The fortune cookie gods at Happy Family Vegetarian Restaurant smiled upon me once again.

Up at 05:00. to make final preparations for my next adventure. Continuing the European theme for the year, I am heading for Turkey for four months (maybe longer if an Istanbul club residency becomes a reality) to work on VJ related projects with Michael Parenti and fALk. True to form for previous departures, I have been busy with a multitude of projects in the two-week layover I had since the end of a month-long trip to Poland. Somehow I managed to cram in seeing almost all of my friends, making a couple of technical support house-calls, two meetings with Yahoo!, shooting an eight hour-dance workshop, capturing 58 hours of video footage from Poland and cutting together close to three hours of documentary with it.

Needless to say, I was far from packed when Asia arrived at 07:00. to collect me. Most of my stuff was laid out and ready to go, but it was a bit of a juggling act to get an Apple G5 and a 23" Cinema Display as well as a couple of video mixers and effects units and a couple of laptops all stowed nicely in my bags. Very worried that I had exceeded the weight limit with the flight case I had filled with the display and video gear.

On the road at 08:30. Pretty smooth sailing with the exception of a missed approach to the 105 West, until we got about halfway down the 105 and ran into traffic. Pulled into the parking at the International terminal at 09:30. Got into the terminal to find that all of the United flights were down at terminal 7. Had a long hike around half of the airport. Got very nervous as we got close to terminal 6 and caught sight of long lines waiting for security screening. Thankfully terminal 7 was very quiet and I was able to use the self check-in. To my great relief, no comment was made about my bags being too heavy. Hung out with Asia a bit before another sad goodbye. She waited until I was out of sight before leaving. Had over a month of her company on the Poland trip as well as back in LA and she will be sorely missed.

Got passed the security check and into the terminal with no hassle. We began boarding at the advertised half hour prior to departure. Not very excited about the middle seat assignment, but my neighbors were quiet and non-invasive. The flight was pretty smooth and uneventful. The crying babies behind me were drowned out by my noise-cancelling headphones.

Got into Washington Dulles around 19:30. Got settled in at the terminal for the next leg of the journey and made a few phone calls. Found some wireless Internet access and hopped on to check email and begin blogging again. Hopefully I will be able to keep this a little better up to date than I did in Poland.

Got loaded onto the plane and was excited to see that the seat next to me had a broken TV screen. I took this as a hopeful sign that they would not seat anyone there. My hopes were rewarded and the seat remained vacant. Nice to be able to stretch out a bit. Talked with Asia until the call to suspend use of electronics went out. We got underway just after 21:30. Had a delicious vegan dinner and watched The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Crashed out after the movie ended.