Here is my accumulated playa wisdom from 2001-2008:

Food:
Buy stuff that you really like, since you'll be taking half of it home.
Wet and salty foods are yummy. Good cheese and crackers.
Salami & pepperoni. Stuffed grape leaves.
Tasty Bites Indian food. Chips and salsa. Pistachios (already de-shelled).
Double-bag the cheese and meat, and find some way to keep them
above water in the cooler.
Buy the expensive soup. It's twice the price of the cheap
stuff, but it's still cheap even compared to fast food.
Chex mix. Salt and vinegar potato chips.
Sweet dry stuff doesn't taste good.
Sweet and wet is good: Yogurt. Cereal with milk. Canned fruit.
Pudding in a cup. Jello cups with fruit. Applesauce.
Too dry: Beef jerky, triscuits, toast.
Bring some binder clips or chip clips.
Anything that requires any preparation whatsoever is bad,
unless someone else is doing the cooking.
That is THE BEST food on the playa. :)

Drink:
I love Smart Water and Vitamin Water.
Some people like to freeze water bottles and put them in the cooler.
I don't, because they take up a lot of cooler space, and you can't
drink them until all the ice is melted. Instead, I like to freeze
blocks of ice at home (using tupperware), and then put the blocks
(without the plastic) in the cooler.
Even though I think I'm very conscious of my hydration, I forget and
get dehydrated 2-3 times every week out there. You'd think I'd learn.
Caffeinated and non-caf sodas - you'll be drinking them quickly.
Start hydrating as you head up the Sierras. On multiple occasions,
on the way to the playa, Glow Girl and I have both gotten dehydrated
by the time we hit Reno. At that point we're cranky, tired,
and no fun to be around, and that energy feeds off each other.
Now that we realize why this happens, we're hydrated and happy.
And stopping every so often to pee.

Alcohol:
Splurge on the good alcohol to share with your friends. Most
people brings gallons of the cheap stuff, so do we. That's good
too (mmmm, icy cold margaritas!), but a bottle of Patron, Cabo Wabo,
Cazadores, good bourbon, good rum is highly prized
when you're hours away from HOTD. If you have the room, buy more
mixers. At the end of the week, there will be full bars of alcohol
desperately seeking cranberry juice, diet coke, and marg mix.
If I drink much during the day, and spend a lot of time in the sun,
I don't have much energy for the night.
I like mixed drinks at night, since they are stronger and since the
porta potties are always too far from the Esplanade.

When you go out for the night, put your cocktail in a screw-top
plastic bottle. Now you can put it in your backpack. Your hands
are free for taking photographs and giving hugs.

Stay away from the gifted magical cookies, unless you're planning to
spend the next 4 hours horizontal. I forget this lesson every 2
years. Fortunately, I just re-learned it at Lightning In a Bottle
2008, so I should be good for BM 2009.

Clothing:
Bring a *warm* coat to wear at night. Although it is the desert,
it will be cold. You'll be wearing it probably every night, so
make sure that you like it. Keep a small keychain LED on you
to light the porta-potties at night. Wear something that glows,
outside of your coat, so you don't get run over by bikes or cars.

One old white t-shirt for EVERY DAY. I like to soak them in water
before I put them on. Keeps me icy cold in the heat of the day
while doing chores. You will never get the playa out of these
shirts. Bring them back next year. Bring a blank one, some camp
may be doing iron-ons.

Extra socks. You can't bring too many.

A sarong. As a guy, I don't want to wear a tshirt and shorts
everywhere and feel like a tourist.
Shorts are great for camp set-up and tear-down.

Stevens Creek Surplus sells these cloth tubes that go around your
neck. They're handy for dust storms, and keep your neck cool when
you soak them in water.

There are times where I don't want to touch anything dusty when I'm
organizing our tent. I put on latex gloves.
By the end of the week, my hands are getting rough and dry.
I wore red cotton gloves as part of my outfit some nights with
Aquafor (similar to vaseline) on the inside. Really.

Transportation:
Bring your comfiest shoes. Shoes that you can walk a whole day in.
The color doesn't really matter since
they will be playa-grey within minutes. No one is looking at your
feet, especially at night. Put some fur boot covers on them if you
need high fashion.

Your bike should be in top shape. You're abusing it hardcore every
day. Take it out for a test ride, at least a mile, pedaling hard.
You'll be biking several miles every day.
You may want to splurge and buy a real bike light for it
(from a bike shop, not Walmart)
A used *real* mountain bike from Craigslist is probably better than
a new Walmart one. Much easier to wrench on.
A child lock to secure your bike. Glimmer told me about these.
Great idea.

Personal:
If you're sharing a tent or camper,
you will be spending many days together in cramped quarters.
At times, you two will be sleep-deprived, dehydrated,
hung-over, sunburned, or dust-cranky.
In that state, it easy to get into a big stupid fight about some
small inconsequential thing, like if person A moved person B's
stuff, and now it's temporarily lost.
We both do that from time to time.
Glow Girl and I think that the playa strengthened our relationship,
and we can see where it could *easily* cause big trouble. Make it a
point to forgive your partner for all of the small things
that WILL go wrong.

Misc:
A spray bottle of water, and a spray bottle of soapy water.
Lots of paper towels.

Rubbing alcohol and rags to clean the sunscreen and dust
off of dance poles.

Dark goggles for the daytime.
Clear goggles for night-time dust & wind.

A good pair of work gloves, so you can help set up and tear down camp,
your tents, shade structures, and help friends,
while keeping your hands protected.

Many extra camp chairs, so you AND your friends can sit underneath
your shade and enjoy a snack/beverage together. More friends
will drop by unannounced and join you.
All of them can't sit on your cooler at the same time.

Earplugs for thumping dance camps, and to sleep at night.
A sleep mask to keep the 9AM sunlight light off of your closed
eyelids.

A big wide mouthed bottle that you keep in your sleeping quarters.
One for each person. Some kind of a bag to put them in on your way
to the potties in the morning. 'nuff said.

Too many extension cords, is exactly the right amount.

A big backpack with no purpose other to hold all of your
firespinning gear. You never know when inspiration will hit.

Extra memory cards for your trusty old digital camera. Last year, I
bought two more cheap 256MB cards for my old Olympus 400. I love
this camera because it's mostly waterproof, dustproof, small enough,
takes great pics, and is well under $100 used on eBay. I don't feel
bad about abusing it during a whiteout dust storm.
Take a picture of a sheet of paper with your
name, phone, camp, and email address written on it.
Keep that picture on the camera card.

Consider leaving the playa on Tuesday.
There is no line, no waiting, no traffic, no frustration,
and you can watch as the event disintegrates all day Monday.
Join us for "breakfast of Champions" at Joyism
on Tuesday morning after the event, just before we caravan out.
We'll be spending Tuesday afternoon & night somewhere in Reno,
hopefully at a hotel burner party.

And finally, ask for what you need. I take pride in being
self sufficient. I find it hard to ask for anything.
When I finally do break down and ask,
the answer is almost always "YES". There is so much love
out on the playa. On the playa, ask me what I need.

Is it time to go yet?

- Meerkat (aka Furry Chris)

It's August already. The playa awaits us, and floods the mind with good
memories...


Friday pre-playa:
Over the past few week, we packed the pickup/camper to the roof, leaving a big
space in the aisle for the folded 4'x8'x2' hexayurt to slide in. I calculated
that I had 2 inches to spare in each dimension, as long as I removed the door to
the camper's ice-box. We wrapped a big blue tarp around the yurt, just in case
the greeters asked to climb inside the camper. That way, we could pull out the
yurt there was a dust storm on Saturday arrival like 2007, and nothing would fly
away. The tarp and the tie-downs made the yurt sandwich much thicker. It took
20 minutes of sweaty labor to force it in. Pant pant. Lock the garage door and
go.
Drove the truck to Reno. At the steepest point of the Tahoe incline, our old
7.5L F250 strained and groaned to maintain 41mph, with the gas pedal mashed to
the floor. We averaged 8 mpg from Cupertino to Reno.
Stayed at the Circus Circus with Glow Girl and Butterscotch, instead of Atlantis
like 2007. The buffet was cheap and filling. (Hey, if you can't say something
nice...)

Saturday:
Arrived at greeters at noon. I told the greeter what the hexayurt was. He
tried to peek around it, but there was hardly any space. He just asked me if
anybody was hiding in there. What luck!
Wristy helped us flag Joyism again, using his brilliant 2-tape-measure & 3
screwdriver method. I'm sure that he made the job at least 4 times faster than
it would have been otherwise. Thanks buddy!
Saturday, Sunday, Monday - wind, dust, and manual labor.

Sunday:
We wanted to put up the hexayurt Saturday just before sunset, or Sunday morning
at sunrise. No luck, too much wind. Each panel has 32 square feet of surface
area, weighs maybe 5 pounds, and can easily snap in half in a light breeze. No
luck Sunday at sunset either. After dark on Sunday, the wind died down. I
borrowed Rupert's 1000 watt work light, and Massive, Tripod, and Andy helped us
put it up. 90 minutes later it was complete. Thanks guys!
Fire spinning at Spike's before they opened. In the street! They wouldn't let
us use their stage. What's up with all these rules man?
Climbing up to the top of the Man's tower, seeing Blondie's tent clearly lit up
with LEDs, from a mile away. The tower was equipped with barbed wire & rangers.
No double-burn this year.

Monday:
Lovetoy & Dilicious invited 15 people into their air-conditioned tent during the
big windstorm. Sawdust loopy drunk but happy despite having just cut up one of
his toes. Dazzle getting wiped downs with baby wipes. Pass the tequila!
The Leopard Martini Lounge party was a big hit. I remembered that it was Make
Out Monday, and that made it so much better.

Tuesday:
Visited Sawdust at DMV.
Giving hexayurt tours to curious campmates. King size air mattress with a furry
blanket, black light, fluorescent streamers hanging from the walls, a fan, and a
stereo. Fleece carpeting. Space to spare. Living like a king. Larry himself
would be envious.
We loved the Buddha Bar's snuggle space.
A belly dancer at Iron Rose served us animal crackers from a huge shallow bowl
balanced on her head
Loved their artistic burn barrels - the owl and the mouse.
Theo dancing on Playabile's pole en-route from Iron Rose to the next fun place

Wednesday:
Rob, Kimmo, and Scott arrive in the morning. YAY.
Hammering rebar in front of James & Paige's punishment box (quadrayurt?). They
were hammering in rebar at 3:ooam earlier that morning so it was payback time!
Relaxing in the shade between Sawdust & Sunshine/Glimmer's RV, listening to Jack
Johnson on Theo's music system
We passed by the Pink Mammoth bar on our way to visit Wizard, and Glow Girl was
wearing all pink. So we stopped by for a well needed drink.
Listening to Sasha & Ann Shulgin give a great talk at Entheon Village to a
packed dome of hundreds of hippies. I have two of his books at home. A few
days later we saw them hanging out in Aha & Playible's Buddha Bar.
I loved seeing Gidget's Dream Quilt. That really turned out well. Bummed that
I waited to make a quilt patch until it was too late.

Thursday:
The merkin fashion show was a big hit. Oh yeah! Who could ever forget the Bang
Bang girls!
Helped Rupert set up his mechanical animated artwork in Center Camp.
Billion Bunnies March. Met up with Yoshi & Lavender.
Glow Girl attacked animal control with carrot. She says "I did not! They
attacked me first! They tried to spay me!"
Took pictures of smoke ring "halos" above people's heads. Angels?
Glow Girl hopped on dream quilt bed with Sawdust bunny & Paige bunny

Friday:
I had such a great time dressed up as a bunny on Thursday, I stayed bunnified
all through Friday.
Saw my co-worker Peter at CT. He looked up at my ears and quizzically smiled.
Glow Girl biked the long torturous CT route with Rainbo & Stefanie, stopping for
snowcones log the route. "A blue snowcone saved me! (and matched my outfit!)"
Glow Girl and Glimmer pole danced for us on the Playabile at the CT after-party.
Nika was covered head to toe in sparkly glittery paint. How did it get on me?
Saw the Towering Titty Totter of Terror in the distance.
The Flaming Lotus Girls put on a great show later that night - huge orange,
green, and magenta flames

Saturday:
Oh crap! It's Saturday and we haven't biked around to see and photograph the
art yet! Gotta do it now before they burn it all down. Windstorm or not.
Prepared with a backpack or not. Now or never. Brad joins us for the impromptu
last-minute bike art tour. Went out to the Eiffel Tower jungle gym (Gravity).
Climbed and conquered. I dangle by my arms from the top. Don't tell Mom! A
white-out envelops us on the way to the porta-potties. I yell "Marco!" Glow
Girl yells "Polo!" and we locate each other and find our way. Saw the giant
boom box art car, the walking spider car, the Bummer (giant Hummer), the white
metal cut-out tower, The giant Disco Duck mutant dance car (it has a giant
propeller underneath it!). Met some fine freaks at Funky Town camp from Montana
and made new friends, drank some yummy cucumber gin drinks.
Biking back to camp against a stiff dusty wind, tired and windblown, out of food
and water, we were rescued at the Deep End by the Buddha Bar. Everyone in the
back was sporting the same look - dust mask, goggles, and a thick layer of dust.
We all tossed our bikes in, and snuggled in the back with Ron & Helen, Bill and
Patti.
When we got back to camp, the dust was still blowing hard. I knocked on David's
RV. He, Nika, and their guest invited me in. For the next 2 hours, we told
stories, sipped wine and nibbled on cheese, and enjoyed the luxuries of air
conditioning and canned music.
This day rocked because it was totally unplanned, we were unprepared, and the
universe bent the rules to show us a good time. The playa provided.
Watching the man burn with Glow Girl, Sawdust, and Dazzle. The fireworks show
was the best I remember ever seeing anywhere. Great Burn! Only a couple of
dust devils but the fire and man collapse was spectacular.

Sunday:
Tear down camp. Take apart our HOTD bar, shade, tower, and toys. Say goodbye
to some.
I visit Black Rock Yearbook camp. The David formerly known as "Gung Ho" and
Jackie treat me to a fresh coconut.
A wonderful dinner with Bill & Patti & friends. :)
Temple burn. I took no pictures because temple burn pictures are so easy to
find on the 'net, now I wish I had at least one of my own.
Rupert drove a bunch of us furry freaks around in a friggin' dust blizzard.
Visibility was close to zero, so it was slow goings. We got lost a dozen times,
and rarely ever knew where we were. In other words, it was a fantastic fun
exciting time laughing and passing the tequila bottle back and forth. Really it
was.

Monday:
Two tent poles are snapped in half from last night's storm. I used extra tent
poles, duct tape, rope, and rebar to patch it up. Poor tent!
Butterscotch parks her RV next to our space for the rest of the event. In 2009,
she will be camping with us. Yay!
Burned art tour with Rupert!
Found weird tepee camp out by the trash fence. A fire pit contained ashes and
charred hands of some animal. Eerily human-like. Scaled rock-climbing wall on
side of delivery truck. Found couches and dance pole on top.
Found slide going down to fake swimming pool on the playa. It's really just a
blue tarp.
I discover an official yellow bike and take it for a test ride.
Climbed the Tower of Babylon, saw train passing by.
Finally found Tuna Guys. Rupert gave them two big bottles of tequila. We had a
good dinner of half-cooked tuna. A hippie guy was making watermelon punch by
scooping watermelon flesh out with his grubby hands, and squeezing the pulp in a
big rubbermaid box. He poured in a variety of random alcohol bottles. I was
scared to drink it, but relented after everyone else said it was good. I didn't
get sick, and got a good buzz. Dust and alcohol evidently have powerful germ
killing properties.
Fire spinning at the Shiva Vista stage in front of Joyism & Playabile. The
stage was taken down. Only 4 propane jets were still there and active. They
were trying to burn off the last of their fuel.

Tuesday:
Breakfast outside with Dazzle, Blinky Elvis, Rupert, Brad, and Butterscotch.
Time to eat up the rest of the perishables.
Final MOOP patrol. Rake the dust.
Brad and Blinky disassemble the shower and find four 60 pound bags of concrete
mix, which were holding it down. We heave them onto the yellow hood of Rupert's
car and he drives them over to Burners Without Borders
We caravan out in the late morning. I still can't believe Rupert's car doesn't
get pulled over every time it hits the asphalt. It takes some big balls to pull
off that stunt.
Drive allll the way to Boomtown. No line, no hassle, no traffic, easy easy
drive. Why doesn't everyone stay until Tuesday?
Dinner at the old age home (or was that the Boomtown casino?). For 2009 we want
to find a burner party at a Reno hotel.

Wednesday:
Drove back home and unloaded weeks worth of cleaning into the garage.
Glad to have the day off. Working would be much too difficult. Still
acclimating to the Default World.
Air conditioning feels good. Mmmmm sushi! Mmmmm salad! Service!

Thursday, Friday:
At work. Sooooo bored! I feel like the world switched to grainy
black-and-white. How does anyone live like this? How do *I* live like this??
The only thing keeping me afloat is the joyful anticipation of Club Z.

Saturday:
Find dusty clothes to put on. Dig out yummy dusty food.
Reunion with friends at Club Z! I'm alive again!

Sunday:
Wake up in the camper. I hear birds. Where the hell are we?
Time to MOOP Club Z.
Only 50 more weeks until we do it all over!
:) :) :)

pictures: picasaweb.google.com/stuttga...FullSet#

We posted 462 pictures for your amusement at:
picasaweb.google.com/stuttga...risShawn
tip: click on the "large size" icon at the lower top right section of the window

I was just thinking about my favorite moments on the playa this year
*\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/*

Fire spinning in front of a small crowd at K-SVERT on the Esplanade Sunday night just as the gates were opening.

Visiting DaleyDale, Nick, and David in Nick's RV to recharge our energy after setting up camp all day. We missed you, Rock and Rose!

Seeing that the moon isn't completely dark during a lunar eclipse.

Realizing that the man burn was burning early (did the man just turn from green to orange??). Steve blasting Mutaytor's "On Fire Like This" from Joyism's kick-ass speaker system. That made a lot of people smile.

Dazzle invited us to join her and a big group of artists for an "art snob" tour on the carousel art car. Riding the mechanical metal horses was a blast. They served us some really good chile infused tequila shots, which burned going down my throat.

Connecting with people at Mystic Massage. That one hour daily of massage work grounded me and filled me a sense of purpose. I had some great conversations with the people on the table. I'm still laughing about the self professed "pain slut" who wanted my elbows deep in her back. Big thanks to Blysse and Cowboy for realizing this project in our camp.

Seeing the event through Frequent Flyer's virgin eyes.

Sipping on Cabo Wabo Reposado and Don Julio Anejo throughout the whole week. MMMmmmMMMmmmMMMmmmmm.

Dancing on the HOTD bar during the Merkin fashion show. Big thanks to Mark for jumping in with his impromptu sexy drum beats to set the mood, and to peakRrr for sewing the "props" for the guys. Those were a big hit.

Marching in the Billion Bunny Jam with Frequent Flyer, SnugglePimp, Double Dutch, Debbie, Steven Raspa, Neon Bunny, and hundreds of other fuzzy bunnies during a whiteout.
Dozens of Animal Control stormtroopers, dressed in matching red jumpsuites, charging at us out of the fog, armed with nets and cages. That was a surreal moment - almost scary.
Glow Girl trying to steal the Animal Control car, after getting tagged and shot
Taking over the Thunderdome, climbing it to the top, and attaching 6 foot bunny ears to the top of it
Glow Girl and I dancing at Spike's pole afterwards, still dressed as bunnies.

Many fun filled nights spent touring the playa with Rupert, Steve, Kimmo, and Patti on Joyism.

Seeing the playa from the top of the oil derrick, 99 feet up. Despite the strong winds, it felt rock solid on top. It gave me an awesome sense of how big and deep and full our city is. And that was early in the week!

Sunshine and Glimmer inviting us to join them, Sawdust, and friends for an evening out on the Playabile.

The "aborted art tour" with Joyism and Aluminum Pansy which got stuck in a thick whiteout a few short blocks from camp. Rupert stopped the car, we made rounds of drinks for everyone, and had great conversation. Instead of focusing outward, we focused inward. It was meant to be that way.

Getting a hair wash & head massage from Butterscotch at Astral Headwash. Decadent.

Relaxing in the shade, sipping a cold drink, and listening to great live music from HOTD.

Glow Girl and Glimmer dancing on the pole during the worst of the Critical Tits party's whiteout dust storm and rain.
I have some great pictures from Critical Tits - many head shots of dust-covered playa women wearing masks and goggles. It's hard to tell who's who.
The double rainbow right after the storm ended. The thick mud in Rupert's blender.

Seeing the man burn the second time. It was so much better the first time.

Teaching Claudia how to ride my chopper bike.

The mushroom cloud fireball that made the 10-story Crude Awakening structure look so TINY.

Putting up alternate street signs with Frequent Flyer on Sunday - for the entire 6:30 radial. We turned "Landfill" into "Lap Dance Lane". :)

Sunday night's marinated sea bass, fried abalone, seaweed salad, wine, and ice cream dinner from Bill and Patti. WOW! YUM! My favorite meal of the week hands-down. What a great gift!

The silence at the temple burn. It was so quiet you could hear the wood crackling from hundreds of feet back.

Interacting with the semi-autonomous Orbswarm robots from Flaming Lotus Girls. I chased one, a bit too aggressively, until it got angry. It vibrated, flashed red lights, and then started chasing me!

Michael's Belgian waffle re-enactment on Sunday night. Complete with a pre-show, fireworks, green lights, and strobe effects. It burned really fast and hot, just like the big one. The Jiffy Pop was even better than at the original waffle burn.

The technological magic of the Cubeatron late at night.

Trading bikes with Sean (with Beth) - my chopper for his double-decker.

Visiting Tuna Guys between dust storms on Monday with Rupert, Glow Girl, Panther, and Frequent Flyer.

Leaving Tuesday's dust storms for a big soft clean bed in Reno. Meeting other burners at the Circus Circus buffet after our nap. They first talked to me because I was wearing one of those cool tshirts that Ted made this year.

Uncompressing at Camp Z for 26 hours surrounded by my favorite dusty friends, old and new.


What are YOUR favorite memories?

We rocked out with our carrots out at Bunny Jam. Our fabulous furry friends joined us for a pre-party at the hotel room to get the night started. The next day, we hopped around causing trouble in the Haight.
picasaweb.google.com/stuttga...nnyJam07