Yikers. This is officially, to me anyway, the Summer of the Pile On. Colliding vectors of physical, professional, emotional and psychic stress have all conspiring to wipe the smile off my face. Apart from the stressors previously reported (and those that won't be reported) here, the last couple of weeks have seen me have my identity stolen and my house burgled.
I'm certain that wasn't me swiping my (cloned) debit card at the Best Buy in Oakland to pay for $2,200 worth of electronics. Nor did I use a credit card to pay for an energy bill in Mississippi and mobile phones in Texas. And I'm completely sure that it wasn't me who used a second credit card, one sent to an altogether different address than the two previous compromised cards, to order $4,025 worth of "Christian supplies" on the Internet. It's being handled.
The robbery? I don't want to talk about it other than to note that I'm very happy with my new home security system and delighted to have found a friend to house-sit when I leave for vacation later this week.
Vacation. That's what I want to talk about. Actually, no, I don't want to talk about it I just want to get it started. I will, for the seventh year in a row, be headed to Burning Man.
This year there will be no %*#! RV, no convoluted and stressful logistics that involve flying to LA, and no ambitious theme camp. Hallelujah. Six of us will caravan down from Seattle this weekend, joining up with seven fine people from Sacramento. Another Seattlite will be appear later in the week. That's it, just 14 of us camping in the desert.
Sure, there will be 49,986 other people there doing the same thing (Black Rock City is on expected to hit its permitted population cap for the first time this year), but whatever. The word from the early arrivals is that it may be an extraordinarily dusty year, but whatever. I just need to get off the grid and recharge my batteries. I'm exhausted and running on empty so it makes perfect sense to vacation in an incredibly hostile environment, right?
Well, yes. I'm tired of self-actualizing and currently exhausted by my multi-screen, multi-tasking, fast-paced urban existence. I want to climb down Maslow's pyramid* for a while and look forward to focusing for over a week on complex tasks like drinking water, seeking shelter, eating, and being with other apes.
* Yes, I realize that needs are likely not rigidly hierarchical as apparently Maslow posited (not that I've read him) and all that, but whatever.