this is our camp. we were at about 120 and walk-in camping. if the city is a clock face, that's 4pm and 3/4 of a mile out from the man. we had 4 tents and one shade thing, so it was a pretty nice setup. I tried not to spend too much time there however. But it was nice to chill out in the shade sometimes and listen to crazy burning man radio. The most memorable radio was wrybread radio, there was a guy named "gnabgib" something - he said he was from a camp of the same name. "oh, so was the camp named after you?" "no, I was named after the camp..." and other funny stuff like that. he had a nice thick eastern european accent. He was talking crazy theories of the universe, all about what happened before the big bang. all with a nice sense of humor too. Then this woman came on and absolutely started trashing the cops, calling them murderers, how there wasn't a single good one among them, etc.

if you look closely, you can see the outline of a dust devil in the middle. it ran right through our camp, and flipped my tent over, since I hadn't staked it down yet. I had never seen anything like it before, it was quite amazing. you could see how it was connected up into the sky too, a long curving line of dust rising up. I raced away on my bike and followed it, it went down to the airport. I never quite caught up with it though. Later on, out by the temple of joy, there was a day with a huge number of them, and lots of people chasing them around, running through the center of them. I did that too - it's a little sad, because it does disrupt them for a second, but they come right back.

This is my "hat". it kept the sun off me really well, but it was a little hot. it was pretty nice though, anywhere i went i could take it off and lie down on it, it was a nice pillow. at first i had it attached with bungee cords, but after a while they started to choke me, so i just balanced it after that. it was fun, riding around on my miniature bicycle, balancing this thing on my head. there was another way to wear it too, with the flaps hanging down, it looked like one of those canadian hats.

also, i used it a lot as my bike seat, since the one i had really started to hurt after a while. it was really comfortable.

these last two pictures are two guys from CA we met in center camp one night. they had just gotten there and were drinking vodka. We sat there talking for a while, then we found this big beach ball. Earlier, this really bitter clown had been playing with it. This guy would try to balance a stick or something on his head, then try to juggle, then it would all fall down. he would look really angry, and kick at the things as they fell out of the air. it was kind of scary. when he left, he left this ball behind. so we kicked it back and forth a bit, and then started really diving for it etc. it was kind of senseless, there was no goal or teams, it was just running after the ball, kicking it and trying to dribble it and do tricks until someone kicked it away. just mindless acrobatic activity. but so fun! I did that some last year too, at night, and it was so memorable. But then a little kid came up, a girl about 3 years old or so and wanted to play. so we kicked it to her slowly for a while, and the game was over. then later sitting there, a mettalized goth pierced guy comes up with spike boots, gives the ball a kick and it flies through the air, hits the ground and dies, totally flat.

ok, this is quite a while later, we just skipped a bunch of days. I didn't barely take any pictures until the 2nd to last day, because i was too busy having fun. also, it's annoying having to look after a camera all the time. but every time i get back, i always thing man, i wish i'd taken more pictures... i don't even have pictures of the ppl i met or anything. this year i'd wanted to bring one of those little cameras that take polaroid stickers, so you could just take tons of pictures and stick them to stuff or give them away right then.

anyway, this picture is in center camp, that is the marching band. they weren't there last year,but they were all over this year, i saw them maybe 3 or 4 times. band music is perfect for burning man, because it's so incredibly loud. they had a guy leading them with a big fiery torch thing who would yell a lot about the band coming through. then they would walk up to wherever there were a lot of people, a party or whatever and play for a while, then move on. i guess lots of people followed them around too. they were great.

I didn't notice at the time, but that guy on the left looks really tall. i guess those are stilts?? i also like the white suit of the guy on the right.

the lens was really dusty - sorry.

yeah, i guess this was center camp - you can see the floor there is an aztec pattern, green and red i think. it was under the open ceiling in the middle of cetner camp. during the day people dance there. when the dust storm came through there was belly dancing going on, although I didn't actually see that, I was in the bathroom at the time - when i got out all of sudden I couldn't see anything, it was hard to find my bike.

a dog came and lay down on my hat. it was so incredibly dusty by the end. that's justine's hand.

this is the ground, a pretty undisturbed spot. apparently every winter it rains a lot and melts the whole surface of the playa, then it drys out and cracks again. so it looks clean every year.

that's me after justine said "do a dance". also a kite guy in the background. modern kites are pretty cool, a lot different than those passive ones where you just hold the string.

that's me. this was right after the 2 hour long dust storm where there was no visibility at all, just wind and brown. we left center camp to make sure out camp was ok, but when we got to the open playa we were totally lost. we just sort of picked sounds and tried to follow them. every once in a while we'd come up to a stopped vehicle with ppl sitting there laughing, and other bikers stopped there to wait it out. we made it home eventually though. right after the dust storm ended, it started raining. i was incredibly dirty and dusty, with streaks of cleanliness. Right before sunset, in the light rain, the lighting started in the distance. I went out to the edge of the playa and played soccer with a some guys.

also right there is my bike. I loved my little bike - i got an extra small one so that it would fit inside the car. then i duct taped over all the logos and it looked way better. then i put a mirror on the front that i'd gotten at the dollar store. the brakes of the thing were never right in the first place, and when we got there they fell apart completely, so i just pulled out the wires.

it was one of those great bikes that brake when you pedal backwards. i loved that. also, it was so small that i felt really in control of it, much more than a bike that's the so-called right size. for something like burning man, top speed or efficiency isn't as important as maneuverability and having fun anyway. it definitely made me want to get one of those little bmx ones with the things coming out the sides of the wheels that you can do tricks on.

ok, this is the day after the burn - i don't have any pictures of the man burning, i was too busy. this is the temple of joy. it's made out of wood cutouts - they're just big rectangular pieces of wood with various shapes cut out of them, they seem like shapes of kids toys or something. i enjoyed looking at the patterns - i imagined that those cutting patterns had been optimized by a big computer - optimizing things like that, like the most efficient way to cut a bunch of shapes out of some material, is really hard. like how the "packing problem" is really hard, deciding how to pack a backpack for maximum value, where every item has different shape and value.

also, in the upper left is what i was holding, a big wind sock made to look like a carp with an open mouth from japan, on a long pole. i only brought it out that one day because we didn't have the best way to hold it, it was a little difficult on a bike. but i managed by sticking it inside my backpack. it wasn't quite windy enough to be good all the time, it really depended which way i was riding.

on the left side, to the right of the black fire-spitting baby carraige thing you can see the carp pole, some guy saw me ride up and asked if i would like him to hold the thing while i looked at the temple. it was pretty cool.

the place itself was kind of sober, it was the night after the burn so i guess people were pretty burnt. you were supposed to go inside and write something on a piece of wood and then have it burnt up. i didn't know what to write, so i never went in. i also didn't go into last year's, which was the temple of sorrow so even worse.

it was pretty tall. when we went there early on, it was still only half finished, there were wood pieces laid out everywhere. i think anyone could join in.

this was the day after the burn, so everything was being taken down. but this thing was a big sphere that you could go up in, that would spin around. it was cool, the outside would spin one way, but the inside spun the other way.

that fountain on the left was pretty cool too - it was some kind of mixture of gasoline and water flowing in it - you could go inside and stand right next to it, and then you could actually scoop up some of the burning oil on your hands and watch it burn. it was a little hot but you didn't get burned. you just put your hands under one of the waterfalls of fire and catch some. it was nice. but it smelled pretty bad. center camp is right on the right there, and man is way out on the left.

this is a big pirate ship. i went on deck. it had wheels and drove all around. inside there's a hold that looks like a ship too, all wood and pirate porn and old violins on the walls. you couldn't see any of the wheels or anything, it was pretty nice. i didn't ride on any vehicles this year though, i guess because we were on our own bikes the whole time. it was nice having a bike, but it was cool not having a bike too because it really motivated us to bum rides off all different people.

this is the burning of the temple of joy. there was a perimeter set up of course, and when we got there there were a bunch of people sitting down, maybe the first 6 or 8 rows of people. it was really nice that way, because you could really see everything. there were some people standing up in front of us, and when they started to light the thing, people started yelling for them to sit down, and they did right away, after explaining that they were just waiting for a friend.

I was pretty impressed with this level of community cooperation. it took constant public pressure to keep it going, and it didn't spread back much farther than where we were, but it did let maybe 10x as many people have a great view of the fire. right in the middle of it, this old guy stood up and started videoing it, right in front of a bunch of people. everybody started yelling at him down in front, etc, but he ignored it. then this guy was like, hey you old guy with the hat and grey hair and red shirt and video camera etc, sit down you're in the way, and then the guy sat down. fucking people with video cameras...

I think they should just ban photography there altogether. i mean, does it really matter? there were more than a few times when i was annoyed by ppl with cameras and video cameras. they think it gives them the right to go right to the front. like, if you wouldn't push past me like an asshole normally, just because you have a camera doesn't give you the right either.

basically it's all about naked women. everyone loves naked women, men love it, and women love being able to do it without being harassed. video and film is all well and good, but either it's for people who are at burning man, or those who aren't - and those who are don't need it, and those who aren't there don't need to see it. it's great that people want to make art, but i'd sacrifice that to give every girl the freedom to run around naked all she wants with no worries of being spied on.

the other stupid thing is that although every video camera had to be tagged, the actual tag was this tiny little round thing that you could barely see. so when you saw some guy filming it was hard to tell if he was ok or he was just a bastard. the permit for a video camera should be a big orange thing with clearly marked letters and a hologram. and everyone entering the event should be instructed on how to check their validity, and that it is ok to force every single one of those guys to show the permit.

this is the beginning of the fire.

they had rangers walking around inside the barrier, but they were unnecessary. i only saw one person go over the line before everything fell down, this girl with angel wings on, and she tried to play games with the ranger faking him left and right. he just smiled, didn't yell at her from his position of authority. everyone was watching, and eventually she ran off to the side. but i think the general feeling was that she was dumb, the reason we're not allowed close is so that we don't die, not because the man wants to control us at all. there was no pushing at all, even when the man burned and people rushed in after it fell. I was up on a car when it fell and people went right up to it, but i could see down below people just standing there, not being pushed at all.

the first flame gets to the actual temple. i don't know how they set it on fire, but i would like to. is it some kind of complicated fuse, started by the guy who builds these things every year? or is it some honored person who gets to do it? do they light it in just one place, or many?

the temple started burning super fast, made of that really light thin wood with lots of air holes in it. you could feel the heat by this point.

people were starting to say wow, it's hot! etc.

and the fire gets huge.

and then even bigger, way bigger than the fire of the man. hundreds of feet up. and the sparks start coming down... but they mostly died out by the time they hit the ground.

then the dust devils started popping up right in the middle of the fire. amazing!! everyone started saying oh my god, that's amazing, wow, look at that. it was really exciting. who knew that if you burned something big that freaking tornados started appearing in the middle of it? it was mysterious, was nature celebrating those levels of heat and intensity it doesn't get to feel often? compared to the way nature usually is expressed, they were so personal - they sort of have a body, and aren't too immensely huge.

a guy ran out past the barrier and right into one of the dust devils after it left the fire area, and everybody cheered. we saw him running up, faster and faster, and do a little stoop and plunge through.

after starting in the middle of the fire, the dust devils would slowly meander out towards the crowd, and then enter it and die out.

this is just random people.

this is the little mini-building in front of the temple, after it died down.

people walked around it a lot, getting closer and closer. if you were the closest, it was really hot, but most of the time there would be somebody passing in front of you to take the heat. there were people dancing and bowing down to the flames...

two nice vehicles.

ok, these are shots other ppl took.

the outside of the death guild thunderdome.

the inside. death guild were a bunch of mean looking tattooed black leather people who played loud gothy stuff all the time. they staged fights, i didn't see any but i heard about one where the editor of the spock mountain science journal kicked the ass of the black rock city gazette, which is a just a tool of the man anyway. spock mountain is a camp combining science, spock, and hyperwhiskey. i never was there when they were open this year, but their paper is hilarious.

time lapse of the fire spinners going around the man before it burned. and the glowing ppl in the foreground.

a nice shot of the dust devils.

me and justine were talking about what it must be like to be a fireman there, they have regular fireman brought in just in case. and we talked a lot about how firemen all must love fire too, and they must love seeing all this stuff burn and stuff, but must be too embarassed to admit it to themselves. sort of like how some crazy christians love crusading against porn because of their own issues with it.

the man right as he's falling. from where i was i couldn't see it at all, because i was downwind so it was justa huge glowing cloud of smoke. i didn't even notice when he fell because i was paying too much attention to the dust devils.

this was a big fenced in patch of grass with iron statues in it. you had to go through two rings of chain link fence to get into it. on the last ring there was this guy videoing a girl inside, a total dork guy, i stopped right in front of him, blocking the camera. it was annoying, because if she noticed then it would probably inhibit her, which would be bad for everyone. but i didn't want to waste my time getting mad at a guy, i don't want to feel that way.

a bunch of bikes outside central cafe.

black rock city from the air. that big round building in the middle is center camp, the man is right of there out in the open playa at the center of the circle. i was camped in the lower left, in the open space.

a thing shooting fire. there was lots of fire. i did this one thing where a guy puts a bunch of flour in a tube, then you blow it across an open flame and it all gets set on fire and shoots out really far. it's like you're spitting fire. it was set up on the back of a moving truck, right above a bunch of not-paying attention people's heads.

this was the last night for this big pyramid, they had a huge amount of fireworks in there. it burned really strong for a long time. unlike a lot of other things on fire, this place had it's own music system - it was really nice, coming from huge speakers in the back of a truck. they were playing all kinds of ethnic folk dance music. so it was really fun, i was dancing all around to that.

this doesn't look like much, but at night it spun around and had a strobe light going on it, so that every time it flashed it had rotated a little bit. that made it look like it was a guy swimming. each plaster thing is one frame of it. it looked really cool. it was nice because it was powered with a stationary bike they'd set up there, so every once in a while somebody would come along and get on it and pedal a while to keep it going.

a praying mantis. one of these landed on our tent towards the end. it was cool.

this was a cool guy, he had stilts, but also hand stilts too. so he walked like a weird giant bear or something. and everything was all furry, and he had goggles on too. onthe nigth of the burn, i was out playing with my giant beach ball with glowsticks attached, and this guy was hitting it all around. it was cool. stilts look a little hard, but it looked pretty easy to do it if you had hand stilts too.

the picture is taken through this vehicle, the giant spinning head. it's just a little go-kart with a big frame of a head around it with christmas lights on it, and eyes. and the driver sits inside it. the thing is cool, you'll see it way away across the playa spinning around and around and be like, what the hell?