stuff i think

it arrived in a plain brown wrapper...

I got a packet of info the other day...it came stuffed in a manilla envelope. (On a side note, I once worked for someone who insisted they were "Vanilla Envelopes". No kidding.) The return address was VCC, courtesy the extremely efficient Danielle Wheeler.

The packet's contents were the guts of two binders we kept at the Vineyard...The Burning Man Binders. Assembled over the summer of 2002 by the multitalented Pamela Lucas, these binders served as the Worst Case Scenerio Handbooks for the team that roadtripped in Steve Sjogren's RV as well as the team that flew to Reno to meet us for Burning Man.

Last night I sat and paged through the stuff...it included the following gems:

- two ticket stubs with the words clearly printed on the back: YOU RISK SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH AT THIS EVENT.

- a map of the event. I'm still amazed at the huge piece of prime real estate BM reserved for us.

- an email I received from Fandango, a huge Burner Village that camped near us, inviting us to the Fandago Formal.

- one invoice for a satelite phone we rented, and another for 10K half-litre bottles of Crystal Springs water.

- A copy of directions from airport to the Playa, in Christine Ransdell's handwriting. Scrawled across the bottom in pink ink: "BUY EVERYTHING WE NEED IN RENO!!! AND FILL THE VAN WITH GAS!!!"

- Kyle Wade's infamous "Master Clean-up Plan". Even though he wasn't on the 2002 team (he was one of the originals - he went with me in 2000), Kyle graciously outlined our exit strategy to give BMHQ assurances that we'd leave no trace.

- a fine coating of playa dust - on every page. My hands felt slippery, as if I'd handled talcum powder.

I need to schedule a fast. I need to find some more cool costumes. This Weekend - the first Burning Man Burnstorming Meeting. Let the countdown begin.