my top 10 decisions of 2024, ranked (2/2)

thanks for believing in me xoxo

(You are reading a continuation of the Annual Deez Personal Report; read the less-advised decisions #6-10 here.)

5. Signing up for Mandarin class

I could write a whole other novel on the pains of being marched to “Chinese school” every Sunday afternoon between the ages of 6 and 10 (at which point my parents finally allowed me to quit, because I started throwing increasingly more elaborate tantrums). Since then, I’ve always wondered if improving my relationship with The Mother Language would be part of my journey toward achieving total Asian identity nirvana.

When I started seriously considering lessons earlier in the spring, I pictured in my mind’s eye a kindly retired professor who would spend an hour of his week chatting with me and maybe even having lunch with me (which is when I realized maybe I just needed to work on uh some other familial relationships in my life). I did some research and found all these Zoom lesson services, but as you have already read, I am loathe to commit my eyeballs to any additional screen-based obligations. Plus I needed more excuses to get out of my apartment; at some point, I had gotten into a habit of simply throwing trash near the vicinity of the garbage can and counting it as good enough.

After asking around for recs, I came across a promising IRL option: