Burning Man 2006
Well, my seventh year at Burning Man is behind me. Except for the gradual cleaning of everything we took out there. That'll keep the memories coming for a good long while yet.
This was, as usual, an interesting year. There are lots of things to see at Burning Man.
The interesting this is that I didn't see most of them. Not because there isn't enough time to see them all. (There isn't.) I just didn't try very hard, because I spent all of my free time at my camp. I liked the people in my camp. I liked napping in the big dome we set up. I liked sitting in the Vanagon with my wife and chatting. I liked being at home. And a fine home it was.
That's not to say I didn't see some insanely cool things. Uchronia was impossible not to see if you ever took a walk in the inner playa. And it happened to be quite a bad-ass piece of work, which, when lit at the end of the week, made the biggest, most inspiring fire I've ever seen.
The Flower and Venus Fly Trap were simply stunning. They moved about the playa, towering over everyone and occasionally bending down to interact with the people surrounding them.
I mentioned free time: I have a job at Burning Man, which I do as a volunteer, and it's pretty much a full-time gig. What Kristen and I realized was that, while it's certainly still new and stimulating, we've in a way seen all of this before. We both work because it enables a whole new crop to experience it for the first time. And Burning Man is a good idea that new people should keep coming to. The rest of the time, familiar things are really nice. And home is the most familiar place of all.