burning man

I am going to Burning Man. It's probably as much a surprise to me as it is to you--perhaps more so! I have been hanging out at Dan and Rob's place and working on the The Art Car, meanwhile being urged to attend, and then a ticket became available, and I could not refuse. The Art Car is called Strangelove. It is a giant Ford truck from the seventies. It now has a giant geodesic dome affixed to it. (I'm told it gets six miles to the gallon.) You can tell it's been a boys' project, with emphasis on welding before aesthetics, though that is changing with recent additions of fiber optic lights and various textiles purchased in the Fabric District. (Did you know that Los Angeles has a "Fabric District"?)

Perhaps I should back up a little bit. Rob is the senior graduate student in the lab in which I work (actually the only grad student there other than me). Dan is Dan Busby, who was, by random chance, the first person I emailed when I was preparing to move to Pasadena, looking for co-ops and the like. Also by chance he happens to be my predecessor in the lab in which Rob and I work, and, indeed, Rob's housemate. And we are all tied together via the Mentor House, the quasi-co-op where Bree and I landed when we arrived here in Pasadena. The Mentor House seems to be the epicenter of a Burning Man theme camp called True Prophet. This camp has graciously accepted me into their ranks.

I can't stomach the usual Burning Man propaganda--this year's theme is the "green man," but any idea that Burning Man can be an environmentally responsible event seems absurd--but now, working in the backyard and making preparations with my friends (and making friends!), it is becoming less abstract and more appealing. Now it's about camaraderie and this ridiculous roving geodesic dome and we have an authentic mongolian yurt that some Prophet actually went to Mongolia to obtain. How awesome is that?

We are camping at Boreal and 4:30.

Who else here from my friendslist is going? Those who have been before: what do I need to know?