At the age of 19, I removed myself from society for almost four months, setting off years of manic episodes, including outrageous overspending. I bought several Mercedes because I thought I could. I had no money, but I rented a jet.

I joke around a lot about the manic times because they're funny. We manics do outrageous things and it is part of our colorful nature.

My recovery from manic depression has been an evolution, not a sudden miracle.

That means we do these things not to make money, but to keep our society functioning at a reasonable level where people can be healthy. We are not trying to shut down businesses; we want businesses to keep running, (but without polluting) and, in this case, the air belongs to all of us.

Due to my sometimes erratic behavior, my children tried very hard to avoid me and not do anything to set me off.

I have a picture of myself in my mind as I walk around every day, until I look in the mirror-and then I'm stunned.