2010 New Year's Resolutions

Alright, I’m here at my favorite restaurant, Casa Della Pasta. My man Ivan, he’s got me all set up with my favorite dish. I order the same thing every time I come here—I like to keep things simple. Maybe you should keep things simple to; it makes life a lot easier.
Anyways, it’s New Year’s—people make New Year’s resolutions, and instead of worrying about making a million dollars, or getting a new job, finding love, or some other great, grand thing, I was thinking about my New Year’s resolutions, and I need to keep things simple. And I thought of “Be first”, be first. For instance, maybe I should be the first person to acknowledge people, to say hello to people. Like when you see them in the street or in the store, the convenience store. Everybody normally, when we cross paths, we always do this—right? We always look away. Why don’t you be the first person to say hello? Don’t wait for them to say hello.
I was in Shanghai last week—it’s a city of twenty-million strangers—people just don’t say hello, or acknowledge each other. That’s one thing—be first.
Be first to say you’re sorry. Maybe you had a disagreement, or an argument with a friend, family member, co-worker, somebody like that. Don’t wait for them to be the first person to say “I’m sorry”. You just do it, and say you’re sorry. Don’t worry about who’s right or wrong—just do it, say you’re sorry, get some kind of dialogue started.
So—how ‘bout this for a resolution: be punctual, be on time, show up for things on time. Don’t make your friends wait. It’s actually very inconsiderate to make people wait for you. So, that’s a resolution I need to keep this year, try and be punctual.
And, um, I got a couple other things as far as, um, you know, telling the truth. Try and tell the truth as much as you can. Don’t try and manipulate, uh, situations so that you can get a certain outcome.
These are just some ideas for some resolutions that I need to keep in mind, and I just want to offer that to you, maybe some ideas for 2010.
Whatever you do, Happy New Year, Xin Nian Kuai Le, Gon Shi Fa Tsai, and have a happy, healthy, safe, and prosperous 2010.
Happy New Year!

Key Words

Resolution (noun) – a goal that you wish to accomplish.
Acknowledge (verb) – to notice, recognize something or someone.
Dialogue (noun) – conversation between two people.
Punctual (adj) – to be on time for events, dates, meetings.
Inconsiderate (adj) – not caring or responsible toward others.
Manipulate (verb) – trying to control words, actions, thoughts of others.