Observations from a newbie (long, rambling)

[Formica]

2004 was my first Burn, and I must say the experience is one I will never forget.

Despite my newbishness, I had alot going for me:

1. I camped with a bunch of vets. I had already been indoctrinated in what was important in terms of both physical survival and emotional enjoyment, and I am exceedingly grateful to the dear friends I spent the week with. Huge props to the Elysium crew - you are all superstars of the first order.

2. I was honest with the ticket folks and Greeters about my newb status, but thanks to this messageboard, I knew that it was considered nice to bring the Greeters a present. You'd be amazed what a bottle of french Bordeaux will do for the Greeter's spirits :) I like to think that little guesture did something for my karma upon arrival.

3. Living in the East Bay (where summer temps are often in excess of 100 degrees, at sea level) I have to say the heat and sun was alot more bearable than I thought they would be. Even at the hottest of times, a little shade was all I needed to stay comfortable. Drinking two gallons of water a day helped, too, though I think my kidneys are as tired of peeing as I am :P

4. Pockets, pockets, pockets. I had lots of cargo pants/shorts, belt pouches, etc. So important, so convenient. I went for function over appearance this year, with my only decoration being the el wire hat that crapped out on friday :P Have as many easily accessable pockets as you can, folks! Trust me!

So with that kind of prep under my belt, I had alot less to worry about while wandering BRC. And wander I did! We had the luck to be camped out at 7:30 and Mercury - close enough to the hustle and bustle of the Esplinade to make craziness easily accessable, as well as getting a good amount of traffic at the Wreckreation Center. Those of you who participated in the Art for Alcohol Program, thank you! Your contributions have been preserved and join last year's canvasses in our archives. Thanks in particular to whoever had the Man Jumping the Shark stencil, I was honored you chose to decorate us with your cynicism ;) The trampoline was a big hit with everyone, but especially the kids. It was a great feeling to see all these tykes flipping head over heels and giggling incessantly all week long. And seeing ten on ten games of volleyball at the court was always fun - a huge pile of bikes would grow next to the net, and suddenly there were twenty people chasing the neon ball all over the place!

The most important part of the event for me was learning that, truly, the majority of people who're attending are really, really nice people. I'm very open with my friends, but subdued with strangers... and yet, within just a day, I was walking up to random strangers and camps and starting conversations, exchanging gifts (anyone got an action shot of one of our BRC 2004 lighters? Post a link!), sampling libations, hugging, and all that other hippy stuff I didn't really think was true. But it is. That's not to say there weren't assholes out there, but I had the luck to run into very few of them. Moreover, the people who came up to me were wonderful reminders that this kind of vibe really is prevelant. If only I could extend that kind of gregarious trust in the non-Playa world :P

I didn't have many expectations about the Art, and I'm glad I didn't. It's five square miles of performance art, and much of it was very cool. I suppose I'm not... uh, 'artsy' if you will. But I was always on the lookout for something participatory. Whoever was running the phone booth at around 7:15 and Mercury, good job! And, of course, huge props to the Cat Herder's bowling lane. If you didn't see their ball return system, you missed out on a wonderfully elegant piece of Playa engineering. Spock Mountain Research Labs - these folks are hilarious. If you weren't reading the Spock Science Monitor, you missed out on some truly funny BRC satire, as well as some thoughtful commentary on the state of art and art grants at BM. The Carnies around the corner with their roller coaster and gogo cages did a great job of scaring the piss out of lots of folks, and their morning music made Friday a much mellower experience.

Of the stories that came back with me, I think the best one is the Tale of the Free Beer. Naturally, there's plenty of people giving away ales and lagers all over the place, but we had this half a keg of Hangtown Brewery Pale Ale that we needed to dispense with so we could tap the Vanilla Stout. Those of you who hit the G-Spot out on Mars, the gentleman who worked that establishment is the brewer of said beers - wonderful stuff. Anyhow, it was rapidly decided that the best way to get rid of this beer was to walk the Esplinade and give it away. Burning Man gave me my voice - and use it I did. If you heard the call of "FREE BEER! IT'S GOOD BEER, NOT AMERICAN PISS WATER BEER!" on friday night, that was us :P So many folks, so many beers... and the cups! We rapidly ran out of cups to hand out, but fortunately someone (who I can't remember - either the coaster carnies or the roller disco people?) ran up to us with two stacks of cups to assist us in our public mission of intoxication. It took an hour - who knew it would be so hard to give away beer at BM on a friday night?

On that subject, there was one person who politely declined because someone had been giving out laced beverages earlier. This, combined with the guy across the street from us getting kicked out by BLM for dosing women, reminded me that there's just enough assholes around to remind me to be open, but be careful :P

The Man burn... uh, sucked. Okay, it wasn't terrible, but the crush of people (and the number of lookyloos and frat boy types) really made it an unpleasant experience. Next year I think I'll just try and find a nice high vantage point to watch it from.

The Temple burn, however... wow. Sunday was a hard day for us due to some logistical problems, but watching the Temple combust was utterly amazing. None of the pomp and pagentry of the Man, and it didn't need it. If the rumors are true, and David Best won't be there next year, BRC is losing an incredible asset :(

So, rambling on, some lessons I learned:

- Rubbing alcohol is your best friend. It cuts Playa dust off of glasses and goggles, sterilizes quickly, and is an excellent all-around cleaner for the skin. Waterless hand sanitizer is a close second. Very nice for cleaning 'problem areas' and helping to cut down on both funk and potential skin rashes.

- If you know where friends are going to be, get their addresses before hand. Going on tour and finding my pals was just a wonderful experience - it reminds you that there's alot of your extended clan out there sharing the time with you.

- Get out of your tent, get out of your camp. Even if you don't talk to anyone, just get out there and experience the place. Someone's bound to involve you somehow!

- DOWN WITH TRANCE. This is my motto for next year. Haven't any of you people heard of breaks, jungle, trip hop? Cmon! ;) Mad props to all the jazz, blues, and funk that echoed into the night!

- Camelbaks. Trendy for a reason. Get one. Anytime you even think about water, just drink. Wonderfully convenient. I'm still trying to figure out what "filling the camelbak" is a euphemism for, though - it just sounds dirty ;)

- Bring a book. Sometimes, you just want to chill. It's a really nice way to unwind - grab a beer or your favorite beverage, find some shade, and just read for a while.

- Evaporative pools. Make yours three times larger than you need to. Having to haul back nasty filth water is an annoying and dirty process that you do NOT want to go through. Alternatively, have a method for storing said filth ready to go and easy to do if your pool doesn't take care of it all.

- Sandals. Don't bother. Yes, your feet are going to get warm, but a closed shoe with clean cotton socks (bring two pairs for each day, keep them in freezer bags) is much, much better for your feet. Little to no cracking, no Playa foot.

- Showers. If you or people you're camped with just don't want to embrace the whole public nakedness thing, having a private showering facility is really a nice thing to do. You just gotta make sure it WORKS and isn't cumbersome. I'm already designing a custom one for next year :P

- Earplugs. Specifically, CHEAP FOAM ONES. Shooting range earplugs in particular work well. I brought my hoity-toity Eytmotic Research plugs, and they sucked, because they're designed to reduce volume, not block out noise entirely.

I guess that about sums it up. I hope that it was at least entertaining, if not a little informative. Huge giant megathanks to all the random cool people who made my experience what it was. Cliche as it sounds, Burning Man is all about the people. It is the inhabitants of BRC that make it what it is, hands down. I only hope it stays that way into the future!

[bartolah]

Wow, awesome stuff! This was also my first Burning Man, and I'm still waiting for someone to pinch me and tell me it was all a dream.

I went with four other friends, all newbies, as it just so happened that all of our "old-timer" friends were taking a break this year. In retrospect this was both good and bad - on the good side it allowed us to experience BM for ourselves and not through someone elses preconceptions, on the bad side it took us the first couple of days to make the all too critical transformation from observer to participant.

Once I made that transition it was like a whole new world opened up to me, to all of us...

- hosting a bar is a great way to meet people(who woulda thought?)! Just as formica said, giving out beer, giving in general, is a wonderful, incredible, fantastic way to meet people - to connect - to get to know fellow human beings and see how wonderful we all are...
- talk to strangers! my parents got it all wrong - you should talk to strangers - and what a perfect atmosphere to do it in... People rock, they just need a safe place to open up...
- speaking of safe, the safest place I've ever been to - wow. 35,000 people and I've never ever felt safer - absolutely amazing.
- walk or bike - who needs cars unless they're incredibly cool viking ships that also breathe fire and lay down a funky beat?
- let out your inner freak - costumes rule and are damn fun to wear, as is body paint and, well, nothing - get into the spirit and the spirit gets into you!
- all of you who took the time to create those amazing art installations, theme camps, art cars, creative gifts - you're amazing and we love you, please keep it up...
- Hugs are wonderful - the night of the burn was, well, very huggy for me - and just sending out a thank you to all who I hugged, whoever you are...
- Gifts come in many forms - one of the best gifts I received on the Playa was from a kind man who had his "mist-er" out and was misting people around him - so refreshing. Another wonderful gift, also in the middle of the Playa, was this fantastic oasis-like Snow cone stand - thank you so much!
- Ditto on the socks - clean socks, twice a day, it's like a mantra!

I'm sure there's more, alas, for another posting. The real world pales in comparison - damn it's hard to adjust to be back. I can't wait for next year.

[theCryptofishist]

2. I was honest with the ticket folks and Greeters about my newb status, but thanks to this messageboard, I knew that it was considered nice to bring the Greeters a present. You'd be amazed what a bottle of french Bordeaux will do for the Greeter's spirits I like to think that little guesture did something for my karma upon arrival.

Ya know, it can be difficult to put yourself in the "one down" position, but it's good to do it. NOt only because most people can guess anyway, but if you lead off honestly then you don't think other people are trying to fool you. (Sometimes they are, but you don't have to start the shenanigins. . .)

[shitmouse]

"2. I was honest with the ticket folks and Greeters about my newb status, but thanks to this messageboard, I knew that it was considered nice to bring the Greeters a present. You'd be amazed what a bottle of french Bordeaux will do for the Greeter's spirits I like to think that little guesture did something for my karma upon arrival."

right on with the gifting the gate and greeters.
i bet they were stoked.

hey bart!
i am awaiting a full report! glad you had a good burn week. experiencing what you did, you'll most likely want to take off for the playa monday next year.
welcome to fun. talk to you soon my friend.
-b

[butterscotch]

~FREE BEER! IT'S GOOD BEER, NOT AMERICAN PISS WATER BEER!" on friday night~

Heh. Heard you and watched the good karmic libations. Kudos.

-Good points all. Especially on the shoes and socks. My two pairs of sandals/flip-flops weren't as comfortable (or safe) as my thrashed pair of Eccos. Changes of socks were verrry important. Plus found that my time on the coals of the man half-melted the front-bottoms of the shoes... that extra 1/2 inch of plastic kept my toes from being tasty bbq.

-Went there with an old school friend for the 1st time this year. Arrived Thursday afternoon... and after much madness... Ended up laughing in the Hooka tent on Sunday night after the temple burn thinking about how I had no words to describe all of the intense randomness over the week.

-As for gift items, I found that candy/generic stuff is in large supply: Nope. Nope. Nope. People get veeery burnt out by sugar by the end of the week... Still have 90% of what we took with us left over.

Instead noticed fresh fruit/cucumbers (anything "wet") were quite readily accepted...

Next year I'm going to bring something(s) special that I really REALLY Personally enjoy to share. (favorite alcohols... favorite foods... decisions... decisions)

My friend Clay decided to bring a case of his favorite fiery complex spice - "Marie Sharp's Habanero Pepper Sauce". It's soooo good. It's from Belize and he's only been able to find it online (we had several people ask us to write down the name - wish we had more bottles to share!). Ended up converting several people who were NOT into spicy things. Loved screaming out "Chip Chip" in the Monday afternoon instant talegate party with tortilla chips, cucumbers, sausage and lots of the sweet sauce. Mmmm... good stuff.

Which reminds me - We are thinking of setting up a "spicy conconctions" evening over at Center Camp one night. Any other spice afficionados out there want to help?

Thank you Picasso Camp for the libations!

Amazin' Bone-clatterin' penny whistle Jeff (if you've never seen the bones dance... *whew*) had wee bottles of his own mixture of wonderful spiced wine. Good on the eyes... sweet cloying scents... soooo smooth on the taste buds...

Oooh.. and anything that could mist... I saw a couple of tubes/ropes (?) that had misting spigots in them... veerrrra nice. If anyone knows where to get them please let me know.

Good call on the Camelbak. Their Omega Reserviors (2 liters?) & other water bladders you can buy and toss into any backpack... hmm... less than $20 on ebay? They were quite the godsend... easy to pack around and you end up hydrating not only yourself but also others around you... especially at the burns where people may not always remember they still need H2O. One kind couple passed the karma from their own tank on a long hike back from the temple after I emptied my own tank. Kudos!

Get a ride on a Mutant Vehicle!!!!! WOW. After the temple burn... It was perfectly PINK - it had dance poles - It cried out with music... french spanish salsaish... it bounced as you danced... Tiger Lillies... Burning Song (?)... And whoever the heck drove it KICKED ASS! We turned... we circled... we sang... we Bounced!

Much fun. THANKS TO ALL who made this 1st year so ... well... I don't think I have a good-enough... heck.. great enough... heck.. hmm... nope... word to really describe it... Heh..

Kudos in Muchos,
Aimless

[butterscotch]

Tip: Return to your camp by a different path each time (e.g. I've walked down 5 c'clock to get to camp... let's try 5:30...). You'd be surprised by the random events "just around the next corner" or finding the camps filled with good folk that regularly dispensed alcohol, food, and other pleasantries...

~Aimless

[Ducky]

Thanks for the Vanilla Stout

Jeff from Jeff camp and roller disco

[sputnik]

We liked the Friday morning music too. Kudos to Olly. The playlist in order was:

Nighmares on Wax: "Carboot Soul"                http://redirx.com/?gc7s
Thievery Corporation: "Richest Man in Babylon"  http://redirx.com/?gc70
Weekend Players: "Pursuit of Happiness"         http://redirx.com/?gc77