Burning Man 2008: A Recap

My good intentions to blog again from Burning Man itself ran into some roadblocks - one six-hour dust storm and, well, random moments of spontaneous happiness that kept me from a computer. But as part of my own therapy in missing the place I'll post some thoughts as an epilogue and an ode to this year.

I find it hard to be back in the "default" world. I'm exhausted, and glad to be out of the desert, but harboring a melancholy that should take a few weeks to get rid of. The alkaline dust will take three scrubs to remove from my tent, bicycle, camp gear and clothes. Yet everything is so clean in this world. And everyone is wearing entirely too many items of clothing. That is not to say at Burning Man you need to be naked - but wearing a sarong and sandles or a loin cloth or just body paint is just enough freedom and vulnerability to force you to interact with people in ways you wouldn't in this world. 

I'll miss the way you interact with people at Burning Man: Sunday I had some gourmet chicken sausages left and no desire to break out my grill. I came across a guy with a giant grill serving bacon to a line of people. Threw my sausages on the grill, chatted about his camp (Picasso Camp, draw your own Picasso-like renderings) in this boisterous, fast-friends way which is permissable at Burning Man. Donated the rest of the sausages. Gave him a hug and moved on. 

I will not miss my malnourishment: I didn't break out my grill once this Burning Man (save for the George Foreman grill for my grilled cheeses). My diet consisted of tuna sandwiches, sliced turkey, potato salad, cereal, beer and water. Somehow you just don't feel like cooking or preparing food in the heat when there's so much going on. Somehow you think you're not hungry, not a nice trick your body plays. I'm paying the price now. 

I will miss the playfulness - the giant Gothic swing set, the Roller Disco with old fashioned roller skates, the topless teeter totter, the zip line, the mini golf course, the hammock hangout and the Ashram Galactica. 

I miss it all and for another year.

More soon.