Burn After Reading

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Appaloosa

Burning Man starts in 5 days. I’ve never been to Burning Man but it’s definitely very high on my list. I’ve heard a wide range of opinions of the yearly gathering, ranging from ‘duuude, burning man restored my faith in humanity – most awesome thing evar!!’ to ‘meh. buncha dirty hippie druggies getting baked and running around naked in the desert and setting things on fire – ghey.’  It sounds like one of those “You ARE the experience” things, so yeah, I gotta go.

Here are the Ten Principles of Burning Man as listed on their website.  How can this be anything but awesome?

Radical Inclusion
Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.

Gifting
Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.

Decommodification
In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.

Radical Self-reliance
Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.

Radical Self-expression
Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.

Communal Effort
Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.

Civic Responsibility
We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.

Leaving No Trace
Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.

Participation
Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.

Immediacy
Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.

See?!? I must go. You must go. If the list doesn’t peak your curiosity of what this event entails, the photos will.

So while I won’t be burning anything, Wes and I are headed to Seward tonight and will be fishing with Swelly tomorrow and hunting for Halibut in Nuka Bay.  And I’m so happy to be anywhere but home and hanging out with Wes.  He’s been gone so much this summer. I miss him.

Maybe there’s a full moon, I don’t know, I can’t see the sky for all the clouds. Maybe it’s some sort of animal premonition and a giant earthquake is coming so they’re all just freaking out. Maybe it’s because I’m PMSing and giving off evil vibes. I don’t know, but they’ve all turned on me. Nearly every animal in the house tried to kick my ass today. Dan started lunging and biting me through the bars when I got near her cage until I open the door and let her out. Then she’s fine. Put her back in, she’s hissing and lunging. WTF?

I opened the door to the finches to change the water, and one of the Spice twins flew out. It took me about 20 minutes and large beach towel to finally corner him/her between the mini blinds and the glass.

The fish tried to burn the house down. Actually, that was kind of my fault. I let the filter go too long without changing and it started pushing upwards, which led to leaking over the sides, which led to dripping down the power cord right into the power strip that powers both aquariums. It shorted out and got so hot it started a tiny fire up the side of the mirror that was standing behind the fish stand. Fortunately, this blocked it from touching the wall which could have set the whole house on fire. It did get hot enough to warp a 12 inch oval into the new hardwood floors we put in last year. Argh. But at least we’re not dead or burnt.

So, back to the aquarium. I get everything plugged back in and filtering/bubbling/lighting again and go to feed them. Now, after all the commotion of reconfiguring tubes and wires and sliding the stand all over the floor, the chinese shark decides to go batshit crazy and bang into every corner of the tank. He did it so long, I was beginning to wonder if he could crack the glass. He’s almost 10 inches now and seriously needs a new home.

Chinese hi-fan banded shark

Then Fuzzy bit me on the leg because I was too busy to pet her, so she got a nice thump in the nose in return. But the craziest thing was what Ichi brought home. I was standing on the deck looking back at the mountains, and I see Ichi running up the trail towards the house. He stopped and looked back and then quickly darted right underneath the deck where I stood.

Just a few seconds later I see what at first I think are two large dogs. Then as they got closer, I saw they were wolves! Tall, silver and very skinny wolves. They didn’t see me at first, as I froze as soon as I saw them. They walked in circles not 30 feet away, sniffing around where Ichi had stopped and turned into our yard under the fence.

I decided to get their attention and let them know I was there in case they decided to cross the fence to follow the scent. I clicked my tongue like I do when I call the kitties and both wolves stopped and looked at me. One immediately darted into the brush on the side of the trail. The other locked eyes with me for about 3 to 5 seconds and it freaked. me. out.

There was no fear in his face. No sign of submission, stepping back or even a twitch of being startled at the sight of me. He just looked at me for what seemed like a long time and then slipped into the brush after his companion. Woah. It was cool. But why did the damn cat lead him right to me?? Because I’m slower than he is, I’m sure.