I'm up in Gerlach again, two years in a row...trying to get away from the same ol' same ol', which this certainly is.
The snow that fell over a 24 hour period a few days ago has mostly melted. I hope we get more cause it looks so festive.
Here's to you, all my Tribe frieeennnddds, wishing you a joyous 2008!
xoxo
Abby

Yesterday was Fence. A huge crew drove in 8.2 miles of t-stakes before lunchtime, a new record. I was on the fence tying crew and we wrapped just over two sides of the pentagram-shaped perimeter in orange plastic trash fence before the end of the work day. It was spectacular to experience everyone's enthusiasm, singing songs, cracking jokes, making the work such a pleasure. The cameraderie is what I love best about being out here "on the job." We had beer thirty sometime around 4 to celebrate and then it was back to the Black Rock Saloon for even more beers....thirty...Got to hang out and chat with David Best a bit before I got too shitfaced. Hah!
They finished the fence today while us Sign Shop girls were bent over our vinyl...in fact, it's almost midnight and I just finished up my day. The sooner we're done MAKING signs the sooner we can start installing them, and get out into the sun.
Tomorrow we move out onto the playa. I cannot wait! Oh, to be in my tent, listening to the wind whipping...to be behind the Ghetto bar serving up lukewarm PBRs... to watch the art and the infrastructure rising out of the dust. There's already SO much stuff out there on the playa...WAY more than at this time last year. The scope of this operation is staggering.
I'm looking forward to all you people arriving and will be keeping an eye out for the NYC containers. Come see me in the Ghetto, 4:20 and Arctic—a sign I designed and painted every damn one of, thankyouverymuch!
Much love, hippies!
See you in the dust...SOON!
xoxo
Beer Abby

Okay, so as of today, I've been in beautiful downtown Gerlach for one month. It feels like WAY longer than that, I'll tell you!
I've been working in Sign Shop. And I mean WORKING. Sure, we get beer thirty, but I've been more bent over actual work for the past three weeks than I have been in YEARS! Cutting stencils is my favorite job, but I've done all the other stuff too: painting and designing and vinyl, oh my! Yup, I'm Stencil Bitch. After 5 is Vinyl Bitch and Mel is Spray Painting Bitch. She's also Mounting Bitch along with After 5. I'm kinda new, so I'm just a'learnin'. D, of course, is the Boss Lady and online stressing WAY too much! But somebody's gotta do it...
And those signs are fuckin' BEAUTIFUL!
Yesterday was the Golden Spike. It's the first piece of Black Rock City, a spike set into the playa where the Man will be and from whence the rest of the city is surveyed. Everyone here got to walk up and hit the stake...it was very ceremonial and a tradition and a ritual n shit....cool. I wound up staying out on the playa all night, passing out with the Survey Team. There was a stunning moonrise and a very romantic walk beneath it. Heh.
Earlier in the week on my day off (Sunday) a friend and I drove another friend to visit her girlfriend in Mt. Shasta. I've never been...We took the backroads...it was a four-hour drive and we stopped in tiny towns. And coming over one mountain ridge, we could see Mt. Shasta off in the distance. It was stunnnnnnning! Like a postcard! By the time we got there we were hot and tired and Miss Kelly loaded us into her car and took us to the Sacramento River . She'd packed beers, chips & salsa...it was awesome...cold and wet and perfect. Then she cooked us an amazing dinner...we had a few drinks...and I passed out on a futon on a trampoline. Sign Shop LOVES Kelly! (Specifically After 5.)
So...the hippies have started to roll in. Over the past 48 hours we've had about a dozen new people show up. The excitement is building...the anticipation...the dynamic is shifting. Although to be honest, I'm just looking forward to clean-up!
Much love to all of you out there...I'm missing you, wherever you are!
xoxoxxo
A

So this is the birthday card my parents gave me:

Do wishes have wings?
Do dreams have a face?
Does sunlight explode in the evening's embrace?
Do rainbows have fingers?
Can poodles smell fear?
The world's filled with magic...
...if you drink enough beer!

Hahahah! Ridiculous and alarmingly accurate!