Ah, finally another diary entry to work on. They say it takes three weeks of constant reiteration to pick up a habit, if I really want dairying to stick then I really need to bring my laptop home more often. Bringing my laptop home more often means riding my motorbike to work more often, because cycling home up a hill on my bicycle with a laptop in my satchel really sucks.
Someone out there might ask “why don't you use your home machine?” Sadly and rather embarrassingly to relate, my home computer is fried and has been more a year. About two weeks after I arrived in Arizona I tried setting it up late one night, and in my exhausted state I accidentally plugged my monitor cord into the motherboard and it hasn't worked since. The motherboard is probably fried, and the best thing I can do at this point is to rescue the hard drive and install it into a completely new machine. For someone who likes to think of myself as a bit of a geek, I really have been slow off the mark on that one.
Nevertheless, the big news for the last couple of weeks has been my trip to Burning Man! For those not in the know, Burning Man is a week-long event that takes place on a salt pan in the Nevada desert. It is a combination of art show, alternative workshops and (most importantly) a massive party. I have known about it for many years, but I had never mustered the courage to take the time and go, so this had to be the year.
Deciding to go was a big deal, because I had to cancel a lecture and sneak out on some faculty responsibilities. Then I had to pack and drive the roughly 750 miles (13 hours non-stop) through the evening and night to get to Gerlach, NV. I finally arrived at about 4 am on Thursday morning and amongst all the insanity I managed to find my friends from Montana.
My decision to go prompted some friends from Montana to commit to going as well. This was good, because even though I would have gone in their absence, it was wonderful to have a crew to crash with. They saved a space for my tent in between their yurt and their Air-Stream trailer. Naturally I missed the solar eclipse (I saw it On Monday in Arizona) and the premature burning of The Man, but I was there just in time for the first big dust storm. This blotted out the sun and made us as dirty as if we had been rolling on the salt pan “playa” all day long.
To describe it all would take far too long, but in summary I would say that I had an ok time. I would consider going again only if I had one or more other people to share the driving and expenses with. In many ways I feel that Burning Man has 'jumped the shark' artistically, but that it is a worthwhile trip, especially if I blot out the 4 hours it took to drive 4 miles during the exodus on Sunday night.
Last weekend was joyously lax as I lay in bed and did practically nothing. The days are full of responsibilities and demands, but one consolation is that the cool weather is finally starting to return. At the moment I am sitting here in bed listening to Nerf Herder and thinking of my friends all around the world, Jules, Rachel, Red, Bonnie, Kadie and others I wish I could see more of… *sigh* I really need to get around to inventing the transporter. Speaking of inventing, I strongly recommend www.girlgenius.com for crazy hijinks and giggling.