What have you learned this year?

Lorgasm · Post by **Lorgasm** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:34 pm

What fears have you confronted and destroyed on the Playa?
What Hopes have you created and accomplished?
What have you learned?

PlayaPetal · Post by **PlayaPetal** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:38 pm

[/quote]What fears have you confronted and destroyed on the Playa?
What Hopes have you created and accomplished?
What have you learned?

I confronted the fear of people seeing my body
I don't know that I created any new hope, I'm pretty optimistic naturally
I have learned to love myself, me love me long time....

2_rivers · Post by **2_rivers** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 9:24 pm

I experienced a keener awareness of the fact that since life is transient, it is always better to let go of hope and fear as well as any other trip as soon as they come in. Clinging only creates suffering. I saw alot of peoples' trips get messed up by this sort of thing before, during and after the burn. I am a lyracist, a lazy one. Shortly before the burn, I found my digital voice recorder that I'd just started becoming accustomed to using, when it went M.I.A. for three months. That had been my excuse for not having written more material lately. By the time I had settled into my new home on the playa however, I'd lost nearly ALL of my personal belonings. To make a long story short, I put my trust in the wrong so called "friend," and was out there separated from EVERYTHING I needed.....Or so I thought. Anyhow It's Thursday night, and my campmates and I were throwing a cocktail party and there was live music , and I was dancing, and had just about finished smoking my ciggarette all the way to the filter, I had been breathing in dust and smoke for hours while wetting my pallete with some alcaholic beverage the whole time, and had quite a mixture of other various chemical substances flowing through my brain, and of course NOT ENOUGH SLEEP!!! In other words I'm haggard!!! Right then my friend Grizzle walks up to me and says "time for you to get on the mic and freesyle." Well I didn't think this was a very good idea at all considering the fact that I could barely talk, let alone think of rhymes with some kind of pertainant meaning that would entertain this crowd of people. So I say,"no" and Grizzle shouts out on a megaphone "hey everybody!!! Shy (that's my name) is going to free style for us!!!!! So, now I have to. I rattled off a 2-3 minute coherent series of rhymes describing what I felt was the essence of my experience of the event thus far, and recieved a unanimous cheer from the crowd. This was one of the many moments out there in which I realized: I need nothing besides what is already contained in my own being. I consider all things to simply be other aspects of my own being. I had a spectacular time this year, in spite of being that guy that "needed everything."
Here is a list of what I lost @ burningman this year: The majority of my clothes, all my costumes, dietary supplements that my doctor said I need for mental stability, all toiletries, my backpack, my pocket knife I've had for years my dad gave me, all my food for out there, all my water for out there, my shoes, my sandles, that digital voice recorder i mentioned earlier, my ID and my check card (which one of my campmates found luckily) my money for rent and electricity ( the guy at the window charged me $340.00 instead of $0, I had a local pass already paid for by my sponsor and the guy at the window even said so. I think after he did that, he probably pocketed the cash out of the drawer.), all my hope, and all my fear. I could give a more detailed account of how all this happened, but it was a long story. It was all totally worth it!!!
I learned firsthand that it's always better to cling to nothing, because contained within a hope is the fear of it not coming true, and vice versa, contained within love is the bitterness and grief that comes with inevitable separation. It's much better to just live our lives eternally present, ecstatic in knowing it's ALL us.

SED · Post by **SED** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 10:17 pm

So, didja learn to keep your shit together and yer meds in yer pocket?

2_rivers · Post by **2_rivers** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 10:47 pm

Too many meds to fit in any single pocket.

2_rivers · Post by **2_rivers** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 10:48 pm

they were in a grocery bag.

2_rivers · Post by **2_rivers** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 10:49 pm

but, yeah

cowboyangel · Post by **cowboyangel** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 11:46 pm

always surrender to the moment
overcame jitters at doing 3 live broadcasts at BMIR
got used to driving around in altered state..safely

Mister Jellyfish Mister · Post by **Mister Jellyfish Mister** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 8:25 am

I learned that:

* Burning Man is not the end of the world.
* Sometimes it just feels like work.
* I'm lucky to come home to people I love and who love me.
* When practicing restraint, it's easy to go to far with it.
* I'm 44 years old and my body knows it.
* I can touch people deeply in just one moment and vice versa.
* Music it still very important to me, but it's good to let IT find ME.

and of course...

* We're all fucking doomed!!!

tisha2 · Post by **tisha2** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 11:16 am

i was trying to find the words for the main lesson i brought home with me, then i read

Mister Jellyfish Mister wrote:I learned that:

* When practicing restraint, it's easy to go to far with it.

yep. that's it.

staying grounded at burning man ain't all it's cracked up to be.

Kinetic IV · Post by **Kinetic IV** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 11:21 am

Everything in moderation including moderation....
When I finally let go of that I had more fun and a lot less stress, it's too bad it was Saturday before I finally realized that.
Sometimes being conservative is the worst thing you can do, especially in BRC.

nogganoodle · Post by **nogganoodle** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 11:24 am

That I Can live in the desert for a week.

And it WAS a good idea!

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:12 pm

Stress vites work better than Emergen-C and 5-htp together.

There are batteries in solar lanterns and they need to be changed periodically!!

Celebrate the wind, don't resist it. Bungee cords, not nails/screws/bolts. Bungee balls are your friends.

So are Aerobeds.

Walk half a mile and bicycle at least 3.5 miles a day.

Everytime I go to the store out here in Defaultia, pick up something for the Playa and thus spread my shopping budget out over a year. No going nuts and ploughing through my wallet a week before departure!

Assume nothing.

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:41 pm

Don't attend Burning Man when fighting a sinus infection and brochitits! And don't let yourself get dehydrated just because you aren't feeling well!

EAS uses water soluable glue on the packages for their meal replacement bars-- the packages WILL open and the inside of your cooler WILL look pretty scary by midweek! (Still need to send them a letter/email questioning their logic in their choice of glue.)

Despite the above problems, I still could have a good time listening to music in Center Camp.

The wooden benches make a decent bed and my lumpy backpack make a decent pillow if I am tired enough.

Roadmaps of Utah make okay window shades for my car in a pinch.

A one liter Diet Mountain Dew bottle makes for a pretty good emergancy urinal for a guy (but not if I can find it in my overloaded backpack).

I need to upgrade my backpack to one easier to find stuff in and on that contains a decent sized Camelbak-style hydration system.

The "Wheel of Fortune" street is not one you are supposed to drive on-- and really makes navigating in that part of BRC annoying.

I really would like to get an old school bus, so I can just park and have my camp nearly all set up. Plus, if gas prices go back up to $3/gallon as soon elections are over, I could load the bus up with about 500 gallons of biodiesel/waste veggie oil and not need to support terrorism in order to get to Burning Man.

Packing a set of clothes in a zip lock bag inside a zip lock bag was one of the best tips I picked up on the ePlaya!

Budget for a motel room in Winnemucca (sp?). Next time maybe I will want to stop and sleep a full 8 hours there!

I need to get myself in better physical shape. As nice as a good, solid layer of blubber is in a Wisconsin winter, it is annoying as all get out in August on the playa! Plus, my endurance just ain't what it used to be! (Well, some of it could have been my health issues, but getting in better shape would certainly NOT hurt!) Now, if I could only figure out how to make myself about 20 to 25 years younger!

Just going this year was my trying something new for me.

Well, I don't know as I answered the questions you wanted me to answer, but these were the best answers I could give.!

B. (short on sleep and swigging a hard cider! and answering political telephone poll takers!)

StevenGoodman · Post by **StevenGoodman** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 7:00 pm

Focus more, and have fewer projects. I spent half my time running around from place to place.

From 2005 - having a playa frontage view is really nice!

Make sure to get sleep, most of the time.
Less food, more beer, but remember to eat at least twice a day.
Having baskets for my bike was great.
Springbar tents kick butt.
So does the white snow camo stuff.
You can't see half the art, even if you try.
There was a bar with cold beer on Monday night! (Labor Day)

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 7:03 pm

So does the white snow camo stuff.

Hey, that sounds like a good idea! Where can I get it?

B.

StevenGoodman · Post by **StevenGoodman** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 7:23 pm

BAS wrote:
So does the white snow camo stuff.
Hey, that sounds like a good idea! Where can I get it?

B.

Basically, I don't think you can anymore. Sportman's Giude had a great deal on the snow camo stuff last year, but it sold out QUICK. Last year it was everywhere, this year there was still a bunch still around.

Hum, bribe someone!

Apollonaris Zeus · Post by **Apollonaris Zeus** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:13 pm

That somebody always starts a new thread after the event when there is an old one that you could have found?

Green Man indeed!

Post by **mdmf007** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:33 pm

What did I learn? Dust destroys everything. beer, wine, gin, vodka, whiskey are all awesome drinks. But you shouild not drink them all the same evening.

later

CLARKcon · Post by **CLARKcon** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:21 pm

No matter how much water you bring out, you will still run out

Brought out 70 gallons for 3 people, was finishing our last jug on Saturday morning..........................(definitly 100 gallons next year)

BigCock · Post by **BigCock** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:10 pm

It's great having a date in BRC.
I really love flaming mushroom clouds.
I definitely cannot make a better martini than Martini Steve can.