Friday, August 28, 2015

Living Life with Intention

There is a spinning class that I go to and the instructor always talks about having an intention for the ride. It can be anything from just making it through the ride or de-stressing for the coming day. But I think that this is an important  to have a goal for the rest of the class. You wake up early to go to the class and why not put forth your best effort possible towards the goals you really want.

This is why I think its very important to have an intention(s) for burning man. I don't want to set the bar too high and then not meet my expectations, but I want a purpose. My goal is to broaden my horizons and do things that are not typical of the person I have been for the last 27 years. I want to be open to new experiences and not scared to try new things. I want to try to not judge people, which will go with changing from the person I have been. In short I want to be open to what Burning Man has to offer.

All too often we get ourselves into a rut and think that just because things are the way they are now that it will never change. Well that line of thinking is false. The world is constantly changing and evolving, so why not embrace it?

I think the biggest thing for me is that because was so sheltered, I stray away from pushing the envelope and just stick to what I know, which I really hope I can break out of at Burning Man. I am not saying im going to go and be tripped out on drugs for the next 10 days. I am saying I want to see what else there is out there for me and expand my scope for a bit. I think it will help that my boyfriend will be by my side because I feel like he is a good person to be in this with. He is good about trying to get me to try new things and experience life and he is not as scared of everything like I am. 

All in all I hope to have a great trip and hopefully be able to make a cool vlog with the footage!

Monday, August 17, 2015

Container load to the Playa

Things I have learned so far about Burning Man Truck Load

Yesterday was the first Burning Man container load from Boston I have been apart of and as a burgin I had a lot to learn, which is why I wanted to share what I thought we did that worked and what I thought did not work. Being that I had gone with someone who has done this 2 years previously, I am not trying to say I did these things knowingly. I just feel it would be good to spread the knowledge now that I have gone.

1. Don't expect others to do things for you, come prepared to load- There was someone who pulled up their car containing all of their stuff, but they had not labeled anything or fastened the tops of the bins. Yes people are there to help you load your stuff, but they are not there to pack "your" stuff. Be considerate! People are there to take your stuff and put it in the container. They are not standing around to make sure it ships safely and everything is done before its packed, they are there to just load it on. If you still have some last minute things to do that is fine just don't pull up in front of the container and expect people to not want to load your belongings. We went off to the side organized and did some last minute labeling and then drove right up to get our stuff loaded on.

2. Zip tie your front bike tire to your bike- You want your bike to be able to stack easily with the other bikes so take your front tire off and tie it with zip ties to your frame making sure the handles are also flat to the tire. This will ensure that your bike can easily be packed away with the other bikes. Again be considerate and do what will make it easier for those loading the truck.

4. Take a picture of the truck number- Do not take a picture of the license plate because that will change, but the number on the side of the truck will not. Make sure you document that and not be concerned with the numbering convention of the group for example, I heard people referring to one of the trucks as truck 4, but that is not on the truck anywhere its just want someone called it aka not reliable.

5. Don't worry about when to load if you are not going to be there within the first day or two- People were delaying putting on the truck because they were going to be there early, but in some cases early is relative. its not that big of a deal to have to help unload to get to your stuff. Now I'm not saying to put your stuff all they way in the back and make your life difficult but if you aren't coming the furst day don't wait till the last minute. Don't stress placement too much, its a community effort.

6. Have fun! Meet new people, get to know people who will be in Black Rock City with you. Help in any way you can because it takes everyones corporation to make everything run flawlessly.