Welcome to Chaos !!

What I most regret, what irks me the most about this year's Burning Man is that I missed out on most of the art. The art theme this year was Waking Dreams. I just did not make it that far out to see it and yes there were some amazing pieces of art on the playa. I did not have the energy. It was hotter than usual, there were a couple of long complete white out dust storms (one lasted a full day until the evening) so I was stuck at camp during those. First I thought it was me, like am I getting too old and frail for Burning Man (yeah right!)? But I was not the only one that felt that they did not see and do as much this year compared to other years....it was a rough one.
I did not even find the Playa Barbie booth! That is kind of my mandatory yearly Burning Man picture.....I just could not find the Barbie booth. Sad, sigh......



I could not decide on what picture to pick so here are both.





I liked this piece (I do not know the artists name or what the art was called).



Christmas in the summer time? On the Playa of course!



Whomever decorated that mantel shelf really knows what's up.





I DJd twice at Planet Earth, out of three scheduled sets. Two of my sets were on Friday.
First 80s Pop and New Wave and then 90s rave. 90s rave! Yeay!
I finally got to play Prodigy No Good Start The Dance and some Robert Miles! Plus other songs I used to dance to back in the days.
My first rave was in.....1997, Narnia. Somewhere in the forest past Los Angeles, a whole new world opened up to me and I fell in love with the rave scene that first night.









Sunday evening I headed out to Planet Earth to DJ my third set and there was nothing there. Planet Earth was gone! I thought I was lost or confused at first.....but yes they were completely packed up and gone before the end of Burning Man.
I guess some people in that camp tested positive for COVID so they dismantled and left. OK?
I don't understand why a WHOLE camp decides to tear down because of some COVID but I am not them.
My outfit on Sunday.



I saw Paul Stamets and Tom Eckert (not pictured) speak at the Psychedelic Speaker Series - something I am very interested in.



A fun sign. You should print it out, laminate it and hang it where you work. I am planning on doing that.



Alllllll kinds of amazing stuff awaits out there......let's go!

A month ago, on August 29 a Monday I arrived at Black Rock City which was going to be my home for one week.
I think this was my most challenging Burning Man so far and after returning home and catching up on fellow Burner's experiences I found out that many felt the same way.
But it was Burning Man so amazing it was.....and I do have some pictures.
On the way in.....I started to feel the excitement build up inside. Welcome Home Black Rock City it says on the sign. I could feel it inside my whole being.



After arriving I started setting up camp and organizing stuff. I had the same travel trailer as last year (I went to Renegade Burn last year). I have large rugs to roll out, a canopy with tapestries that I tie to it, an outside table and chairs.....Then it is time to bike out to see the man and get a first look of the scenery.



The first art installation I stopped at was a beautiful memorial for a very loved dog named Charlie. It was quite moving, I spent a moment there and wrote some of my thoughts down in the book provided.



Charlie was loved. Every pet deserves a good loving home.



Night time by the man.







The next day I made sure to make it over to Rod's Road to see Sarah Jane make delicious drinks with her pussy powered blender. A great time and the drinks were cold and yummy (I had two).









In the evening I enjoyed some quiet time in a dry sauna built by a group of Norwegians. A few days later I did a Russian banya which was amazing. Included a light all over "beating" with oak leaf branches.



Morning coffee at Black Rock City is the best. No more Center Camp Café at Burning Man starting this year. We shall see if they decided to bring it back, Center Camp Café was missed by many but I suspect that they, (the BMORG) will stick with their decision to leave it in the past......so I did not do my barista volunteering this year. I volunteered as an ice slinger at Arctica (the ice place) instead and it was GREAT and a really good workout too.



A pretty painting that I saw at Center Camp.





One of my camp mates let me read a book about her life that she wrote.
Very interesting! I was so captivated by her story that I read it twice.



I made a necklace.



I picked copper out of three metals available and two charms, one for each side. There is an imprint in the copper as well but you can barely see it in the picture. A Burning Man related imprint.





Explored at night, this place was amazing. PlayAlchemist. The music they played there was.......WOW.





Check back for more of Burning Man Waking Dreams 2022 (soon)!

I got back from Burning Man last night. I left Black Rock City around 4 am Monday morning. Exodus itself took over six hours and I got back home at 11 pm.
Exodus is when you drive from your location where you camped on the Playa (Black Rock City) to a two lane highway called NV 34. After about ten miles or so I get on NV 447.
Depending on when you decide to leave Burning Man, Exodus can take many many hours and it can also be a simple drive straight out.
It was a slow bumpy ride out.....



I am still in a Burning Man frame of mind, kind of floating instead of walking, singing to myself, elevated mood due to a natural high and when I walked into Trader Joe's a few hours ago I saw this and my first though was, "oh an art car!"



I showered twice since arriving home, I was very dusty this year but the hair washing project will have to wait until tomorrow. I am way too tired to deal with that tonight. Super tangled and full of Playa dust. The hair I mean.



I am tired, need to sleep. I will work on some Burning Man 2022 entries soon.

Last week I had an intense craving for a burger, I recalled that I had seen somewhere that Burger King has a meat free burger called the Impossible Whopper so that is what I had. I liked it. If I get an intense fast food burger craving again I know where to go. I do not recall when I was at Burger King before this time......? A decade or more?



I found my new fave bag brand. Chala. Made with cruelty free vegan leather. Look how cute!



I think I will get this one. I like! And I like the name of the bag brand, Chala. Reminds me of my love Chhaya. ❤️



And the other day I drove to the neighbor state, Washington. I went to see my friend Barry, he helped me with some computer stuff.
Thank You Barry! I found some fun books at his place, I am on the cover of one of them.



And now it is time for a few episodes of Queen of the South, then sleep.

Years ago when I lived in Alaska I ended up in Kenai for a few years and I worked at Good Time Charlies. Since leaving there I have encountered several people that visited Alaska and the Kenai Peninsula (usually to fish) and I always ask them if they also paid Charlies a visit and several of them did. And then we compare notes.
Well, Charlies is now officially closed. I guess the original plan was to close down in September but instead the club had its last night a few weeks ago. I heard it was a full house and that makes me happy.
I had some pictures saved and planned on writing a blog entry about Charlies at some point and I guess this is the time. And yes there is a Charlie, he does exist. The club is named after him.
Here he is with Dian (The Boss Lady).



Me with Clay (to the left) and Dusty, the DJs and Clay is also Charlie's son.
Like Clay would say, "Tipping is not a city in China but Peking is and in order to get to Peking (peeking) you have to go through tipping." If I recall that right.



Now that is a showgirl!



Yes....I survived Good Time Charlies.



A recent picture of Charlie and a link to an article about him. I told him that it is a good article but that it does not come close to covering everything he has done in his life. Charlie should write a book. And so should Dian. They both have so many stories to tell. Charlie is a talented artist and he is skilled in magic tricks and I am certain there are many other talents in that man that I don't know about.



https://www.peninsulaclarion.com/news/good-time-charlies-closes-its-doors/?fbclid=IwAR0kSSRwuaS5WQOrZWl3DPfl3zKQQrrSg5e26o3DLxUCHk0kcmiidZKKni8

I have so many fun memories of that place, I made good friends there that I keep in touch with.
If you want to read some of my blog entries about Charlies just type in "Charlies' in the search bar (scroll up and you will see the search bar in the upper right hand corner).
We should had had a reality TV show made there, I know it would had been a huge success. That is the mistake Charlie made I think.....I mean hello a slam dunk success. We would had been household names for sure.
I am not sure how to end this entry. I wish Charlie and Dian many good years to come. ❤️ Thank You Charlies for the good times and the memories!

Finally I got to see the moon, the August full moon. I went to the Sellwood bridge, I imagined it would be a good spot to see the moon rise over Portland. So I am sitting there, looking at the time thinking that the moon should be visible, where is it? But no.....then I turn around and that whole time it was behind me.
Of course.....So not exactly what I was hoping for but that is ok. I was hoping for an enormous moon slowly rising over Portland, me snapping some amazing pics, getting one fronted in a local newspaper or even better on the cover of the National Geographic or something, instead I got to see a bright orange moon hover over some roof tops. Of course the pictures do not make it justice, it was quite orange actually. But better than last month when I picked a spot that in my head was going to be great for watching the moon rise and then I missed it because it rose in a different spot. It is not easy always to catch the moon rise unless you go to some obvious location.
Here are my amateur photos of the August 2022 full moon.





That was that and then I drove home.
Did you get to see the full moon tonight?