Back from another planet - Burning Man Review
I just got back from absolutely one of the strangest trips ever.
Yes, I survived "Burning Man" and now I am officially a "burner." Burning Man is a once a year event held in the desert in Reno, NV. It is a week long festival of "self expression", partying and just plain weirdness.
Let me start at the beginning of my journey...
The night before I leave for BM, I took my kids to see Rod Stewart in concert. It was great fun but only allowed me to get one hour of sleep before I had to leave for the airport.
Fortunately, I slept for almost for the entire flight so I felt pretty good when I met Laura at the Reno airport.
It's a four hour drive from the airport to BM and I didn't have a ride until two days before. I posted on the BM website that I needed a ride and Laura responded. I was relieved to discover that she was a very nice, friendly, attractive and fun woman. This made the ride to BM very enjoyable.
We arrive at the gates of BM and are greeted by three, shall we say, "free spirited" people (two men and a woman) who take my ticket and immediately start teasing me about my attire which consisted of $200 jeans (that's a whole other story!), black loafers and a T-shirt. My shoes were the target of much criticism and good natured joking.
I am told to get out of the car, ring large bell and yell, "I am no longer a Virgin!" I comply with the first part of the initiation and then asked, "Now you can either be spanked or make a dirt angel. Which do you want?"
"Um, dirt angel, " I reply. So, I lie down on the desert sand, pretend I'm in the snow and make a fine looking "dirt angel."
Initiation completed, we drive off to try to find Alexis' camp in Kidsville.
The desert looks like a refuge camp - seriously. There are thousands and thousands of tents set up with people camping on the desert ground. Of course, there are also many RVs which are a kind reminder that we are living in the 21st century.
My head turns quickly, to see a topless woman, riding a bicycle. "Hey, maybe this won't be all so bad," I think to myself.
Somehow, I find my girlfriend who is wearing, faux pink dreadlocks in her hair. (Yes, dudes, she did have clothes on!) Even with the crazy hair, I still find her to be the most beautiful woman in the world.
Laura wishes me luck as she drives away.
Alexis introduces me to the cast of characters in her camp.
First is Brett, a would be rock star, who appeared to be inebriated for the entire trip.
Then there was Tammy, who was very interested in partying more than watching her 18 month old baby Starla. Starla had a vocabulary that consisted of saying the word "no" to EVERYTHING, screaming "mine!" and pitching major fits.
Up next was Heather, who was cool.
Finally, on occasion, there was "Juicy" (yes, JUICY) a 30 year old man child who was the father of Starla but not with the mother Tammy but wanted to be with the mother Tammy and fought constantly with her in between times of feeling sorry for himself.
Of course, Alexis' kids, and my buddies, Kaia and Noah were there to round out this motley crew.
(There was one other major player in this drama but I'll keep you in suspense about him for just a little longer.)
Lest you think, I didn't have fun, I did and learned a lot about myself and people.
There were some absolutely AMAZING works of art (modern art, mind you), entire night clubs erected in the desert, a thunderdome where people could joust (a la "Mad Max"), tons of theme camps with EVERY theme imaginable, "art cars" these ranged from decorated golf carts to huge open air buses, performance artists, people in wild costumes and, in some cases, no costumes and more. Think of Mardi Gras and Carnivale (in Brazil) and you'll get somewhat of an idea of what I'm talking about.
Tomorrow, I will continue with my saga and talk about some important insights and discoveries I made at Burning Man.
(As always, your comments are welcome and I really do read all of them.)
Kick butt, make mucho dee-nero!
~Dave Dee
P.S. Wanna find out who the other major player at this event was? Gonna reveal it tomorrow!
PPS. Mark these two dates down on your calendar now and highlight them. November 8th and January 16-18th, 2009. That's all I'm going to say for now. Much more to come but I promise you, you will NOT want to miss out on what's happening during these times. It's the biggest, grandest and wildest thing I have ever done.
Yes, I survived "Burning Man" and now I am officially a "burner." Burning Man is a once a year event held in the desert in Reno, NV. It is a week long festival of "self expression", partying and just plain weirdness.
Let me start at the beginning of my journey...
The night before I leave for BM, I took my kids to see Rod Stewart in concert. It was great fun but only allowed me to get one hour of sleep before I had to leave for the airport.
Fortunately, I slept for almost for the entire flight so I felt pretty good when I met Laura at the Reno airport.
It's a four hour drive from the airport to BM and I didn't have a ride until two days before. I posted on the BM website that I needed a ride and Laura responded. I was relieved to discover that she was a very nice, friendly, attractive and fun woman. This made the ride to BM very enjoyable.
We arrive at the gates of BM and are greeted by three, shall we say, "free spirited" people (two men and a woman) who take my ticket and immediately start teasing me about my attire which consisted of $200 jeans (that's a whole other story!), black loafers and a T-shirt. My shoes were the target of much criticism and good natured joking.
I am told to get out of the car, ring large bell and yell, "I am no longer a Virgin!" I comply with the first part of the initiation and then asked, "Now you can either be spanked or make a dirt angel. Which do you want?"
"Um, dirt angel, " I reply. So, I lie down on the desert sand, pretend I'm in the snow and make a fine looking "dirt angel."
Initiation completed, we drive off to try to find Alexis' camp in Kidsville.
The desert looks like a refuge camp - seriously. There are thousands and thousands of tents set up with people camping on the desert ground. Of course, there are also many RVs which are a kind reminder that we are living in the 21st century.
My head turns quickly, to see a topless woman, riding a bicycle. "Hey, maybe this won't be all so bad," I think to myself.
Somehow, I find my girlfriend who is wearing, faux pink dreadlocks in her hair. (Yes, dudes, she did have clothes on!) Even with the crazy hair, I still find her to be the most beautiful woman in the world.
Laura wishes me luck as she drives away.
Alexis introduces me to the cast of characters in her camp.
First is Brett, a would be rock star, who appeared to be inebriated for the entire trip.
Then there was Tammy, who was very interested in partying more than watching her 18 month old baby Starla. Starla had a vocabulary that consisted of saying the word "no" to EVERYTHING, screaming "mine!" and pitching major fits.
Up next was Heather, who was cool.
Finally, on occasion, there was "Juicy" (yes, JUICY) a 30 year old man child who was the father of Starla but not with the mother Tammy but wanted to be with the mother Tammy and fought constantly with her in between times of feeling sorry for himself.
Of course, Alexis' kids, and my buddies, Kaia and Noah were there to round out this motley crew.
(There was one other major player in this drama but I'll keep you in suspense about him for just a little longer.)
Lest you think, I didn't have fun, I did and learned a lot about myself and people.
There were some absolutely AMAZING works of art (modern art, mind you), entire night clubs erected in the desert, a thunderdome where people could joust (a la "Mad Max"), tons of theme camps with EVERY theme imaginable, "art cars" these ranged from decorated golf carts to huge open air buses, performance artists, people in wild costumes and, in some cases, no costumes and more. Think of Mardi Gras and Carnivale (in Brazil) and you'll get somewhat of an idea of what I'm talking about.
Tomorrow, I will continue with my saga and talk about some important insights and discoveries I made at Burning Man.
(As always, your comments are welcome and I really do read all of them.)
Kick butt, make mucho dee-nero!
~Dave Dee
P.S. Wanna find out who the other major player at this event was? Gonna reveal it tomorrow!
PPS. Mark these two dates down on your calendar now and highlight them. November 8th and January 16-18th, 2009. That's all I'm going to say for now. Much more to come but I promise you, you will NOT want to miss out on what's happening during these times. It's the biggest, grandest and wildest thing I have ever done.
posted by Dave Dee at
3:03 PM
3 Comments:
Dave,
I laugh out loud as I read your post. I can imagine and image you at the burning man. I guess you could say I imagine myself there as you describe it. Hope you did find something positive from the experience. Often in life, we hold the brakes and don't allow ourselves to freely and truly express and experience things. I live in small town southern America and people would most likely ridicule and judge someone that chose to do the burning man. I try to practice non-judgement of of people and things. I applaud you for your endeavor. I look forward to hearing more.
Sincerely,
Chris Moss, D.C.
Tishomingo, MS
Dave I have pictures for you (making playa angels, ringing the "bell", etc. Where would you like me to send them to?
-Laura (new ride-share pal)
Dave-
All someone has to do is read your two most recent posts and a phrase immediately jumps into their head..
"Oh. Dave must be dating a Californian"
Good luck and enjoy the foreign culture
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