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101/1001 Update: Post Burn Report
Sep. 6th, 2022 11:30 am“Suffering has a noble purpose: the evolution of consciousness and the burning up of the ego.” — Eckhart Tolle
Body/Martial Arts/Physical Improvement/Testing Myself: The Burn was very hard, physically. I lost about 10 lbs., and I'm sore almost everywhere. I have blisters on both of my feet (two quarter-sized ones on the left, and a solver dollar-sized one on my right), mostly while wearing 'off-duty' shoes on an adventure and getting playa in them. This year was unusually hot, and almost daily white-outs made living on the playa a real challenge at times.
Mind/Spirit/Centering/Health: I was not called to go to the Man or the Temple this year, and my transportation situation meant I couldn't stay for the Temple Burn. I did very little reading at the Burn. I mostly worked and survived. There was some excellent Turkish Coffee, but I did not do much exploring/adventuring. This was not a spiritual or enlightening year for me, and I was definitely in 'Working Man' mode. Right now, I'm pretty emotionally raw - but grateful for the experience, and I know it's part of the journey.
Maintenance/Shit Got To Be Done: The Whorse is still 10-7 (Out of Service).
In Case of Zombies/Disaster Preparation: No progress.
Base Station/Ol' Number 3: No progress.
Adventure/Doing Stuff: We're going to call this year a 'Rusty Burn' - so many things went wrong but worked out anyway; we've lost a lot of how to do things in three years. I was a Firefighter For Black Rock City ESD Fire Department, with a 24-hour shift, a 12-hour shift, and a Fire Support/RIT shift for the Solar Shrine Burn on Friday night - but somehow I wasn't on the schedule at all at first, I was told the wrong time for the RIT shift, and would have shown up at 0800 instead of 2000 for my 12. I was not assigned to Engine 3 as expected but got assigned as one of the Fire Duty Chief Firefighters, and I drove the Command Rig wherever the Fire Duty Chief wanted to go and handled one of the operational radio frequencies. We were also the backups to the regular Engine Firefighters and carried foam and the extra air packs. I did get to see Infected Mushroom from the staging area outside of Opulent Temple and to watch the Man Burn from another staging area in the rig.
I camped in Ranger Outpost Berlin, not in my usual place or with my usual people, but I made new friends/support networks. I also worked four Ranger Intercept shifts (two night and two swing shifts), every one longer than scheduled, and also picked up an extra Dirt shift at the Man, holding a perimeter while they loaded in the pyro, all of it in a complete white-out dust storm. This was the 15th year with me working for ESD, and I got a nice 15-year pin, a patch, and a gift of a pair of whiskey glasses. It was also my 10th with the Rangers, who acknowledged it was my 10th but didn't have any 10-year pins or much ceremony. We left several hours before the Temple Burn, but it still took six hours to complete Exodus - a lot of people left early.
Body/Martial Arts/Physical Improvement/Testing Myself: The Burn was very hard, physically. I lost about 10 lbs., and I'm sore almost everywhere. I have blisters on both of my feet (two quarter-sized ones on the left, and a solver dollar-sized one on my right), mostly while wearing 'off-duty' shoes on an adventure and getting playa in them. This year was unusually hot, and almost daily white-outs made living on the playa a real challenge at times.
Mind/Spirit/Centering/Health: I was not called to go to the Man or the Temple this year, and my transportation situation meant I couldn't stay for the Temple Burn. I did very little reading at the Burn. I mostly worked and survived. There was some excellent Turkish Coffee, but I did not do much exploring/adventuring. This was not a spiritual or enlightening year for me, and I was definitely in 'Working Man' mode. Right now, I'm pretty emotionally raw - but grateful for the experience, and I know it's part of the journey.
Maintenance/Shit Got To Be Done: The Whorse is still 10-7 (Out of Service).
In Case of Zombies/Disaster Preparation: No progress.
Base Station/Ol' Number 3: No progress.
Adventure/Doing Stuff: We're going to call this year a 'Rusty Burn' - so many things went wrong but worked out anyway; we've lost a lot of how to do things in three years. I was a Firefighter For Black Rock City ESD Fire Department, with a 24-hour shift, a 12-hour shift, and a Fire Support/RIT shift for the Solar Shrine Burn on Friday night - but somehow I wasn't on the schedule at all at first, I was told the wrong time for the RIT shift, and would have shown up at 0800 instead of 2000 for my 12. I was not assigned to Engine 3 as expected but got assigned as one of the Fire Duty Chief Firefighters, and I drove the Command Rig wherever the Fire Duty Chief wanted to go and handled one of the operational radio frequencies. We were also the backups to the regular Engine Firefighters and carried foam and the extra air packs. I did get to see Infected Mushroom from the staging area outside of Opulent Temple and to watch the Man Burn from another staging area in the rig.
I camped in Ranger Outpost Berlin, not in my usual place or with my usual people, but I made new friends/support networks. I also worked four Ranger Intercept shifts (two night and two swing shifts), every one longer than scheduled, and also picked up an extra Dirt shift at the Man, holding a perimeter while they loaded in the pyro, all of it in a complete white-out dust storm. This was the 15th year with me working for ESD, and I got a nice 15-year pin, a patch, and a gift of a pair of whiskey glasses. It was also my 10th with the Rangers, who acknowledged it was my 10th but didn't have any 10-year pins or much ceremony. We left several hours before the Temple Burn, but it still took six hours to complete Exodus - a lot of people left early.
