I know, I know, WTF is going on?

Hi all,

Sorry for all the delays in posting.  Internet access for us has been unbelievably spotty this year.  Our camp internet (which I managed to get one post out from on Wednesday) disappeared on Thursday and with the dusty conditions this year, I didn't want to take my laptop on a bike ride to any of the few places I could get decent Internet access, so I made an "executive decision" to just wait until I get home and then start posting about the burn from day one in order.  Also, that way, all the people who got The Default World tickets (see earlier post) can follow along as well.  So you will start seeing my blog posts from the first day of our early arrival probably tomorrow.

We are ready to break camp today and will depart early Tuesday morning.  Everything is full of playa dust, but I will say (preview of coming attractions) the burns were incredible.  The Man did a cartwheel this year (first time I ever saw that in my 7 burns) and the temple burn was spectacular.

I did manage to honor three friends in the temple this year. Greg Junnell, a long-time burner from San Luis Obispo, who I met through my friendship with Lillith K, passed away from cancer two weeks before the burn.  We built him a small memorial temple just before we left for burning man and we burned it in the ashes of the man on Sunday just before the main temple burn.  The moment was quite moving. 

I also honored Cathy Sue Ovalle, the sister of Cindy Ovalle, who left us a month ago.  I learned about Cathy Sue through my Facebook friendship with Cindy. Cathy Sue lived many years beyond what was expected and was a truly brave and wonderful person.  

Finally, I honored another dear friend in my life, my friend Shirley's kitten, Sugar Magnolia, who died in July of a congenital heart defect before she even turned 2 years old. Maggie was the sweetest kitten, and I fell for her as much as I fell for her "mother".  That both are now out of my life has saddened me greatly but as always, the temple burn at Burning Man provided me a way of honoring that loss.


I will provide more on those memorials in the course of the blog. There were also many new friends made and enjoyed during the burn, and I can say that I am glad I made it, as touch as go as it seemed at times.  

It also provided many interesting  observations that we can all learn from about both the culture of Burning Man and the culture of the Default World. I plan to write more about that as time proceeds.  I invite you to comment on these posts as well, and I hope that many of the people I met at the playa who received "free tickets" to the Default World will spread the word.  

Best to all of you and see you in The Default World!

Bleurose/Jon