Seven, Richie thought. That's the magic number. There has to be seven of us. That's the way it's supposed to be.

When a good writer is having fun, the audience is almost always having fun too.

The wonder is that so many OCDs manage to live productive lives, just the same. They work, they eat (often not enough or too much, it's true), they go to the movies, they make love to their girlfriends and boyfriends, their wives and husbands... and all the time those birds are there, clinging to them and pecking away little bits of flesh.

It's best to have your tools with you. If you don't, you're apt to find something you didn't expect and get discouraged.

Has it ever occurred to you that parents are nothing but overgrown kids until their children drag them into adulthood? Usually kicking and screaming?

I've given up thinking - it keeps getting me into trouble.

I think that's what people most always do with the stuff they can't make out - just forget it.