Thoughts On the Ride Home

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Having spent the week camped across from the entrance to the Tom Jones Theme Camp, "What's New Pussycat?" keeps running through my brain unless I keep the CD player on and the volume up. A little Led Zeppelin may help. The camp sported a huge pink pussycat facade and curtains of panties that ensured that most who passed the corner stopped to take a photo. Those who entered could drink at the bar if they surrendered their panties or gave visual proof of lack of same. (Tough work but someone has to do it.) Their loud and late night musical lineup lulled me to sleep many nights and was a good counterpoint to the incessant techno beat of the camp just behind my 'tent' that moved in mid week.
I love the rythyms, the feel and the monotony of much of the music played at BM, but I feel it all casts a sense of anticipation, urgency and drive but rarely a climax, with one pounding ditty blended to the next with such skill that the transitions disappear. The fact that more and more camps spring up with similar musical styles sets the city humming with anticipation as the weekend burns approach.

The assault on my hands began in earnest a few weeks before BM. I've always used my hands to manipulate my world so nicks and cuts are nothing new. I rarely wear gloves, so cutting and flattening the ends of 216 pieces of electrical conduit to make the geodesic dome for Wizzard Oasis.
I've wanted to make a big dome since Expo '67 in Montreal and saw the stunning US Pavillion. I think it was a 5 (6?) frequency, 5/8 or 3/4 sphere, icosaheron. I read books or parts of books by Buckminster Fuller and dome builders. I figured out how to make it simple and how to build it myself, being the independent sort of guy I am.

Starting with 10' sections of pipe, the largest strut of the 3 different sizes needed to be 5' long or less. For the 3 frequency dome I wanted, that gave a maximum diameter of 23' and would require 1100' of pipe.

Lotion break-found that I can open the flip top bottle with my teeth. Ahhhhh! a shave, shower ad salad and Utah is only a few miles away. Beautiful day, clear sky with cumulous clouds scattered widely. The salt flats will be dazzling.

While cutting pipes, I made a measuring template to insure that each pipe was the same length. My dad taught me a lot about templates in his life as a builder. I was his gopher from about 12 years of age and saw the need for reproducible measurements. Freshly cut pipes have sharp edges. Did I mention I never wear gloves?

UTAH 2:30 PM sunday

I'm curious about my weight. Over the last year and a half, I've been losing weight from a high near 300 pounds to a pre-BM figure about 90 LB less. I brought WAY too much food. Some to be cooked, most dry and high energy and mostly low fat. A few cans of cold ravioli and the like went down well even though the can opener I bought in Empire didn't work, and my only eating utensil was my trusty Buck Knife. I boiled some water for hot chocolate & oatmeal once the Centre Camp became overrun by weekend spectators.

BM is about participation and sharing and hardship. Creation and Destruction. I feel pride to have done my part in building this town. Construction took all week. Those coming to a fully formed city to watch it burn down showed by their idiotic shouts and megaphone blasts that they clearly don't understand the effort of the true participants of BM and are only out for the opportunity to get drunk and stupid. Just another beach bonfire, just another Rave.

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Having spent the week camped across from the entrance to the Tom Jones Theme Camp, "What's New Pussycat?" keeps running through my brain unless I keep the CD player on and the volume up. A little Led Zeppelin may help. The camp sported a huge pink pussycat facade and curtains of panties that ensured that most who passed the corner stopped to take a photo. Those who entered could drink at the bar if they surrendered their panties or gave visual proof of lack of same. (Tough work but someone has to do it.) Their loud and late night musical lineup lulled me to sleep many nights and was a good counterpoint to the incessant techno beat of the camp just behind my 'tent' that moved in mid week. I love the rythyms, the feel and the monotony of much of the music played at BM, but I feel it all casts a sense of anticipation, urgency and drive but rarely a climax, with one pounding ditty blended to the next with such skill that the transitions disappear. The fact that more and more camps spring up with similar musical styles sets the city humming with anticipation as the weekend burns approach.
	The assault on my hands began in earnest a few weeks before BM. I've always used my hands to manipulate my world so nicks and cuts are nothing new. I rarely wear gloves, so cutting and flattening the ends of 216 pieces of electrical conduit to make the geodesic dome for Wizzard Oasis. I've wanted to make a big dome since Expo '67 in Montreal and saw the stunning US Pavillion. I think it was a 5 (6?) frequency, 5/8 or 3/4 sphere, icosaheron. I read books or parts of books by Buckminster Fuller and dome builders. I figured out how to make it simple and how to build it myself, being the independent sort of guy I am.
		Starting with 10' sections of pipe, the largest strut of the 3 different sizes needed to be 5' long or less. For the 3 frequency dome I wanted, that gave a maximum diameter of 23' and would require 1100' of pipe.
			Lotion break-found that I can open the flip top bottle with my teeth. Ahhhhh! a shave, shower ad salad and Utah is only a few miles away. Beautiful day, clear sky with cumulous clouds scattered widely. The salt flats will be dazzling.
While cutting pipes, I made a measuring template to insure that each pipe was the same length. My dad taught me a lot about templates in his life as a builder. I was his gopher from about 12 years of age and saw the need for reproducible measurements. Freshly cut pipes have sharp edges. Did I mention I never wear gloves?
		UTAH 2:30 PM sunday
		I'm curious about my weight. Over the last year and a half, I've been losing weight from a high near 300 pounds to a pre-BM figure about 90 LB less. I brought WAY too much food. Some to be cooked, most dry and high energy and mostly low fat. A few cans of cold ravioli and the like went down well even though the can opener I bought in Empire didn't work, and my only eating utensil was my trusty Buck Knife. I boiled some water for hot chocolate & oatmeal once the Centre Camp became overrun by weekend spectators.
BM is about participation and sharing and hardship. Creation and Destruction. I feel pride to have done my part in building this town. Construction took all week. Those coming to a fully formed city to watch it burn down showed by their idiotic shouts and megaphone blasts that they clearly don't understand the effort of the true participants of BM and are only out for the opportunity to get drunk and stupid. Just another beach bonfire, just another Rave.