Back from adventuring
With great reluctance, I opened my laptop to confront the three week build-up of email and feeds. The keyboard felt strange under my fingers. The screen strained my eyes. I gave up.
I tried again. Amazing how email and RSS feeds which sap my time and consume my attention are so phenomenally boring after an adventure. I'm done talking about them.
Burningman
How can I describe Burningman? If you've been, you understand the problem. If you haven't, no explanation I provide will illuminate things. Go.
Most people arrive at Burningman for the first time completely unprepared. One's first Burningman experience is half spent biking from installation to installation, camp to camp, wild-eyed, rushed, and overwhelmed. The other half is spent begging for things you forgot. Enough food. Enough water. In contrast, I spent my first Burningman among experienced friends who kept me alive. As part of the Mutaytor I worked my ass off on our projects. Most people grow increasingly more prepared with each subsequent Burningman, and work increasingly hard on projects leaving less time to screw around. In contrast, I have screwed off increasingly more. This was my third Burningman, and I was a complete bum. I slept well, I ate well. And if you didn't come visit me in camp, I didn't go visit you. It was wonderful.
Vicki and I were inseperable, and she took to the place better than I did my first time. In fact, the reason I was so comfortable in camp, ate real meals, and showered regularly is because she kept the place organized, helped prepare food, and told me when I smell. It was not because I was necessarily better prepared than usual.
Most people either hate Burningman and resolve never to return, or love it and resolve to return forever. She wants to go back with me. That's a good sign.
Three sets of friends got engaged on the playa: Buck & Roo, Atom & Athena, and Spaceman & Karen. One set got married: Little Bit & Brian. Wow.
- Best Art
- The 9x9x9 spinny cube thing
- Best Art Car
- The Shower Car
- Most memorable experience
- Rocking out 10,000 (official count) people at the burn night show.
more about this adventure in future posts...