meatballs，hairdos，and other new year’s fun

名称：meatballs，hairdos，and other new year’s fun
内容简介：
Dear Arizona,
　 I want to come up with the perfect New Year’s resolution. Do you have any suggestions?
　 —Ready to Resolve in Reno

Dear Ready to Resolve,
　 To be honest, this is actually the first year I’ve ever made a New Year’s resolution! My best friend Ollie and I totally got into the whole resolution thing—and, if I do say so myself, we came up with some pretty original ideas.

We were practicing skateboard tricks in front of my house when my mom called out, “You two are going to slip and get hurt skating in this wet weather! Come inside and find something else to do!”

So we went in and turned on the TV, but my dad turned it right back off again. “I’m sure that you kids can think of something better to do.”

“But Mom won’t let us skateboard in the rain,” I said.

“So use your noggins to come up with something else,” he said. “Here’s an idea for you—it’s a brand new year. Do you know what time it is?”

“Um, lunchtime?” Ollie asked hopefully.

“It’s time to make New Year’s resolutions!” said my dad. “If each of you thinks of a healthy, lifeimproving New Year’s resolution that you’ll try to stick to, I’ll make you a Super- Spectacular Saturday Special for lunch. Deal?” “Definite deal!” said Ollie (who, by the way, will do almost anything for food).

But I wasn’t quite as excited. In the first place, I didn’t have a single good idea. And in the second place, my father’s Super-Spectacular Saturday Specials tend to be a little on the strange side!

Anyway, Ollie got each of us a big piece of paper and some markers from the art-supply drawer. Then he started to write.

“What are you writing?” I asked.

“I’m putting a bunch of ideas on my paper, and you’re going to put a bunch on yours,” he said. “When we’re done, we’ll read them out loud. Then we’ll pick the best ones.”

“Wow!” I said. “When did you become Mr. New Year’s Resolution Expert Person of the World?”

“When my stomach started growling so loud that I could hardly hear myself think!” he answered. “Hurry up—the faster we do this resolution thing, the faster we get to eat!”

“But I can’t think of one,” I grumbled.

“Just write anything,” said Ollie.

“Anything?” I said. “OK, you asked for it!”

Before long, both of our papers were filled up, and we took turns reading from our lists.

“I, Ollie, resolve to eat more vegetables every day.”

“I, Arizona, will try one new hairdo a week.”

“What kind of a New Year’s resolution is that?” asked Ollie.

“Well,” I answered. “You said ‘just write anything!’”

Ollie snorted in response, then announced formally, “I, Ollie, will make my bed more often.”

“I, Arizona, will dance, dance, dance my sillies out.”

Ollie rolled his eyes, then stated, “I, Ollie, will try to stay caught up on my homework.”

“I, Arizona, will sing ‘On Top of Spaghetti’ every time someone sneezes.”

Ollie laughed. “I don’t think singing the meatball song when people sneeze exactly counts as a healthy, life-improving New Year’s resolution. Plus, it would get pretty annoying.”

“True,” I said. “Hey—how about we each pick a serious one from your list and a silly one from mine?”

“Cool,” said Ollie. “Then, let’s eat!”

My New Year’s resolutions were to try to stay caught up on my homework and to dance, dance, dance my sillies out. Ollie’s were to eat more vegetables every day and to try a new hairdo every week. (He’s such a good sport!)

And that Super-Spectacular Saturday Special? My dad and Ollie gobbled up the entire thing, which contained some seed-like things that I couldn’t identify and some suspicious-looking veggies. (I guess Ollie was already working on his resolution.) Yours truly played it safe with a good old-fashioned peanut butter, jelly, and banana sandwich.

So, dear Ready to Resolve, I’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as a perfect New Year’s resolution, so try not to stress about it. Doing a serious one and a silly one makes the whole thing tons more fun—although I have to say that I’m just about danced out, and poor Ollie is getting very close to running out of creative new hairdos!