As I grew older - collapsing into my seventies, glimpsing ahead the cliffs of the eighties, colliding into eighty-five - poetry abandoned me.
One of my eco-friendly hotties asked how I felt about climate change telling me that no one was listening to her, so I asked her, 'What can we do to help?!'
I go straight into shooting with a script that's 80 per cent complete and I wait for my characters to grow on me before I finalise the climax.
Back at high school, there was this quarterback who asks me out. He's never paid attention to me before, but now we're on this date, going to see the 'Sixth Sense.' And right before the climax, he leans in - and I'm so excited, because I think we're going to French-kiss - and then he tells me the twist. He completely ruins the movie for me.
It's wonderful to climb the liquid mountains of the sky. Behind me and before me is God and I have no fears.
Free soloing is almost as old as climbing itself, with roots in the 19th century. Climbers are continuing to push the boundaries. There are certainly better technical climbers than me. But if I have a particular gift, it's a mental one - the ability to keep it together where others might freak out.
When I was a teenager, I did a lot of pull-ups and push-ups. Every night before bed, I'd do 150 - in sets of 30 or so. Looking back on it now, I'm not totally sure that's the best way to improve as a climber. But it did make me a lot better at doing pull-ups and push-ups.
There are way more powerful climbers compared to me but I think I can really take advantage of all my power due to my technique.
A lot of people love to throw the social climber thing at people who are on the rise, but it's really just God moving all the people that are distractions, all the obstacles, out of the way for me to achieve what I'm destined to achieve.
My brother Bill, who is a year older, is a climber, and when I was in the seventh grade, he taught me how to rappel off the frozen waterfall in our backyard.
My failed corporate career became the fodder for the 'Dilbert' comic. Once it became clear I would not be climbing any higher on the corporate ladder, it freed me to mock managers without worrying that it would stall my career. Most failures create some sort of unplanned freedom. I took full advantage of mine.
Big climbs energize me. It's all the other aspects of being a pro-climber that wear me down. The travel and expeditions and training can become pretty tiring. But the actual big climbs - that's what I live for.
I always cling to things that remind me of being a kid again.
Excuse me if I'm clinging on to life, but my parents wove me from tight thread.
The first job I had was a Pampers commercial. And I used to go with my father whenever he would do a performance. I remember clinging to his legs, saying, 'Please. Take me with you.'
I began the study of medicine, impelled by a desire for knowledge of facts and of man. The resolution to do disciplined work tied me to both laboratory and clinic for a long time to come.
I eat so much mayonnaise they were going to send me to the Mayo Clinic.
My mother was a free-spirited clinical therapist, and I had the most hard-working father, a television lighting director by trade. My mum raised me to be a global citizen, with eyes open to sometimes harsh realities.
People say you must be pragmatic, more clinical. More pragmatic than me? I'm sorry.
People ask me all the time, 'Why don't don't you ever do drum clinics?' And my reply is always that I like playing music; I want to play with a band.
