Amanda Takes Off...

I miss Good Man and am counting the days until he gets off that plane.

But much as I love him, I could not live within 15 feet of him 24 hours a day.

Ten years ago, Michael Roach and Christie McNally, Buddhist teachers with a growing following in the United States and abroad, took vows never to separate, night or day.

By “never part,” they did not mean only their hearts or spirits. They meant their bodies as well. And they gave themselves a range of about 15 feet.

Sometimes, I like to worry.

I worried and worried (I still think with good reason) before meeting Good Man's parents. In one of these worrying sessions he told me to quit pre-worrying and to not get pre-upset.

("Pre-worry" gets 540 Google matches, by the way. Good Man is onto something here...)

Tonight we were chatting online and I was (pre-)worrying about not having a job, moving to another state while homeless (though I have friends and family there and I won't actually be homeless), not wanting to own a TV, sheets and towels, money, cars, and whatever other thoughts popped in my head.

Good Man said, "One thing for sure.. [...] we have time to think about it..[...] so take it easy :) I gotta fly to the States first."

I wrote, "I LIKE TO PRE-WORRY!"

Good Man, who knows to handle me, answered, "사랑해. Let's sometimes post-worry. :)"

I had Oriental Ramen noodles for lunch today.

I don't know if it was supposed to taste like a person or a rug.

I'm pretty sure it tasted like neither.

"Mom, I've got most of the books sorted and packed," I said, sitting at the kitchen island. "But I think I'm going to come up with a new book rule."

I love books. I always have. My last apartment in Atlanta had huge built in bookshelves in the dining room and I filled them all. Before I left for Korea, however, I got rid of about a quarter of my books. In the last few weeks, I've gone through my books again. I almost didn't as they were already packed, but I decided to look at which books I'd kept. Only to discover...that I wanted to gt rid of another quarter of them. (I also got rid of all of my undergraduate papers yesterday. Damn, I wrote a lot to get my philosophy degree!)

I explained my new system. "I have a lot of books I haven't even read yet. When I unpack them, I'm going to decide if they're one or two year books. If I haven't read them in that time, they're going to charity. This is excepting all of my books in Swedish, of course."

Mom nodded and I said, "I'm starting to get...what's that word?" I found my reverse dictionary and found the word. "Ascetic." I thought, "OK, except not in a religious way. But in a 'not wanting what the media tells me I'm supposed to want as an American' sort of way."

"Except you like waxings, Clarins..." my mom teased.

"Yeah, I'm a hedonistic ascetic!"

At Grandma's house, spotting me stretched out on Grandma's bed in my pajamas, Mom said, "Amanda, you look really good."

"It's 'cause I'm happy."

"Yeah, but I mean you look healthy and strong. I think it's the taekwondo."

Later, in the car, "Well, I haven't met [Good Man] yet, but the way you talk about him, I can tell that you two work very well together. He seems to know how to handle you. I'm happy for you."

Damn, those were nice things to hear.