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!

Can't Stop Now

We started Saturday morning with a long list of stuff "to do" and by Sunday evening we had accomplished much of it as you can see. Of most importance was erecting the balloon and covering it with fabric. The camp shower was also finished (not for the modest!). An amazingly productive weekend. Those involved should be proud. Just 7 days to go!

Shade Structure Ideas Redux

I think the idea of a tensile shade structure for the main living area is worth the time and effort needed to be spent on r&d because it would enable a large tall area with only one pole. But I think we might benefit from a more tried and true shade structure for the sleeping area. We've all seen them used before. There is some question of their ability to withstand heavy winds. But the parts are easily replaced with metal conduit if a repair is needed. Two of them would give us 400 square feet of tent space (20x20). Not bad for $120 plus tax.
UPDATE- I purchased two of these yesterday! They're nicer than I thought.

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!

I am, how you say, blog

wow, computers sure can do a lot of shit. this is my first blog ever. i am so excited.

i love this Art from Garbage idea. That is one of my greatest passions in life, creating art from what would otherwise be garbage. one man's ceiling... or what's that saying?

my brother learned, while working at a science summer camp, that you can make, yes make, shrinky-dinks using plastic to-go containers. well specifically, clear plastic recyclable #7, or was it #6? i'll find out. basically, you cut out the shape you want, color with sharpies, and bake in the oven for about 10 seconds. voila, garbage-charms. this could go a long way with the panel or curtain wall of whatever this stained-glass-mosaic-garbage-wall materializes as. yes, i'm very excited to see where we can take this idea. i'm in.

till next time,
i am
mr. alchemystic
the psuedo scientist.

The Professor and I visited our local flea market this morning and picked up a few cool items for the permabulator/camp...a small spinning globe (you can just see it in the cargo net of my car), a beautiful brass telescope (only $25!), and a tarnished silver pitcher. There was lots of steampunk-esque stuff there today. Like I said, once you start looking for it...

On the way home, we spotted these urn-shaped baskets on an offramp on the side of the highway and Fate scaled a chainlink fence to retrieve them. We think they'll look good hanging off the side of the perambulator or as containers for things in camp.

All in all, a good day's scavenging.

Save your good trash

On the heels of Tbone's post I'd like to remind everyone to keep an eye out for Perambulator parts and stuff for the camp in general. Try to think outside the item's original use to create something strange and wonderful. Today I scavenged some 'Oak' Pergo from the dump. (Illegal I know, but I hated to see it go.) I think it will make great flooring for the Peram. I also located about forty feet of metal fencing to scavenge for the frame. Finally a decent reason for me to collect cast-offs! Shhhh. Don't tell The Great Leslie, it's all been added to my disaster of a garage.

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.

Beautiful tents from India

I stumbled across this Indian company that sells tents. Even though I know it would probably get ruined by Playa dust, I still like the idea of an exotic themed tent to lounge around in. I'm sure the shipping costs from India would be outrageous, so could erocking pick one up on his next business trip?

Saving dryer lint

I don't know if it came up in the meeting last Saturday. (I would know if someone had posted the highlights of the meeting) but Christen (for now) had mentioned to me that we should start saving dryer lint for our pillows and cushions. Well, we here at the Fate household have a small pile already. Anyway, here's a site devoted to dryer lint and all it's soft fuzzy goodness. www.dryerlint.com No mention of cushion stuffing. But maybe we could try the lint clay eh Tbone?