Sunday

My god, it's already today. I've been planning this for five months, had plane tickets for three, and been hustling for weeks getting my projects completed. In one of these completions I failed, but it wasn't my fault. Whether due to the oncoming rains or traffic attending the Olympic Torch run through town I do not know, but I've been unable to upload the last eighty-odd photographs from Hong Kong all weekend long. They're ready, which wasted a week, but Flickr, or Vietnamese access to it, have failed to let me post them online. I'll try again once I'm home next week. I technically fly out of Hồ Chí Minh City at seven am, have to be at the airport at five, the taxi stand at four thirty, and packed before then. Since I usually go to bed around five, this means that I have to stay up late to board my first airplane. Hopefully, I'll get some sleep between here and Hong Kong, or between Hong Kong and Los Angeles. I won't return for a month, during which this Update Column will take an unprecedented thirty-day hiatus. I'm really looking forward to visiting home, where a significant portion of my heart has intermittently languished these last three years. The excitement is only slightly offset by the fact that I'm always having to leave one home to arrive at another. Going away is as hard as arriving is exciting. The rest of my heart is staying here, after all. I'm not excited about the flight. Last time I sat around the world, it was in the significantly more comfortable business class cabins of the same airplanes I'll be crammed in the back of tomorrow. Also, apparently, I will be in the one place where I have no heart. [Cavin]