Q: What’s your workout regimen?

A: I do about 40 minutes a day of qi gong, the fundamental exercises of tai chi. It looks like nothing, but if you learn from somebody who knows the shit, it’s really hard. Or I’ll swim about 200 yards in a pool, just to get a little bulk. I’m about 140 pounds, but I was a big boy when I graduated high school — 160 pounds. Singers look funny at 160, unless you’re in Lynyrd Skynyrd.

He confirms the qi gong, sex, and swimming regimen in this radio interview with Terry Gross.

jimmy
 

I never really had time this year to prepare a proper Halloween costume, so on Monday I simply raided my closet for a just barely serviceable costume, just like I have done for the past several years. This year, I’m “Mr. Stuck-in-the-80′s.” Wow. What a stretch. I’m basically wearing my ordinary clothes circa 1984: Levi 501 jeans, a thin leather belt, a pink Polo pullover, an unconstructed blazer, with shoulder pads and multiple lapel pins (“I’m the one your mother warned you about”), and black loafers over white socks. I have a bandana around one wrist and a black Swatch on the other. I spiked my hair and am wearing an earring. Anyway, this costume won’t win me any contests, but it’s brilliant in it’s own way. First of all, it was free and easy to put together. It is enough of a costume to qualify for the participant’s prize of free movie passes at my office costume contest. And finally, my office has a somewhat conservative dress code, yet here I sit in jeans, mussed hair and an earring, so I feel like I’m stickin’ it to the man! This is fun, but next year I really need to swing for the fence and try to win or place in the Halloween costume contest. The best costume I ever did was Edward Scissorhands. I think I could make it even better. Maybe Ken could help me with version 2.0 of the scissorhands. We’ll see.