Friday 24 October 2014

All The Rest

And now I'm kind of sad because there are not so many journal entry days left for me to write about.  Things were wrapping up... ending.  And that's the poopiest part of it all.  But...here's what I wrote.

I woke up Saturday morning to the ground shaking.  No, not an earthquake, just an extraordinarily loud art car making its way home.  I could hear "I don't care" playing nearby and I happily danced in my bed to it.

I went out and found our neighbour looking a little rough in our comfiest chair.  We chatted a bit, I fixed the EL wire on my bike (yay for chicks with tools) (which reminds me, I have to switch the batteries out on that) and then woke up Connor and we went for breakfast.

It was dusty again, although not as dusty as Friday.  I did some extra careful MOOP pickup (I generally did a bit each day on my walks) and talked with the further away awesome older neighbours.

I can't remember exactly what I got up to for the rest of the day, but I wrote this:

I'm sitting here at Burning Man.  It's warm.  My back is sweating on my chair.  I'm dry and dusty, the wind is blowing and the tents and tarps are flapping.  There is a thumping noise song going, an airplane in the sky... giant teacups across from me and odd looking people on bikes passing by going somewhere.  Because I'm at Burning Man.  I'm at Burning Man.

Saturday is the night the Man burns so there's sometimes a sense of things ramping up.  Most people save a good outfit for Friday and I decided to pull out the corset I'd brought but never thought I'd wear.

We noticed what seemed like a lot of people starting to leave (to avoid the hours and hours Exodus can sometimes take.)  Dinner was wild bison!  Not something I'd ever thought I would have in my life, and there I was, in the middle of a desert having this yummy meal!  Awesome.

We went home after dinner, and got to go to a wedding vow renewal and party at the tequila bar.  And yes, I cried.  And no, I wasn't the only one!

The man took a long time to burn.... and that's all the notes I have about it.  I seem to remembering wondering if he was ever going to fall, but when he did, he did a giant face plant and that was rather amusing..

That's all I said about Saturday, I was tired and came home not long after the burn (had to pee like a racehorse too!) and slept.

Sunday - I cried on the way to the portapotties in the morning... "I don't want to leave"

It just feels like so long until this all happens again and all these people are going away.

All the people I'd just started to get to know, and all the fun people and all the people I never met but who I saw, they were all going.

And the whole place wouldn't exist anymore and I didn't want it to be over and I didn't want to leave.

I don't think I did too much more than sit and watch people passing by on Sunday.  I certainly didn't journal anything more about it.

Sunday evening, we made our own dinner and watched as our local art car got stuck.  And then we chilled out and had another mellow evening while people around us started to pack and leave.

Both of our immediate neighbours were gone; one of them mid day and the other when we were out for ice.  Each of those parties had to wait for one of their crew... there's always someone who doesn't want to stop the party I guess.

Funny, I realize I didn't write about it at all, but the Temple burns on Sunday night.  It was a beautiful burn this year, just gorgeous and the building twisted into a spiral when it collapsed.

Temple burn is silent and solemn and there's lots of tears around as people say goodbye to loved ones...

Connor and I had left our bikes in deep playa next to a structure we had hoped had lights... and... it didn't.  Plus, much of the Esplanade had started to pack up so some of our key markers were gone.  But both of us have a pretty good sense of direction, and I'd left my EL wire and blinky lights on on my bike and we did manage to find them.  (I'd thought we'd be back in the morning looking for them to be honest)

We got back, took down our shade structure and packed what we could.  We said goodbye to the awesome Vancouver neighbours and I cried over that too.  Good people...

We sat for a while, but knew we wanted an early start so didn't stay up too late.

I woke up around 6:30 Monday and woke Connor.  We packed, and de-MOOPed our area, did one last potty run and headed out.

I was sad, but happy to have been there for sure.

We had the most amazing Exodus and the day went smoothly.

We were back near home mid day Tuesday to a rip-roaring rainstorm and texts from C-Dawg letting me know there was crazy thunder and lightning at home.  I guess the trip came full circle somehow... rain, thunder and lightning to begin it and to end it.  Cool.

Got home Tuesday evening... exhausted... I can't even remember if I ate...

I remember putting a few things away (emptying my bag into my purse sort of thing) and trying to contain the dust covered stuff into one part of my living room) showering and going to bed.

Didn't sleep well, it's always a strange adjustment and I remember thinking for the next week or two that I was still in my tent and.... nope... Home home.

So there's the parts I can remember about this year's trip to Burning Man.

I'm sure other things will come up but I did want to cover the week not just for you, but also so I could have it recorded somewhere.

So, yeah.  Burning Man.

There you go.

It's a frigging cool thing.

4 comments:

Jason Langlois said...

I'm so glad everything ended up working out for you to go this year. After all the stress and anxiety about it, from reading your account it seems like it ended up being one of the best things about this year.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us all. It's clear to me now, even more so than last year, why this event is so important to you. And now I can't wait to hear about next year's event.

Elliott said...

Thank you for so eloquently and emotional sharing your Burning Man experiences with us. It is obvious from your passion in your writing that this event is deeply moving for you. You have beautifully conveyed those emotions in your writing.

I am very happy for you that everything worked out so well. I am very happy that you came back from this year's event in a much better frame of mind. It shows in your writing that you are in a much better place.

Thank you again.

Victoria said...

Thanks Jason :D

Aww, thanks E!

Jonathan Beckett said...

This could easily be turned into a book.