What I Did For Summer Vacation, by Trevor Stone

[flwyd]

My summer plans came true, but I've entirely failed to blog about them. I'll do so in the near future, for posterity if nothing else, but here's a short summary. Pictures will be forthcoming. I'm not doing well at the whole "put stuff on the Internet" thing this year. On the plus side, in my grand adventures I haven't been constantly saying "This will make for a great livejournal entry."

I spent a week in the semi-desert helping set up Dreamtime. That was a blast, but I was a bit dehydrated by the end and didn't have a lot of energy to enjoy the part where everyone showed up and did stuff.

mollybzz and I drove through Wytanada for a week and a half, hitting Vedauwoo (Wyoming), Yellowstone (Wyoming), Glacier (Montana), and Waterton Lakes (Alberta). I took 929 photos that I haven't organized yet. Molly and I had some great conversations in the car, in the tent, and on the trail. She also spoke French from our entry into Canada until I cried. Then we bought ice cream with exact change across two currencies.

I was in a good groove for Dragonfest. I visited with old friends, helped run Men's Mysteries, brought a 35-foot dragon to the kid's parade, did some emotional processing, was in a bawdy production of Lysistrata, and drummed a little (though my djembe never left the car). I took some cool pictures of the landscape, the dragon, and some glow sticks. After a year of not doing anything for it, I'm getting to work on an online voting system for Dragonfest.

I capped the summer off with Burning Man. Much of my time was devoted to becoming a Black Rock Ranger, which is a fun way to make an important contribution to the community. I also spent a lot of time (at least six hours, plus the burn) at the temple, one of the most powerful pieces of art I've ever experienced. I took some art photographs, but discovered when I got home that the funny icon on my camera meant it was in the wrong white balance mode. Photoshop's auto-level feature seemed to do a good repair job, but that's yet another obstacle to sharing my giant pile of photos from this summer.

While I'm at it, anybody know of a good International Talk Like A Pirate Day party this weekend?

Comments

[aquariusrhimme.livejournal.com]

If you can find your way to pittsburgh, you could catch a game in appropriate garb.

I did confused my project manager last week by running my status report through a english-to-pirate translator :)

too many thoughts not to respond

[(Anonymous)]

there was a Bike Like a Pirate party in Pasadena, which most of my cohorts in lead-social-rides-in-Pasadena-within-the-traffic-rules non-crime (new volunteer work i'm really excited about!) attended, but alas i was feeling too chill (actually, i made it to a climbing gym instead on Sat, for the first time in 2 years, and had a big cookfest with fellow sore but spry types afterward...still, more chill than dressing up, biking around, and going out to a bar). sorry about that sentence structure. :)

Dragonfest sounds like it was awesome, i'd like to go back one of these years. although the nudity restrictions sounded a bit annoying. but Lysistrata! awesome, i love that play. and drumming...i'm taking an African drumming/dancing class this term at the local community college, not sure if i told you yet. it's a blast.

even if they are blue-period, i'm looking forward to seeing some BM pics! i'm curious what the temple was this year...

too many thoughts not to respond

[michelleselvans.org (from livejournal.com)]

there was a Bike Like a Pirate party in Pasadena, which most of my cohorts in lead-social-rides-in-Pasadena-within-the-traffic-rules non-crime (new volunteer work i'm really excited about!) attended, but alas i was feeling too chill (actually, i made it to a climbing gym instead on Sat, for the first time in 2 years, and had a big cookfest with fellow sore but spry types afterward...still, more chill than dressing up, biking around, and going out to a bar). sorry about that sentence structure. :)

Dragonfest sounds like it was awesome, i'd like to go back one of these years. although the nudity restrictions sounded a bit annoying. but Lysistrata! awesome, i love that play. and drumming...i'm taking an African drumming/dancing class this term at the local community college, not sure if i told you yet. it's a blast.

even if they are blue-period, i'm looking forward to seeing some BM pics! i'm curious what the temple was this year...