And I'm back! (Musings and recollections from Burning Man)

Okay, I admit it. I’ve been back for a few days and I’ve been procrastinating about writing this blog. Burning Man was such an intense and different week for me that I know I’m either going to write this incredibly long blog about it, or give up entirely and fall over dead before I finish writing about it.

First of all, pictures are here. Have fun digging through them. I’ve tried to rotate them and add titles and descriptions wherever possible. Enjoy!

Where the heck do I begin? I carpooled up with Kristen, who is one of Andrew’s friends. We were running late and didn’t get there until Tuesday morning around 2:30AM. That night sucked, to put it mildly. I got blasted with a super soaker from some random crazy drunk guy; I couldn’t find the tent I was supposed to be borrowing from another camp member; I had a horrible fear of porta-potties; and I slept badly.

The next two days or so, I slowly adjusted to life without email, phones, toilets, money, air conditioning, or running water. The first day was by far my worst; I started coming out of my shell after that and getting more adapted to the environment. I walked around with Andrew and went to see tons of great art installations. The really cool thing about Burning Man is that all of the art installations are interactive. I found everything from a giant drum set to a big blue head with an entire room in the back of it to a bookmobile that roamed around the playa to a giant magnetic poetry wall to lots of tiny art installations that did something interesting and unique. In the meantime, I was also slowly adapting to the weather (hot during the day, really cold at night, and with random dust storms.)

Burning Man really is an indescribable experience. It’s about so much more than pooing in portapotties and living with little or no modern amenities. It’s even about more than just going around the playa and playing with huge interactive art pieces. The best way to explain it is simply that you have freedom to do absolutely whatever the hell you want to do (within the confines of the environment.) Want to walk around naked? Sure! Want to dress up like the opposite sex? Heck, you’ll look normal. Want to tell people you’re something you’re not? Have sex or make out with someone you normally wouldn’t? Take any kind of drug you’ve ever wanted to try? Go to a rave that lasts for 5 straight days? Yep, you can do that. At Burning Man, you can be whoever the heck you want; try on new personalities as others try on clothes, and take risks you probably wouldn’t take in everyday life. In short, it is true freedom.

Oh yeah, and you can play Dance Dance Immolation, a DDR clone that requires a flame-proof suit and an oxygen line, because you will be shot in the face with a huge flame if you miss more than 3 steps.

Pure insanity.

I actually wasn’t too daring at Burning Man; I didn’t go for the hard drugs and didn’t run around naked. I did meet someone I really like, though! I’ll name him R for the purposes of this blog… he is a total cutie, and he and I hit it off amazingly well, so I’ll definitely be writing more about him in the future! 😉 (Fortunately, like most of the people in our camp, he lives in the Bay Area, so at least there isn’t distance to contend with.) I also definitely have some highlights: I participated in a huge pillow fight; I was spun around on a platform while watching trippy visualizations (which was one of the best highs I have ever had without drugs being involved); and (one of my favorite parts of the trip) I listened to Paul Oakenfold spinning live through the night at an outdoor club, complete with shooting flames that erupted at climactic points in the music!

I had a really incredible time and I will be back next year, although for next year I’m going to get some sort of camper so I can sleep through the noise… I’m such a light sleeper that I got awakened many times throughout the night by thumping music or freezing cold temperatures.

For those of you curious about Burning Man, and since it’s nearly impossible to describe to someone who hasn’t been there, Morford sums it up pretty well. That column was written in 2001, but remains fairly accurate.

Back to the “real world”! Phew, I’m exhausted…