Amanda Takes Off...

Mark is my best friend. We've been friends since sixth grade, though he likes to remind me we briefly met in fifth. We once had a pact that we'd marry each other at 25 if we were unmarried.

Well, we're both 27 and we're both still unmarried.

In any case, sometimes when I talk to Good Man, I feel like I'm talking to Mark. Tonight, twice through text messaging, he said things exactly like I imagine Mark would.

Me: I lost my sock.

Good Man: How many?

Me: One.

After taekwondo I could only find one sock. I said to Master, "I lost my Spiderman sock. If a student finds it..." He laughed at me. I love my Spiderman socks.

(Class was good, poomse work. I talked to Jennifer on the phone beforehand, which made me late for class. I came in and he said, "Busy?" He'd either seen or heard me on the phone, or Crybaby had told him I was outside chatting.

"Yes, I know a Canadian girl with a Korean boyfriend. So we were chatting." He gave his approval and I practiced the forms I'd missed after class without Master asking me to, so he was extra pleased.)

Me: Someone just ate my cookie off my tray at Tous Les Jours.

Good Man: You mean stranger stole and ate? Tell the clerk.

I was at the bakery and these two women were in line in front of me. Their purchases were being rung up and one reached over to my tray, broke off a hunk of my cookie, and ate it.

"Ungh! Ungh!" I pointed, "저 재 쿠키에요!" That's my cookie!

The woman froze and looked me. I picked up my tray and got another cookie, shaking my head while she and her friend tried to figure out how they should offer me the cookie on their tray. They thought they should offer it to me; they just couldn't decide if they should speak English or Koran.

When I got back, they lifted my defiled cookie off of my tray and started trying to explain that she got confused.

I tried to save her some face by asking her if she was tired. She totally missed the cue and pointed to her own tray, saying, "No, but my cookie is over there." Ah, yes, so it made sense to eat it over here... Face saving, lady, go with it!

She started apologizing repeatedly and I said it was OK until we (she and her friend, the employees, and I) started laughing. It was an uncomfortable, embarrassed Korean laugh.