I spent Friday morning packing most of my remaining stuff into the car, and around 10am, Protozoa finally arrived in a taxi from the city. We packed up the rest of the gear into a my baby, tanked up and headed out the Beltway to the 150 miles along I-97 and Route 50 between us and the beach. Let me tell you, a 6x20 roll of astroturf might not seem like much in the store, but try to fit it in a mid-sized sedan along with two crates of food, supplies, a tent, canopy and -40 degree sleeping bag, and you'll understand what a pain it can be.
On the way there we did most of the drive in a single clip, except a quick stop at the supermarket and the Dollar Store to hook me up with some new sunglasses and a gallon of water. Protozoa spotted some tiki torches on sale in the Food Lion, and it was just too good a deal to pass up. I'm glad we did, because later that weekend, when the sun went down and I realized that my power inverter was busted and the Christmas lights around the tent were not to be, they were the centerpiece of the suburbs. But, more on that later.
Everyone keeps saying that this was some sort of E2 gathering, but, I mean, I see knarphie, anomaly, protozoa, jonlasser, ground control and lillianvalencia about once a week whether I need it or not, and I talk to seaya practically all the time on AIM. To me, this was just a fun gathering of my core friends, people who also happen to use E2 once in a while.
Set up camp next to Ranger Clay and Beautiful Greeter Rachael after the embarassing faux pas of not remembering her from a million parties at L'Hotel de Lasser. Protozoa and Knarph joined the line of tent suburbs shortly after. I had hoped that elaD (who I had planned for this theme camp with) would show up early, but unfortunately he had some car trouble, and had to set up in the next group campsite over by the time he got there around midnight on Saturday.
My camp was Sub-burnbia, also known over the course of the weekend as Sun-burn-bia and my nickname, "the suburbs." I had picked up the idea over at Protozoa's house watching some Burning Man intro videos and decided to make the investment in a large shade canopy and some $25 astroturf. The end effect was awesome. I'm glad I told Knarphie about my idea a few days before because he brought along some spare turf that he had lying around, and dee brought over a decked out flamingo for his front yard.
Dee called it a "hypocritical facade of happiness", but that wasn't what my suburbia was about. It was real happiness, to be sure, what Seaya likes to sarcastically call my "happy bubble." Maybe it was even a sanctuary for the few that cared to enter and sit on the porch with a pipe and a beer. Even Lil was impressed with my ability to bring my quiet suburban life out into the middle of the beach with such amazing accuracy.
This was the first beach burn where I came without a date, but it was fun to not be tied to anything in particular. My ex showed up there with one of my best friends (who was also rather busy over the course of the weekend), but we all had a good time together.
I was a Playa del Fuego Ranger. Mostly that means that me and a couple other beach regulars got together with radios and some cool looking milspec floppy hats and help people who get in trouble, or help them keep out of trouble before the real National Park Service rangers got there to give them a ticket or fine.
On the Playa they call the Ranger uniforms costumes, and that's what I was in. I got to carry around my big ass radio, spent a lot of time walking around seeing everything, pointing out potential problems and helping people have a good time, and being one of the mediators to the National Park Service rangers there to keep an eye on us. What can I say? I'm most comfortable in a role where I can be the envoy from the order enforcement professionals to the group.
After working for the UMBC police for a year, it was fun to be in a role where I didn't have to be the hardass, and still had the chance to make sure that things went smoothly. Thanks to the fact that a couple of the NPS rangers were being real strict about the rules, I got the opportunity to be the good guy that kept anyone from getting in trouble. When the drum circles kept playing after the head ranger had asked for all the drumming to stop, I had to go over there and say, "You know, I'm not going to do anything, but if that big, bad ranger comes back, you're going to get nuked with noise violation tickets."
My tent and camp also wound up being the PDF Rangers home base, which also became known as "Camp 420" or "HQ 420" for a number of obvious reasons. The black 420 numbering on my white mailbox out front made it obvious that for many gathered there, this was Mecca.
Around 10pm on Saturday night, one of the partiers had an unfortunate run in with some 2-CT-7 and cough medicine on some already unstable receptors. I stood with him, his girlfriend, and EMT Lizard for about an hour while the ranger took down all the relevant information and the local fire and rescue company came along to take him out to Atlantic General Hospital. Between that and the two $250 citation tickets for CDS on Saturday morning (for some dumbasses smoking a J outside of their tent), we weren't making very many points with the local police. But that's another story.
Meat at Knarphie's on Saturday afternoon had to be the crowning moment for the suburbs. Thanks to mokedat, we had this huge pile of great meat, which Knarphie and Moke flavored with all manner of different seasonings, until all who showed up were full and happy. A big sushi platter had appeared about an hour before that, which had everyone gathered around in a similar fashion, but I hardly noticed that.
The Beach Burn always relaxes me, because I'm in the role I like, taking care of things and being on top of all the situations, and making sure everything goes according to plan. The fact that nobody else on the beach has a plan doesn't stop me, as long as nobody gets kept from having fun and doing their thing. Lately my life has been revolving around giving and sharing with greatful friends. Although it doesn't always work out so well in real life, out on the beach people really respect that spirit and give just as much as I do, and respect the roles that everyone is playing (with or without drama).
I liked not having to feel awkward at this burn, because it was finally my territory. I knew the answers to the questions, and I was glad to help people learn and understand, and keep them from feeling like they were at all out of place. Of course a few people went out of their way to go against the grain and make things difficult for others, but that attitude didn't last long. Everyone who I meet there is meeting me either on the level or sought me out by my reputation. I wasn't there to meet any chix0r, impress anybody, or deal with any sort of relationship with anyone besides my self. That felt good.
The only thing was having to tell the random fire-setters to put them out since they were setting them up above the high tide line. That was a big no-no according to the NPS rangers. It wouldn't have been so bad if we weren't at an event called "the burn." It just made the NPS rangers more comfortable to have one central fire location they could keep an eye on and we were cool with helping them feel more relaxed.
I missed the majority of Monk E and elaD spinning on stage, since the only change I had to be around the DJ booth had the ranger at my side telling them to turn down the volume about 30 dB. Once the music and the drums were gone, though, the burn was like it was years ago. People had to just sit and talk by the fire, and enjoy the company of each other without worrying about the music and the rangers. After the medics arrived and left, the NPS ranger (strangely enough) was considerably more chill, realizing that we were taking care of our own troubles and he didn't have to step in to fix everything.
My first burn, I stayed up all day and all night, not wanting to miss a thing. This time around, I knew my job was done, and turned in just a few minutes after midnight each night and woke up bright and early with the sun around 8am to do my part and never felt like I was missing anything, because I wasn't.
The day after was an amusing chorus of sunburned people. I can't grasp this because except for the first 70 degree, mostly windless day on Friday (which I lathered up completely with SPF 30 to prepare for), I couldn't take off my jeans or coat all weekend, and my ranger hat and sunglasses kept everything off of my face and out of my neck. So besides all the stuff running through my system, I was just happy to be home with an exeperience like this to add to my memories.
Let me tell you, the beach brings out the best in everyone. Forgetress was actually relaxed, lillianvalencia looked like she was born to live on the beach, Knarphie was the true crabby old man ("Get off my grass, you sumbitch kids!") and Protozoa was living it up in major fire spinning style (and has been an absolute mega-affectionate doll ever since then, if I do say so myself). And that's not even counting the three dozen other of my friends who made this a burn to remember.
Thanks everybody!