flwyd | Entries tagged with gift

Halloween is Burning Man for normal people.

Families put significant effort and money into decorating their ~~home~~ theme camp.
People get dressed up in sexy, creative, and unusual costumes.
They wander around town checking out theme camps, meeting strangers, and participating in the candy gift economy.
Raging parties happen on weeknights.
Some folks eat more stimulants and drink more booze than they should.
It's a spiritual experience for some, an artistic outlet for others, and a bunch just treat it as a visually stimulating excuse to party.

Mood: quixotic
Location: Boulder, CO
Music: KGNU - Ragtime America

So it's a week before I'm driving to Burning Man and I have a gift ticket I need to pass on. The various folks I was going to gift it to don't need it for one reason or another. I don't want it to go to waste, so I'm spreading the word more broadly, but I'm also trying to avoid a total deluge of email, so don't go posting this to every BM list in the world.

I'd like the recipient of this gift ticket to meet all of the following criteria:
* Able to go to Burning Man (on this short notice). And if your plans fall through, you must gift this ticket to someone who can go. "Don't sell a ticket for more than you paid for it" is a community value I want to maintain.

* Wouldn't be able to make it without a gift ticket. That is, "I procrastinated for four months and didn't buy a ticket when they were $360" isn't a good reason.

* Has something to gift. And I don't mean trinket necklaces. What I want to know is: Why will Black Rock City be a better place with you there? How will you be gifting your time and energy?

Some criteria that are nice, but not mandatory:
* A member of the Colorado community. With the event selling out this year (and quite possibly in the future), I'd like to help build community in my neck of the woods. Also, if I can meet up with you in Boulder, the ticket can't get lost in the mail.

* Rites of Passage tie in. Is this year's theme particularly special to you? Did you just go through a rite of passage? Do you need to? Will this year's Temple burn be particularly meaningful for you?

If you'd like to receive this gift, answer these questions in the comments or email me at tstone at trevorstone dot org. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, don't ask for a ticket for a friend: share this with them and let them answer the questions in their own words. Please share this directly with people who may be interested, but don't plaster it all over the Internet -- I have things I want to do this weekend besides read email. I plan to pick a recipient by Sunday night so I can mail the ticket on Monday if need be.

Mood: quixotic
Location: Boulder, CO
Music: KGNU - Dusty Grooves

I added

tongodeon as a friend because he created the Red Meat Constructor Set, but his journal is regularly full of insightful political and social commentary and well-written amusing anecdotes.

His views on holiday shopping are quite similar to mine.

Nobody should feel obliged for social or personal reasons to give me a gift. If you would like to do something nice for me, invite me over for tea and games. If you have money you would like to spend so that I will appreciate your generosity, make a donation to KGNU, ACLU, EFF, WikiMedia, or an open source project of your choice. If you find an object you know I would appreciate owning, I thank you for your generosity.

If I don't give you a gift it's because I didn't know what you could use and/or figured you could use the resources you would ordinarily expend in acquiring a gift for me could be more efficiently be used by you to get something you actually need.

If you would like a winter holiday-themed physical greeting from me, provide your postal address and which winter occasion you most enjoy celebrating. (I'm leaving comments public on this post, so if you don't want stalkers to find you, send your address to tstone (a) trevorstone.org.)

I make an exception for white elephants in which everyone finds something they already own, have fun wrapping it, have fun watching other people unwrap it, have fun stealing presents, and go home with an object they don't need but can appreciate (at least ironically).

Mood: noncapitalistic
Location: late November
Music: Kraftwerk - Home Computer

From the Mind of Trevor Stone

… blogging like it's the mid-naughties

Entries tagged with gift

Halloween is Burning Man for Normal People

Free Burning Man ticket to a deserving person

If It's An Obligation Is It Really A Gift?

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