So much to report on...so many spectacles.
I drove up Wed night, stayed in Reno, then headed in to BRC on Thurs. Got there mid-day, found my camp mates and started to acclimate. My camp was really great. They are old hands at the BM thing and had it all planned out. I arrived, set up my tent and spent the rest of Thursday wandering around solo.
My camp mates have an art piece on the playa. A theremin/LED light tube installation that changed sounds depending on your proximity to it. They often had to go out to the playa to check on it, swap batteries in the computer, move people's bikes out of the installation area. So they were often out and about.
I had a list of the week's events and coming mid week, I had missed quite a few. Apparently one of which was the "dildo fencing". I didn't see it, so I can't report on it, but trying to imaging how that is played...awating your comments.
My daughter came down from Montana to see some friends, so I got to spend some time with her. She came over to our camp for dinner on Friday. We had Pasta with Cilantro Walnut Pesto and pancetta that I had brought. Also a nice salad of cherry tomatoes, red onions, balsamic and olive oil. Really yummy.
The Flaming Lotus Girls firework show Friday was the best I've ever seen, incorporating low and high fireworks, pin wheels, 50 foot colored methanol flames, and fuel burns. A very well choreographed show that was "theater in the round".
The Trojan Horse burn right after was also pretty spectacular. It was a huge structure. The event made me think of people watching a building burn. On Friday and the "weekend warriors" had arrived, so there were a lot of wasted party-ers yelling and being generally lame (as you can hear in this clip):
[youtube]wblbGF4MZ6s[/youtube]
One night, I stumbled across this shogun:
![[Image: IMG_0203.JPG]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SRHTxvoVFy0/TmzuTB9el8I/AAAAAAAAABU/Kq-ksazWQGw/s512/IMG_0203.JPG)
I thought that was pretty cool and well done. Two days later, I found a whole crew of them dancing next to a gold dragon art car on the playa. There must be a shogun camp somewhere.
Peter Hudson's piece this year, "Charon", was astounding.
[youtube]GLs_UhtZDGM[/youtube]
The octopus was pretty amazing, too:
[youtube]GMfzFIERJIg[/youtube]
Apparently I missed the Dalek art car as well as the Tardis. My idea for next year was to make an Art Car out of a porta-potty and call it "Doctor Poo". Drive it around the playa playing the Tardis materializing sound. The "Doctor" could wear a blue jumpsuit and carry a sonic plunger...maybe the sun was getting to me by then.
On Saturday, it was a bit hotter and I spent the day at another friend's camp hiding from the direct sun. :drinkers:
There was a bit of drama in several friends' camps as well as mine. I think it was end of the week and people were getting little irritable. I watched the Man burn from the Temple on the far side of the Playa with a friend. It was so far away, we didn't see much, but I was happy to finally get to check out the Temple as it was going to be closed in prep for it's burn on Sunday evening.
I was so burnt out Sat. night, then I went back to camp and was in bed by 11pm. I woke up the next morning with a start, thinking that I had overslept, but when I got out of the tent, the sun was just peeking over the hills. It was 7:30a. I walked to "Center Camp" and bought a mocha. There are only two things you can use money on in BRC: ice and coffee. The coffee was decent. People ordering the coffee all were using names like "Good in bed" or "Great in bed" so when their drinks came up, there were call outs "Latte for Awesome in Bed". It got old quick. I drank my coffee and wandered around the pavilion looking at artwork and pictures from BM's past. Hippies were stacked like cord wood. There was a sort of bluegrass/beat poet trio performing to no one in particular. It was strange...
More wandering around on Sunday morning, then we packed up the camp so we could leave after the Temple burn. That took all afternoon and a lot of energy. A quick meal and then our camp all went off to the Temple burn together. The Temple burn was a truly awesome experience. It's a solemn occasion, partly a memorial. There were thousands of burners there to watch. They organized themselves mostly quietly into a huge circle around the Temple and watched in relative silence. It was a memorable experience. Afterwards, walking back to camp there was a little feeling of sadness in the air that the week was through.
We had great weather this year. Not too hot. No dust storms, no rain.
All in all, I would recommend anyone go at least once. DOOM-wise, we need to have a camp. Rent an RV or two and go. I think it would be really fun. There's some really nice whisky flowing there among other things. Burning Man is a pretty big disconnect from the regular work week. And it's desert camping. You can go to the far side of the playa and watch in the quiet with a a beautiful night sky above you. My verdict: thumbs up if you plan it right.
--tg
PS: Oh yeah, Yetis are welcome. They want you:
![[Image: Yeti.JPG]](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7Zo1fFB9i64/TmzutENnefI/AAAAAAAAACU/hWciRbDW-y8/s640/Yeti.JPG)
