Getting Started

“I've got so many mountains to climb and goals to conquer. I've got so many scars I want to leave on the planet. I just feel like I'm not there yet. I feel like I am just getting started.”

“The next morning I told Mom I couldn't go to school again. She asked what was wrong. I told her, “The same thing that’s always wrong.” “You’re sick?” “I'm sad.” “About Dad?” “About everything.” She sat down on the bed next to me, even though I knew she was in a hurry. “What's everything?” I started counting on my fingers: “The meat and dairy products in our refrigerator, fistfights, car accidents, Larry–” “Who's Larry?” “The homeless guy in front of the Museum of Natural History who always says ‘I promise it’s for food’ after he asks for money.” She turned around and I zipped her dress while I kept counting. “How you don’t know who Larry is, even though you probably see him all the time, how Buckminster just sleeps and eats and goes to the bathroom and has no ‘raison d’etre’, the short ugly guy with no neck who takes tickets at the IMAX theater, how the sun is going to explode one day, how every birthday I always get at least one thing I already have, poor people who get fat because they eat junk food because it’s cheaper…” That was when I ran out of fingers, but my list was just getting started, and I wanted it to be long, because I knew she wouldn't leave while I was still going. “…domesticated animals, how I have a domesticated animal, nightmares, Microsoft Windows, old people who sit around all day because no one remembers to spend time with them and they’re embarrassed to ask people to spend time with them, secrets, dial phones, how Chinese waitresses smile even when there’s nothing funny or happy, and also how Chinese people own Mexican restaurants but Mexican people never own Chinese restaurants, mirrors, tape decks, my unpopularity in school, Grandma’s coupons, storage facilities, people who don’t know what the Internet is, bad handwriting, beautiful songs, how there won’t be humans in fifty years–” “Who said there won't be humans in fifty years?” I asked her, “Are you an optimist or a pessimist?” She looked at her watch and said, “I'm optimistic.” “Then I have some bed news for you, because humans are going to destroy each other as soon as it becomes easy enough to, which will be very soon.” “Why do beautiful songs make you sad?” “Because they aren't true.” “Never?” “Nothing is beautiful and true.”

“Sports end in a result. And life keeps going. Mine, I hope, is just getting started.”

“I was lucky to book a show pretty quickly after getting to L.A., but I struggled getting started in Vancouver. If I had gotten those earlier roles in Vancouver, I wouldn't have gone to L.A. to get the show that launched my career.”

“In architecture, you arrive so late. I look at doctors, lawyers I know, and they're all buying boats and bailing out at 62. My career is just getting started.”

“I feel like a lot of artists, when they're on their fourth record, they're perceived as the old guys. At least in this day and age. I like that people perceive us as just getting started because that's how we perceive ourselves.”

“I remember back in my days at Disney, when we were doing hand-drawn animation, CG was just getting started. I remember seeing the tests, and finding them a little cold.”

“That's one thing I talk to about with up and coming producers or people who are just getting started - don't think there's a blueprint. I was at university and I dropped out. I ended up on a television game show where I won a lot of money and used it to start making music and building a basic studio.”

“Often I feel that projects overwhelm us when we look at how many hours are involved until completion. But just getting started is usually not that difficult.”

“Technology was changing just as we were getting started. You had these records by people like David Bowie and Talking Heads and Brian Eno that took production into a whole new direction. That really influenced us, and pushed us to find that early sound we had.”

“You go through these phases. That's how life is. Over the long term, you just can't do one thing. I saw that back in the Sixties when I was getting started.”

“I didn't want to do two years in the regular army, my music career was just getting started. So, I joined the Guard where, after going to weekend meetings, you'd do six months of active duty, with three months of basic training and three months of on-the-job training.”

“I retired when I was 30, with all my marbles and a few bucks. But a lot of guys leave boxing penniless with no skills. Men in their 30s and early 40s, old for boxing, young in life, but also old in the job market if you're just getting started with no education. These guys need someone in their corner.”

“People look at me like I'm on my way out of the game. I'm just getting started.”

“Telling people that I wanted to make dance music, or be on the radio, they looked at me like I was crazy because there was nothing like that in Lichtenstein when I was getting started. That's why I went to Germany, because there is industry there.”

“People think floating should be the easiest and happiest time for a company, but it's actually really hard. We were meant to think we'd won - we'd gone public and could go on to new things. But we were only just getting started.”

“'Killer Joe' was originally written in 1991 and first produced in '93 at the Next Theater's Lab - a 40 seat black box theater in Evanston, Illinois - back when I was getting started. I was just 25 and I had been acting for awhile, but it was my first play and the one that really got me noticed, especially by Steppenwolf.”

“Sometimes in composition class, when I have been confronted by someone who simply cannot get the first word written on paper, I give the following advice: Say your essay into a tape recorder and then write it down.”

“I want to be able to say, 'you think you're odd, I'm even odder and I made it - you can too!' I want to direct, do more with 'The Dance Scene,' sign artists and just provide opportunities. I'm just getting started and having the time of my life!”

“Grills are how to achieve a great flavor on meats and vegetables. They bring people together. The smell of them getting started is therapeutic.”