and I don't recognize the person in the photograph. She doesn't look anything like me, and I can't find any trace of her in me physically. And yet I remember her very, very well - even her anxiety.
My sisters and my mum taught me how to be a woman: the way they carry themselves, the way they talk to people, the way they know how to put their foot down. They're not having any nonsense from no one. I can see traces of that in me.
