~*...burning man...wednesday...*~

wednesday, august 31
hump day
today is wednesday, and as we all know, that means it hump day. spend some quality time humping another human being. pick the cutest person you can find, the one you're too shy to talk to. remind them it's hump day (if they don't believe you, show them this). hosted by: everyone in brc.


photo by jim gasperini

random repeating wednesday event in black rock city

gospel choir rehearsal
wednesday - sunday, 4:00pm-5:00pm
help us lift up the spirit by bringing your voice to rehearsal, learn songs by ear and take part in our sunday gospel service. rehearsals held by bay area gospel singers! hosted by: brc performance center


photo by dave alper

random one time wednesday event in black rock city

santacon
6:00pm
it's xmas on the playa & santa needs a ho! parade leaves at 6:30 sharp!! santa-ette, reindeer or just your naughty elf self all welcome. come stuff my stocking. ho! ho! ho! hosted by f.u.c.k. camp @ fetish and 5:20

photo by mike kepka

the morning sun quickly brought warmth to the playa. its incredible how fast it heats things up, such a contrast to the chilly evenings in the desert. i definitely needed to change into fewer clothes, so i jumped on my bike and left the house of lotus heading back towards our camp.

my usual daytime attire was a sarong, my asian rice hat, and sandals. i thought i'd be naked the whole time, but i kinda liked my sarongs.

after a quick change, and a little food, my destination was the deep end. there is no better place to party at 10am than the deep end. but of course, on my way there i was pleasantly distracted by the random kewlness that is the playa. cause you never know when you might come across a snuffaluffagus...

or end up face to face with a disgusting spectacle!

run in the wheel like a mouse, and watch in amazement as the disgusting spectacle picks it nose!

earlier in summer, the night before my birthday actually, i met a beautiful soul named olivia. she is an airline stewardess from new jersey, and was visiting my friend cory at the time. her and i enjoyed a wonderful connection that night and i encouraged her to meet me on the playa. we kept in touch throughout the summer via email, eagerly anticipating the burn. she had friends who had been to the burn before, and she was going to camp with them. their theme camp was the department of tethered aviation (d.o.t.a.) at 7:00 and the esplanade. i had yet to run into olivia on the playa, but things were about to change that wednesday morning.
turtle and the rest of my krew were already at the deep end. yah, its easy for me to get distracted. as i approached the bumping theme camp, my krew yelled out "norm!" loud enough to make more than one head turn, including olivia who happened to be at the deep end. she ran up to me and gave me a huge hug and a kiss. she was wondering when we'd run into each other, as was i. with 35,000 people on the playa, finding someone in particular gets a bit tricky. but the force was strong with me that day, and i was so glad that i ran into olivia. we headed over to the deep end bar and grabbed a drink in celebration...mmm, vodka redbullz in the morning. what a great way to start the day. combined with pole dancing and phat beatz, the deep end was truly the place to be.
parked at the deep end was a van with a large swing on it, similar to the swing on the colossus (without the big boulders). just grab on to a rope, pull on it to keep the momentum going, and jump on a swing.
i had to try it out...


...and daam was it ever fun. i got a couple blisters on my hands from the ropes, but it was worth it. spinning around like that also gets you kinda dizzy, so i made sure i got off before i got sick. who thinks of these things? a random swing on the back of a truck. the burn kept getting better and better with each breath.

i spent the afternoon with olivia exploring the playa and coming across the most fascinating people i have ever seen in my life.

we ended up at olivia's camp, the department of tethered aviation (d.o.t.a.). hailing from florida, wisconsin, oregon, and california, the black rock city department of tethered aviation is a group of people passionate about everything kites.

once upon a playa
a long time ago
i think it was today
my love set sail
on a boat with no water
across the sea of sky

at d.o.t.a. you can learn how to fly a kite, watch kite performances, participate in kite photography and kite construction, and chill out in their flail zone. the flail zone was a covered ten area facing the promenade. it had hundreds of pillows and cushions to lie on and provided shade from the intense desert sun. no shoes allowed in the flail zone.

my stomach was growling and it was about dinner time, so i left olivia at d.o.t.a. and headed back to my camp for some dinner and to change into my evening clothes. as usual, i decided to ride down catharsis on my way home, hoping that i would run into my om krew of mike, leanne, and neil sometime before the burn was over. i was not successful that day, but as is usual on the playa, incredible and life changing things happened to me as i rode home.

i'm not sure what it was, but as i rode by 7:30 and catharsis i felt a very strong energy pulling me down the street. so i decided to take a little detour off of catharsis and see what force was pulling me down that street. i ended up at the heebeegeebee healers camp. the best way i can describe the heebeegeebee healers is an order of jedi who are masters at healing, such masters that they can not only heal themselves but the people around them. they hold daily workshops on healing, meditation, reike, and all forms of yoga including ashtanga and tantric yoga. approaching the camp i felt an overwhelming energy. the main dome tent at the camp was filled with over 250 people sitting in a tight circle looking at 6 heebeegeebee healers that were in the middle of the circle. the healers were conductors, using the people in the circle that they were looking at to create a sound. the group of the circle i was in were creating the sound "chiki chaki chiki chaki chaa chaa....chiki chaki chiki chaki chaa chaa." the group beside us were creating the sound "boop....boop...boop...boop!". it was an orchestra of sounds created by people and conducted by six heebeegeebee healers. i had never heard anything like it in my life, and it was beyond powerful.

refreshed by the human orchestra of sound, i jumped on my bike and rode back to our camp for dinner.

that night i rode by d.o.t.a. and picked up olivia for a night of insanity on the playa. we cruised across the esplanade and watched a live performance by the group "soul in the machine" at the pangea stage. they were playing neon lights and futuristic instruments that look like they were conjured up in a dream. electronic synth drumz, lazer harps, and the most fascinating neon synth xylophone were just a few of the electronic instruments they used to create a flurry of futuristic sounds and rhythmz. olivia then took me into the middle of the desert on the promenade to share with me some of the most fascinating art installations on the playa.

looking out over the playa at night, you can't help but be in awe. despite having no street lights, the huge expanse of the playa is lit up with everything from neon lights, glow sticks, lightning wire, art cars, and theme camps. click here to see a panorama of the playa at night. the pik is from 2004 and was taken by brad templeton.

our first art installation stop was...hmmm...how do i even describe this piece of art? it looked like a large cube of suspended lit up ping pong balls. the lights in the ping pong balls would change, making it look like light was moving, passing, dancing through the installation. i could feebly attempt to describe it with words, but pikchaz do such a better job.


sometimes the light would rain down from the top. other times it would pass through like a wave of multicoloured energy. just too daam kewl...and in the middle of the freakin desert! but the next piece of art we encountered would make everything else i had seen on the playa take second place. we left the ping pong ball structure and headed toward a series of red lights on the floor of the desert.
when we arrived at the series of red lights on the playa floor, i soon realized that the lights were lasers. they were attached to a large metal frame about 25ft long and 10ft high, arranged in a swirling kind of s shape. olivia told me that this was her favourite art installation she had come across on the playa, and she couldn't wait to share it with me. she encouraged me to wave my hands through a lasers. as i did, a beautiful note of music played from the overhanging speakers. i moved my hands through more lasers, and each one played a different note. the art installation was a harp made of laser light.
the light harp, designed by artist jen lewis, was powered by a solar generator. it charged up during the day and powered the installation at night. i can't tell you how freakin kewl this harp was. you could finally hear yourself dancing. i could hear my hands waving in front of me. stretching my arms out, i could hear the melody of me jumping through the harp. running alongside the harp with my arms out played an ascending stream of notes. probably one of the kewlest, if not the kewlest thing i have ever seen in my life.
the parties were raging everywhere, and i was pleasantly surprised to hear so many people playing break beatz. olivia and i ended up at the house of lotus, and like the night before, they were banging out some of the sexxiest house tunes on the playa. we danced together until the sun greeted us with its warmth and light. another incredible evening on the playa, shared with a beautiful soul.

- that hump day phenormenon guy \m/^_^\m/