The most important thing that I’ve figured out is that things work out the way they’re supposed to. We try to have all this control and fashion things the way we want, but everything happens for a reason, and in the end it works out the way it’s supposed to.
I wanted to be complete, because I figured that, visually, there was an avenue to explore with painted stuff.
It’s my favorite part of the preparation. When we get a pressure figured out and pick it up, those are the plays that fire me up the most.
There’s some glory years, where if you play long enough and you’ve figured the game out, and physically you’re still healthy enough, there are some years in there where you can really be productive. And those are fun years.
I became fascinated with the concept of speak no, see no, hear no evil. And – and the actual depiction of three wise monkeys. And I began collecting it over the years. And I kind of figured that I might be the – the fourth monkey, the feel no evil monkey.
In junior high school, I had this singing group called The Halsey Trio. We would sing songs by The Temptations at school assemblies, so I figured I could do something like that again.
Even as a kid, I was a businessman. I figured out that if you plucked all the berries off my neighbor’s tree and smashed them up, they made a Nickelodeon Gak-type consistency. I sold them to all the neighborhood kids and made stacks of quarters. Of course, the berries were poisonous, and I got in all types of trouble.
As soon as I figured out I didn’t know anything about music, I was OK. It’s when I thought I could learn something that I was in trouble.
I ran into an extraordinary doctor. He got up inside my head and figured out how my brain processed things, what my core values were, what my inner dialogue was.
I’d always imagined that one day I would be a father, but mostly it was off my radar. I admired friends who had somehow figured out how to cross that threshold.
‘Donny and Marie’ was a great experience. I tried so hard to be a great talk show host but it’s all about relaxing and enjoying it. Marie and I finally figured that out. I would have liked it to continue but I’m kind of glad it’s over because of the phenomenal workload.
I used to have all these plans and think ‘Ah, I have my whole life figured out’, but then I realized no matter how much I plan: life happens! So I find myself living day to day trying to do my best, embracing every moment as a learning opportunity and chance to get to know myself a little more.
It never occurred to me that one could just buy tickets to the Tonys. I figured you had to be invited.
When I was young, people were so disgusted by me. Before I even knew that I was gay… everybody else had it figured out and, you know, they were letting you know.
A wise man has to know his limitations. I figured that out pretty quickly.
I figured, ‘Why not go into entertainment?’ I love entertaining people. I always loved being extra loud.
Five years ago I figured we were at the top of our game and that was the best it was going to get, but with every album it seems to keep on building on itself.
Music is a job, but I figured out ways to get my mind into a place where I could be creative. I actually discovered meditation. It enabled me to clear my mind of all the drama and focus on the music.
And now after all this time I finally figured out how to trap him… I will become him.
I think that a really good agent should be able to get the right publisher, which the agent has already figured out, get as much money as she can from that publisher, and make a deal, rather than have the amount of money determine the sale. That’s what the best agents do.
I endorsed supplements for about 15-20 years and made a lot of people a lot of money, so I figured I should do my own line and make my own money.
They told me I should be making my own records. So I figured, ‘why not?
So I always figured I’d still be playing at this age.
I learned in high school that I was going to have to outwork people. I remember running around the track, training for football, and a faster guy ran past me. I just figured, I can outlast him. If I work harder than him, I’ll beat him. And to this day I overprepare.
I used to get stressed out all the time when I thought winning was important. I wanted to try to win and help my kids win. Once I figured out it wasn’t about winning or losing, it was about teaching these kids about being men, that’s when I started to relax.
I’ve noticed over my 22 years of living that, yes, women can be difficult, and I call myself a ladies’ man, thinking I have them figured out. But as men, we will never understand women.
I finally figured out what my crime was. I lived. Big mistake.
I kept listening to albums where I’d hear this very joyful sound – and it was always the glockenspiel. Then I ordered one online, and I figured out how to play it.
I suddenly had this really mad desire to have an affair with a woman. I was divorced. I was childless. I figured there’s got to be one more way to really tick off my mom.
When I started making music, I figured the name Rico Nasty would give a background of who I am.
What the Web has never figured out is how to pay for reporting, which, with the collapse of print newspapers, is in desperately short supply, and without which even the most prolific commenters will someday run out of things to say.
Because, I figured that, because I was a successful man, I was wealthy, I was, you know, seemingly intelligent – even that I am not intelligent enough to ask for help.
I always wrote for myself. I figured I’m not that different from other people. If there’s a story I like a lot, there’s got to be others with similar tastes.
I’ve always figured the only way I could finish a book and get a plot was just to keep making it longer and longer until something happens – you know, until it finds its own plot – because you can’t outline and then fit the thing into it. I suppose it’s a slow way of working.
I wanted to go to NYU because I thought that was my best path to glory. I figured it was safer to move into the acting world in New York while I was living in a dorm.
I dropped chemistry because there was a cute boy, and I figured out if I dropped chemistry, I would be in his drama class.
I made a naive decision, and I joined the Navy. I figured I would use the G.I. Bill to pay for any college I wanted. I dreamed of going to Julliard to study music and acting.
I found that if I don’t paint for around a week, I get practically suicidal. It took a long time to figure out why I had these mood swings, and I finally figured out it’s because I haven’t painted.
I loved logic, math, computer programming. I loved systems and logic approaches. And so I just figured architecture is this perfect combination.
I figured, if I failed, I’d tried something that I hadn’t tried before and if one movie was going to destroy my career than I didn’t have much of a career to start with. I just went for it. God willing I wasn’t over the top and didn’t embarrass myself.
I come from a really big family, my father was a businessman and what he always instilled in us was to be your own boss. My father built up his business, and he was by no means a rich man, but he figured out how to work four-and-a-half days a week.
I look for the hotels that have figured out the comfortable balance – a modern room that is well designed, and really clean sheets.
I was doing a show in Bridgeport, Conn., and getting offers for more money from Boston and other cities in the east. But I figured I would hold out for New York. Then one day, I got a call out of the blue from Hollywood from KNX.
Before I got divorced, I was personally unfamiliar with trial, or at least trial of serious, heart-wrenching proportions. I figured that life went smoothly if you tried hard, and if you messed up, or things weren’t working out, you just tried harder.
Actors are sellers, and I figured out a long time ago that if you wanted to work a lot, you had to be on the buying side.
I like clothes. When I realized as a child that you had to wear them, and it takes the same amount of effort to look good or not, I figured out long ago that I only wanted stuff that I loved and looked good in.
I worked in a Starbucks that wasn’t very popular – before the big coffee boom in London. My boss didn’t take kindly to my incessant sitting. I was like, ‘Look, I’ve dusted everything, the stockroom is all figured out… I would rather sit now so I have the energy when a customer does come in.’
To me, Los Angeles was the invention of the suburb. They figured it out and perfected it and created a city that was dependent on the automobile.
Because I’d only done theater, that’s really what I thought most of my life would be. I always figured that movies would be a part of it at some point. I didn’t know how or when.
Some of us are turtles; we crawl and struggle along, and we haven’t maybe figured it out by the time we’re 30. But the turtles have to keep on walking.
I was invited to do an all-female improv festival in Portland called All Jane, No Dick. The person running it asked me if I had a female improv team, and I just said yes and then figured out who I would want to bring with me. We had such a fun show together that we decided that we should keep doing it.
I figured out who I was very early on – actually, at the age of 13, with the help of the Internet – so I knew that a transition, becoming a woman, was always something I needed to do.
