August 14, 2002 | 8:54 AM

Dear Diaryland,

I�ve been writing a lot in my paper diary since I moved. I�ve been feeling really different too�I feel so good right now. So clear and connected. Ironically enough. I feel far less lonely than I did a couple of weeks ago, even though technically I am spending more time alone. Things have been building up to this point for a long long time now, and I feel wonderful and secure in where I am in life.

Don�t get me wrong�I�m not leaving diaryland in some ultimate final way�and I bizarrely enough have to credit my participation in this little community with a lot of profound growth and learning experiences. Being so honest here and receiving both the positive and negative feedback has been incredibly helpful to me. I�ve had to come to terms with a great deal about aspects of my life and face parts of myself I didn�t want to look at. Writing the Saga was the next best thing to Reichian therapy and I don�t think I would have made the kind of overwhelming shifts in my life had I not forced myself to be so brutally honest and self examinatory here.

And I think that I have gotten everything I can possibly get out of doing that. I have a sense of closure and um, peace at this point.

And a need for personal space.

So my updates will be a lot less frequent and probably much less personal than they have been. Expect commentaries about movies or politics or books and the occasional anecdote. The personal stuff I�m moving on to the next level with.

In other words, I am getting up off the proverbial couch because it�s time for me to stop examining and really start living my life.

I just have one thing left to say.

I figured out how to hook up my DVD player yesterday using this weird connector thingy I bought at Radioshack.

And I watched Mansfield Park.

And you should go out right now and rent that movie because it is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen.

Yours always,

Anna