Wow

Well, there's one less thing I'm in limbo over.

Max responded to my message and would rather I completely bypass his camp and crew.

Which...

I mean, I understand.  It's his happy place, his space.... but... I can not begin to fathom what has gone on in his brain that he reacts this strongly to even the idea of me being around.

Fine... one thing to say, hey, please don't camp with us, but don't even come by for a visit?  What is so wrong with whatever thoughts he has around me that makes him react this way?

I'm stunned, to be honest. 

And, yes, I know I could completely ignore him and some people might, but I respect Burning Man and what it means to people and I care about other human beings enough to respect the fact that he doesn't want to see me.

Sucks for me.  I connected really well with a lot of the people there, and with the randomness of Burning Man being what it is, it's not so easy to meet up with people or plan to cross paths.  Staying with someone in the same camp doesn't even ensure you'll see each other... just makes it a lot more likely.  So those people that I'd wanted to see and hug and hang out with, I doubt I will be able to this year, all because Max doesn't want to see me around.  That hurts.  Feels a whole lot less mature than I thought he was.

Which then sucks again, because I don't like feeling like I so wrongly misjudged him. 

Perhaps that's the risk of spending so little time with someone and in such a glorious place...  Or perhaps there are some people who really are that different in terms of the face/mask they show and who they are behind it.

But, staying with that particular group of people is something it looks like I won't be doing this Burning Man.  Will just have to find a delicate way of letting the few I really wanted to see know....

And I guess they can keep having their illusion of who Max is and he can keep presenting his mask to them.

Playa provides though, and 2017's a whole new year.

Just saying...

But still.  Ouch.  Really.