And Away We Go!

Packing day(s). Everyone showed up at the workshop to coordinate gear and make sure we had all the supplies The Society was going to need for the 9-10 day excursion on the playa. The Perambulator takes it's place on the trailer. What a lot of stuff!



AP waves his adieu. Super Doug and Jana are his co-pilots for the long journey. Their mission: find us a great spot to set up The Society.
The Baron and Baroness with Tbone rounding out their team. Their mission: Nearly 590 liters of Reno's finest.
LG and Mr. Alchemystic have their driving faces on. We'll see you guys tomorrow!

The Green Fairy

Greetings from the un-Africa: I have a free day in this opulent hotel in an upscale neighborhood of Johannesburg, South Africa, which feels more like Pacific Heights than the Africa I know. Rather than venturing out to explore the wilderness that is the Rosebank Shopping Mall, I figure I would try the painfully slow internet and attempt my first blog entry.

Since we didn’t get around to trying Absinthe at our last get together, let’s go over the drink, and its ritual. Wikipedia has taught me much, and I shall break it down for y’all.

A brief history of the booze:
Absinthe is an anise-flavored liquor (think black licorice) that is made using flowers and leaves from Artemisia absinthium or wormwood. The first clear references to Absinthe as a drink with fennel and wormwood are dated from the 18th century, but there are records of wormwood and wormwood extracts as medicinal products as early as 1550 BC and was used by the ancient Egyptians and the Greeks. Apparently Absinthe was given to French foreign legion troops in the 1840s as a fever preventative, and when they came home, its popularity took off. By the turn of the century, it had become a very French beverage. However the move was already underway to ban the beverage (banned as early as 1898 in the Belgian Congo)!

Absinthe had been blamed on numerous murders throughout Europe, and this was attributed to the chemical thujone found in wormwood (interestingly, there is also a lot of thujone in sage and sage oil). Though hypothesized to act on the same receptors in the brain that THC uses, this was later found to be false, and the concentrations of thujone in absinthe are far too low to have this affect (pity!) – even in recipes of absinthe from the 19th century. Slowly folks came around, and since the 1990s, there has been quite a renaissance of the drink.

How’s it drunk?
Absinthe, or ‘the green fairy’ as it’s known by some, has a little ritual attached to drinking the stuff. By itself, it’s very strong (both in terms of alcohol and the various oils in it that give it its characteristic pale green color). Pour yourself a modest shot in a glass, leaving plenty of room (1). Place an absinthe (slotted) spoon over the glass, and put a sugar cube on top (2). Pour water over the sugar cube, allowing it to dissolve and melt into the glass (3). Add enough water to dilute the absinthe from 3 to 5:1. The drink should be cloudy (4), and is now ready to drink.

If you think adding this optional step may help to get you laid, try this: put the slotted spoon and sugar cube over an empty glass and pour the absinthe over it. Light the now-soaked sugar cube on fire. As the sugar cube begins to caramelize and brown, begin to pour water over it, as in step (3). Make sure her drink is a lot stronger than yours.

Bottoms up and à ta santé

Third Group Meeting-Rundown

For those that weren't able to attend here's a brief rundown.
Aristotle made a great veggie pesto lasagne. LG and TBone made a sushi salad and Mr. Alchemystic, true to his name, concocted a butternut squash pasta. But enough about the menu.
Many ideas were put on the table. We talked about the shade structure, Mr. Alchemystic said he'd like to help with that. We talked about the shower and gray water, Mr A said he'd help with that too. LG and Aristotle talked about the food, to which Mr. A agreed to assist as well. He also expressed and interest in the Perambulator. Wheew! My A. is going to be busy.
We talked a lot about different designs for different aspects of camp. No final decisions were made but some headway definitely was. We brainstormed on ideas for a camp name. We came up with "Pooh and Strawberries" or something with "luft" in it. We should work a little more on this. We also talked about handing out shrinky-dink necklaces, rubber stamping people and iconographic wristbands that would identify a person's sin preferences (Sin Rings? Sin Strap?). Mr. A even talked about henna tattooing. Tbone talked about his cyclorama painting idea and the preponderance of penises in casual art. Professor Fate (that's me) talked more about his Perambulator idea. There was even a model of it. Many suggestions were made. LG agreed to get us all on a group calendar and spreadsheet through google to keep track of people's availability and what items they had to contribute to the camp.
What we didn't talk about was the date for next meeting. The Baroness of Less and Baron of All were Soarely missed and will be expected to have extra cool stuff to talk about at the next meeting. The Great (and fabulous) Leslie will have much to talk about as well (like how Prof. Fate won't stop talking about the Perambulator).
And remember to collect green and clear plastic containers for the stained-glass panel and corks for the curtain!

Kick-off-Meeting Notes

Okay already - after just a little pestering, here are my notes from our first meeting.

In attendance were: Todd & Lauren, Eric & Christen, & Eran.
Other confirmed camp-mates are: Matt, Professor Fate & The Great Leslie (J&N)
Total confirmed = 8
Potential camp-mates are: Doug +1-2, Tate, Josh & Sutay (Todd's brother & his wife), Mattthew (a.k.a. triple t)

10-12 people in camp is the preferred size so we'll have to discuss if additional people are interested.

Need a minimum of two vehicles on-site & so far that is accomplished with J&N & E&C. (T&L do not own a vehicle.)

THEME: The Green Man (Man's relationship to nature)
MOTIF: Steampunk
The theme and motif should relate in some way.

Discussion topics/Ideas:

• Visions can be personal or group related but we should discuss how this is reflected in financial and emotional investments.
• camp party on wednesday or thursday at BM
  
• cool neon
• music
• recreational sandwiches (Eggplant vs. Mushroom) (verbal explanation probably needed here)
• recreational fluids (BMJ) (verbal explanation probably needed here)
• uncle boogers bumper dumper toilet box or similar for Natalie (separate from camp)
  

TIMING:

• arrival & departure - first & last day issue with set-up and take-down/clean-up.
  
• Group needs to be aware of who plans to show up and leave when so tasks are equally divided. Previous year's issues of particular people working harder than others would like to be avoided.
• E&C would likely arrive Tuesday 8/28 and depart on Sunday or Monday
• T&L are at the mercy of a ride.
  
• Eran is likely in for the full week.
• In previous years we have stayed in Reno the night we leave the playa to cut down on the dirty ride back to the bay area. This is a good idea, trust us, and we plan to do it again this year.

What is our CAMP like?
3 main needs: SHADE, SHOWER/GREYWATER, KITCHEN (see below)

• Pillows & Blankets & futon mattresses - start collecting. Eran showed us his new blanket from his mother - a family portrait woven into the blanket - freaky, hilarious & wonderful all at once.
• Wooden futon frames ideal so we can burn them on-site.
• C drew a plan of what she's visualizing in terms of layout. Relationship to sun & to street is important.
• Our camp and our vehicle (parambulator) should look like they go together.
• comfortable and inviting
  
• 2 hammocks are available to incorporate
• firepit/chiminea?
  
• lanterns, LED & solar lights (E&C & T&L)
• generator (J&N)
• nature things
• full-length mirror (Eran)
• place to dress/costume storage/sharing - large tent? (Eran or J&N?)
• tent shade important

SHADE Structure - 2 designs were discussed

1. Carport (C)
2. Custom frame to lugnut design (J)

• The idea of utilizing both came up since we would all like to include shade for the tents as part of camp.
• fabric instead of tarps for shade - canvas and sail cloth were discussed and Eran has some sailing contacts he will chase. Eric knows of sail repair shop to contact as well.
• floor has to be tarp (E&C)
  

KITCHEN & FOOD:

• do we want one or two food groups? (teams of folks who plan/cook/buy food together)
• needs to be shaded & have tarp floor (E&C have tarps)
• coolers - need wet & dry coolers (E&C=1, T&L=1, need a couple more at least)
• no onion skins or garlic skins (should all be peeled prior)
  
• box wine good (avoid glass on playa)
  
• Lauren suggested better cheese than previous years.
  
• at least one vegetarian (almost vegan) so we should plan accordingly
  
• two stoves (Eran & E&C)
  
• Lauren brought up the idea of a jockey box since beer in cans is so waste-heavy & Eran jumped on that idea, something he's been thinking of making anyway and would keep after BM.
  
• paper plates & compostable untensils (L)
  
• kitchen & recycling/waste set-up w/ tables, milk-crates & zip-ties (E&C)
• water barrels (soda bottling plant re-use) need to acquire in bay area, fill in reno

SHOWER/GREYWATER:

• need sun showers (2 minimum)
• suggested size of footprint to be 2 pallets (not 1 as in previous years)
• suggested materials to be bamboo poles and mat as sides for air flow and rigidity
• needs to be designed & pre-fab as much as possible
• needs hooks/hanging place for towels
• needs shower caddy
• needs pully to raise and lower sun shower bags
• hair-wash station?
  
• black plastic (E&C)
• greywater needs some design attention (can/should be incorporated with Shower design)
• Lauren has some ideas/experience re:greywater
  

ART/IDEAS:

• Top hats
• making our trash into art
• apothecary box on parambulator?
• parambulator (BIG)
  
• scroll for drawing mounted to parambulator?
• flasks strapped to bodies
• art workshop session (Todd)
• rubber stamps (w/stamp pads this year)
• rocking chair (Eran) should do something as it rocks (a mister, perhaps "mister rocker")
• flux capaciter
• jacob's ladder
• save your corks! beaded curtains made from corks
• save your dryer lint - lint pillows, etc. (for you furry bellied boys, if you want to save your belly-button lint, you will have to make sure your pillow has your name on it)
  

FINANCES:

• approx. $200-300 each on camp expenditures? (trailer rental fees & associated gas to get infrastructure on-site, water, shade, shower, kitchen, general infrastructure - preferrably to include shared art & vehicle, etc - needs more discussion in next meeting when we really dig into the parambulator ideas)
• $100 each for food (max) [we've done previous years on $80 each for food/booze, etc.]
• not including ticket prices
  

NEXT MEETING:
Friday Feb 9th - location TBD
Idea - watch a steampunk theme movie at next meeting.

As part of our daily diet

My mind often turns to food. While we wont be backpacking at Burning Man, it is sort of the backcountry when it comes to keeping food fresh and cold for a week. I love MaryJane's Farm backpacking food. I'll eat it at home, it's so good. Mary Jane's gives you the option to buy in bulk which I've always wanted to try, but couldn't justify for just PF and I. Maybe we should look into it for this camp for some of our meals.