When I was a kid a long time ago, when the sun rose, I was outside on my bike. If my parents were lucky - poor parents! - I would be home before it got dark.
I remember, when I was a kid, my summers were pretty much running around, riding your bike, and then complaining about you were bored.
I'd like to live permanently in October 1988, when I started college. I had no responsibility and the energy to do whatever I wanted. My optimism wasn't dented by experience or low self-esteem.
I did everything but drink the bong water when I was young.
When I was young, it wasn't about the money, it wasn't about the fame and fortune, it was about playing football.
I loved being outside. We'd hold lightning bugs in our fingers and pretend they were diamond rings.
When I went off to college in 1997, I didn't go back and watch 'Conan.' I was out partying and dating women.
When you're a kid, all you really care about are Slurpees and Slip N Slide and riding your bike, and that's what I did.
I used to stick my head out the window when I was a kid and sing at the top of my lungs and think no one could hear me.
I remember riding my bike down the boardwalk with nowhere to go and looking at the girls. It was really innocent.
Before 'Local Hero,' I'd been knocking about Glasgow in rock bands, drinking too much and generally being 21. My opinion of actors was that they were straight and boring, so you see, I was completely unprepared for being one.
Thank God I have parents who'd support the crazy things I did. If my dad found a snake, I'd take it to the woods. I was always taking these homeless birds and homeless cats home.
It was very much like Norman Rockwell: small town America. We walked to school or rode our bikes, stopped at the penny candy store on the way home from school, skated on the pond.
When I was a kid and the carnival would come to the shopping centre, I'd go down and talk to all the people running the rides. I like that whole lifestyle, moving from town to town in a nomadic existence.
We used to all come outside when the streetlights came on and prowl the neighborhood in a pack, a herd of kids on banana-seat bikes and minibikes. The grown-ups looked so silly framed in their living-room and kitchen windows. They complained about their days and signed deep sighs of depression and loss. They talked about how spoiled and lucky children were these days. We will never be that way, we said, we will never say those things.
The older I get, the more I appreciate my rural childhood. I spent a lot of time outdoors, unsupervised, which is a blessing.
It was an actual Christmas tree farm. We had, like, 15 acres. It was really fun as a kid. I also spent my summers at the Jersey Shore, on the bay in Stone Harbor. I walked everywhere barefoot. It was just the most amazing, magical way to grow up.
I've been writing about my boyhood, when I was a little kid back on my grandfather's farm where we didn't know about black widow spiders or all that stuff. But writing about that is so easy.
All the girls look good in college; I mean they're young, they're ready, they're single, they just wanna have fun.
I had the most magical childhood, running free and going anywhere I wanted to in my head.
When I grew up, we played in vacant lots.
When I was at school, I used to end every school day with fountain pen ink all over my hands and face and down my shirt.
My mom, she was, at a young age, caught up in the worldly ways. At that time, it was very intriguing to be out partying and having fun. As a young mother, she was caught in that.
I still feel like the 10-year-old dancing in front of her mirror, mostly to 'No Strings Attached.'
All too soon will Childhood gay Realise Life's sober sadness. Let's be merry while we may, Innocent and happy Fay! Elves were made for gladness!
