Recovery from 2004. Planning for 2005.

butterscotch · Post by **butterscotch** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 5:02 pm

I am curious what the community suggests for recovery from 2004 and planning for 2005. What to do for the "inbetween"?

My own two cents ~

Recovery from 2004:

Take Some quiet moments to relax.

Write down ideas for next year/insights. What did you want to have? What sort of mutant car would you want? What kind of camp? A camp you liked? Gift items? Etc...

Talk to fellow burners. Talk with good friends/counselors/professional help to deal with stuff that may have come up.

Laugh about how you are going to try to explain the experience to other people (Even to fellow Playa souls!).

Check out the status of every nook and cranny of your body. Apply lotion/Take meds/Check on cuts and bruises/etc.

How are you feeling internally? Apply good food/vitamins/herbs/etc. as needed.

Take time to write down experiences/feelings/etc.

Continue to drink lots of water.

Transfer emails/phone numbers from whatever pieces of paper/random objects to whatever works (planner, phone book, cell phone, etc.)

Trying saying hello to people you meet from day to day. See what happens.

Realize that due to an infinite number of points of view, people may have had different experiences than you did. None better - All just different.

Live in the moment.

Planning for 2005:

-Putting aside money for next year's ticket(s). Save now. Save often. Find out the exact date the tickets are release. Have a way to purchase the $165/185 tickets when they are released (Paypal, etc.) or know friends who can. The 100-150+ saved can make all the difference.

-Friends. Friends. Friends. Build. Network. Plan.

-Take Time to read the burning man site and the eplaya bulletin board.

-Remeber to be kind to Volunteers: Greeters, DWP, Rangers, Center Cafe workers, etc. If you want - Plan on bringing them gifts.

-Talk to fellow burners about previous years. Don't cut back on safety supplies (and increase as needed). One ranger said that this year's weather didn't have the possible 70 mph winds and other possible acts of nature. Plan accordingly.

-When the 2005 Survival Guide arrives - Take the time to read it cover to cover. In the weeks/months before arrival to BRC... Talk about its contents with your group/other attendees. (I'll get this... You are in charge of that... we'll get those at Reno... etc.)

-Think about where you are going to possibly stay/eat outside of BRC.
<My friend Clay found a code for Burners for $20 rooms at Rising Phoenix in Reno this year... going to be looking for deals next year. El Dorado (Reno again and two blocks from Rising Phoenix) has a cheap ($6-10) kick-ass buffet that sees many a burner before and after BM. Good place to meet up with friends for after-burn recovery. Heard other were going to relax at rivers/different campsites to avoid traffic.>

-Avoid DUIs. Make sure person driving hasn't been drinking... Both on the drive there... the drive back... and while at BRC... if in the near future the person willl be driving a Mutant vehice. A single DUI can create misery for 3+ years.

-Shade is your friend. Think about structure(s) this year and what worked/didn't/may have to handle nastier winds. Plan accordingly.

-Realize that even with the best planning... Crap happens. The shade structure sounds like massive trash bags in the wind... The critical chunk of the camp stove is missing... Things are accidently lost/left behind. You lose your friends in a crowd and don't see them for another 12+ hours <at which point sometimes what can be first though of as "crap" can suddenly become pure gold with making of new friends>

-If crap happens... ask for help. Most people (99.9%) will be more than willing. If you run into the .1%... avoid the discouragement and find someone else. <We suddenly found we couldn't cook... but the nice group next to us let us use their stove for a hot meal. Kudos.>

-Learn to Improvise.
<e.g. large mouthed closable water containers can make good pee containers... Traffic jams can make the best tailgate parties...>

Live in the moment.

...More to follow as various brain cells go "oh yeah..."

Thoughts? Comments? And lots and lots and lots and lots of fellow Suggestions... Looking foward to all of them.

Sincerely,
Aimless

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 5:12 pm

planning for '05

go to expedia or travelocity

find out where, for a similar expenditure, I can sip mai tais on a white sand beach far away from home for two weeks.

book accordingly

butterscotch · Post by **butterscotch** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 5:46 pm

Heh. Good point Stuart. If you are/were going to BRC as well, any quiet-time tips?

I saw quite a few Penske/Rental trucks/cars out there as well. Anyone find their renting & return process especially good experience & price-wise? Tips? When to reserve?

Thanks!
~Aimless.

sparkletarte · Post by **sparkletarte** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 5:55 pm

Are you the same butterscotch on met on the bouncybouncy boat? I'm Velvet. I had sooooo much fun on that boat!

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 6:01 pm

quiet? I was at 9:45 and esplanade. There was no quiet.

re: rentals. We tend to have good rental experiences. On the return, just make sure the thing is spotless. It really smooths out the whole process and makes renting the next year a lot better. We ripped the exhaust off of our RV but the vehicle was so clean the return guy barely flinched.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 6:25 pm

Yo Butter,
I would suggest if you are haveing that much trouble recovering 2004. Stay home next year. Seek pro help?

butterscotch · Post by **butterscotch** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 7:07 pm

Heh. Thankfully I'm recovering nicely from the burn Unjon and looking foward to next year. Just curious what tips/suggestions people have for burn recovery/time between burns/planning for the next burn. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Anything in specific work for you?

Thanks!
Sincerely,
Aimless

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 7:20 pm

Maybe some happy pills before tackeling the dusty mess in the front yard. Did manage to drag out the compressor and power washer today. Have until saterday before the rains come.

Tancorix · Post by **Tancorix** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 7:45 pm

2005? I didn't even get home before I started thinking about it. 2005 will be about minimzation. Do I really need to haul all that crap 1600 miles over the mountains just to let it collect playa dust and not be used...and make for a mess to clean up later? As I unpack I'm making notes of what was used, what worked, what sucked, etc, and will plan accordingly.

Note to self: If the playa surface is soft again next year, a high powered but quiet scooter or mutant vehicle is a must. I like riding my bike but that soft surface out beyond the temple was a bitch to ride through. And at night it's even worse.

And Stuart, I went by Camp Hi! many times during the event but on Tuesday night when I asked for you I was told it was a Female DJ night and the staff wearing the Hi! T-shirts had no idea who was running what. In any event, I liked what I saw there and loved the music.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 9:50 pm

I'm still fkn wiped from driving from Reno to Ashland to Eugene yesterday. I'm going to make it an early night (hello, Sensei ;D) and get to bed around eleven. Seriously, the walls are breathing and I am straight as a laser.

One thing I'd like to note about the Phoenix...yes, I stopped by, but they looked slammed so I went around the corner and stayed in a little AAA motel. Paid a little more than $20 (heard it was $25 with tax), but the return was a good, long, quiet sleep and hey, internal plumbing and a real bed are never amiss, whether you have to walk through a gauntlet of one-armed bandits or not. And the Phoenix self-park was across the street from where I stayed so I still got to hang with freeks and art cars while waiting to hook up with my caravan home.

Let's hope some other casinos and hotels offer a "Burner Special" and take a little of the heat off the Phoenix because when I got in around 10, it was a madhouse. I'm thinking of putting in a word to that effect with the Reno Visitors' Bureau and see if we can spread things a little thinner next year. There's about 6 other casinos and 20 motels within a block's radius of the Phoenix.

_tears_ · Post by **_tears_** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 10:28 pm

diane o'thirst wrote: Let's hope some other casinos and hotels offer a "Burner Special" and take a little of the heat off the Phoenix because when I got in around 10, it was a madhouse. I'm thinking of putting in a word to that effect with the Reno Visitors' Bureau and see if we can spread things a little thinner next year. There's about 6 other casinos and 20 motels within a block's radius of the Phoenix.

Good Idea, I landed a room at the hotel that night but ended up giving it away because i found myself having much more energy than I first figured! It would indeed be a lovely thing if more hotels offered that!

wovenone · Post by **wovenone** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 11:11 pm

I am eating a pomegranate that I didn't feel like I had the time to eat in BRC. What do you guys think is a good food list? What did you bring? Eat? Not eat? I brought cheerios, veggie-fruit bars, fruit leather, fresh apples and oranges, and every kind of nut. I found that the nuts were the most useful food, plus the fruit that wasn't easy to squish, and I wondered if there was a vegetable I hadn't thought of that would last the week out there. The dried fruits got soaked in the melted ice and the kiwis and banana got squished from reaching into the cooler and looking around for stuff. Resealable bags for the nuts once opened helped, and all the nuts I bought were pre-shelled so there was no moop problem.

butterscotch · Post by **butterscotch** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 1:26 am

Foodwise... Let's see...

Non-cooler:
Some of the Ready to eat mediterranean packages (Tasty Bites & the like) that you could eat cold or hot.
Blue corn chips
Granola & all sorts of nuts
Containers of off the shelf Soy milk (the ones that need refrigeration only AFTER opening - but most of the time It never got to the cooler because 2 people could finish off one container at a single meal)
(Note: I highly enjoy soy milk. Came back to camp one night and drank an entire container before I fell asleep. Good nourishment after an exhausting day.
Random website soymilk info (love that Google) - http://www.soyfoods.com/soyfoodsdescrip ... ymilk.html )
Bottle of extra virgin olive oil (Compliments pita & hummus... and the oil can be good for your hands after a day of dust...
Another random web site about olive oil for your skin: http://www.care2.com/channels/solutions/bms/1000 )
Electrolyte powder/tablets

Kept in cooler items:
Cucumbers, containers of hummus, baba ganoush, tabouli, lots of packages of Pita bread

-Remember to get Block Ice Always rather than crushed ice - Less surface area for the ice means less melting... the ice lasts so much longer. For us: In a good cooler (ours 40 quart(?)): We had two bags - One 20 pound bag of crushed ice & one 5 pound block. Our 20 pound bag of crushed ice lasted about 2-3 days... the 5 pound block lasted about 4-5 days. (We will probably get several blocks of ice next time)

--We had lots of containers of stuff to cook... but we forgot pieces of our stove... That combined with many situations where we wanted to return to camp... eat/restock H2O quickly... and make it back out to whatever event (the burns... etc...)... made no-preparation items that much better. I think about 80% of our need-cook items went untouched.

Hmm... Curious if some of the ready-to-eat packages I could have wrapped in something black (or not) and placed on the hood of the car to heat up. Possibly some food experiments next burn...

To the various camps/traveling vehicles who set up random Shaved Ice/Snow Cone stands: THANK YOU!
Anyone have any tips to an easy setup for shaved ice/snow cones? (Where to purchase, Flavorings, Preferences on products, ice... etc?)

We had one mini-cooler (1 1/2 quart?) we packed with 4 ice-cold Red Bulls & one bag of Trader Joes chocolate-covered peanut-butter filled pretzels.
We forgot about it in the car and re-discovered it only on the ride back after four-and-a-half days. Amazingly enough the pretzels were unmelted and the Red Bulls still cool. Made for a wonderful unexpected treat. (Once out of the cooler the pretzels melted in about two hours).
This combined with the two cold gatorades we had left in the bottom of our large cooler made the drive back that more pleasant.

Will try to remember the rest...

Great information all!

Sincerely,
~Aimless.

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 10:48 am

the staff

LOL

there were 4 of us running the camp that night and every other time for that matter. Don't know why Matthew didn't point you in my direction. I must have been busy schlepping drinks or having a cigarette.

Those girls from Dallas did fucking rock the house though. Kudos to Danielle for kicking off a great party as well.

butterscotch · Post by **butterscotch** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 5:06 pm

bartolah (THANKS Bartolah!) clued me in to this topic which has some Great advice on re-adjusting to the "real world"

Subject: adjusting to the real world - helpful hints from old timers?

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=6286

~Aimless

butterscotch · Post by **butterscotch** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 5:25 pm

Hmm.. in Regards to Travel Time for 2005:

My friend had to return to work on Tuesday at 8 AM after arriving home at 4 AM Tuesday morning. When he finally got to bed Tuesday nite he had been up for about 38 hours (not recommended)... I'm still impressed he made it back safely from work.

Tip: Attempt to create a 24 hour relaxation time after you get home. So Plan on taking off from work "Time at Burning Man Camp" + Travel Time (both ways - can be HIGHLY variable due to # of cars leaving/arriving/road conditions/accidents) + 1 day. The extra day off at the end will help with the relaxation/decompression/random driving mishaps that may occur.

Plan now.. Plan early to have those days available next year.

Sincerely,
~Aimless

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 5:39 pm

Readjust to the Default World?

I try <i>not</i> to.

bullD · Post by **bullD** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 12:22 pm

I find that if I have a couple of days to readjust to the outside world then I just use them to reflect and drink and sleep. Nothing gets done. In 2002 I arrived home and had to immediately get back to life,,, this worked well for me. This year I drank and reflected, hmmmm.

If you minimize what you bring you may get bit in the ass by needing something after having had the opportuinty to bring it. Better to be prepared, just my opinion.

Food: whatever is easy to prepare yet nutritious enough to sustain your hard partying, major peeing, and lack of sleep. Then add to this a couple of GOOD meals. I find that this is all I ever have time for.

kikidelosfeliz · Post by **kikidelosfeliz** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 2:27 pm

That first shower was sooooo good.

Keeping some of the dust on my wings for Decom LA on the 16th.

This Sunday, our camp is reconvening for an albacore/mango chutney feast. I've put my photos on a slide show, trying on music for effect (man would I love to get hold of the music Xeno played at Lush for their show!!!), watching them makes me happy and wistful all at the same time. The places I want to go don't exist anymore...but in our hearts.

Food that worked: Tuna cans, tortillas, salsa, AVOCADOS, PEACHES, cheese, cold chocolate soy milk, TEQUILA and good mixers, our hand-crank blender ($39), Hansen's Green Energy Drinks.

Food that we had too much of: Powerbars (funny, I live off them at home, but they were dry and dusty on the playa), vegetables that took time to cook (broccoli).

Things to remember next year: Solar powered lights for camp, something distinctive so that we can find it when dark and disoriented, more light up costumes (my friends found me a number of times by my blinking blue EL wires on my wings - thanks LUSTOR!), Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap.

Kiki de los Feliz

GuinivereElise · Post by **GuinivereElise** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:38 pm

random notes in no particular order:

OLIVE OIL: also makes a wonderful massage oil for tired feet, hands, backs, anywhere. Also, I learned that it's a fabulous piece of a really easy pasta sauce: olive oil, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes. Pure bliss.

FOOD THAT WORKS: for me, cous cous, with some canned apricots thrown in, and soy sauce. Easy to make, easy to eat. Nuts good. Nuts very good. Protein. Mmmm... Granola for breakfast, and yes yes yeson the soy milk. Yum. Canned soup (in a pop top can) works well after sitting in the sun all day... warm enough just to pop and eat. Chips and salsa. Couldn't get enough of this. Avacados. Yes.

BLENDER: the camp next to us had a bicycle-powered blender/coffee grinder. Fucking AMAZING!!! Ingenious.

That's all I can think of for now. I'm still working on decompressing a bit more, in order to function more clearly.

Burn on!

wovenone · Post by **wovenone** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 12:26 am

yeah, it's nice to hear what others survive on out there. there were these guys up the road from where i was hanging out - the moonshine tavern at 7:45 and uranus - came up asking for rotten produce, and i rescued a perfectly good donated avocado, the first veggie i'd eaten all week - yum!

GuinivereElise · Post by **GuinivereElise** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 4:00 pm

did you have any of their moonshine? It was de-lish.

Where were you camped?

sparkletarte · Post by **sparkletarte** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 4:14 pm

Good ideas: I had several daily doses of vanilla Stoli, Red Bull, and raspberry soda, my new fav bevvie. I also loved the rice we almost didn't bring, the olives, the canned soups and Indian dishes, the olives, and the candied salmon even though I'm a veggie (will bring much more next year to share, people that had it loved it), and the tons of Emergen-Cee's. These saved me and hopefully also the people I gave them out to.

Bad ideas: the tortillas that went moldy the first day! How do you store your bread?? The fruit that rotted. More crackers were needed.

We brought lots of coffee and a grinder and had some left over. Next year I want a big, big bodum so I can cruise around Monday morning and give people a taste of our wonderful local coffee to give them that kick they need when packing up.

wovenone · Post by **wovenone** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 5:25 pm

yeah, i made my way across the playa for the last few days and ended up ingesting quite a few of their drinks - mixers would be donated from time to time - and shots. i took part of an evening to practice bartending and mixed some drinks that received nice compliments but took a break after concocting a particularly harsh "apple gin shot" that nearly killed three of us.

it was great practice, as bartending is my dream job. did you find the place? trampoline plus bar equals

kikidelosfeliz · Post by **kikidelosfeliz** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 9:19 pm

Trampoline plus bar? Were you at G-Spot? Thanks to them for the waterbed, spent a particularly luscious time there, drum and bass in one ear, mandolin and banjo in the other, sun pouring down on my head, curled up next to aforementioned sweetie. Also a lovely necklace, that got passed along to someone else somewhere along the way. Hope my angelman dogtags made similar rounds.

Post by **AntiM** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 7:17 am

Oddly, we never once took out our solar lights, the moon was bright enough. Never put the blacklights on the artbike either. Or put up the social gazebo. Or get out the red blinkies.

Cheap glowsticks on ebay are cheap for a reason.

Things fall out of Utlikilt pockets when pedaling the artbike, make sure all cargo is secure. Anyone find a little black four led flashlight?

Actually got dust in the tent this year, need to use a larger cover over the mesh. Remenber to spread the top sheet out so it is the only thing to collect dust.

Needed more tuna packs, the flat kind that need no draining, and mustard for flavor. Turkey jerky for the meat eaters. All the frozen raspberries and Dad's apricot preserves did well at playacakes, but pack them in disposable plastic tubs, not zipper bags. I thought I'd eat more instant oatmeal, but instead craved crackers or dry granola bars. Never touched the canned foods three years in a row, so left them at home this time and didn't miss them at all. Didn't bring fruit cups this year and wanted them. Go figure. Bring more juice! CupoNoodles hit the spot on cold nights and couscous was perfect at the spotluck. Actually, anything involving boiling water and a disposable dish was pretty darn good. Nuts good for campmates, peanut butter for me. Peanut butter and craisins on triscuits, yummy. And of course, our main fuel: Toast'ems (i.e. cheap brand poptarts). Ah, the joys of healthy eating.

In defense of disposable dishes or paper plates and bowls: no food poisoning this year. For some reason, the smaller the camp, the harder it seems to be to get a dish washing routine down.

In defense of foods which require little preparation and no chilling: my Larry can take anything we didn't eat up in the semi with him. It is like shopping for two events in one.

Didn't even bother with breads or fresh produce; hate keeping them chilled and then hauling out the resulting leftover bits. I'll save my appetite for the breakfast buffet at a casino.

Mister Jellyfish Mister · Post by **Mister Jellyfish Mister** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 8:33 am

As a first year burner, I had a lot to learn...

What worked:

Constant Camelback with water and a little gator-blade

$25 thrift store bike

For those of us with wedding vows to maintain while our partner stays gratefully at home, zip locked comfort foods prepared in bulk by our spouse. It was a great feeling to invite a new friend into my humble tailer and offer them fresh spaghetti smothered in my wife's homemade sauce. A real monogomy booster! Cookies and milk after a hard night on the playa, anyone?

Lastly, selling my 1963 10 foot trailer for $400 to a guy in a bar in Sparks just before I was going to start cleaning her out! Large Marge has a new daddy and it's not me! Ha ha hooey! If you want the song lyrics about my memories with her, I'll post them.

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wovenone · Post by **wovenone** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 9:50 pm

ooh, that sounds really fun. i realized that this year i wasn't adventurous or daring enough, even though i LOVED everything, so my plan for next year is to do and talk to everything and everyone i come across, respectively (?

). and i plan on ingesting a much wider variety of social lubricants than green pipe-fill and swishy red liquid. i was at the moonshine tavern, outside of which sleeping, jumping, and generally getting to know folks worked equally well. fuck, do you MISS IT yet?

chineseobelisk · Post by **chineseobelisk** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:27 am

hey wovenone! glad to see another first timer who is so obviously hooked! My best tip for food is something I've done in the past on desert trips, (southern utah, AZ. etcccc) -Take a cooler specifically for home prepared frozen foods, make sure they are frozen solid (at least a few days), line said cooler with space blanket, pack with food and do not open till x-mas... I used a coleman "extreme" (medium size) and packed it with veggie samosas (which were a big hit, and i'll give you all the recipe if you want) , bean and cheese burittos, carrot juice and thai iced teas (in small gatorade bottles) and stuff was still frozen on friday after being packed the previous saturday for our sunday midnight arrival. the samosa were packed in saran and then ziplocks and after transferring some to the ice cooler for thawing (thats what i get for planning ahead) they got a little damp. so next year I take my friend Andreas up on his offer to use his vacuum sealer. Also, another in our group did up some pastas (using the vac seal) and froze them, they were the most awesome boil in bag meals ever. no muss no fuss, just eat right out of the bag, next year i am following that lead for sure.

Recovery from 2004. Planning for 2005.

Recovery from 2004. Planning for 2005.

~

playa food

As the Dust settles...

food on the playa

~

moonshine tavern

Burn it all!

bouncy bouncy