but the truth was that he read it only at night and rarely got through more than a few pages before falling asleep;

there are clear advantages I have had in terms of my education even if I squandered the chance to attend college, and in terms of the financial safety net under me. But most of all there’s the advantage of believing there would be a place in the world for my music. Because I was a shy, freaky goth weirdo as a teen, it took me years to cop to the en

Sally, apparently “lone wolf” is something of a misnomer. A wolf who strikes out on her own tends to do so only temporarily, when moving on to the next stage, before finding a new pack.

Their sincerity and spontaneity and sheer optimism all seemed so misguided, so destined to fail, that how could anyone, including a cynic like me, not root for them?

The essential thing I’d failed to understand about TNO before working there was that, even though there were flubbed lines and late camera cuts and sketches that bombed, the live part wasn’t the show’s weakness; it was its strength. And really, so was the way all the preparation had to be crammed into a week. These were the things that made us inve

try. I reminded myself of someone, and then I realized it was Sugar during a thunderstorm.

A third child inspired in me more gratitude for my own circumstances than envy for Amy’s.

(I thought this one’s name was not Madison but Addison, and then I thought that surely I had to be making that up).

and wished that being aware of my own ridiculousness could somehow decrease my ridiculousness.