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I definitely try to profile people at the grocery store based on what they're buying.

When I was writing my column, I would almost always be recognized when I was in a restaurant, even if I was reviewing it and had booked under a fake name, so free stuff would start coming out of the kitchen on a conveyer belt, fantastic wines would be opened at my table. Now I can't even get a reservation on the pizza joint on the corner.

I am a deeply superficial person.

I try and write honestly about what I see around me now.

Because I'm a designer, I'm quite good when I shop. I know what I'm looking for.

I do a lot of things for effect, which is not to say I am superficial, but that I know how to put ideas across.

People from all walks of life and all over the world look at me and know my humble beginnings and know that everything I've done has been through hard work. People respect me as a marketer and brand builder.

I guess, taking away all the theatrics or the costuming and the outer layers of what I do, I'm a writer... I write.

I don't know any other columnists, and I don't know what they do. I work the single! And nobody does what I do, anyway.