Bird droppings

Collected a few new ones! Enjoy!!!

October 7, 2009

From Pic-A-Day 365

Went climbing tonight at Planet Granite. Took this photo in the parking lot of the gym.

October 8, 2009

From Pic-A-Day 365

Coding night with viesti again! We did lots of gaming and stuff before this, too.

October 9, 2009
Oops! Got too wrapped up in things and forgot to post!

October 10, 2009

From Pic-A-Day 365

BBQ out in the park today! Lots of awesome folks here!

October 11, 2009

From Pic-A-Day 365

Went to Burning Man Decompression today! This is my friend Moonlits, standing in one of the pieces of art there.

Speaking of Burning Man Decompression, you can click here to see some pics I took there:

Burning Man Decompression 2009

My TODO list is starting to feel a bit daunting:

Burning Man
- Put away the rest of the Burning Man stuff
- Get my box-o-shelves back to parmonster
- Wash my car
- Put away all my clothes
- Continue working on proposal/design specifications for Burning Man 2010 art project
- Write up "Things I should change for next Burn"

Home
- Put up the rest of my decorations and knick knacks in the house
- Set up my altar
- Start shopping for more decorative stuff for the house, such as EL wire and more mirrors
- Pay all my bills on Friday
- Sew the buttons back on the coat I was gifted

Drawing
- Work on more figure drawing to try to get my first comic strip complete.
- Work through a few more drawing exercises in my drawing instruction book.

R/C
- Design paint job for my new SuperFly R/C airplane that should arrive some time next week.
- Buy spray paint for the SuperFly R/C
- Build SuperFly R/C airplane. (includes buying tools/supplies to do so.)
- Call Ike about getting my Typhoon 3D back from him.
- Fix up my Typhoon 3D.
- Charge my airplane batteries for flying on Sunday

Oh
My
Gods.

I'm back from Burning Man.

I have a few photos, but not a lot. Really, I didn't feel much like taking photos. I was too busy having an absolutely amazing time.

Burning Man... is nothing like what I thought it would be. Nothing at all.

It's not a big drug filled rave. It's not a snooty art festival. It's not some big party or some weird pothead campout in the desert or any number of the other things that you might have cynically heard it described as.

All week long, I've been trying to figure out what the words are to describe it. Do I talk about all the weird shit that happened? Do I talk about what I did each day? Do I talk about how it all felt? Do I talk about my perspective on it all?

At the end of the day... The words that I found were this, as gifted to me by many people. Burning Man is a week long lucid dream. It follows dream logic and everything. It is what happens when 43 thousand people get together and turn their dreams into reality. The people there come not to be entertained and have a good time, but to entertain others and help them have a good time. Burning Man is near-complete artistic and personal freedom to do whatever you want. Burning Man is not an experience to be had. It's something you do. It's something you create when you're there. Burning Man is your own celebration of your self, expressed in whatever way you desire. Burning Man is an experience like none that you can ever imagine. You don't know what its like until you're actually out there, standing on the Playa, looking around at night, seeing parties and lights and music and colors and people and insanity in every single direction you can possibly look, for miles and miles.

It's like nothing else I've ever experienced.

Also... I'm taking my Playa name as my new LJ name. gentle_gamer no longer suits me. Instead, I'm now paradox_puree. :)

( Read more... )

To all of you that are going to be at Burning Man, current plans involve me leaving San Jose around 1900 on Tuesday night and driving through the night to arrive up there. Look for me at the first light of the third day.

There have been some great articles up lately on the connection of Burning Man and white privilege.

This article is the first one I found on the topic, discussing a "Go Native!" rave party thing that was appropriating native american culture and imagery. Some local native american activists found out about it and apparently spent four hours lecturing the burners at their party.

Feministing put up an article also discussing the topic, with a link to one feminist's experience at Burning Man the year before.

Some really powerful stuff there. I worry sometimes about how much white privilege seeps into burner and hippie culture. Like, I've purchased some really pretty outfits from a store that sells Himalayan clothing to local new agers and stuff. Are we blending cultural expressions or just fetishizing that "eastern" look and displaying it because that's the trendy thing for new-agers, ravers, hippies, and burners?

Reading these articles, I'm struck with a sense that there has been little thought given to these issues in many of the circles that I run in. People randomly adopt religious iconography, language, and philosophy from various cultures without stopping to think about what that means... I do it too, really.

I have always felt that building my own spiritual practice by hodge-podging a bunch of practices together is the right thing to do for me. Similarly, I feel that I like the idea of borrowing from various cultures to create my own image and iconography. But I need to stop and think about the implications of this and the way that my white privilege plays into my actions.

What are the subconscious influences that result from my white privilege and how does that play into my use of the imagery and philosophies of other cultures? How can I avoid disrespecting, fetishizing, or further marginalizing non-white people in my personal actions, especially as they connect to being a new-age hippie burner type? Ultimately, I think more dialog is necessary. I personally know that *I* have a lot to learn about this, as I don't really understand much about the greater power struggles going on, my own personal contributions to these particular systems of oppression, etc. I'm ignorant on these topics and need to learn.