It's happening... The Man burns in.... 24 days! (or some smaller amount depending on when I actually post this)
I previously went to Burning Man in 2011. It was my first burn and I was equal parts terrified and excited. I thought it was going to be some eye opening experience since everyone always seems to describe it as such. It really wasn't like that for me. I camped with a group of people where I knew some of them, others were brand new and some were just the biggest self centered assholes in the world. Guess which ones ruined the experience for me?
It should have been different. I should have gone off and been as far away from those people as possible but when you're trying to be a community it's really hard to tell someone to fuck off. Or at least I have a problem doing that. I'm a whole lot nicer than I appear sometimes.
I stayed close to the group, was scared I was going to get lost and was just generally a little out of it.
The times that I treasured the most were when Hans and I were exploring on our own, or when I took a deep breath and road off by myself. One day we sat in some sort of open geometric sculpture (this year the temple is being made by the same people) it was beautiful to look at and so lovely to sit in with a breeze going past in the hot desert sun... I started to fall asleep. Of course it wouldn't be burning man if someone didn't come by and offer fresh cold mango...right? The next adventure we had was walking around the playa at night going towards anything that was glowing, in the end we ended up at a movie theater where surprisingly all our other friends already were...that's the playa for you. You never know what's going to happen. We also found interactive art, slept on an oasis of fake grass, found a dome full of awesome art and danced like we didn't care in a more than dead party. It didn't matter...we had fun.
Then my own adventure was when I went to the temple and sat around drawing and writing in a little journal. I eventually had a conversation with a man who had been giving out massages. I wanted a massage but was feeling too shy to ask for some reason. He was of course a little weird but really happy. He told me he saw...I think he said aura... but he saw swirls of purple coming off of me etc... I opened my book which he had no way of seeing and showed him a sketch I had just done in another area of the temple which was all purple swirls, it was a crazy coincidence that was kind of lovely. He also gave me a bottle filled with love. Yes, to an outsider or someone who maybe doesn't want to believe in silly things it was just an empty bottle, but to me, right at that very moment...it was perfection. He told me to open it and let out the love whenever I needed it. Honestly it was very sweet.
Burning Man is part survival, part art and part total crazy. I thought for sure I wouldn't survive. I assumed that I was going to wilt in the heat and that my medical issues and pain would spike and I would surely have to go home early.
Nope..I survived! I was ok. I didn't have the best time and swore I would never go back.. but here I am.. gearing up for another try.
I previously went to Burning Man in 2011. It was my first burn and I was equal parts terrified and excited. I thought it was going to be some eye opening experience since everyone always seems to describe it as such. It really wasn't like that for me. I camped with a group of people where I knew some of them, others were brand new and some were just the biggest self centered assholes in the world. Guess which ones ruined the experience for me?
It should have been different. I should have gone off and been as far away from those people as possible but when you're trying to be a community it's really hard to tell someone to fuck off. Or at least I have a problem doing that. I'm a whole lot nicer than I appear sometimes.
I stayed close to the group, was scared I was going to get lost and was just generally a little out of it.
The times that I treasured the most were when Hans and I were exploring on our own, or when I took a deep breath and road off by myself. One day we sat in some sort of open geometric sculpture (this year the temple is being made by the same people) it was beautiful to look at and so lovely to sit in with a breeze going past in the hot desert sun... I started to fall asleep. Of course it wouldn't be burning man if someone didn't come by and offer fresh cold mango...right? The next adventure we had was walking around the playa at night going towards anything that was glowing, in the end we ended up at a movie theater where surprisingly all our other friends already were...that's the playa for you. You never know what's going to happen. We also found interactive art, slept on an oasis of fake grass, found a dome full of awesome art and danced like we didn't care in a more than dead party. It didn't matter...we had fun.
Then my own adventure was when I went to the temple and sat around drawing and writing in a little journal. I eventually had a conversation with a man who had been giving out massages. I wanted a massage but was feeling too shy to ask for some reason. He was of course a little weird but really happy. He told me he saw...I think he said aura... but he saw swirls of purple coming off of me etc... I opened my book which he had no way of seeing and showed him a sketch I had just done in another area of the temple which was all purple swirls, it was a crazy coincidence that was kind of lovely. He also gave me a bottle filled with love. Yes, to an outsider or someone who maybe doesn't want to believe in silly things it was just an empty bottle, but to me, right at that very moment...it was perfection. He told me to open it and let out the love whenever I needed it. Honestly it was very sweet.
Burning Man is part survival, part art and part total crazy. I thought for sure I wouldn't survive. I assumed that I was going to wilt in the heat and that my medical issues and pain would spike and I would surely have to go home early.
Nope..I survived! I was ok. I didn't have the best time and swore I would never go back.. but here I am.. gearing up for another try.
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