San Diego Reader

I don’t know why I cared so much about formulating a resolution when I knew that in a week it wouldn’t matter. Nobody asks about resolutions after the first of the year. It’s an unspoken rule; there’s an understanding that to ask how one is doing on their resolution after the first is like inquiring about someone’s weight or IQ. We are to assume people are doing their best; it would be rude to probe them on their progress.

But as a week was so far away, and I had a few New Year’s Eve soirees to hit up, I settled on a safe, unique, true-ish answer to the question: “My resolution? Ah, yes, well...to become conversational in Japanese. And you?”

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