Burningman 2006 - Prep Work (51 weeks worth)

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Every year, Burningman takes place over labor day weekend at the end of the summer. This year, I started preparing for the trip about 30 seconds after I left Burningman last year. I think it was mental preparation, more than anything. I was inspired after last year's trip to create an amazingly luxurious residence for my brother, his wife and some of my friends who might not normally make the trip because of the harsh environment. I started spreading the idea with everyone who I wanted to come. I pictured the camp in my mind along with all the amenities (showers, lounge area, kitchen, dance floor), and then I taught myself how to draw so that I could capture the image I had and share it with my friends. I started a small campaign back in January to drum up interest, but it never really took off.

Despite my disappointment, I realized while on the playa this year, that this was a blessing. The idea of taking care of so many people in addition to myself was ludicrous. Thus, I dodged a bullet. The idea has not died, by any means. But my approach to a camp of this nature has definitely changed. Build it? absolutely. But there is just no way that I can dedicate so much of my time out there to taking care of others. The harsh environment forces you to spend much of your time taking care of yourself. You can choose how to spend the rest of your time, and, to-be-sure, I will always spend a good portion of my time caring for other people, but I'm also going to go out and explore the rest of the Burningman world as that is a huge part of the experience. Radical self-reliance & Radical self-expression. I wonder if there will be a day when it won't feel so radical anymore. I doubt it.

So Camp Virgin Luxury never quite materialized, unfortunately, but the idea has remained and, as you will see later, has and will permeate everything I do for the rest of my life. I have come to terms with the fact that I love taking care of other people as the extroversionary character in me derives endless happiness from the smiles and joy that I see in others when I do. If you know my mother, you know where this came from.

Moving on. Mental preparation for this year's trip took an evolutionary step at the beginning of 2006 when I began to interact with the European burningman community. I met up with a sweet Euroburnger Aussie girl named Jess in Dublin over St. Patty's day weekend and discovered how comfortable it can be to have a connection to the burningman tribe around the world. After Dublin, I got involved with the pre-burningman "SupaCompression" party in May and helped build Release One of Camp Virgin Luxury, known as "The Luxury Lounge". The resident community welcomed me and the idea and gave me tons of support in building the lounge for the party. That alone was a great gift. I was so excited to see the success of both the event and the lounge, watching how both a great party and a comfortable space can bring people together and create an environment for establishing connections. As a result of the party, I met a ton of other Euroburners, re-discovered the inviting and accepting nature of the community, was re-inspired by the creative and courageous nature of people in the community, and most importantly, established a connection with Hal, an amazing new friend.

Hal and I reunited at a bbq of mine about a month later. And then again a few weeks after that. Much like the difficulty of explaining the experience one has a Burningman, I expect to struggle to capture the level of connection and understanding I felt with Hal, as well as the speed by which it occurred. The best example I can give is that during that 2nd BBQ I remember Hal and I both telling people, in shocking disbelief and excitement, that "this is actually only the 3rd time we've ever hung out together." I'm not sure who was more surprised, them, or us. I felt like I had known Hal for years. I felt like we understood each other instantly, and you could almost see the inspiration passing from one of us to the other as we fed from each other's ideas and energy, growing both individually and as friends.

Hal and I talked about Burningman a ton, and, this year, I set aside over a month to "get ready" for Burningman. Most of the time was spent mentally designing the Burningman experience I wanted and then going after the things I needed to make it happen. I can probably break this down into 3 areas. The first is actually the discussion and evolution of my ideas. I began opening up to people about my ideas for this year in an effort to ensure that they evolved into exactly what I wanted. It was like publishing the first draft of a paper to a number of respected reviewers to ensure that the final draft actually represents the best possible output. The second area was costume shopping. For 4 straight weekends, I scoured the markets in Camden town, Spittalfields and Brick lane for just the right get-up. The alien suit, the masquerade, dr. danger (hospitality first, adventure second, safety third), lucky the leprechaun, my ultimate frisbee uniform and my mardi gras get-up. One of the best moments (captured in the photos) was walking into a vintage store, putting on a pair of orange sunglasses, finding the matching faux-fur leopard print coat and dancing around the store for 15 minutes. Needless to say, I kept both the jacket and glasses. The costuming was great and led to the third part of my preparation....getting into character. The more I started nailing down my costumes, the more i was dying to wear them and before you knew it, I was prancing around London in rediculous clothes and acting like a clown. It was great! And once in costume, there is really no holding back. You are no longer yourself, but rather a antic generating clown with no fear of expression. And THAT my friends, is one of the true gifts of Burningman. It removes your fear of being different, being silly, crazy, and, really, of being yourself. And isn't that something we all really want? Freedom to just be yourself. It feels good just saying it.

So the outfits were there. My idea for contributing back had evolved from a luxury lounge for a large camp, to simply a recharging station for my fellow camp mates and any visitors. And my character was on the edge of exploding from the confines of real world. It was time to get on the plane. So I did, in character, and in costume.

Thanks go out in this entry to a few fantastic people. First to my brother and his wife. Interestingly enough, your courage to be yourselves and resist the pressure from me to go (this year) actually did me a favor and taught me an important lesson. To Jess, for being a welcoming soul, tracking me down in London, and opening me up to the Euroburner community. To Santi and Rowena. Your support of the Luxory Lounge at SupaCompression was simple but powerful in making me feel at home in London and welcome with the crew. And to Hal...my friend...my thanks to you deserves an entry on it's own. Don't be afraid.