Lounge at the end of the universe
Day 10 Saturday
The man buned today. Normal firework displays typically feature a trickle of bursts with a major finale. The Burning Man firework display is like a finale the whole way through. As I'm watching it I find myself scrambling to catch every bit of it so that I get the maximum appreciation for it.
As impressive as the burning of the man was, the oil derrick burn was even more spectacular. In the desert it's sometimes difficult to get a sense of distance. On the lamplighter truck (Luci) it felt as though we were a rock's trow from the derrick. Fireworks foreshadowed it's fiery demise. When it finally blew, the explosion was so intense that some of us were forced to turn away or cover our faces. Massive flames engulfed the wooden structure not only setting it ablaze but nearly disintegrating it. I've never seen an oil derrick explosion but I imagine that it must look very much like what we experienced. It not only looked like an exploding oil derrick, it WAS an exploding oil derrick. It gave us the full experience of what something like that must be like. How appropriate in light of our current political turmoil.
My fondest memory was of this night. I was on a couch at one of the far ends of the lounge. My lamplighter family was at the bar which was positioned in front of me and to the right. Sickboy was strumming his guitar, singing a song of lost love. Meatsauce was singing with all the passion in her little body. Syphon was was clapping and stomping his foot, shaking his body along with the rhythm of the song. Others were either singing or being absorbed by the words and notes. In front of me and to my left was an opening in the shade structure where fiery explosions, smoke, clouds of dust and mayhem could be made out through the not to distant flashes of light. I felt like a character in a Douglas Adams novel; an interstellar traveler at the lounge at the end of the universe.
"And me, I still believe in paradise. But now at least I know its not some place you can look for, cause its not where you go. Its how you feel for a moment in your life when your a part of something, and if you find that moment..." -Richard, "The Beach"