G and I are back from Burning Man. You're going to be disappointed, cuz I'm not going for anything like a complete report tonight.
Let's see... We drove all through the night to get there. Arrived around 10am on last week's Monday.
The Coleman tent absolutely rocked. It held up to the elements with aplomb. The damn air mattress deflated on the first night, though. And I had been saying, "sleep is important; it's worth an investment of $60." Grrrr. So, in its place we put sleeping bags and blankets down. Wildly adequate.
One of my big reasons for going was to see the art. There was some stuff that was neat -- but far less than I'd hoped for. Rather disappointing in that respect, I have to say. My fave was probably the tree with pinwheels on it at the far far end of the playa.
The man itself... Was smaller than it seems in documentatary pics from past years. Probably because it was standing atop a dome, rather than a pyramid. A pyramid is roughly the equivalent of wearing vertical stripes, I figure. The Temple of Stars was a good deal more impressive. Apparently the art genius who builds the temple each year has an in with the folks who sell those wooden dinosaur skeleton kits. The temple -- which must be five stories tall -- is built magnificently out of the used kits. When layered and cut up, it looks amazingly ornate.
The sexism at Burning Man was grotesque. There were folks (men) at the event who disagreed with this assessment. But (1) I didn't feel like these folk had awareness of sexism to begin with, and (2) I wore dresses the whole time, which prompted a lot of schmucks to prove their manliness in my presence. ...I got shoutingly pissed off several times -- which, if you know my normally demure nature, should be saying something.
Emotionally, I was most moved by the elements. The towering dust devils were spirits roving the plain. The plumes of roaring smoke at the burns were ghosts. The sparks were new born stars drifting up into the heavens. ...Out in the middle of the largest, flattest desert area in the U.S., the sky was big and beautiful.
Would I go back? Uncertain. Give me time to digest. On the one hand, I've got all the equipment now. *Wink* On the other hand, I was not happy about the must-drink-and-get-laid party culture aspect. Does the art tip the balance?
Bumped into Paul Anderson on the playa! This is my old musical partner from college, with whom I had a repetoir of maybe 25 songs. The following day he managed to find G & me again (small miracle!), and we held a small reunion concert. He played guitar, and I used a two-octave toy piano he had with him. Ah, "moving right along," was a fine thing. G took video!
I got to meet G's friends from last year, Dan and Planet Steve. Met Portlander Marvelous Marvin, too, whom is personally responsible for some of the most excellent queer parodies of the OCA during the past decade. When the new voter's pamphlet comes out, look for something special in the "arguments for" section re Measure 36.
On the way home, stopped near Lakeview and saw the Milky Way like I've never seen it before in my life. Wow! Lakeview also gave me a stunning, truly stunning view of the moon rising over water on the way down. I also want to give a shout out to the waitress there who thought G and I were the nicest folk she'd served in, like, ever.
Stopped at Crater Lake. Also amazing. Only stood at the top of the rim. Would have liked to go down in, but neither G nor I were up for it after a dusty, exhausting week. Gotta say, Crater Lake had one of the best educational exhibits I've ever seen in a museum-ish context. Very concise and easy to absorb, well laid out. The buffet at the cafe, however, was dreadful. They were good enough to have vegetarian options -- but all of the pasta was inedibly overcooked.
Got home around one in the morning Tuesday night. Decided not to tell anyone we were back for a day, so we could go get groceries and unpack. Shopped at the new New Seasons on Division for the first time, which opened up Sept. 1. Yay!
...I'm telling ya, the best thing about being back is to be away from the dust. This year's weather was apparently really bad. The hots were hot, and the colds were cold. That didn't bother me too much. Dust storms, though... There were dust storms that created white-out situations, pretty frequently. Some folks went home early because they just couldn't stand it. Me, I started to develop a fondness for them. It was like a snow storm in the desert. And it collected on all the little hairs of the arm, making them look like the fur you see on fetuses in prenatal photographs.
...But you're constantly breathing it in. It's in your lungs. And it's in your food. And you can't keep your hands clean while you're cooking. And you can't keep it out of the tent. So it's in the bed. And all your clothes are tan colored. And you can't keep it out from under your nails. And it's in your books and everything...
In other news: I got a phone message from my mother yesterday evening saying that my grandfather has been hospitalized for pneumonia in Edmonton. He's getting better and will be released soon, but mom was going to fly up to see him today. She says she and Mike spent yesterday looking into assisted living arangements for grannie and him.
I've been told, but don't understand this yet, that the pneumonia is related to grampa's Alzheimer's. ...He's been on a drug that prolongs the initial stages of the disease -- but is followed by a precipitous decline. Apparently he's hitting the precipitous decline part now.
What to feel? I know from past experiences that a sudden death is more difficult to absorb than a drawn out death. This is expected. It makes me a bit sad, listless, but doesn't knock the wind out of me. Which then makes me wonder if I'm being callous... My mom is dealing with the brunt of the trauma, I think. From what my bro says, it sounds like she's alternating between strong and upset.
In other news again: J and E's relationship is changing. From what I gather, both J and E feel good about the decision. However, a consequence of this is that E and C will be moving out quite soon. That's unfortunate, in that J will have to find a new housemate while she's in one of her busiest months. ...And holy smokes, only 8 more to go, to reach the required 50! When she hits 50, basically she's done and leaves the organization. This is the culmination of almost 9 years! ...Oh, but then, then there's setting up a business, I imagine, which is a whole 'nother affair...
Today I made egg salad sandwiches for lunch -- with avacado, olive tapenade, and roasted red bell peppers. Yum! And for dinner, I made faux chix salad with ranch dressing by me. And we're feeding off a key lime pie I made yesterday. Hey, look at me go! Put a little love into it, and it seems I can cook!
The car is unpacked, coolers emptied, and laundry laundered. Reintegrating stuff from the unstaging area is ongoing -- it turned out that today was more about reconnecting with people than unpacking. Which reminds me: Rob Mead left a message last week! G & I must see about having Kyrie and him over for dinner, or some such thang.
Tomorrow G and I have a "studio day". This should be an ongoing theme for the next three months. We couldn't see past Burning Man. But now that that's over, we begin really getting into the studio. G plans to lead an Artist's Way workshop after New Year's. I want to help.
Me, I'm going to be returning to YL writing and working on the Lovecraft flick. But in a more sustainable way, I hope. Less Kamakazie. Also, we've begun spinning plans for Michael Mondays, Luxury Tuesdays, "Write Now" Wednesdays, Movie Thursdays, and Studio Fridays. I'll be taking up some kind of regular writing practice with Carl, and there's talk of resurrecting the Unconscious Collective.
Good Grief! Grant us the poise to keep breathing, and to actually enjoy all this wealth of time and friends and opportunity that we're blessed with!
Let's see... We drove all through the night to get there. Arrived around 10am on last week's Monday.
The Coleman tent absolutely rocked. It held up to the elements with aplomb. The damn air mattress deflated on the first night, though. And I had been saying, "sleep is important; it's worth an investment of $60." Grrrr. So, in its place we put sleeping bags and blankets down. Wildly adequate.
One of my big reasons for going was to see the art. There was some stuff that was neat -- but far less than I'd hoped for. Rather disappointing in that respect, I have to say. My fave was probably the tree with pinwheels on it at the far far end of the playa.
The man itself... Was smaller than it seems in documentatary pics from past years. Probably because it was standing atop a dome, rather than a pyramid. A pyramid is roughly the equivalent of wearing vertical stripes, I figure. The Temple of Stars was a good deal more impressive. Apparently the art genius who builds the temple each year has an in with the folks who sell those wooden dinosaur skeleton kits. The temple -- which must be five stories tall -- is built magnificently out of the used kits. When layered and cut up, it looks amazingly ornate.
The sexism at Burning Man was grotesque. There were folks (men) at the event who disagreed with this assessment. But (1) I didn't feel like these folk had awareness of sexism to begin with, and (2) I wore dresses the whole time, which prompted a lot of schmucks to prove their manliness in my presence. ...I got shoutingly pissed off several times -- which, if you know my normally demure nature, should be saying something.
Emotionally, I was most moved by the elements. The towering dust devils were spirits roving the plain. The plumes of roaring smoke at the burns were ghosts. The sparks were new born stars drifting up into the heavens. ...Out in the middle of the largest, flattest desert area in the U.S., the sky was big and beautiful.
Would I go back? Uncertain. Give me time to digest. On the one hand, I've got all the equipment now. *Wink* On the other hand, I was not happy about the must-drink-and-get-laid party culture aspect. Does the art tip the balance?
Bumped into Paul Anderson on the playa! This is my old musical partner from college, with whom I had a repetoir of maybe 25 songs. The following day he managed to find G & me again (small miracle!), and we held a small reunion concert. He played guitar, and I used a two-octave toy piano he had with him. Ah, "moving right along," was a fine thing. G took video!
I got to meet G's friends from last year, Dan and Planet Steve. Met Portlander Marvelous Marvin, too, whom is personally responsible for some of the most excellent queer parodies of the OCA during the past decade. When the new voter's pamphlet comes out, look for something special in the "arguments for" section re Measure 36.
On the way home, stopped near Lakeview and saw the Milky Way like I've never seen it before in my life. Wow! Lakeview also gave me a stunning, truly stunning view of the moon rising over water on the way down. I also want to give a shout out to the waitress there who thought G and I were the nicest folk she'd served in, like, ever.
Stopped at Crater Lake. Also amazing. Only stood at the top of the rim. Would have liked to go down in, but neither G nor I were up for it after a dusty, exhausting week. Gotta say, Crater Lake had one of the best educational exhibits I've ever seen in a museum-ish context. Very concise and easy to absorb, well laid out. The buffet at the cafe, however, was dreadful. They were good enough to have vegetarian options -- but all of the pasta was inedibly overcooked.
Got home around one in the morning Tuesday night. Decided not to tell anyone we were back for a day, so we could go get groceries and unpack. Shopped at the new New Seasons on Division for the first time, which opened up Sept. 1. Yay!
...I'm telling ya, the best thing about being back is to be away from the dust. This year's weather was apparently really bad. The hots were hot, and the colds were cold. That didn't bother me too much. Dust storms, though... There were dust storms that created white-out situations, pretty frequently. Some folks went home early because they just couldn't stand it. Me, I started to develop a fondness for them. It was like a snow storm in the desert. And it collected on all the little hairs of the arm, making them look like the fur you see on fetuses in prenatal photographs.
...But you're constantly breathing it in. It's in your lungs. And it's in your food. And you can't keep your hands clean while you're cooking. And you can't keep it out of the tent. So it's in the bed. And all your clothes are tan colored. And you can't keep it out from under your nails. And it's in your books and everything...
In other news: I got a phone message from my mother yesterday evening saying that my grandfather has been hospitalized for pneumonia in Edmonton. He's getting better and will be released soon, but mom was going to fly up to see him today. She says she and Mike spent yesterday looking into assisted living arangements for grannie and him.
I've been told, but don't understand this yet, that the pneumonia is related to grampa's Alzheimer's. ...He's been on a drug that prolongs the initial stages of the disease -- but is followed by a precipitous decline. Apparently he's hitting the precipitous decline part now.
What to feel? I know from past experiences that a sudden death is more difficult to absorb than a drawn out death. This is expected. It makes me a bit sad, listless, but doesn't knock the wind out of me. Which then makes me wonder if I'm being callous... My mom is dealing with the brunt of the trauma, I think. From what my bro says, it sounds like she's alternating between strong and upset.
In other news again: J and E's relationship is changing. From what I gather, both J and E feel good about the decision. However, a consequence of this is that E and C will be moving out quite soon. That's unfortunate, in that J will have to find a new housemate while she's in one of her busiest months. ...And holy smokes, only 8 more to go, to reach the required 50! When she hits 50, basically she's done and leaves the organization. This is the culmination of almost 9 years! ...Oh, but then, then there's setting up a business, I imagine, which is a whole 'nother affair...
Today I made egg salad sandwiches for lunch -- with avacado, olive tapenade, and roasted red bell peppers. Yum! And for dinner, I made faux chix salad with ranch dressing by me. And we're feeding off a key lime pie I made yesterday. Hey, look at me go! Put a little love into it, and it seems I can cook!
The car is unpacked, coolers emptied, and laundry laundered. Reintegrating stuff from the unstaging area is ongoing -- it turned out that today was more about reconnecting with people than unpacking. Which reminds me: Rob Mead left a message last week! G & I must see about having Kyrie and him over for dinner, or some such thang.
Tomorrow G and I have a "studio day". This should be an ongoing theme for the next three months. We couldn't see past Burning Man. But now that that's over, we begin really getting into the studio. G plans to lead an Artist's Way workshop after New Year's. I want to help.
Me, I'm going to be returning to YL writing and working on the Lovecraft flick. But in a more sustainable way, I hope. Less Kamakazie. Also, we've begun spinning plans for Michael Mondays, Luxury Tuesdays, "Write Now" Wednesdays, Movie Thursdays, and Studio Fridays. I'll be taking up some kind of regular writing practice with Carl, and there's talk of resurrecting the Unconscious Collective.
Good Grief! Grant us the poise to keep breathing, and to actually enjoy all this wealth of time and friends and opportunity that we're blessed with!
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