Burning Man 2011

Times magazine named Burning Man a top 100 important place to visit on Earth in 2010. If you think Burning Man is a music festival, a drug induced freak show, or just something that stoners do, you are 100% wrong. I left my house on Sunday and did not return until the next Wednesday, a week and a half.

The line was ridiculous to get in. When we finally got into the greeters gate they told us “Congratulations, you’re finally home.” I did not know how that would ring true.

You don’t pay for a damn thing at Burning Man. There is not anything provided for you, no water, or food, or booze, or anything, so they say. They want everyone to come prepared with their own means of survival. Radical Self Reliance.

I have never been in a world where you are completely free to do ANYTHING. Radical self-reliance, and radical self-expression are the mottos. People are naked; people are riding bikes, and dancing. People build and make their own things, they don’t rely on society or “the default world” to manufacture them. There are art cars. Vehicles people make to look like anything they want, fish, colorful mushrooms, big fuzzy busses, dragons, anything. Some were fuzzy and you could lie down on them after hours and hours of dancing your heart out. Some had blankets for when it got super cold during the wee hours of the night/morning. Some had poles and music, some were birdcages that you could stand on, some were even magic carpets. Anything you can dream of, people had dreamed of and made.

During the day you rode bikes through out the city. Black Rock city is Burning Mans city. It happens once a year during Burning Man and is the 3^rd largest city in Nevada when the event takes place. It all started 28 years ago with 20 people on the beach of San Francisco watching a sculpture of a man burn. Last week it was 70,000 people gathered for a week of giving, love, self-reliance and self-expression, and absolutely no judgments.

I camped with a crew from Berkeley, CA. We had a great time together. We went out together, one night in particular and danced on a vibrating stage, danced on platforms with green gas, saw a British guy with a t-shirt and jiggly butt say, “My shirt is too cool for pants” and thought nothing of him dancing right next to me.

Fred, my ex boyfriend from Australia came to America just for it. The first night I was thinking about him because we weren’t together. The second day I found him and we were together for pretty much the whole thing. Something happened in the desert between us and all of the people at Burning Man. An unexplainable energy coming from the universe and flowing between us.

Friday night we saw the man burn. A giant 92-foot sculpture of a man made out of wood and wires. To me it symbolized the man, the one that controls your life and makes you do things, the government. We saw him burn down to the ground with a long show of fire works.

There was a temple that burned down on Saturday night. The temple brought about a sense of silence and serenity. By the last day it was written all over with peoples prayers, hopes, dreams, goals, wishes, confessions, apologies, and pictures. Walking through it and reading it all makes you cry. When it burned all 70,000 people sat in silence and watches as their wishes and words were let out into the universe.

We were originally going to ride back to Las Vegas with my friend Nate on Tuesday. But my new friend David was leaving on Monday and instead of driving 9 hours to Vegas was driving 2 to Reno. Fred and I hitched a ride with him. Granted we stood in line for 7 hours before entering the road. He let us sleep at his house and the next day took us to see Lake Tahoe. We went to some secluded area on rocks with a few beers and swam and chilled all day. Then we went to some great Mexican restaurant and Fred and I checked into a hotel and flew home early the next morning.

No matter how hard I try to explain every aspect of it, its not going to happen. The reader is never going to fully understand the phenomenon that is Burning Man by reading or looking at pictures, no matter how many. Just know that it has changed the lives of so many people and that it is different from anything you can imagine.

well, there is Burning Man...

I think I want to move to San Francisco. Im going on Monday with Kelly so we can find a place. We are getting one of those apartments that we can pay month to month because I am not ready to commit for a long term, I wonder if that fear of commitment will ever cease. I guess, I hope it will, when the time and the thing I want to commit to is right.

The last waltz

I have been feeling for a while that it is time to go back to Long Beach and regroup. I guess traveling America is somewhat over, but I’m not sad. What I needed out of this adventure I got. Nothing was forced upon me, I gave myself time and space to be not ready for the next step in my life, I allowed myself time to do whatever I wanted and not have any responsibilities. I gave myself time to grow and think.

I have been home for one day and these are the three major questions I have been asked by friends and family; Did you have a blast? What have you learned? What was your favorite place?

I will answer them not in order. What was my favorite place? I was searching for a place that gave me butterflies, searching for a place to speak to me and tell me there is where I belonged, but I didn’t get what I wanted in that regard. No place in America struck me as awesome. The one place that came close was Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville is a city filled with music and restaurants and history. There are people from everywhere in Nashville and the people are very nice and happy, and music is playing everywhere.

Did I have a blast? My inclination is to say no, I did not have a blast. What I did have was a really great time in America. I bummed around on couches and festivals and hostels like I had not a care in the world, like I was just waiting for something to come and until then I was completely open to everything. That is what it was like, I was waiting for some sort of epiphany that did come after all and I was having a great time not caring if it did in the meantime. I met so many people that I will cherish forever I think. So many great people with different thoughts and different things to say and they each live a very different life in Asheville, North Carolina or Charleston, South Carolina, Chicago, Boston; just everywhere people have their own stories. I have seen so much, I have partied a lot, seen a lot of music, and let myself loose. I had a good time having fun in America but I had an even better time finding myself in America and what is important to me. Which brings me to my last question, what did I learn?

I learned what is important to me. Comfort when I want it, my dear friends, my family, and doing things by myself and doing what I want to do. I learned that it is more than ok to not be ready for something. I was not ready to decide what to do or where to go after College, simply not ready to succumb to reality or needing to make money and needing a home base. I learned the sheer importance of giving yourself time. Time unveils a lot, it heals almost all wounds, and in time the world and your mind change. Time is precious; people take it for granted by not allowing themselves to take a piece of it for themselves. I learned it is important to me to have music, art, culture, people, in my life and in the place that I live. I learned that my next move is moving to San Francisco. I learned what fields I am interested in and I learned what kind of life I envision for myself. I learned that I am ready to take the next leap, I learned that I could do whatever I want to do.

pictures of beautiful Denver

Denver, so far

I have been in Denver for the last couple of days. Kelly picked me up from the airport and we went straight to Jessica's house. Jessica went to Bonnaroo with us and we became pretty close friends from that experience and she lives here, she also went to the University of Arizona with us and is one of Kelly's old roommates. Her house is so fun, her roommates are so fun and have beautiful glass wear. That night all the girls just made dinner, sipped wine, and talked.

The next day we all went to a Rockies game at Coors field. I have never been to a pro baseball game, so that was my first. It was huge, so many fans and energy, the field is huge. It was an experience that I'm glad I tried. Afterward we all went out in downtown Denver. I had a blast. There were so many people downtown and the bars were fun with good music and people. Denver has a high percentage of hot guys, the most in one place that I have seen for a while. That night we all slept at Jessica's. Taylor, Kelly's boyfriend came along also. He has been staying in Boulder, which is only about 30 minutes away.

The next day Kelly, Taylor, and I went on the alpine slide! We stopped at the Red Rock amphitheater first to take a look at it. I can just imagine Pretty Lights there, he always has the Denver skyline lit up as his back drop, he is playing there next saturday and I will be missing it. Anyway, so after that we drove for about an hour through the mountains to get to a ski resort that turns into slides in the summer. We rode the Gondola to the Chair lifts to a big slide. We sat in a little individual cart and I went down the slow lane. It was pretty long and pretty fun. After that we ate at some place called Jersey Boys, went to Kelly's, and went to sleep.

Yesterday Kelly and I went to have lunch/brunch at her families country club, Cherry Creek. Let me tell you that since I came to her house I have been in a different world, the world of that tiny 1% that everyone keeps talking about. It is a little intimidating and I feel a little out of my element but I did, do, enjoy it very much. The country club was beautiful, the food was amazing. After that we changed into normal clothes, you cant wear denim, and we went walking in Downtown Denver. We walked along 16th st. There are random, painted pianos along this street. There must be about 40 of them. All painted a different way and just thrown about. Its wonderful, anyone can play music anytime. I think that is a wonderful idea. Her friend Joey lives right off 16th st so we went to say hi to him for a little. Then we went to her other friends house to go to a concert in the park. It was at city park and I did not expect what I saw. It was like a music festival, alot of land, some tents, dogs, babies, bbqs, booths, and bands. There were so many covered patches of grass with people, and porto potties! It was a bit overwhelming but amazing. After about 2 hours in the park we went back to her friend Shannon's house to watch Entourage. Then we went to Kelly's to sleep.

Today Kelly and I are taking bikes up to Boulder and biking around for a few hours. I don't have my computer with me, this is Kelly's, so I don't have pictures to post, They will come soon.

New Orleans

New Orleans has surprised me the most out of every place I have visited. It is not at all what I thought it would be. Lots of parts are dirty and by dirty I don’t mean just dirty, I mean grungy, sleezy, and smelly. Bourbon St. has good drink deals but it also has whore houses with graphic pictures on the windows and girls in panties and bras standing in the door ways. Usually that would not bother me but these girls were not girls I would want to look at naked, enough said on that. Neon signs everywhere, drink specials everywhere, its just not what I expected. I expected lots of jazz clubs and old men playing the sax, delicious food everywhere. The French quarter is a shame, the houses/ buildings are so cute and designed but are run down, nobody lives in them and its scary to walk down the streets. A block away is a nice area with statues and parks and nice restaurants. Frenchman St. is where most of the music is. All in all, not my favorite place.

I do like this hostel, its awesome. I met Ali from London and Gabbi from Australia, Oscar from London and Adam from London, among others. Yesterday Gabbi, Oscar, and I went to breakfast and got out meal bought for us by an older couple who were intrigued by our accents (I guess I have a California accent) and loved how we met. After that we went to check out the 9^th ward, which is the place Katrina hit the hardest. It was eerie, some houses are completely destroyed still, broken, half of the house missing, and X’s on the outside of them, meaning fatalities. But some houses are rebuilt and look beautiful, even saw a brand new Benz in the drive way of one, but it is not a good area. It was sad to see.

Gabbi was off to Baton Rouge so Oscar and Adam and I had a great day and night. We took the trolley to City Park where there is a lake, amusement park, StoryTown, a sculpture garden, and botanical garden, and a café. We spent hours there. I absolutely love their accents and the diction they use.

Storytown, wow, I turned into a little girl for a minute. All the fairytales were turned into reality. Peter pan was on the huge ship, Snow White was passed out outside of the drwarfs houses, the three little pigs were outside of their house with a sign that said “made of brick” and so much more. We walked for ages.

After hours of being in the park we went to Bourbon St to get cheap beers. At about 9 pm we stumbled upon a wonderful live band where we danced for about an hour or two and had long islands. Adam and I left to go to a different place, we met a Dutch singer on the way and she came with us and we met other people from the hostel at a place called Mimi’s. It was red and local and had live music that was awesome. Then we came back to the hostel and all sat in the common room and met more people from around the globe.

Today I’m off to Denver, Colorado to meet up with my friends that I went to Bonnaroo and Electric Forest with and to see a place I have never seen.

Atlanta, GA

Atlanta is a huge city. I didn’t realize how huge it was. The airport is huge, it took me about an hour to walk from the plane to the baggage claim to where Robert was waiting for me by the curb. His friend drove with his other friend in the back seat, both guys he works with. As soon as I saw him I gave him a huge hug, like old times. We all went back to Roberts and he showed me the bug on his wall. No, it wasn’t placed there for aesthetic purposes. He swatted a bug and it happened to land perfectly positioned on the wall. We chilled there for a bit. It shocked me that he has a beer bong. He was the partier in college but I figured since he is not in college anymore the beer bonging would stop, but I’m happy to report that Robert still enjoys himself some beer bonging action, and his friends do as well. Later that night we went out to a place called Flip Flops. It stood out like a blonde in the ghetto. All around Atlanta are nightclubs with lines and bouncers and women in scandalous dresses and super high, fabulous heels. Smack dab in the middle of two dark building that were clubs was this place. It looked like a good old fashion frat house, with Christmas lights on the balcony and 5 dollar drinks and lots of noise and people. It was ok, the people were kind of pathetic and drunk and the music was bad so I couldn’t get my groove on. The next morning his friend that lives in his apartment building came over and they talked about how much fun they had.

Saturday! I saw Sublime with Rome and 311.

I love Sublime, I grew up with Sublime. I am from Long Beach and its like Sublime is in the air. I knew that I have very high expectations for a Sublime come back without their heart and soul, Bradley. So I knew I had to take it for what it was. What it was was not Sublime. Rome Ramirez does not have a voice remotely compared to Bradley Nowell He didn’t sound like him, the only similarity was the songs he sang were first sung by Bradley. But it was a good show. How can you not be happy with Badfish, and Loves what I got, I’v seen better days, and Scarlett begonias in a big outdoor theatre. 311 put on a great show, I did not expect all of the lights and dancing and drumming and singing that went on. We were pretty dead after the show so we went home and went to sleep, after we got some ice cream.

Sunday we went tubing on the Chattahoochee River. Robert, Mark, their other friend whose name I don’t remember but he was a great guy, and I went down to the river where we rented tubes and tubed down the river for close to 3 hours. A mile an hour. After we went to La Fonda to get some Mexican, Caribbean food we went to Roberts and I looked everywhere for my drivers license, it was gone, it is gone, I lost it, it got lost. Never have I lost my identification, I was pretty scared. Apparently they let you fly with a picture id, I had my catcard still and some other forms of id and a special pat down. I’m getting my old one sent in the mail today. I’m in New Orleans at the India House hostel and it is great! So colorful, painted walls, a pool, kitchen, outside kitchen where they are cooking breakfast right now, and super fun people. Last night I got in and met 2 Frenchman, Alex and Greg (those are their American names) and an Englishman, Adam. We went out and had a great time. We walked into the jazz club and it felt like we walked into the 1920’s. The girl singing had a large stand up mic, old school and was singing Edith Piaf songs to a live band. The French man and I danced classy romantic style while he smoked cigarettes and twirled me and dipped me. I want to live like that, I imagined myself in a beautiful dress and him in a suit dancing in Paris. Too many movies and books I guess.