A very sad moment for me was when my parents separated - a lot of crying, 'It's tragic, we're now a broken family, blah blah blah blah blah' - although my psychological problems stopped. I actually felt healthier.
My mother raised me to open the car door, open the door; if you take a woman out, you should pick up the check, and blah blah blah - whatever.
My whole freshman year at Duke, it was drilled into me that nothing was given to you, and you have to earn it, and this is a dog-eat-dog world, and blah blah blah, and blah blah blah. And you buy into it, 100 percent. You end up loving it. That's the way it should be, right?
So, Blair keep your England, and let me keep my Zimbabwe.
I remember me being that kid growing up. Me being the kid that grew up going to games and being a ball boy and wanting a high five from Blake Griffin or the other players.
The first artist that did it for me with just production was James Blake... I was just blown away... I feel like James Blake kind of was the one that introduced me into that world.
Musicians like James Blake were a big influence on me. How he uses his vocals is amazing. And then Yeasayer and Animal Collective, who aren't pop bands exactly, but they do something that is so catchy and undeniable and so much fun.
Blake & Murphy and I used to be best friends. They helped me discover who I am. They taught me that Bliss was good, but bad is better. Because of the boys, I was able to really express who I am instead of being the pixie princess I was pretending to be.
Blake & Murphy were winners, I was a winner, and winners usually gravitate toward each other. They helped me, so I helped them in any way I could. I knew they were able to retain their NXT Tag Team Championship on their own, but when the matches weren't going the way they wanted, I made sure to step in. We were an unstoppable group.
Blake & Murphy didn't seem to appreciate who I was and what I was doing for them. After losing the NXT Tag Team Championship, they went on a long losing streak. They needed me yet just used me as an accessory.
It doesn't bother me that people think that Blake Shelton made me go country, because I can understand it. My immediate past is pop-rock, and people don't know a ton about me as a kid - yet. They will soon.
A lot of people have said I'd have probably done better in my career if I hadn't looked so cheap and gaudy. But I dress to be comfortable for me, and you shouldn't be blamed because you want to look pretty.
Almost every month, I have a day where I get stuck in the mud of me. I used to blame hormones and PMS. After I hit 50, I blamed the lack of hormones. But men get stuck, too, so it must simply be the human condition.
I'm at the point where you look back on your life and reflect. I've always been an unbelievable critic of me. If we lost a game, I blamed myself every night. I'm very proud of some of the things I did as an athlete, as an executive.
My main problem with Norwegian Black Metal is that almost all the bands from 1992-1993 are made up of rats, who ratted each other out and blamed me for everything that went wrong in the scene. I really don't want to be associated with them in any way.
I was a wife and mother, blameless in moral life, with a deep sense of duty and a proud self-respect; it was while I was this that doubt struck me, and while I was in the guarded circle of the home, with no dream of outside work or outside liberty, that I lost all faith in Christianity.
Think of how many boring, blameless lives are brightened by the blazing indiscretion of me.
Me mum used to always have the radio on - even now she has it on in every room. Me girlfriend sort of blames that reason for me not doing that well at school - constant noise, really.
My mum's always on at me to have children and blames 'that stupid stage thing you do' for me not already having a family.
I'm not the kind of writer who's able to block out the world around me. I'm mindful of our own haves and have-nots, how our culture often blames and punishes the have-nots. I worry about our precarious economic and political climate.
