Riase your hand if you did NOT pee on the playa this year

[zoeypants]

Were the porta-potty placements suck-ass? or is it just me?

There was no physical way to not end up peeing on the playa at some point during the event - or explode your bladder!!!! WTF?

[ScorpionSean]

.... but the placement did suck this year- there just weren't enough out on the playa, and those that were there weren't lit well enought to be found.


There was one measily little portapotty out by the temple, which, if you're one of the sit-down-to-pee persuation, was pretty much unusable.

I'm thinking about bringing gear to light up as many portapotties as i can next year.

I'm also thinking about lighting up the inside of the portapotties. Would doing so interfere with cleaning them? Do they hose down the entire inside of the portapotty? Who can I talk to at the portapotty place about doing this? Does anyone have their number?

Scorpions Ride!

Sean

[gawul]

i pee'd on the playa more times this year than i have in total for the 6 years i've attended before

i dont know what came over me

[angelface]

dang.. I was camped the closest to a porta potty in all my years at burning man, and managed to know more or less where the ones on open playa were. Between that and my pee funnel, I actually managed to leave the playa piss free this year..

[HughMungus]

I got tired of waiting for a pottie so I just peed ON the pottie while someone else was in it. I figured it was close enough.

[Dork]

Not enough light on the playa potties? Try no light at all. I had a friggin art car and it took me an hour to find them one night. I'd be up for a "light the potties" art project. Maybe some big el-wire deal?

Not sure about lighting the inside of the potties. Most people carry lights with them at night anyway, and it's a potential theft/moop hazard.

What about those pickup tool things? Maybe bring a bunch of them and leave them near the potties so people can remove foreign objects? I saw a half-covered box of smokes that I wasn't quite brave enough to reach in with my bare hands to get and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's been in that situation.

[Wakawaka]

You gotta be kidding, you are kidding, right? The porta potties were easily found along the 3:00 and 9:00 promenades to the man, nice white flashy light above each bank.

Also a big bank up each street at Ego, were they really that hard to find?

I thought the pottie situation this year was way better than in past years, there was the obvious lack of tp from time to time but that's why I carry my own. I never once waited in line and never once found one to be completely overflowing.

That was my experience at least.

[Kinetic IV]

The portapotties on Ego at every street was perfect. But once you got out on the playa close to the man it was like where in the heck are they? Oh, there's a bank there and over there. And once you got past the man and headed out towards the temple heaven help you if you had to go....you were in deep trouble because they simply didn't exist..or if they did at night you couldn't make them out from all the other blinky flashing things to save your life.

Here's an idea...setup some kind of neon/elwire sign up above the deep playa portapotties that's as distinctive as the blue cross for medical in the 3 and 9 plaza areas. I spotted those blue crosses above the other stuff so many times I used them as landmarks.

Also I posted this in another thread...2 rolls of TP in a JOTS is simply not sufficient. They need to modify the units to carry 4 rolls or one larger roll or something. Otherwise expect more people to resort to handywipes when using the potties.

[KnowMatterWhat]

I arrived in Lamplighter Village on Saturday, August 27th. It was early enough that the JOTS were at a low volume of usage. Since I'm a 'larger guy' I prefer to use the larger (condo) unit on the end for my 'sit down' business. When I approached the empty bank of JOTS near our Village, I saw that the condo had the red flag showing (indicating that it was occupied). So I stood there and waited, and waited and ... finally decided to politely tap on the door. To my surprise, as I knocked, the door opened (to an empty condo). It seems the latch was broken off on the inside and the indicator on the outside was defaulted to the 'locked' position. So for the entire week, whenever I approached the JOTS there (usually early in the AM), I politely knocked on the condo to find it empty and waiting ...

It did seem there were fewer JOTS out on the Playa this year. Almost a taunting invitation for one to relieve themselves on the open ground. I saw a LOT of people who did, yet I, fortunately, never had to, really.

I was pleased to see the stand up, group urinals too ...

[Dork]

You gotta be kidding, you are kidding, right? The porta potties were easily found along the 3:00 and 9:00 promenades to the man, nice white flashy light above each bank.

I don't recall seeing any bright lights, at least not anything anywhere near as bright as the other shit out there. If you knew they were at 3:00 and 9:00, they weren't that hard to find. I didn't know they were until I spend some time looking around during the day. It was really dark this year and towards the end of the week very dusty. You couldn't see the potties at night until you were almost on top of them. With the rotating man and rather dim lamps, just figuring out where 3:00 and 9:00 were was difficult at times.

[stuart]

For the first time ever I did not pee on the playa.



I did, however, dump gallons of my piss from my pee bottle.

[Kinetic IV]

The fucked up door locks was something I've grumbled about EVERY year I've been out there. And there were banks of urinals? Where? Were you at the same event I was because I sure didn't see any.

[KnowMatterWhat]

The fucked up door locks was something I've grumbled about EVERY year I've been out there. And there were banks of urinals? Where? Were you at the same event I was because I sure didn't see any.

Yup, there were urinals that would enable 3 or 4 guys to stand and pee. I don't know if they were on each bank of JOTS, but I saw them at many. From the outside they looked a lot like the 'condos' but were at the opposite end of the bank ...

oh, and in regard to the broken latch, I could care less if someone impoplite enough to just yank the door open saw me sitting on the crapper ... to those that did knock, I politely told them it was occupied (or barked like a pit bull depending upon my frame of mind)

[Bambi of Finland]

I did not pee on the playa. I was all over the place and found plenty of facilities. However was plenty ticked off to find the group next door to me pissing between our cars. We even had the same distance to the Porta-Potties. Lazy Bloodsuckers...

[Zona_the_stona]

i did pee on the playa once, but it was an emergency, I swear! haahha

I loved the pee-trough aka pissing-well. We made up some great songs for the pissing well, "oh pissing-well, oh pissing-well, I drink too much and then I peee in youuuuuuu"

[Wavemage]

OK so its one thing to preserve an environment where living things could be endangered by your piss.


Its another to worry about an environment where literallly NOTHING (not even bacteria) lives. Correct me if I'm wrong, but even if 40,000 people piss all week on the playa, can it really do any damage? No life exists there. Preserving an environment is about preserving life, not dust & rocks. So I believe in picking up trash, but how does grey water hurt anything?

Am I wrong about nothing living out there? I'm a little perplexed...

[NEXUS]

I'd say I could raise my hand up with the exception being Thurs night in spite of my haste and well intentioned effort to make it back in time. Much to my surprise, there were too many well stocked bars present with the last being located too far away from salvation with me on foot.

But, I did let my stream take flight in the wind, hoping that would somehow negate the environmental impact pooling it on the playa might cause. Does that count?

[Fat SAM]

I didn't piss on the Playa this year. But I did step barefoot into someone's muddy puddle. It was good, though. Piss has the same effect as vinegar.

[JediDale]

Perhaps you need to volunteer for the potty project next year as I did this year! Wow will RobbiDobbs be excited to hear of your enthusiasm!! I busted ass in the tuesday dust storm, and put hand sanitizers on the sides of the banks. Did you know RobbiDobbs had "ZERO" volunteers to help her? She totally busted her ass every single day of the event!! So before you start talking smack about the portapotties you talk to RobbiDobbs and volunteer and make your reccommendations known through your application of volunteer work!!


Genuinely,

Jedi Dale Of Reno

[WebGraphics]

I had to pee on the playa for both the burning of the man and the temple burn. The reason is I had to go really bad and I didn't realize there were potties at 3 and 9. I was also on foot and headed more for center camp. I basically walked until I couldn't hold it any more.

[Davoid]

I only peed once on the playa, in the deep out past the temple. But I found the portapotties to be generally easy to find. Giving the map a decent perusal to that, um, end (a heh. heh.) helped enormously. As far as lighting them up, I kinda appreciated the sense of relief I got as they emerged from the darkness, a big drab bank of love waiting for me and mine. Not as much as I appreciated the sense of relief I got a bit later, of course.

One thing the map lied about, which I didn't even spot until Friday or so, was placement of potties in the walk-in camping zone. "Holy shit, there's supposed to be potties right there! That would make shit (a heh. cough) a lot easier!" But then I reconsidered. Something about marring the vista that we enjoy out there, and the relative quiet/solitude. And lack of stench. Except for those damn hippies (sniffs armpit).

Oh, and if you didn't see one overflowing, lucky you. Out by The Green Gorilla (10:00), there was one I was ready to tape off, or label as art. Someone certainly took hovering to the next level. Down.

[Cosworth Magellan]

[quote]Oh, and if you didn't see one overflowing, lucky you. Out by The Green Gorilla (10:00), there was one I was ready to tape off, or label as art. Someone certainly took hovering to the next level. Down.[/quote]

At the risk of starting yet another ravers vs. everyone-else argument, the potties near 10:00 and 2:00 are usually some kind of demilitarized zone by around 11:00PM in my experience. They really ought to just put more in those locations, given the huge volume of traffic.

I'd also like to give a shout-out to ASSentials, who spent a hell of a lot of time making the 3:00 potties (and maybe others) an experience to... remember. You guys rock![/i]

[dragonfly Jafe]

The fucked up door locks was something I've grumbled about EVERY year I've been out there. And there were banks of urinals? Where? Were you at the same event I was because I sure didn't see any.

The locks/indicators Sucked this year! I don't know how many times I opened a green door to find someone doing their business, or how many times I had to HOLD the frigging lock closed so someone wouldn't do the same to me.

But there were plenty of toilets everywhere I went, in most places 10 or more in a bank, as described (and I never once peed on the Playa - first day I didn't pee at all, scared the piss right out of me...)

[callmecrazy]

Then you had the @$$wipe (no pun intended) that would sit in JOTS and wait until someone opened the door. Once you did he would squirt you with something. From what I heard from a few people, he would sit in there for hours as if it was a game. Eventually someone went to grab some duck tape and was going to tape him in. I didn't stick around to see if they actually did it or not.

Girlfriend: So hunny, what did you do at BM this year?

@$$wipe: I sat in a JOTS and squirted people as they opened they door. Wow, it was so exciting!!!


JERK

[ZaphodBurner]

Here's an idea...setup some kind of neon/elwire sign up above the deep playa portapotties that's as distinctive as the blue cross for medical in the 3 and 9 plaza areas. I spotted those blue crosses above the other stuff so many times I used them as landmarks.

Great ideas, Kinetic. I think they should have been visible at night as well, or at least the ones on the open playa. ('cause if you're in BRC and you don't know where to find 'em, signs are probably just gonna fly over your head)

Nobody in the Zaphod camp pissed on the playa. I have never pissed on the playa. I will never piss on the playa. I threatened to piss on a car filled with snobby Australian bitches who tried to cut into the front of the 2-hour line during Exodus, though. Would that have counted?

-c

[ZaphodBurner]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but even if 40,000 people piss all week on the playa, can it really do any damage?

Yes it can, if you're trying to convince the BLM to renew your contract next year. Most urine will evaporate, but it can stain the playa.

The 6-person urinals rocked and I only saw one couple making out in one. (Dude...seriously. eeewwww) Kinetic's TP idea goes against radical self-reliance, but the reality is, it also prevents people from bringing their own 2-ply, paper towels, bluerags, whatever and jamming them up so I wholly agree.

JotS did an awesome job this year, though.

-c

[JediDale]

I carried a bottle in my backpack so I didn't have to piss on the playa!
Just had to be sure that I grabbed the right bottle when I drank water!!
Some meighbor campers though it weird what I did. I would get a large gallon empty water bottle. and keep pissing in it until full then I would wait until I got up in the morning and empty the piss in the portapotty
and go back to my tent with the empty bottle! This gave me the ability to avoid lines and save time as well!


Genuinely,


Jedi Dale Of Reno

[Zona_the_stona]

I saw 2 women squating into the urinals one night early in the week. I walked into the pisser to see 2 women bent over with their underwear around their ankles, they must have really had to go.

[Dork]

Some meighbor campers though it weird what I did.

I had some female neighbors last year who would squat over a 5 gallon bucked naked each morning, then go take a shower in their completely walled off enclosure. We were literally one block from the portapotties. To each his/her own, I suppose!

[AntiM]

I did not pee pn the playa this year, I knew where every potty bank was located and could find them in the dark. Also had a pee bucket, with seat, for middle of the night gotta go right nowsies. It is the same lugaloo which travels with me in the semi. Gotta love the pee bucket.

Hint: mouthwash keeps it fresher between dumplings.