The Vacuum That Is February

Mister Jellyfish Mister · Post by **Mister Jellyfish Mister** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:03 pm

Something about February I could never quite get the hang of. Art conception is complete, grant application was submitted, and our crew is building with whatever materials we can scrounge while we wait to find out if the project is going to be big, small, or itsy bitsy. It feels like "The Waiting Place" of Dr. Seuss in "Oh, The Places You Will Go!". It's good to have stories to write for the robots, yet the beer and plastic-tipped cigars have no taste. There's a real purgatory about this place called February.

Trishntek · Post by **Trishntek** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:18 pm

We who plan, construct and assemble Burning Man things practically every day of the year do witness a bit of a vacuum, as you describe in February. Tickets are purchased and the core group is acknowledged. We wait for the mutant vehicle guy to commit and see what the guy with the bar will need for space this year. My infrastructure is complete,,,, so we wait. . . . .

Too early for plan submission but details necessary for making that submission remain in the hands of those far away. So,,,, we wait,,,,,, give them time to ponder their own vision of BM2011 and how it fits with our camp. silence,,,, hope they are doing what they said,,,,,, should I bug them???? Silence,,,,, checking for updates,,,,,, nothing,,,,,,, a vacuum indeed.

Dr. Pyro · Post by **Dr. Pyro** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:04 am

February is a vacuum. Why do you suppose Sports Illustrated has it's swimsuit edition this month? Because nothing else is going on. For many people the highlight of this month is Groundhog Day. Not the event, the movie. There's are reasons its: 1) the shortest month, even when they extend it by a day during Leap year; 2) Black History Month; 3) the same month when 1099s are mailed out by the IRS; and 4) the only month when they took two holidays and compined them into one (President's Day). February may only be 28 days, but it seems to last forever. Which is why I take this month off from drinking each and every year. Only an idiot would choose July.

Risky · Post by **Risky** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 9:46 am

I hear sucking noises.

Waiting to hear if the application will be accepted and rewarded is excruciating.
So much to do, and yet it doesn't yet make sense to do much.

Might as well start planning my Yuri's night outfit...It's the 50th anniversary, y'know?

Bounce530 · Post by **Bounce530** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 9:59 am

I just finished my "dry month" but think I might stretch it out to two months this year.

Trishntek · Post by **Trishntek** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 3:51 pm

What makes it worse for me is my annual pee test in March,,,, so alternative mind-altering substances are off limits this month as well,,,, sighhhhhh.

But I did receive my absinthe shipment the other day! I'll try to save some for BM.

maryanimal · Post by **maryanimal** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:59 pm

Trishntek wrote:What makes it worse for me is my annual pee test in March,,,, so alternative mind-altering substances are off limits this month as well,,,, sighhhhhh.

But I did receive my absinthe shipment the other day! I'll try to save some for BM.

Where did you purchase your absinthe?

Trishntek · Post by **Trishntek** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 9:07 pm

maryanimal wrote:
Trishntek wrote:What makes it worse for me is my annual pee test in March,,,, so alternative mind-altering substances are off limits this month as well,,,, sighhhhhh.

But I did receive my absinthe shipment the other day! I'll try to save some for BM.
Where did you purchase your absinthe?

http://www.rueverte.com/

Liz Estrada · Post by **Liz Estrada** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 9:20 pm

Dr. Pyro wrote:February is a vacuum. Why do you suppose Sports Illustrated has it's swimsuit edition this month? Because nothing else is going on. For many people the highlight of this month is Groundhog Day. Not the event, the movie. There's are reasons its: 1) the shortest month, even when they extend it by a day during Leap year; 2) Black History Month; 3) the same month when 1099s are mailed out by the IRS; and 4) the only month when they took two holidays and compined them into one (President's Day). February may only be 28 days, but it seems to last forever. Which is why I take this month off from drinking each and every year. Only an idiot would choose July.

i know you aren't talking shit about Dre, ARE YOU?

because, if we hear that you've been talking Shit ABOUT DRE, losing your damn barbie dolls to those freaks in Terminal City is the LEAST of your worries, you ginger-honky.

skibear · Post by **skibear** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 10:22 am

I'm busy as hell in Feburary. My peak month for skiing.
8 days so far, 2 days this weekend, 2 more before end of month.

Jan & March also busy.
Had to plan trips to be at home Jan 19 for BM ticket launch.
Got tier1 for first time, Wahoo! (with 15 minutes to spare)

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 1:37 pm

Most of my figgerin' ons happen and solidify themselves in the first half of February.
I usually have what's going on for this year's burn locked and loaded by then, and this year seems to be no exception thus far.
The weather has been splendid for this first half to occur, I must say.
This second half is to be filled with TuTus, snow chains, and lots of chinese carrout, with a possibility of wopChops and Scottish pasties which will all be quite wonderful regardless of the abrubt end to this fine month.

ViVa La Febuary!!

Trishntek · Post by **Trishntek** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 10:09 pm

skibear wrote:I'm busy as hell in Feburary. My peak month for skiing.
8 days so far, 2 days this weekend, 2 more before end of month.

Jan & March also busy.
Had to plan trips to be at home Jan 19 for BM ticket launch.
Got tier1 for first time, Wahoo! (with 15 minutes to spare)

I guess busy is a relative term,,,

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:02 am

Busy posting pointless threads.

Here and there · Post by **Here and there** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 3:11 am

Mister Jellyfish Mister wrote:Something about February I could never quite get the hang of. ... There's a real purgatory about this place called February.

See, this is why you need to move to the Midwest, home of the eight month winter. You go out your door in mid September, then run back in and grab your coat because it's 38 and that pisses you off, because wasn't it supposed to be late summer, and because you know that the cold showing up now means that the warm weather won't be back until mid June. Life sucks. The Midwest sucks. But you're stuck there, so you just have to cope, and sometime around Mid January, you remember that you can't really hide from the elements for all of those months, no matter how cold the air is. Recycled air and artificial light until strawberries are back in season? Forget about it.

You go out onto the Urban tundra, and it's kind of crappy, but it's not totally crappy. Sure, being able to sit outside in the sun right now would be nice, but the threat of cabin fever having left you with no place else to be, you're out there seeing things that you might not have slowed down and taken the time to see, if Winter had been so short that it could be avoided. If the winter has really been cold, maybe a little icecap has built up on the lake, the ice groaning from the swell of the waters beneath it, which refuse to be still. Cracks have formed, here and there, exposing enough water that a fog can rise, not so thick that the snow blowing over the ice has lost its almost oceanic blue color, but thick enough to diffuse the light of the morning sun, leaving a soft glow that deepens every hue.

Then you escape the flatlands and go home, finding that your winter doesn't seem so long, or so bad.

Nature's giving you a free light show that you would never see in summer. The season has its compensations. It's not purgatory, not exactly. Does it seem a little empty? Then fill it. You're in one of the most mountainous states in the country. Is there no scenery to go explore, photograph, draw as you see how it's been transformed by the season? You live in the Desert Southwest, the one part of the United States where Native American culture is alive, well, and a solid creative presence. Have you tried being a tourist in your own region, and studying some of those still existing cultures? Is Truckee getting a little too quiet? Then Reno is not so far away, and if it's anything like other cities I've known, the cold has driven its people into the coffeehouses and other meeting places, and gotten them so accustomed to being in close proximity to each other that they've become a little more open. And a little crazier because of the darkness, but it can be a good craziness.

This is maybe one of those cases in which being in Purgatory is a choice.

The Vacuum That Is February

The Vacuum That Is February

Re: The Vacuum That Is February