Feels Like Home

Since March we've been living in Xili, "out on the edge of town." I seldom get into the center of the city: maybe once a week, max.

So, naturally, I've begun to feel a bit like a recluse, an outcast, an even stranger stranger in a strange land. An Outlander.

Imagine how I felt, then, when, in the space of less than two hours, I saw about ten people that I know when I went in for lunch today. Some of them I've known for years (like three or four years; I've only been here five!); others are just nodding acquaintances. Several are in the hospitality biz (restaurant and cafe owners and managers I've cooperated with in the past). Not one was a teacher.

I guess I belong here after all. It feels like home.

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And now, the newly published material:

• 365 Secrets of Happiness: Get Your Spiffy On (put on the Ritz)
• Buddhism Simplified: Choosing a Bride (maybe marriage will settle the young prince down?)
• Aphorisms of a Derelict Yogi: "If you screw around, you'll get the clap" (a crude statement of the Law of Karma)
• China: The Boy Emperor's Tomb, Shenzhen (last resting place of the last Song emperor)

And don't miss the weekly Newsletter that summarizes all of this week's posts!