I went to Burning Man. It was the most relaxing thing I have ever done.
I was kind of stressed going in, both about quitting grad school and about other things, so it took me a bit to get into it. However, driving down with gwillen, Carmen and Aaron was pretty cool. Introdus was kind of boring, but we got in by three or so and set up the dome in the dark at H and 6:15.
Also, we lost Akiva. He went with Alice, and then left their camp before we could find them. On the third finding-Akiva venture, Steve and I found him at about 9:30 in the morning, at Center Camp.
Our camp consisted of me, Akiva, Carmen, Ed, gwillen, Allie, Boris, Boris' Ben, James the Heave (mysterious Brit sex cultist), Aaron, Chad (Aaron's coworker) and Steve (a random friend of Aaron's former boss and friend, Christophe).
Monday was adventures, and then a phenomenal rainstorm. After heroically fixing The Dome, including the Heave's mad climbing around on top of it, we were pretty well protected. After the rainstorm, there was a double rainbow, which was far and way the best rainbow I have ever seen. Akiva, Steve, Carmen, the Heave and I went on a quest to find the bottom, and did, actually, manage to find some sort of coin at the edge of the city. Steve is the best at getting mud off of shoes.
The next day or two were adventures. We saw a billion arts, the Man, the Temple (the most beaurtiful place ever, pictures soon) and Akiva and I had midnight grilled cheese with a beautiful Canadian and a random guy from San Diego. Let me emphasize the beautiful Canadian.
At some point on Tuesday or so; probably actually Wednesday, Carmen, Akiva and I ran into a honeycomb made out of wood. I climbed it with Carmen, we talked some, and then I wrote some things on it. I came down finally completely relaxed and remained that way for the rest of the adventure.
And what a adventure it was. You know how, in movies with carnival scenes at night there is always a hallucinatory view of the whole scene, with glowing lights? That's what this was like. For a week. With half the people around you tripping, rolling, drunk or stoned. And a Thunderdome. In the desert. In what is the small-nth largest city in Nevada. With music. And strangers who give you candy.
One night I probably danced for six hours straight; most other nights approached this. I tried to be in bed by dawn so as not to confuse my circadian rhythm; I just barely made it every night. One night, Akiva and I randomly ran into Annie, and we wandered the deep playa with her through the whole night, looking at random things. We made it to the end of the world.
Everything glowed; most played music and shot fire.
During the day, it was warm and sunny, but in the dry heat you would not have guessed how hot it was (it apparently got above 100 at least once (this was a mild year!)). However, you had to carry water with you lest you die.
Wind and dust gets everywhere. Apparently this was a mild year for dust storms, but we had a couple. One was at night, and Akiva, Steve and I had two pairs of goggles between us. It was an adventure.
We saw a giant green caterpillar with a well to another world in it, a giant playground that turned into a dance club, a giant glowy butterfly, a robot named Hotshot, a spiny-sparky-fire-thing, a flamy-glowy-tornadoy-musicy-thing (thanks, Alice and Tom!), a roller derby game, a Pittsburgh party with pierogies, an Irish pub (run by real Irish, I am told!), a billion shining people.
On the way back, we stopped in a diner and had the best bacon ever.
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I recently
found a very exciting offer had been submitted unsolicited to me by email. I think I will go now and meditate on the possibilities or something.