Monday

In the previous post I stopped the ball rolling on this Update column with the assertion that there would be an unprecedented month-long hiatus in programming from Saigon headquarters while I embarked on an overdue vacation home. It's been difficult to get that ball rolling again since, and that hiatus has stretched to an unexpected forty-nine days. Seven weeks. Among the obstacles to starting-up again: the sheer number of things that happened over my vacation home puts me in a confusion over what to pick-n-choose for back-dated inclusion; the sheer number of things that continued happening in the meantime have thwarted my ability to sit in front of the computer (and have, of course, added to whatever plot confusion I'm having above), and after so many weeks of accruing without any disseminating, I feel awkward and out-of-practice. The list doesn't stop there. Too many days without posting and I begin to question the purpose of this project, the basic unrequited and unfocused nature of the thing wanes abundantly murky, while I've become well aware of the daily weight lifted from my shoulders (whenever I bother to remember to miss this routine at all, that is). There's also been all the jetlag to deal with. Anyway, this is a defensive post, hazarding embarrassingly into territory unattractively tantamount to "fishing for comments." In the long run, the reason for pursuing this blog is simply doing it, its benefits probably unforeseeable, and the time it takes is a well-spent diversion from mindless internet surfing or too many lattes and Bond novels down on Diamond Center's attractive patio, watching the next rain storm gust by as maroonly uniformed men and women scramble to close the gaps between slick tarps and colorful umbrellas. I'll knock the rust away one more time, I guess. [Cavin]