burning man 2006
burning man was amazing and wonderful and unique and challenging and everything that words fall short of describing. i tried to go into it with few expectations, just to let the experience speak for itself, and it did. and i miss it.
i attempted keeping a journal while i was out there, but the notebook just became a place to write down funny russian sexdoll song lyrics and little else. i did manage to get a few things down, and i still have many happy memories floating about it my head, so its ok.
and now, in no particular order, behold! a list of memories from black rock city!
riding bikes in the open playa. (my first time riding bikes ever!) the first and last day were especially memorable.
walking all the way to the fence. oh yes. it was a long trek, but well worth it.
getting to sit inside thunderdome during a few of the late night fights. death guild did a really impressive job on building it and setting the mad max theme. i really wanted to fight someone, and next year, I WILL. it will happen, mark my words. (and i intend to win!)
my first official night out on the playa with justin, josh, icka, starr, and nehemiah. we walked for miles, explored every crazy art piece in our path, talked to god, were introduced to the serpent mother, saw the man, chilled at you are that pig, and chatted up a storm. one of my favorite nights out there, this introduction to the city at night was absolutely magical. i believe i fell in love with black rock city that night. ("shoot me now", says former anti-burning man lizzy)
iced soy chai lattes at center camp every day. a morning must have.
the supergood russian psy trance camp. while hanging out in our tent one afternoon, justin and i heard penta's dangerous game (!!! yay!) playing somewhere nearby, so we went to find the source of the music. it turned out that it was camp supergood, right across the road from us. they ended up being one of the only places to hear good music on the playa. i loved dancing outside, in the dust and wind, under the cargo netting, listening to some of my favorite psy trance. penta himself ended up spinning there as well, and i requested dangerous game, which he played. it was awesome.
taking the taoist erotic massage class at ascension tribe. a very moving, bonding experience, one of my favorite moments at burning man. made me want to take many more workshops next year!
camp tramp, a trampoline camp near ours. one day, as justin and i layed out on one of the trampoline's after a particularly good jump, an gothic/metal art car drifted past us, a metal vixen in black singing at us through her megaphone to "JUMP ON THE TRAMPOLINE! JUMP ON THE TRAMPOLIIIINE! YES, YOU CAN! JUMP!" and we could. so we did. jumping along to a personalized metal song in the desert= hilarious and fun.
the dust twisters/dust devils.
the stunning scenery. the mountains, the sky, the early evening moon, the sunset, the ground!
finding the black rock lemonade camp on an oppressively hot afternoon. it was delicious and icy cold.
quality tent time with justin.
extreme camping!
pancakes and soft rock at the pancake playhouse. and more pancakes n' T.A.T.U. later in the week.
searching for the terrence mckenna lunchtime speeches, and failing to find it every time... until the last day when we noticed it was actually just up the street from us. dammit.
building rock formations at the rock building camp. it was a moment of stillness in the ever changing hustle of the playa. i made my own formation, and then justin and i built one together.
numerous stops at the sake camp. i especially enjoyed their pear sake infusion and their spicy japanese cracker treats.
hanging out at our camp in the morning, leafing through the What Where When book, leisurely getting ready to go say our morning hellos and get chais.
getting ready to go out at night, putting on glow stuff, excited for the nights festivities.
swinging on the swings at you are that pig.
getting to know icka and josh better!
the belgian waffle burn. it was by far the largest fire i've ever seen. the flames leaped so high, the moon disappeared behind them. it felt like the end of the world, but a happy end, with everyone running and jumping and grabbing whatever wood they could find to toss into the ridiculously large fire. justin and i ran as close as we could, gleefully tossing wood into the flames. we also ran into heather at this point, which struck me as very funny, due to the apocalyptic frenzy going on around us. the dust devils during this time were INSANE.
eating lots and lots and LOTS of baby bell cheese. mmm. delicious.
riding around on philip and tracy's art car, and then deciding we'd had enough, and riding away on our bikes.
lunch buffet with monique. cheese, pasta salad, fresh tomatoes, and so much more. it was so delightful, that we stopped by monique's cooler again later.
the true mirror camp. a camp that held mirrors that showed you your true reflection, not the reverse reflection you are used to seeing in other mirrors. it was disturbing, i felt i looked slightly off, and crooked. but fascinating nonetheless!
looking at the city from the deep playa.
favorite art cars- the victorian neverwaus house, the cyberpunk steam train, the star wars jawa transport, the spandex dragon car, the death guild cars, the other black welded fire cars, the cupcake cars, the bears in the radio flyers.
favorite art= the serpent mother (a flaming metal serpent, which you could control the flames. so incredible, especially at night.), the belgian waffle (i first experienced it during our first day there, when it was still being built. it remained one of my favorite art pieces until its spectacular burn on the last night.), the weird aeon flux-ish sculptures in center camp, the metal/wood fish, the cathedral, the other temple, the rides of death (the giant see-saw, the thing that spun you around and shot giant flames at you, chairway to heaven), all of the psychedelic art at ethneon village.
the sky on our last day there. breathtakingly beautiful.
i had an amazing time. there were challenging moments, of course, but overall, i found it to be a very worthwhile experience and i plan to go back. i intend to do some things differently next time. i really want to get involved, in music, art, or a theme camp. i want to take photos. i have many exciting ideas i cant wait to start exploring!
go to orgnsm.org for justin's memories (and some of starr's photos), and miss icka captured some stunning photos at catoquery.org.
i attempted keeping a journal while i was out there, but the notebook just became a place to write down funny russian sexdoll song lyrics and little else. i did manage to get a few things down, and i still have many happy memories floating about it my head, so its ok.
and now, in no particular order, behold! a list of memories from black rock city!
riding bikes in the open playa. (my first time riding bikes ever!) the first and last day were especially memorable.
walking all the way to the fence. oh yes. it was a long trek, but well worth it.
getting to sit inside thunderdome during a few of the late night fights. death guild did a really impressive job on building it and setting the mad max theme. i really wanted to fight someone, and next year, I WILL. it will happen, mark my words. (and i intend to win!)
my first official night out on the playa with justin, josh, icka, starr, and nehemiah. we walked for miles, explored every crazy art piece in our path, talked to god, were introduced to the serpent mother, saw the man, chilled at you are that pig, and chatted up a storm. one of my favorite nights out there, this introduction to the city at night was absolutely magical. i believe i fell in love with black rock city that night. ("shoot me now", says former anti-burning man lizzy)
iced soy chai lattes at center camp every day. a morning must have.
the supergood russian psy trance camp. while hanging out in our tent one afternoon, justin and i heard penta's dangerous game (!!! yay!) playing somewhere nearby, so we went to find the source of the music. it turned out that it was camp supergood, right across the road from us. they ended up being one of the only places to hear good music on the playa. i loved dancing outside, in the dust and wind, under the cargo netting, listening to some of my favorite psy trance. penta himself ended up spinning there as well, and i requested dangerous game, which he played. it was awesome.
taking the taoist erotic massage class at ascension tribe. a very moving, bonding experience, one of my favorite moments at burning man. made me want to take many more workshops next year!
camp tramp, a trampoline camp near ours. one day, as justin and i layed out on one of the trampoline's after a particularly good jump, an gothic/metal art car drifted past us, a metal vixen in black singing at us through her megaphone to "JUMP ON THE TRAMPOLINE! JUMP ON THE TRAMPOLIIIINE! YES, YOU CAN! JUMP!" and we could. so we did. jumping along to a personalized metal song in the desert= hilarious and fun.
the dust twisters/dust devils.
the stunning scenery. the mountains, the sky, the early evening moon, the sunset, the ground!
finding the black rock lemonade camp on an oppressively hot afternoon. it was delicious and icy cold.
quality tent time with justin.
extreme camping!
pancakes and soft rock at the pancake playhouse. and more pancakes n' T.A.T.U. later in the week.
searching for the terrence mckenna lunchtime speeches, and failing to find it every time... until the last day when we noticed it was actually just up the street from us. dammit.
building rock formations at the rock building camp. it was a moment of stillness in the ever changing hustle of the playa. i made my own formation, and then justin and i built one together.
numerous stops at the sake camp. i especially enjoyed their pear sake infusion and their spicy japanese cracker treats.
hanging out at our camp in the morning, leafing through the What Where When book, leisurely getting ready to go say our morning hellos and get chais.
getting ready to go out at night, putting on glow stuff, excited for the nights festivities.
swinging on the swings at you are that pig.
getting to know icka and josh better!
the belgian waffle burn. it was by far the largest fire i've ever seen. the flames leaped so high, the moon disappeared behind them. it felt like the end of the world, but a happy end, with everyone running and jumping and grabbing whatever wood they could find to toss into the ridiculously large fire. justin and i ran as close as we could, gleefully tossing wood into the flames. we also ran into heather at this point, which struck me as very funny, due to the apocalyptic frenzy going on around us. the dust devils during this time were INSANE.
eating lots and lots and LOTS of baby bell cheese. mmm. delicious.
riding around on philip and tracy's art car, and then deciding we'd had enough, and riding away on our bikes.
lunch buffet with monique. cheese, pasta salad, fresh tomatoes, and so much more. it was so delightful, that we stopped by monique's cooler again later.
the true mirror camp. a camp that held mirrors that showed you your true reflection, not the reverse reflection you are used to seeing in other mirrors. it was disturbing, i felt i looked slightly off, and crooked. but fascinating nonetheless!
looking at the city from the deep playa.
favorite art cars- the victorian neverwaus house, the cyberpunk steam train, the star wars jawa transport, the spandex dragon car, the death guild cars, the other black welded fire cars, the cupcake cars, the bears in the radio flyers.
favorite art= the serpent mother (a flaming metal serpent, which you could control the flames. so incredible, especially at night.), the belgian waffle (i first experienced it during our first day there, when it was still being built. it remained one of my favorite art pieces until its spectacular burn on the last night.), the weird aeon flux-ish sculptures in center camp, the metal/wood fish, the cathedral, the other temple, the rides of death (the giant see-saw, the thing that spun you around and shot giant flames at you, chairway to heaven), all of the psychedelic art at ethneon village.
the sky on our last day there. breathtakingly beautiful.
i had an amazing time. there were challenging moments, of course, but overall, i found it to be a very worthwhile experience and i plan to go back. i intend to do some things differently next time. i really want to get involved, in music, art, or a theme camp. i want to take photos. i have many exciting ideas i cant wait to start exploring!
go to orgnsm.org for justin's memories (and some of starr's photos), and miss icka captured some stunning photos at catoquery.org.