“Coincidentally, a good age for a Japanese girl is younger than twenty five, because that's when she turns into a 'Christmas Cake'. Christmas cakes, as everyone knows, are desirable before the twenty fifth but afterward quickly become stale and are put on the shelf. ”

“Life was a cake that looked good on the bakery shelf but turned to sawdust and salt when I ate it.”

“She always says she doesn't believe women should get married before the age of thirty-five...she says women change so much in their twenties, they can't possibly know who they are, and the choices they make before the age of thirty are rarely good ones.”

“ When a girl is seventeen she needs good parents. When she's twenty-five she needs a pretty face and figure. When she's thirty-five she needs a good personality. When she's fifty-five she needs cash. ”

“Glen had a disability more disfiguring than a burn and more terrifying than cancer. Glen had been born on the day after Christmas. "My parents just combine my birthday with Christmas, that's all," he explained.But we knew this was a lie. Glen's parents just wrapped a couple of his Christmas presents in birthday-themed wrapping paper, stuck some candles in a supermarket cake, and had a dinner of Christmas leftovers.”

“She looked at the kids, who did not see [them] because they were past the age of twenty-five...”