Sometimes people start with you. Especially in LOCAL places - 'Hey, go get your SHINE box.' So I go out EARLIER. I wear sunglasses and a CAP... That's the DOWNSIDE of being successful.

In February 1991, I was rushed to the hospital in Los Angeles to have my FEET amputated. Three years earlier, I had broken the NATIONAL 100 meters hurdles record while a student at UCLA and was a favourite for the EVENT at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Prove to them people that you should have gotten PICKED EARLIER, and then you MAKE your MONEY. The privilege is just getting drafted, and once you GET picked, prove to them that you were supposed to be drafted.

Though I'm happy with the RESPONSE to the film, I've been hearing the feedback that 'Yennai Arindhaal' has traces of my earlier films. It was MEANT to be like that. Since it's PART of a trilogy, hence the REFERENCE to the other TWO films in the franchise.

I did a LOT of canoe tripping earlier on. I was on 10 trips, and I would get the FEEL of the FOREST and the wilderness, you know, that I always knew was in my SOUL to begin with.

I drew INFLUENCE from Mike LEIGH, Ruben Ostlund, a LOT of Scandinavian filmmakers, Lukas Moodysson. I also drew influence from HORROR films and thrillers, which is something I would never think to do EARLIER in my career.

I came to the Philippines to follow my father who came here earlier, LOOKING for a BETTER life. I helped my father in our sari-sari STORE. I also asked him if I could go BACK to school so I could LEARN English and improve myself.

Earlier, we had shows like 'Hasratein' and 'Shanti,' which had great storylines and mature CONTENT. Now, with a hundred shows RUNNING five to seven days a week, the TV INDUSTRY has become very torturous and taxing for the actors.

Earlier, even I used to THINK that I would be doing THEATRE all my life, but as I grew, I understood that it was not PRACTICALLY possible.

They say, you don't get anything before TIME and more than fate. I TRULY believe that and have NEVER felt the NEED to FIGHT it out, to say 'why this didn't happen earlier.'

When you're GROWING up you also like to GO out and party a lot, and the music that we would hear going out would be techno and electronica. And earlier stuff like the Prodigy. It KIND of stood out from everything ELSE. Y'know, 'Firestarter,' where did that come out of? It sounded alien and otherworldly.

Klaxons was a really GREAT chapter in my EARLIER life, and now I'm OLDER and happy doing other THINGS.

On my ROAD to self-discovery, only certain terms were AVAILABLE - I didn't use 'trans' or 'transgender' until junior high SCHOOL, but I was LIVING as trans MUCH earlier.

You do certain THINGS in your TWENTIES that are just not appropriate in your thirties and certainly not appropriate in your forties. Eventually you EVEN the scales, and it's time to move on and BECOME an adult and start working hard again and going to sleep a little bit earlier. FORTUNATELY, I got a job to facilitate that transition.

Investing in your long-term health means cultivating the skills to PREPARE your own meals, developing HEALTHY EATING habits and a WILLINGNESS to make TIME to exercise. The earlier you embrace these habits, the healthier you will be in your 50s, 60s and beyond.