30 Days of Burning Man – Day 27, Three questions

This year there is a possibility that there will be a much higher percentage of newbies heading to the desert so I thought I’d spend the 30 days before the gates open throwing out some information, some images and a little bit of wisdom, advice and snark about the place I love so much. These posts will be generally directed at Burning Man virgins but hopefully some of you old dogs out there will contribute through comments or get some enjoyment out of them as well. So here we go.  .  I’ll include at least one photo from Burning Man each day and once a week I’ll do nothing but photos.  I hope the posts are sometimes helpful and also enjoyable, enjoy ~ ZD Blue

It’s getting close to leaving time now for those who are dust bound this year, so for tonight’s post I asked a few “old timers”  and even one person who has only done regional burns.  I asked them the following questions:

One piece of advice

One reason to go

One reason to stay home

From a friend I camped with at 4^th and J:

mmmm…. 1. free your mind and your ass will follow. 2. being in a momentary city of 65,000 or so people who are all intentionally shaping reality will blow yer fucken mind. 3. because you are an utter chickenshit idiot.

From a friend who literally hypnotized me:

1. One piece of advice: Regionals 2: Reason to go: Acceptance by other Burners 3: Reason not to go: Your true friends will accept you anyway, even if they happen to be Burners.

From an old dog

1. pay attention to the direction of the sun.  2.  It’s a place to be more relaxed than any other place you’ll ever be.  3.  If you’re in a relationship with problems don’t go, the playa is a magnifier.

Veteran Burners, feel free to chime in with your own answers.  ~ ZD Blue

30 Days of Burning Man – Day 25, Don’t Go!!!

This year there is a possibility that there will be a much higher percentage of newbies heading to the desert so I thought I’d spend the 30 days before the gates open throwing out some information, some images and a little bit of wisdom, advice and snark about the place I love so much. These posts will be generally directed at Burning Man virgins but hopefully some of you old dogs out there will contribute through comments or get some enjoyment out of them as well. So here we go.  .  I’ll include at least one photo from Burning Man each day and once a week I’ll do nothing but photos.  I hope the posts are sometimes helpful and also enjoyable, enjoy ~ ZD Blue

So I’ve spent 24 days telling you about Burning Man, all of the things I love about it and why you should go, but maybe you shouldn’t.  So tonight all the reasons real and imaginary why you shouldn’t go.  Let’s start with the experience a colleague had with Burning Man.  He had wanted to go for a long time, he’d heard and read about it and thought it would be great.  He did the 4 hour drive out to the Playa, sat in the entry line in the dust and the wind, and the longer he sat there the less excited he got, finally he did a U-turn and went home.  It was just too dusty he told me.

But there are plenty of reasons not to go, first of all it’s expensive, I tell newbies expect to drop a grand on your first venture to the Playa all-inclusive.  Second, if you’re not someone who easily handles being out of their comfort zone, this is NOT a good place for you.  Don’t like camping, dust, heat, cold, or nudity, really not going to like Black Rock City.  Need to be on your cellphone all day, can’t go three hours without texting, nope.   Need a week where you want to just get loaded everyday and sit around and watch other people do Burning Man, please stay home, we won’t miss you.

There are more than a few opinions about this topic on the web, some are serious, some snarky and some are just plain fucking nuts, enjoy ~ ZD Blue

1. It’s just sham cover for sex and drugs  http://www.jewishworldreview.com/weekly/standard092499.asp

2. Why Burning Man isn’t worth it from Cracked  http://www.cracked.com/blog/bad-acid-weird-boobs-why-burning-man-isnt-worth-it/

3. It’s an Occult revival meeting and you’ll burn in hell for going  http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Wicca%20&%20Witchcraft/burning_man_festivals.htm

4.  A take from the disgruntled  http://www.jwz.org/gruntle/burningman.html

5.  Burning Man was terrible  http://bm.tribe.net/thread/391c8bd8-fbbb-48b5-847a-afa1a0218c7d

6.  This guy, did NOT have a good time on the Playa  http://blog.hisnameistimmy.com/burning-man-our-review/12 

7. Ten things to hate about Burning Man  http://www.newsreview.com/reno/10-things-i-hate-about-burning-man/content?oid=481375

8.  The dark-side of Burning Man  http://funologist.org/2012/02/17/the-dark-side-of-burning-man/

Burningman Anywhere, a beautiful post

My friend Kat found this, if anyone knows who the original author is please drop it in the comments I’d love to make sure they get credit for their work, it’s an awesome bit of writing:

**************

I had to share the best thing I’ve read all year about Burning Man. Thanks to whomever the author is, and I found this through Loadie Camp!

Since most of us won’t make it this year, thought I’d offer some usefull advice on how to bring bunring man into your life off playa. Or – 20 ways how to have Bunring Man anywheres:

1) Stack all your fans in one corner of the living room.
Put on your most fabulous outfit.
Turn the fans on full blast.
Dump a vacuum cleaner bag in front of them.

2) Tear down your house, put it in a truck.
Drive 10 hours in any direction, put the house back together.
Invite everyone you meet to come over and party.
When they leave, follow them back to their homes, drink all their booze, and break things.

3) Pay an escort of your affectional preference subset to not bathe for five days, cover themselves in glitter, dust, and sunscreen, wear a skanky neon wig, dance close naked, then say they have a lover back home at the end of the night.

4)Buy a new set of expensive camping gear.
Break it.

5) Lean back in a chair until that point where you’re just about to fall over, but you catch yourself at the last moment.
Hold that position for 9 hours.

6) Only use the toilet in a house that is at least 3 blocks away.
Drain all the water from the toilet.
Only flush it every 3 days.
Hide all the toilet paper.

7) Set your house thermostat so it’s 50 degrees for the first hour of sleep and 100 degrees the rest of the night.

8) Cut, burn, electrocute, bruise, and sunburn various parts of your body.
Forget how you did it.
Don’t go to a doctor.

9) Don’t sleep for 5 days.
Take a wide variety of hallucinogenic/emotion altering drugs.
Pick a fight with your boyfriend/girlfriend.

10) Spend a whole year rummaging through thrift storesfor the perfect, most outrageous costume.
Forget to pack it.

11) Tell everyone that you’re going to a “Leave-No-Trace” event.
Shop at Wal-mart, Cost-Co, and Home Depot until your car is completely packed with stuff.
Empty your car into a dumpster.

12) Listen to music you hate for 168 hours straight, or until
you think you are going to scream. Scream.
Realize you’ll love the music for the rest of your life.

13) Spend 5 months planning a “theme camp” like it’s the invasion of Normandy.

14) Walk around your neighborhood and knock on doors until someone offers you cocktails and dinner.

15) Get so drunk you can’t recognize your own house.
Walk slowly around the block for 5 hours.

16) Tell your boss you aren’t coming to work this week but he should “gift” you a paycheck anyway.
When he refuses accuse him of not loving the “community”.

17) Search alleys untill you find a couch so unbelievably tacky and nasty filthy that a state college frat house wouldn’t want it.
Take a nap on the couch and sleep like you are king of the world.

18) Go to a museum.
Find one of Salvador Dali’s more disturbing but beautiful paintings.
Climb inside it.

19) Before eating any food, drop it in a sandbox and lick a battery.

20) Spend thousands of dollars and several months of your life building a deeply personal art work.
Hide it in a funhouse on the edge of the city.
Hire people to come by and alternate saying “I love it” and “this sucks balls”.
Blow it up.

21) Set up a DJ system downwind of a three alarm fire.
Play a short loop of drum’n’bass until the embers are cold.

22) Make a list of all the things you’ll do different next year.
Never look at it.

What is the next Burning Man?

Now, I’ll be the first to say Burning Man is utterly unique and so the question is really, what is the next Burning Man-like thing?  I’m not quite one of those old burners who thinks it was all great in the old days and so screw the playa.  However, I really think I’m closing in on my limit on the playa.  I’ve volunteered on big art projects, albeit in small ways, I’ve spent my time at Center Camp and worked at Ice Camp.  I don’t spin fire but I’ve worked fire safety and hung out with spinners, I’ve been a Temple Guardian and had press credentials.  I’ve watched Black Rock City through virgin eyes, mine and others, I’ve fought in Thunderdome, etc….

So although I don’t think it would ever be possible to have experienced everything BRC had to offer, even in a given year, I think it may be time for me to move on and I am considering making this my last burn.  Not with the hard feelings of a break-up, just acknowledging that it may be time for me and my annual pilgrimage to part ways.  The question is however what do I fit in its place?

Rainbow gatherings were kind of my first exposure to the idea of something off the beaten path and not quite normal.  Not being normal is big with me.  There of course will always be adventure, I went to Everest Base Camp last year and I’m far from done doing the travel type things I hope to do.  But what’s out there like Burning Man, a destination with a temporary community that comes together for a short-time to celebrate and then go their merry ways.  There are the standards like Mardi Gras, Fantasy Fest, Coachella and Glastonberry.  But I’m not looking for a standard music festival or even just a big party, I’m looking for something special. 

I did a bit of a Google search and really didn’t come up with anything that excited me, so I thought, hey maybe, like me, in the middle of their playa preparations the burner community might take a break and help me out.  The burner community is probably the worlds largest group of experts on the type of thing I’m looking for, so I decided to ask you and all of my other readers to help me out.

So, give me some ideas folks, what else is out there that I might experience next year?  And I thank you in advance for your thoughts and suggestions.

Burning Man: Temple Guardian Volunteers

Burning Man: Temple Guardian Volunteers

Below I’ve included a request from the Temple Guardians for volunteers taken from JRS, it’s a great way to connect with the festival and really get a great feel for the significance of the Temple, I highly recommend it as a way for virgins to get involved and participate. I’ve done it before and it’s a great experience, I’m also re-posting a piece I wrote last year about the Temple.

http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/269/

SIGN UP TO BE A TEMPLE GUARDIAN

Elizabeth writes:

“Greetings!

Every year since 2002, a group of quiet but helpful Burners known as the Temple Guardians have watched over the Burning Man temple at night, helping to ground the space and assist others in need.

As a Temple Guardian, you volunteer for one or more three-hour shifts. The shifts run overnight from 6pm until 6am, Monday through early Sunday morning. During your shift, your job is to hang back, help ground the Temple space, and provide assistance to those in need.

We use a ‘small pushes from great distances’ approach to help keep the Temple a serene space. We are not rule-makers, and we are not enforcers. Rather, we wait in the wings and watch, acting skillfully on behalf of the Temple and its visitors.

Our group is about 250 people total, and we often create some playa collectibles, like the bandanna that we produce collaboratively every year. But even more valuable than any physical items is the time you will spend at the temple.

Temple Guardians from prior years have reported miraculous occurrences during their shifts. One couple even met during their Guardian shift and later married! It’s really an amazing experience. It is truly a special role and a fine way to participate in Burning Man.

If you are interested in being a Temple Guardian, please email me at dhammaseeker@gmail.com.

Many thanks and much love — looking forward to seeing you on the playa this year.

Temple Guardian Volunteer Coordinator

P.S.: Please feel free to repost this to any of your email lists or friends.”

Burning Man Virgin Guide in one post

Here are all three parts of my Burning Man Virgin guide in one post

Part 1 – http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/a-guide-for-burning-man-virgins-part-1/

Part 2 – http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/a-guide-for-burning-man-virgins-part-2/

Part 3 – http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/a-guide-for-burning-man-virgins-part-3-final/