burn baby burn
So I'm ramping up for Burning Man once again, although I'm not sure what 'ramping up' means this year, since I'm not going as part of a large theme camp, preferring instead to camp on my own out in the hinterlands. (Actually I'd prefer instead to camp with a group somewhere closer to the front, but I don't really know any other camps... which is part of why I need to do this, so I can spend less time dealing with camp politics and more having fun and meeting people). They (who the hell are They?) say to live every day as though it is your last... at the very least, I am going to live this Burning Man as though it is my last. It is probably more true for me than it is for most people.
I still had some things I said I would do for the old camp, so yesterday and today I have been out in the shop building a platform for the camp shower, and some stairs leading up to it. (Seems like I am making stairs often these days). My design for the camp shower was over-ridden by two of the main people in the camp, mostly on the basis of it being something they themselves didn't come up with... so I'm building the purely functional design they stripped everything down to. (I had some bizarre idea that beauty and creativity would be desired qualities at Burning Man, so I designed something that cost the same as their design, was less work for them since I'd have built it myself if the control-freaks hadn't interceded, and unlike theirs was beautiful and elegant, like a Shinto shrine. But I'm not bitter. :P ). Once I finish that job today, I'll have honored all of the commitments I made to them, and I can move on.
Anne-Marie is still camping with them, since she doesn't have the same concerns I have and is also intrinsically entwined in the camp kitchen, which is where she likes to be (she's magical in the kitchen... and in the garden... and as a nurse... and almost everywhere else). This has led to some stress between us, but there isn't a way to resolve that stress without one or the other of us not having a good time (isn't having a good time and expressing yourself what Burning Man is about?), and besides, the way we are doing it is the only way we can both stick to our word regarding what we said we would do for the camp. It is what it is. I yam what I yam. Do be do be do.
We didn't have time to do much artwork this year (if you've read previous posts, you know it's been a busy year)... and in some ways, that's a good thing, since we now need to divvy up some of our resources (tents and such), and I'm not too hip on working my ass off to create art for a camp I'm no longer in.
Here's a pic of us from last year... hopefully we have times this joyful this year as well.
I still had some things I said I would do for the old camp, so yesterday and today I have been out in the shop building a platform for the camp shower, and some stairs leading up to it. (Seems like I am making stairs often these days). My design for the camp shower was over-ridden by two of the main people in the camp, mostly on the basis of it being something they themselves didn't come up with... so I'm building the purely functional design they stripped everything down to. (I had some bizarre idea that beauty and creativity would be desired qualities at Burning Man, so I designed something that cost the same as their design, was less work for them since I'd have built it myself if the control-freaks hadn't interceded, and unlike theirs was beautiful and elegant, like a Shinto shrine. But I'm not bitter. :P ). Once I finish that job today, I'll have honored all of the commitments I made to them, and I can move on.
Anne-Marie is still camping with them, since she doesn't have the same concerns I have and is also intrinsically entwined in the camp kitchen, which is where she likes to be (she's magical in the kitchen... and in the garden... and as a nurse... and almost everywhere else). This has led to some stress between us, but there isn't a way to resolve that stress without one or the other of us not having a good time (isn't having a good time and expressing yourself what Burning Man is about?), and besides, the way we are doing it is the only way we can both stick to our word regarding what we said we would do for the camp. It is what it is. I yam what I yam. Do be do be do.
We didn't have time to do much artwork this year (if you've read previous posts, you know it's been a busy year)... and in some ways, that's a good thing, since we now need to divvy up some of our resources (tents and such), and I'm not too hip on working my ass off to create art for a camp I'm no longer in.
Here's a pic of us from last year... hopefully we have times this joyful this year as well.
return to front page