I've heard Rick talk about Quentin Crisp before, and he always sounded like someone who's writing I should read. When I was young and first deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up (I'm still doing that) I eliminated all the dreams of art and music as career choices, because I felt the world was telling me these dreams weren't serious enough, and I felt I wasn't good enough. I stopped painting, and I stopped playing music for about 10 years. If I couldn't be one of the best, why bother. I play now, but I still shove the dreams into the background and avoid failure by never trying.

Thanks for the titles, Rick. I need to make a pilgrimage to the bookstore.