Being Irish he had an abiding sense of tragedy which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.

I had a lot of success from the start. I never really was tested for long periods of time. I got my first professional job while I was a senior in college. I signed with the William Morris Agency before I graduated.

All religions have periods in their history which are looked back to with retrospective fear and trembling as eras of persecution and each religion has its own book of martyrs.

I would stay on but 'General Hospital' honestly doesn't seem to want that relationship with this character at the moment. They want little short doses during sweeps periods.

Music and songs are written at different periods of time at different times in your life. They reflect the feelings you have and to be honest I quite like having positive emotions.

I think people like to see the lives of artists that are legends. They always go through the dark periods and I think just as humans we like to see that and them coming out of it. I love those kinds of movies.

But then I go through long periods where I don't listen to things usually when I'm working. In between the records and in between the writing I suck up books and music and movies and anything I can find.

My mother smokes me out. We'll get these long periods of me thinking I'm too busy to call her up or e-mail her and she'll send me something. My mom's a real whiner. I love her to death but she always sends me these 'woe is me' things. I think she might be Jewish. I'm not sure. She's Baptist-Jewish which is a double whammy.

You do things when the opportunities come along. I've had periods in my life when I've had a bundle of ideas come along and I've had long dry spells. If I get an idea next week I'll do something. If not I won't do a damn thing.

I enjoy learning about different periods and people and then taking what's universal about the human condition and seeing where it matches up. No matter where you are certain things unite everybody.