My mood hit rock bottom when only Nova and i caught a ticket in the Burning Man lottery earlier this year. Zoodiac 2012 scotched right from the start. Fast forward to five months later, 39 days 'til the Man burns and excitement is in the air - everywhere! But let me start from the beginning.
Rewind to early fall 2008, me living in the Bay Area, just having secured a fellowship with - in my eyes - the most amazing research group in the world for the year to come. That summer i had learnt of Burning Man and gotten pretty curious. One afternoon, i am sitting in the apartment of my boss-soon-to-be and we're filing documents for my visa application. This is a man i quite admire - i've cited him in my master thesis, i was impressed by a presentation he gave to my fellows group a month earlier, he is doing a job i never even dared to dream existed, and now i'll soon be part of his team.
We are speaking about the duration of my fellowship. Me: "I think i'd like to work until mid-August. With the grace period i then still have one month to travel, before i need to leave the country. There is a festival at the end of August i might wanna go to..." (I was not quite sure, whether at all to mention that last detail. But there i went, out it was already.) My boss, tone and volume increasing sharply: "Are you speaking of Burning Man?!" Me: "Uhm... uhm, yes, i think so. Uhm, but i am not at all sure yet whether i should go, you know...? Maybe i won't go after all." Boss, getting totally psyched: "Of course, should you go!! Dancing naked in the desert, taking drugs, and playing with a rad crowd, all day and all night long??! Jule, this is t-e-r-r-i-f-i-c!! You HAVE to do this once in your lifetime. You DEFINITELY have to go. You can come with me and my friends." Oh, so much to that.
Back in 2009 i did not end up at BM after all. Instead i went for the contrast programme, retreated 10 days into silence and spent an amazing week with but another amazing man hiking in Yosemite. Fast forward last year, i ticked BM 2011 off the very top of my list of 29 things to do before i turn 30. Mission accomplished, jaw-dropping guaranteed, lots of fun with the boss and his mates, too.
So this is not where the story ends. With the outlook of a totally-messed up BM community this year, my spirits to keep my ticket and emit tons and tons of CO2 to get cute little Ju-Fly's ass to the desert were pretty low. Meanwhile tickets started popping out of nowhere, first with BMOrg handing Zoodiacs a solid five entry slips, followed by more. By now Zoodiac is complete and busy at tying camp together. My boss also appeared on the scene with his new project: "Ju, it is an incredibly crucial skill to sample and survey the population of a refugee camp - and to get it right. This is a skill you can't go without in your career. Lets do this. At Burning Man. This year."
No doubt, the boss is always right. (And besides, i know boss has been wanting to go geeky about the Black Rock City Census for years. That's why i love him, and won't let him down.) What better refugee camp can you imagine out there in the world? A camp for which people deliberately enter a lottery to get themselves in? Hell, yeah. I'm on, more than ever. The Man burns in 39 days and until then my team and i are busy preparing and doing this. BMOrg really wants to get it right this time. We're honoured to bring some sound method in for the cause.
Rewind to early fall 2008, me living in the Bay Area, just having secured a fellowship with - in my eyes - the most amazing research group in the world for the year to come. That summer i had learnt of Burning Man and gotten pretty curious. One afternoon, i am sitting in the apartment of my boss-soon-to-be and we're filing documents for my visa application. This is a man i quite admire - i've cited him in my master thesis, i was impressed by a presentation he gave to my fellows group a month earlier, he is doing a job i never even dared to dream existed, and now i'll soon be part of his team.
We are speaking about the duration of my fellowship. Me: "I think i'd like to work until mid-August. With the grace period i then still have one month to travel, before i need to leave the country. There is a festival at the end of August i might wanna go to..." (I was not quite sure, whether at all to mention that last detail. But there i went, out it was already.) My boss, tone and volume increasing sharply: "Are you speaking of Burning Man?!" Me: "Uhm... uhm, yes, i think so. Uhm, but i am not at all sure yet whether i should go, you know...? Maybe i won't go after all." Boss, getting totally psyched: "Of course, should you go!! Dancing naked in the desert, taking drugs, and playing with a rad crowd, all day and all night long??! Jule, this is t-e-r-r-i-f-i-c!! You HAVE to do this once in your lifetime. You DEFINITELY have to go. You can come with me and my friends." Oh, so much to that.
Back in 2009 i did not end up at BM after all. Instead i went for the contrast programme, retreated 10 days into silence and spent an amazing week with but another amazing man hiking in Yosemite. Fast forward last year, i ticked BM 2011 off the very top of my list of 29 things to do before i turn 30. Mission accomplished, jaw-dropping guaranteed, lots of fun with the boss and his mates, too.
So this is not where the story ends. With the outlook of a totally-messed up BM community this year, my spirits to keep my ticket and emit tons and tons of CO2 to get cute little Ju-Fly's ass to the desert were pretty low. Meanwhile tickets started popping out of nowhere, first with BMOrg handing Zoodiacs a solid five entry slips, followed by more. By now Zoodiac is complete and busy at tying camp together. My boss also appeared on the scene with his new project: "Ju, it is an incredibly crucial skill to sample and survey the population of a refugee camp - and to get it right. This is a skill you can't go without in your career. Lets do this. At Burning Man. This year."
No doubt, the boss is always right. (And besides, i know boss has been wanting to go geeky about the Black Rock City Census for years. That's why i love him, and won't let him down.) What better refugee camp can you imagine out there in the world? A camp for which people deliberately enter a lottery to get themselves in? Hell, yeah. I'm on, more than ever. The Man burns in 39 days and until then my team and i are busy preparing and doing this. BMOrg really wants to get it right this time. We're honoured to bring some sound method in for the cause.
So count on us - we want to count you.
:-) I'm stoked to see you there.
ReplyDeleteSame here, i can hardly wait to be back there with you!
ReplyDelete