Last minute projects
Yesterday we hit another major milestone at work and as a result I got to leave work at 5 for the first time in many many months. Also, the bus to Burning Man is coming to get me at 4:30 instead of 12:30 today, so all of a sudden I had several additional hours to get ready. So here is what I did with those hours: I went to the fabric store, wait, TWO fabric stores. And then I started making some shit. Besides hoops, I have never really made anything in my life. But last night and this morning I made some stuff.
Check it out.
I made a fuzzy white hat. Sewed it by hand.
I made three pairs of fuzzy leg warmers, one to match the fuzzy white hat. The first two are held together with velcro straps glued on with fabric glue. The last pair has elastic sewn in. By hand. Fuck me if I don't need a sewing machine.
Next up: A shirt kind of like the one I'm wearing here but made out of this bright green fabric with glitter. This will probably be more challenging than the fuzzy stuff so I'm not sure it'll happen.
Oh, I also spray-painted my plain Indonesian bamboo hat fluorescent pink and lined the rim with orange fur.
Some of the spray paint also seems to have made it onto my bike.
When I ran some last minute errands today, I did so in my new white fuzzy leg warmers and with my goggles strapped onto my forehead. As a Burning Man virgin I feel that it is my duty to make an ass of myself like that.
P.S.: My mom (Hallo Mama!) is being so cute right now. She is almost as excited about me going to Burning Man as I am. She has been researching the event online and printing out all kinds of stuff to show to my grandparents. Also, when I told her about the stuff I have been making, she said that she would send me money to go towards a sewing machine. Score!
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.: posted by Vera 
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Rules of Readiness
Sorry to turn this blog into Burning Man Central as of late but DID YOU KNOW THAT I'M LEAVING IN TWO DAYS?
- One Saturday not too long ago, I got a call from my campmate Sam. He had spotted a $15 mountain bike at a garage sale near his house. I raced over there and picked it up and made it my Burning Man Bike. (Note: I already have a bike. This bike is solely for Burning Man.)
This is what it looked like when I got it. Can you believe it was only $15?
And this what it looks like now that it is Burning Man ready. Note the basket. Note the luggage tag with my name and camp on it. Note the additional sign with my name, camp name and camp address on it. This is so that really drunk or really high people who unintentionally take my bike in the middle of the night thinking that it's theirs, will know where to return it the next morning. (I received this tip from a veteran Burner.)
- On Sunday I modeled (i.e. walked around in awkwardly) some playa wear at a sale a fashion designer friend of mine was having. I liked the last outfit so much that I ended up buying it. She called it the "bat girl ensemble." I also got a really cool fuzzy hood. It's just a hood, as in hoodie but without the stuff that goes around your shoulders, waist and arms; just a big fuzzy hood with a string to tie it around your neck. It's the coolest thing ever. Oh, you want to see? You'll have to wait till after Burning Man. This means I am completely done shopping. I have everything I need, including a Camelbak AND A BAT GIRL ENSEMBLE. Could I be anymore ready?
- Yesterday we reached a MAJOR milestone at work. Today and tomorrow I will be tying up loose ends. One of my co-workers is leaving for the desert today.
- Last night I packed all of my clothes and costumes. I already packed all of my food on Sunday. This means I am almost completely done packing.
- On Tuesday I drove a car full of gigantic cushions to a garage. (Can you picture that? You should try. Picture a tiny little car stuffed to the gills with gigantic cushions. Somewhere in there you might have seen two hands sticking out of the wall of cushions, blindly clutching the steering wheel.) Tonight I will help load the contents of that garage onto a truck.
- On Saturday an RV with four people will pull up in front of my apartment in which I will then load all of my shit and finally myself. I am the last stop before the desert.
- Most importantly, I am emotionally ready for this 10-day adventure. I have been drawn to Burning Man ever since I first heard about it three or so years ago. Two years ago I didn't go because I had just moved to San Francisco and didn't know anybody who was going. It seemed an impossible endeavour. Last year I didn't go because of work. But frankly, I wasn't emotionally ready either. I was already going through so many social and communal changes that I felt completely satiated. Any more than that would have overwhelmed me. But I knew that I had started on a path that would lead me straight to Burning Man. And that brings us to today. I am ready now.
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.: posted by Vera
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Cell phone woe and then woo
Last weekend my cell phone started to fall apart. Literally. The first piece of its shell fell off of on Saturday night. Two additional pieces fell off Sunday afternoon (pictured below).
Then Sunday evening I stupidly emptied half of a water bottle in my purse, getting water all over my phone. It instantly fell asleep. I tried to resuscitate it but it wouldn't turn on. It really went through a lot that day. I thought that this was the end of my beloved camera phone.
The next day my phone was still in a coma. My roommate Zaina offered to let me use her old (camera-less) Sprint phone. I took this as a sign to discontinue the picture and web service I have for my phone, which costs me $15 a month on top of the regular phone service. I am broke; my cell phone breaks; my roommate offers me a free phone that doesn't have a camera. All of these conditions suggested that I should part with the ability to take pictures with my phone.
This morning I asked Zaina for her old phone and started charging it so that I could start using it. I tried to turn on my phone one last time. And it woke up! My phone came back to life! After about 60 hours in a water-induced coma.
I guess I will be taking more cam phone pictures after all. And if my phone hadn't come back to life, the world would never have seen those flower pictures up there at the top of the page. They were on my phone when it got splashed on Sunday.
And I'm definitely getting me one of these to slow down my phone's disintegration.
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.: posted by Vera
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Enumerated update
I'm busy these days. Why? Let me count the reasons.
1) I'm still getting ready for Burning Man. This is not a simple task. I finally have most of my shopping done (fuzzy coat, the entire No Rinse product line, goggles, sleeping pills, sleeping bag, work gloves (YES, I WILL be working; more on that below), zip lock bags, zip ties, baby wipes, folding chair, chapstick on a string, blinky things, all my fire hooping gear, extra memory for my camera, lots and lots of Tasty Bites, and I think that's it, except it probably isn't).
2) With Burning Man approaching, an increasing number of people find themselves wanting hoops. So I have been making and selling an increasing number of hoops.
3) I have taken on a relatively active role on one of my camp's teams - the Community and Orientation (COOR - pronounced 'core') team. We will have a COOR dome where people can get information, find an ear or a smile, chill out on couches and cushions, listen to music, look at pretty lights, play games, and pamper themselves with lotions and other goodies. One of my responsibilities right now is to make sure that dome is carpeted. On the playa I will also help erect said dome, hence the work gloves.
4) Work is in one of those crazy modes again where everybody is super stressed and burnt out and working Saturdays and asking themselves when will this be over? The answer is that it will be over by the end of next week, at the latest. That, once again, is one of the cool things about my company: Burning Man is part of the schedule. Half of my team is going to Burning Man, so if a milestone isn't reached by the time people leave for Burning Man, then IT WILL JUST HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL AFTER LABOR DAY.
So yeah, everything revolves around Burning Man right now. Have I mentioned that I'm going this year? I'm leaving in one week. What am I doing blogging - I need to get ready!
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.: posted by Vera
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Mochomedia
Even though I broke up with coffee two years ago, now that I am in this funk and have discovered that an increased dose of caffeine can work like an anti-depressant for me, I have decided to reconcile with coffee for the time being.
The thing is that I don't really like the taste of coffee anymore. But I do like mochas. A lot. The thing is that mochas are expensive. If I continued to self-medicate with shop-bought, barista-made mochas, I would not only be poor but also very stupid. So what to do? My co-worker Erin had the most brilliant idea: Become your own barista. In the kitchen at work I have all the tools and ingredients to make mochas myself - for free! We have an espresso machine; we have a steam machine; we have all the free coffee beans, milk and hot chocolate mix we want. And Erin is a pro. Today she made me my first - free! - mocha while I watched and learned. Tomorrow I am going to make my own while she watches and guides. Improvisate, caffeinate, medicate!
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.: posted by Vera
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Synchronicity
For the little things, the universe was on my side today. It was almost as if it knew what I was thinking. It made me feel very powerful. Here are some examples:
- In the morning I was contemplating writing an email to the Bay Area Hoopers mailing list to ask if anybody wanted to buy a coil of hoop tubing off of me because I had suddenly realized that I had a lot of tubing but not a lot of cash. An hour later, a new hooper Rachel wrote an email to the list asking if anybody knew where to get hoop tubing. She is picking up the coil tomorrow morning.
- At lunch I accidentally ordered pecans on my salad instead of pistachios even though I really wanted pistachios. The person who made my salad accidentally put pistachios on it anyway.
- For three weeks or so I have been selling chocolate to raise funds for my Burning Man camp. Lately the sales had slowed down. Just as I was letting two co-workers know that I was still selling chocolate, a third co-worker walked into the aisle, looking for me to buy chocolate.
- Just as I was wondering why I hadn't heard back from a friend who is usually very quick to answer emails, I received an email from her.
What's the significance of all of these? Not sure. But I love days like these.
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.: posted by Vera
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Can't wait to go up in flames
I am starting to get unbearably excited about Burning Man. I can hardly think about anything else anymore and am constantly on Ebay trying to get deals on all the things I need to be as happy a playa bug as possible, like this adorable set or this or these. I hardly slept last night. With a camp like this to look forward to, how could I?
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.: posted by Vera
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My first party
On Saturday, for the first time ever, I helped set up a party. It was a fun(d) raiser party for my Burning Man camp, and the setting was a swank new space called Terra. I helped a little bit with the lights in the chill space and put some trash bags in trash bins. I also wrapped two twelve feet tall columns in gigantic pieces of fabric with the help of three other columnists. Note that we were colum'nists, not col'umnists. Col'umnists are people that write columns for newspapers or magazines; we were colum'nists, people that wrap columns in gigantic pieces of fabric. Watch the story and pride unfold here.
Pictures from the actual party, not taken by me, are here. I think it was a pretty raging party, although I am deeply biased of course.
At one point during the party a campmate said to me "This is your party." It really kind of felt like it, for the first time ever.
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.: posted by Vera
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