Burning Man 3

I woke up and saw the sun about 4 fingers over the mountains.Time is a fluid thing out here because of the lack of clocks. People just use what they have. In this case the original clock.The crew uses this method of time keeping a lot to schedule group meetings, so I began to use it too.It was refreshing not to be tied to a watch fo once.

I looked around and saw that more and more people were packing in.There were probably thousands in line waiting to get in the main gate (probably getting spanked and covered in dirt at that very moment). The city had grown quite a bit overnight.There was almost no space left where I was camped.An RV had pulled up next to me and a car with a trailer pulled in behind me. Probably somewhere between when I went to bed and woke up.I introduced myself to the camp with the trailer directly behind me.They were called Camp Spontaneous Salad made up of 3 people from Ojai California. Juno the camp spokesperson that morning, said they made salads every night and invited me for dinner later.Good people to know in the desert.

I walked over to Rebecca's tent on the edge of B Street and a few people were there drinking coffee and slurping down freshly cooked Asian noodles for breakfast.They offered me both.Sitting there allowed me to notice just how much more prepared they were than I was in every way.Their tent was safe from the elements deep inside a carport. Carefully staked with an "actual" sledgehammer. They had a table with their kitchen gear set up and coolers full of food they probably wanted to eat.My coolers were full of food that you might find in a prison cafeteria. My rotting apples, wonder bread, warm water, and canned baked beans were already getting old only 2 days in.Imagine that.They also had a lot of things that you might not think of that are very useful… like bungee chords, zip ties, extra propane, jim beam, and a can opener.

At what seemed about mid day, I made my way to the Fishbug.I had my day of rest and acclimation to the elements.Now it was time to get to work.There was still much to do and the festival was only a day away.We still needed to do a fire safety meeting, get the projectors working, hook up our plumbing, weave the fabric on the inside of the bug and do one full test run of all the working parts together.There was no time to waste.I got right to work when I arrived, digging a trench for our propane lines, extension chords, and air hoses.I dug about 3ft into the desert floor. Then I pushed aside the dirt and made mounds running about 20ft behind the bug. Gary, Kevin and I carefully laid the various hose into our trench and placed plywood over it for protection.Then we covered it with sand and attempted to even out the dirt on the ground.We finished and took a short dusty Pabst Blue Ribbon break.

Jess called us all together and began the fire safety meeting.We sat in a circle around her tigthly packed underneath our shade structure. First we just discussed staffing for when the bug was lit. Things like how many people would be needed each night and where they would have to be stationed.Next, we all did a walk through of each stage of lighting.We began by laying out wet towels (to smack people who accidentally catch on fire) and fire extinguishers at key locations.(C02 extinguishers for electrical fires and water extinguishers for people fires) Then we turned on the jenny and the air compressor to run the fuel through the lines and operate the breathing effects down the spine.After that, we turned on the propane tanks and opened the ball valve at the fuel depot.Rebecca took soapy water and sprayed each of the fittings carefully to see if there were any leaks in the line.James (a Fishbug friend/welder) grabbed our custom 10ft long propane torch and began lighting all the pilot lights down the spine and the tips of the tusks in the front.The bug was finally lit and ready to go.We all began shouting uncontrollably in excitement as Jess operated the bugs flame effects. (There were 2 gigantic red buttons on the right leg which triggered them… oh yea in this case it is ok to push red buttons) Huge balls of flame began spitting out of Chimera Sententia (Fishbug's genus name which I should attempt to explain at some point).The 15 fire effects down the spine lit up as the side panels expanded and contracted.The air running down the spine even made it sound like it was breathing. She was coming to life out there. It felt amazing to see her up and running at Burning Man.I realize that I came towards the end of this whole project, but I still felt deep down as if I made a valuabe contribution. I felt a sense of satisfaction that I had not felt in a long time. Hard work that bears fruit is a beautiful thing.

After the test, we did a run through on how to shut her down.We started by turning off the tanks at the depot.Then we flushed out the lines, by holding down the flame effect buttons. When the fire diesl there is no fuel left in the hose. After that, it was safe to turn the rest of the ball valves, the accumulator tank, the jenny, and the air compressor.I didn't understand this at all on the first day, so when sign ups came, I went for fire safety.All you had to do in that job was smack costumed hippies with wet towels if they got too close to the fire. I could handle that.It sounded fun too.I did my best to learn as much as I could though and shadowed people who knew what they were doing as often as time allowed.One of the great things about this group, that I make a habit of taking advantage of, is their patience and abilities as teachers.

While we were finishing sorting out scheduling for the week, Jess told us all of another artist dinner that we were invited to at camp Seed at 4:00 and D. Our medalions from the night before would work for this as well. When all the shifts were filled, we went our separate ways into the dust.I went straight back to my tent and took a hard nap. I was feeling a bit out of it.It was the first real physical exertion I had put my self under in these conditions.I think I may have also had a few too many beersl.

"Hey, get up." Jay said as she tugged on my tent. I stepped outside and saw the sun setting with about 2 fingers left above the horizon.We rushed over to Camp Seed and saw that no one else from the crew had arrived yet.We were greeted all the same and offered a place to sit and wait.Jay and I sat and munched on fresh oranges they had laid out on the table for us.

A spiky blonde, 8 year old boy pulled up a chair and sat next to me wearing a zebra striped T-shirt and black gloves with the fingers cut out.He put out his hand and introduced himself right away. Confident kid I thought to myself. "What's your name?" I asked. He said that his name was Brian but I should call him Screaming Falcon.His dad came over and said "I thought you were Fire Ninja?" "No, I am Screaming Falcon now." "No problem." I said smiling a bit. "Is this your first year?" I asked. "No, this is my 4th year." "Wow!" I said genuinely impressed. He engaged me for some time with orange peeling contests, telling me all about his life, and explaining in detail his favorite things to do at Burning Man.He said his favorite part of Burning Man was the dust storms and not having to bathe everyday.

Time passed and people began showing up.But still, there was no one from our crew.They were all familiar faces though and some I had even met before at Rebecca's tent earlier that day.They were all member of the Flaming Lotus Girls.I found out later that there was a bit of miscommunication and Jay and I were at the wrong dinner.Our crew was having noodles at Poe's place.Seed overbooked.We stayed and used it as an opportunity to get to know the other crew.When everyone arrived, there must have been about 30 in all.They were working on Soma, which was a much larger scale project than Fishbug.We were packed in tight.Champagne corks popped over loud conversation under the tent.Plates of steaming vegetarian pasta were passed down as Screaming Falcon (or Fire Ninja) passed out silverware and napkins.It was delicious and again it tasted better than it would have under normal circumstances.It also helped my Pabst hangover a great deal.

In the end I was glad for the mix up.I got to meet the artists who created the gigantic metal sculpture of 2 communicating brain neurons. There was also some really thought provoking conversation as the crowd thinned out. A few members of FLG and I stayed and just listened to this old bearded guy from camp Seed talk. He spoke articulately about preconceived notions regarding male and female roles in society.He preached that everyone has access to both in varying degrees.The masculine part of us works linear, while the feminine mind attempts to draw connections from a greater circle. He then explained it in terms of basic biology.He was very clear in stating that masculine and feminine did not mean men and women but just mans definition for trends in behavior. He also said, that he has known many women and no matter how tough a front they show, many times, they want to surrender but just have not found someone to surrender to.I thought there would be some opinions to the contrary amongst FLG but no one spoke up. The girls' reaction to this in the audience was actually quite interesting.They all remained quiet and slightly nodded their heads.(Keep in mind that most of these girls had been welding stainless steel in the desert all day) Then the topic switched to that of aging, and the power and knowledge that it comes with. He shared many personal stories as examples. We all listened really quietly until he was done with what seemed almost like a lecture. One by one, the FLG (guys are in this group too for the record) asked him for advice about their own personal lives and relationships.One girl asked why her boyfriend always said having sex messes up his Chi. Another asked about her tendency towards the dramatic and why she almost craved it in relationships. He carefully offered advice which was both practical and comforting. I didn't contribute a story of my own or ask for advice. I just listened as people shared their stories. It was rare me to hear people being that open and honest with complete strangers.

I walked back to my camp slow that night thinking about how it all tied in with my life. I took the long way.