Saturday, August 25, 2007
Burning Man, Take 2.
Okay, so I'm awake about a halfhour before I really need to be (thanks, 9am NLS class at the beginning of August.. ) AND I scrambled around YESTERDAY getting everything ready 'cause my ride said (at the last minute) that she was going to collect me last night after my gig hooping in N Van, rather than me heading out on Skytrain this morning. Later last night, plans changed to return to the original thought: skytrain out to Surrey, she'd drive in from Abbotsford to collect me and take me back out to the giant-RV-and-enormous-trailer staging area in their oh-so-normal subdivision, and then we'd be OFF to the so-utterly-far-from-normal Burning Man.
What will make this year different than last?
1 - I'm not freaked out. I know what to expect, and I will be fine, and I'm really calm about that.
2 - instead of camping with mostly strangers.... oh, wait. That's still pretty true. I've hooped with Ali and her friend Gracie about four times, met A's husband Brian three times, their teenage son Dylan twice, and some of the rest of our compound-of-RVs once.
3 - rather than having a handful of aquaintences from Vancouver scattered around the site, I have a handful of friends from Vancouver with known locations and another handful of international friends from either last year or from hooping workshops spread around the site. Much less concerned about moments of loneliness this year (don't remember being concerned about it at the time, but I certainly wound up being a loner for most of the first few days, when I wasn't in damage control mode)
4 - avoiding damage control mode: I'm not camping with a bar, I'm not camping with a friend, and I'm not camping with a camp mayor who will molest my friend so I then have to support her, get his ass arrested, and get ostracized (I'm so shocked that word is appearing in this blog) by some idiot members of my camp. Hopefully everything will remain smooth and chill this year!
5 - I'm packing in bins rather than plastic bags, so hopefully my tent organization will be a bit more functional. Also, less spillage will occur on the floor of the tent, since this time my waterjugs can be on top of a bin and thus fill my bottles without having to precariously balance the jug with my knees while aiming at the bottle. And dribbling.
6 - I will probably get to discover if having one's period while on the playa is as obnoxious as everyone says. I'm guessing not, but hey, I pill-planned around it last year to avoid the question, and this year I'm not on the pill and it should be arriving smack dab in the middle of the week. Why is this a challenge? Can't put tampons into the porta potties, and there ain't no garbage cans. Dumpable and reusable Diva Cup, here I come! (didn't get this in time to give it a test run last month, so we'll see...)
(and I figure most of you readers are intelligent enough not to be squeamish about reading that last point. If you are, I'm kinda shocked that you know me well enough to be reading this blog)
Okay, 20 min blown, time to get on with the rest of my prep time.. next step: breakfast while reading in the tub, and then a leg shave, woo!
Love y'all. Back in a couple weeks.
What will make this year different than last?
1 - I'm not freaked out. I know what to expect, and I will be fine, and I'm really calm about that.
2 - instead of camping with mostly strangers.... oh, wait. That's still pretty true. I've hooped with Ali and her friend Gracie about four times, met A's husband Brian three times, their teenage son Dylan twice, and some of the rest of our compound-of-RVs once.
3 - rather than having a handful of aquaintences from Vancouver scattered around the site, I have a handful of friends from Vancouver with known locations and another handful of international friends from either last year or from hooping workshops spread around the site. Much less concerned about moments of loneliness this year (don't remember being concerned about it at the time, but I certainly wound up being a loner for most of the first few days, when I wasn't in damage control mode)
4 - avoiding damage control mode: I'm not camping with a bar, I'm not camping with a friend, and I'm not camping with a camp mayor who will molest my friend so I then have to support her, get his ass arrested, and get ostracized (I'm so shocked that word is appearing in this blog) by some idiot members of my camp. Hopefully everything will remain smooth and chill this year!
5 - I'm packing in bins rather than plastic bags, so hopefully my tent organization will be a bit more functional. Also, less spillage will occur on the floor of the tent, since this time my waterjugs can be on top of a bin and thus fill my bottles without having to precariously balance the jug with my knees while aiming at the bottle. And dribbling.
6 - I will probably get to discover if having one's period while on the playa is as obnoxious as everyone says. I'm guessing not, but hey, I pill-planned around it last year to avoid the question, and this year I'm not on the pill and it should be arriving smack dab in the middle of the week. Why is this a challenge? Can't put tampons into the porta potties, and there ain't no garbage cans. Dumpable and reusable Diva Cup, here I come! (didn't get this in time to give it a test run last month, so we'll see...)
(and I figure most of you readers are intelligent enough not to be squeamish about reading that last point. If you are, I'm kinda shocked that you know me well enough to be reading this blog)
Okay, 20 min blown, time to get on with the rest of my prep time.. next step: breakfast while reading in the tub, and then a leg shave, woo!
Love y'all. Back in a couple weeks.
# posted by Christa Giles @ 7:03 AM 
