Took a bit of a break from volunteering this year. Still put a shift in with the Rangers, but nothing like the hours I normally pull. Most of my time I spent getting to know campmates and making people grilled cheese sandwiches. And you know what? It was fantastic. I'm looking forward to getting bac...

they have "double O" status... Exactly. The story just doesn't make sense given the strict processes in place, and while individual Rangers have obviously made mistakes over the years (as humans do), I would be extremely surprised to find out that a whole group of Berlin Rangers and Ranger chain of...

I'm sad and disappointed to hear of this kind of behavior from the Ranger community, and I'm sorry that this happened to you. That being said, I'm also a bit confused. Ranger shift leads don't have the authority to kick someone out of the event - extremely few Rangers do, and any eviction requires t...

Ah, I love French Burners. Every time I see a French person on the playa, they are always so incredibly wide-eyed and excited (relatively speaking, since everyone out there is). Look forward to seeing you out in the dust!

The photo at the bottom of "Domestic Services" kills me. :lol: http://www.playazon.com/camp/domestic.html Her response to complaints about the website taking too long to process orders is my favorite: "Dear Ms Endsley I'm sorry to inform you that we have no 'live' people to speak with regarding thi...

TomServo wrote:Welcome! Since you just around the corner, you've got an advantage. Try it out at 4th of Juplaya! When the playas a little less muddy.

Definitely come to 4th. We make things go boom.

2. Don't be paranoid about playa foot...if your feet burn a bit in the playa dust...relegate yourselves to shoes and socks and foot baths. If yours don't get the tingly's it's likely that you aren't susceptible to playa foot and may enjoy lots and lots of naked foot time. I walked around barefoot f...

Okay guys, my mother has a 25 foot long fifth wheel that she's looking to get rid of. It's torn down to the base, so it's really just a flat surface at this point, but the wheels, bearings, and base frame are good and it seems like the perfect beginning to an art car. She's giving it away to anyone ...

thisisthatwhichis wrote:Center camp is now a food court. I prefer the McRibtm over the Whoppertm..........

Burger Man has some good stuff too, though - the DecoMEATification Sandwich is my favorite. And Radical Self Express serves good smoothies.

I hope I don't sound naive or too starry eyed (though I totally am) to you vets out there. I just think the idea of Burning Man is totally freaking amazing. :D Starry eyed first-timers are the most fun. Hell, showing people around the playa for the first time is one of my favorite activities out th...

Dr. Pyro wrote:Burning Man is the Special Olympics of art.

This is one of my favorite things that I have ever read.

PavementBlues: That was kinda what I was thinking too. Is it safe to say that Burning Man is a community that is built around creativity and art? Or is it a big party with some art and goofyness to justify it? I would say the former, though there will always be people who don't get it. And yes, the...

The problem is in the definition of art as it is used at Burning Man. Art cars, theme camps, structural pieces, spontaneous performance...everything in some way represents a reaching for creative expression. A few years ago I was walking around barefoot on the Esplanade and some guy ran over and sta...

I dance poorly and often. 'Love it!!! This is right at the top of the ecclectic list of perfectly acceptable behaviors at BM that keeps me pining for my first time. Agreed! And bad dancers always look like they're having a better time. Funny how that works - it's like old people running around nake...

The best advice I could give? Hmmm.. "Relaaaaaax. Count to ten. Squeeze my haaaand. I'm here. I'm real. It's all gonna be okaaaaaayyyyy." You sound like a Green Dot. As for advice...well, here: 1. Don't get involved with big theme camps for at least two or three years. Too many virgins run into big...

"Sometimes I’ve felt like maybe Americans are smug about their profound sense of self-awareness, but they’re really not. We might cynically believe that Burning Man is simply a chance to get fucked up in the desert and play out a mid-life crisis in good company. But the truth is, even if it is, ...

Two other additions that would be great:

1) A list of all camps that had a significant area (>50%) red, for public shaming.

2) Percent of the city overall for each of the three cleanliness categories. I would really like to see how it has changed each year by the numbers.

Bob wrote:Might violate radio protocols.

The cretins must not appreciate classic literature. Sigh.

I like the idea of the Rangers a lot, and from what I gather they do off-playa orientations. I can easily get to SF, though it'd be great if they offered them in Seattle (or Portland, for that matter). If you end up Rangering, please God try to get the handle 'Ranger Balzac'. I want to hear the ann...

It is possible to do the Ranger orientation (a step AntiM may have skipped) off playa. In San Francisco, of course, but I think Seattle, too. Maybe Portland, there are a lot of burners there. So, spending a weekend in San Francisco or Seattle and taking that might get you ahead of the game. There a...

oneeyeddick wrote:If you want to be a Ranger, you are first required to stay in AntiM's basement.

IT PUTS THE LOTION ON ITS SKIN OR IT GETS LECTURED ABOUT THE VALUE OF NON-CONFRONTATIONAL MEDIATION AGAIN.

You put the focus on "Shit Happens" rather than "Learn from It". Was what happened acceptable? No. Were the people involved responsible for not helping clean up? Yes. Were we as camp coordinators also responsible for not properly organizing the breakdown? Yes. Is there any point in getting pissed at...

Dang PB... sounds like 81+ dickwads. seriously. Most all of them I like very much, and many of them put in a huge amount of work up to that point helping with the camp. Unfortunately, those who had already helped were ready to go home and get some rest, and the others seemed to not understand just ...

And oh yeah that *special* camp that decided to just up and leave all manner of filth? (you know who YOU are) Don't even THINK of trying to register your camp next year! If you do manage to somehow sneak on in next year you can expect a few visits from some of our more unruly DPW crew ASSHOLES! WE ...

I brought out a djembe in 2007 and the goatskin head ended up so warped that it was never able to tune properly again. It was a really nice djembe, too - I wish that I had put a little more thought into the environment that I was bringing it into and adjusted the head accordingly. Lesson learned! .....

(Also, a reference to the Pranksters and the Dead in one post? I must be dreamin'!)

Howdy, Blues! You'll have a great time at the Burn without substances - my first year I was sober almost the entire time because I was too busy trying to figure out just where in the HELL I was. Also, quite interesting coming onto ePlaya for the first time in ages and seeing your post. We appear to ...

I like hammered dulcimers! John Jacob Niles on the Appalachian dulcimer. When I was a kid, one of my dreams was to own a dulcimer. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpaAeqBhwrM[/youtube] And seriously, I would be SO down to kick some jams at a Barbarian Groove Camp! I've been doing found perc...

Those reef's are quite handy. They're pretty trendy here, and work well for desert parties... they also have a flip flop with a plastic "flask" in the bottom of them... SO rad. I found a pair of reefs in a garbage can a few years ago. Turned out they fit, and since then those things have taken more...

DeadSilence wrote:I need this in my life to live it to the fullest.

No you don't.

HOWEVER, it certainly helps. A lot.

Welcome!