Alfaj0r.com

It’s so hard to try to tell a story, that I’m not even going to try! Instead, here are a few tid-bits of how it all went, in no particular order:

• We left on Thursday, September 3rd. It took us about 3 hours to arrive to our camping spot. Not bad!
• One of the first people we saw at Burning Man was a man in his late 40s, wearing nothing but shoes and a hat. His testicles were dangling around, remarkably stretched. The heat probably was to blame for that.
  At any rate, Kelly was welcomed by cock and balls. We gave the guy a nice and cold beer, and chatted it for a few minutes. It was a great way to start, with a friendly naked guy.
• Our camp, BRCU, was awesome. We had two big domes, one for partying (with our DJ, dance floor and lights) and the other one for chilling out (full of kiddie swimming pools, overflowing with stuffed animals). It was home for a few days, and it really kicked a lot of ass.
• There was a lot dust wind. Of course there’s dust, it’s a dry lake bed. And the dust is a pleasant experience as long as the wind comes and goes, or is a breeze.
  On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the wind was strong. It was also consistent, starting at around 10am and dying down sometime around 11pm. Ridiculous, crazy and annoying.
  What’s one to do? Well, you can either find shelter, or you can spontaneously dance.
• I’d always heard the myth that there are a lot of orgies at Burning Man. Well, let’s just say that -without participating!- it’s not a myth.
• On a somewhat related note, and once again without being involved in it, I’ve learned about more and more people into polyamory. I guess my upbringing makes it something that would never work for me, but that my open mind makes it acceptable as long as it’s not shoved into my face.
• Our diets consisted of a lot of canned foods, like Spaghettios. All we used was a couple of plastic spoons, and not even half of a very small camping propane tank.
• The one thing I enjoyed the most this year is easy for me to decide on, and probably easy for you to guess: having Kelly with me.
  We spent most of our time together, sharing our experiences and caring for each other. Every single moment worth remembering involves her as an integral part of that memory, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love sharing my life with her!
• The second “best” thing this year was on Saturday morning. We rode our bikes into the “deep playa”, and checked out the random art installations that were there. There’s stuff out there that you can’t see from far away, but it’s definitely worth the shot journey. It’s far away enough from everything else that you don’t hear the incessant music, which is a welcome change.
  While cruising around, we found plenty of art pieces, ranging from a collection of statues to a huge guitar. We’d ride up to something, check it out, look around aimlessly until we saw that there was something out there, and then do it all over again. It was a very wonderful way to spend a day with Kelly.
  I’d like to share about one of the things we found: a typewriter on a tall desk, with a tall chair. There was roll of paper, and the machine seemed to be in very good working condition.
  I climbed on the chair, and while Kelly took some pictures, I figured that I might as well write something. Without difficulty, a love note was born. When I was done, I handed the note to Kelly. She smiled, and climbed on the tall chair to write a note to me.
  The notes that we wrote to each other will be a good addition to a little scrapbook that Kelly is making, but even if those were lost, I’ll never forget how we spent our time together. The fun, the playfulness and the love are things that I’m grateful for, and they sometimes make me wonder how I ended up being so lucky.
• Sleeping in a tent is nice, even with an air mattress. But it’s not nice enough for Burning Man, when your body needs good rest after battling playa whiteouts, climbing on art pieces and cars, dancing, walking and riding bicycles.
  We’ll try to rent an RV for next year, and hopefully we can share with a couple more people, to lower the cost, and share in the awesomeness of having some more comfortable living quarters.
• I’d never really gone and hung out at Center Camp, but this year we went there a handful of times. We had some iced coffee, and sat around enjoying all that goes on.
  The Center Camp scene is apparently what most people stereotype Burning Man to be: hippies hanging out, people doing Yoga, drum circles, dancing. And in a way, the stereotype is true – but with a twist.
  Most people’s stereotype includes the above mentioned activities, and that’s it. My stereotype goes a bit further, and involves the reason why people are doing such things. So of course it’s true that people are doing all those things that some people label as lame, stupid or childish. Of course they’re doing what they want to do. It’s obvious that all they want to do is enjoy themselves, and that there’s at least one place where they can totally freely do it, and that’s at Burning Man.
  I don’t really want to go deeper into how people could have fun in the “default” world, because that’s not what I’m trying to get to. My point is that I don’t understand the criticism of people doing things that they enjoy.
• I took my Canon 40D camera, and took a few pictures. I didn’t have it on me at all times (in fact, I had it with me very little), but when I did, I think I captured some decent photographs. If you’d like to check them out, head on over to my Flickr.I feel like Burning Man is my yearly test of how my photo skills are doing. It’s a good reference point to look back and compare, and -just like last year- I can say that this year’s pictures are better than last year’s. This is a nice feeling!
• Our “exodus” took us 5 and a half hours, with 2 of them being spent on the exit line from Black Rock City to the highway. We left on Sunday, because we were exhausted and ready to get home to our dreamy bed, and anxious to be able to spend at least one day snuggling in the morning. We got home, enjoyed the wonderful feeling of a hot shower, and went to bed.
• On Monday, Labor Day, we woke up 11 hours after having gone to sleep. And then we spent the rest of the day cleaning up, and enjoying each other. We had no regrets of having left on Sunday and missing the Temple burn.
  Our Burning Man experience ended on a high note. Additionally, we would have been dead to the world for the entire week if we had to do all the cleaning we did on Monday during the week, after very busy and stressful times at work. So busy, in fact, that it’s my excuse for posting this almost a whole week later!

On Thursday, Kelly and I will be going to Burning Man. This will be my third year, and it will be Kelly’s first.

We’ve been getting ready for a while:

• We have scavenged thrift stores and garage sales, ending up with a selection of excellent outfits. Kelly is definitely not going to look like a burning man virgin, and I probably won’t look like a ridiculous mess of unmatched garments once again. I will still look ridiculous, but I think this will be my best looking year yet, because all my clothes go well with each other, and the outrageousness will be of the awesome kind, instead of the “oh, boy” kind.
• There are lists for food, packing supplies, people we definitely must visit and attempt to see, and places or things that we’d like to go see (such as the Raygun Gothic Rocketship and the Bootie mashups party).
• We are actively participating in a registered theme camp, and have been involved in the planning process since day 1. We are part of the Black Rock Center for Unlearning (Washing all that knowledge right out of your brain since 2009).

Our camp’s theme is exactly what I need, because I’m in need for some unlearning. You see, last year’s experience was positive in some ways, but it was overall a negative one. My enjoyment was shadowed by the frustration and disappointment that some of my company brought. There were several times where I just wanted to drive away, and go back to the default world.
These circumstances saddened me, especially when I took into consideration how much effort, time and money I invested, and how little I got in return.

Well, fuck all that!

This year, I’m unlearning all that.

I’m unlearning my self-destructive tendencies of letting people take advantage of me, so I’ve distanced myself from parasitical personalities. I’m unlearning my reluctancy to be impolite, and if someone needs to be told off, flipped off or punched out, I’m ready to do it. Most of all, I’m unlearning to settle, and I’m going for what I want.

Kelly is my partner in crime and my other half. With her hand in mine, I look forward to re-discovering Black Rock City. She’s excited to see the things that everyone talks about, and I’m even more excited to be there to see her jaw drop with every “oooh” inspiring moment that we experience. I know I won’t have to babysit her, and I know that she’ll be genuinely enjoying herself.

That is why this Burning Man should be the best one yet for me. Because Kelly is coming with me. Also, because BRCU is an awesome camp, and the people I’m befriending through it are sincerely good.

This is also why I love that the theme this year is Evolution. I’m saying “fuck what I know” about Burning Man, and ready to know it in a whole different way: with a heart full of love.

I’d never been to a big concert before, but a couple weeks ago, my cherry was popped in double, by Snoop Dogg and Incubus. Here’s a tale of how it all went:

Snoop Dogg played at the Grand Sierra in Reno, on July 9th 2009. Kelly, her brother Kyle and I went, and since we got in early we planted ourselves only feet away from the stage, hoping to be able to see a super-famous rapper from up-close.
The opening act was Stephen Marley (son of Bob). He put on a good show, with lots of people on stage, a little kid waving a Jamaican flag the whole time, and playing for almost an hour. By the way, he does sound a lot like his late father.

Since I didn’t know how things worked out, I expected Snoop Dogg to just come out as soon as the Marley troupe was gone from the stage, but I was told that they had to set up, and that it usually takes a good 30 minutes or so for the main act to come onstage.

Thirty minutes went by… four times. That’s right. A whole two hours later, Snoop Dogg showed up to do his thang. In the meantime, a lot of pushing and shoving went on in the crowd, and some drunk skanks got kicked out of the venue for getting in fights.

Regardless, as soon as Snoop showed up (he apparently was delayed because they were driving from California and got stuck in traffic), the crowd went wild.

Since he started so late, his setlist was cut in half and he ended up playing for less than an hour. He left the stage, and the crowd cheered for an encore. Staff started taking instruments down, and the cheering quickly turned into booing. It got so bad that they just closed the curtains to the stage.
I’m guessing this came from the GSR cutting it short, and it was pretty disappointing to have stood shoulder to shoulder with several hundreds of people for 5 hours, to only see a couple of hours of  spectacle.

---

On Sunday, July 11th, my mediocre experience was absolutely redeemed. We flew down to Las Vegas for the weekend. Besides doing the Vegas thing -walk around with a huge adult beverage in hand-  we had one major reason for being there. Incubus was touring, and this was the closest they’d get to us, so we were going to see them!

On our way to the venue, the Hard Rock Hotel of Las Vegas, we walked past a door where Ben Kenney (bass player of Incubus)  was hanging out, smoking a cigarette with a security guard. We came up to say hi, and we was very friendly, and Kelly even got a picture with him.

The venue (aka the Joint) at the Hard Rock was far superior than the GSR’s ballroom. It was clean. The staff were friendly, and I didn’t have to smuggle my camera in my underwear, because they allowed them.

Incubus put on a great show, and I enjoyed it much more than Snoop Dogg’s antics. The sound was fabulous, they had a very cool light show that went with the music and there was an LED screen in the background that played clips to go with it all. Fantastic:

Now, I was able to say I’d been to a concert. A real one, with a band that shows up when they should, provide great entertainment, at a venue that knows how to accommodate concertgoers.
However, my favorite part of it all wasn’t the awesome show. It was having Kelly next to me singing her heart out. I felt so lucky to be able to share with her, as her favorite band rocked her socks off.

This all makes me very excited about Outside Lands, which Kelly and I are planning on going to this year. More concerts!

A 3 day weekend? Why, let’s have a road trip!

But first, let’s spend Saturday hanging out and relaxing, and not getting stuck in traffic with everyone else.

Instead, we left on Sunday. We checked in at the Oakland Marriot at around 2pm, and right away we got in the BART headed to San Francisco. More specifically, to the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.
We’d eaten a small breakfast, so by the time we made it there, we were ready to sit down and eat. And what better place to do that than Cha Cha Cha! The place was busy, but luckily we got to sit at the bar right away. A pitcher of sangria, and 3 different dishes later (plus an awesome caramel-covered bread pudding for dessert), we were feeling quite good, and more than satisfied. This is definitely a cool place to eat, and the food is delicious.

After eating, we went for a little walk around Golden Gate Park. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperating, so we didn’t get to enjoy the beautiful gardens as much, but that’s not saying we didn’t have a good time.
We walked through one of the many gardens, took some silly pictures, and headed back to the Haight.

We went into a few of the shops, killed some time and had some fun. Kelly even found something to wear at Burning Man that we could afford -because there are LOTS of things that would be great for Burning Man, but they’re just too expensive.

On Monday, Memorial Day, we headed out to Berkeley. We stumbled for a while looking for a place to eat, and we ended up going into Ann’s Kitchen, which served a glorious American style breakfast, perfect for the occasion.
The weather Gods (or the spirits of all those fallen soldiers) made this day much nicer, which we welcomed as we walked up and down Telegraph street, and checked out the shops and the diverse crowd that was doing the same thing we were.

We also checked out the UC Berkeley campus, where we proceeded to shmoop on the grass by the library. Good times.

With a lot of time to kill, we went on Wikitravel to see what we could do in the area, and that’s how we found out about the Indian Rock Park. Finding it curious enough, we went and checked it out.
Sure enough, it was just a big rock. But lots of people were there, mostly hanging out, and some practicing rock-climbing, some others photographing and at least a couple smoking marihuana.
From the top of the rock you can see most of the Bay. Sadly, it was mostly covered in fog, but despite that, we enjoyed the panoramic view.

However, the main event of our trip was a Flight of the Conchords concert. They toured the US in 2009, and this was their last stop. We HAD to see them, since Kelly and I both enjoy them.
At around 6pm, we sat on the balcony of the Berkeley Community Threatre. The opening act for FotC was Arj Barker, who played Dave in their HBO series. Little did we know that he’s a stand up comedian, and his routine was a great ice-breaker for what was to come. His style was sometimes very close to Dane Cook, but that’s alright by me, since it makes me laugh.

But then, it actually happened. Lights went dim. And …

Of course, that video is not from the same performance that we saw, but it was similar, and set the tone for what was to come: over an hour of silly songs, and the goofy kind of humor that only New Zealand’s fourth most popular digi-folk paradists provides.
There were lots of laughs, some songs I’d never head before, and a lot of singing along with Bret and Jemaine. It was a great live show, and some of the antics that they put on onstage were worth the ticket and the traveling.

To sum it up, we had a great time, and it was a weekend that won’t be forgotten. Or, to use the vernacular, an EPIC WEEKEND.

I remember doing this while I was incredibly bored, back in 2003. I was housesitting, in a house in Stead.
The lady that owned the house was in Afghanistan, and her dog was named Ghork, which means “wolf” in some language (possibly Farsi, Pashto or Dari). The dog used to shed a lot of hair…

Speaking of hair, check mine out! I wish I still had the long hair, it was so suave!

I did it! Click on play in the window below to see some of the pictures.

At 5pm of Monday March 9, 2009, I entered Aces Tattoo with Kelly. She already has a couple of tattoos, so she came with me for moral support, photographic documentation (which she did great, as you can see above), and to find out if I was going to endure the pain.

After a little bit of waiting and hanging out, I was called to the table by Jared. My hands started sweating as soon as I sat down. The first poke of the needle wasn’t as bad as I’d imagined. A sharp, very localized pain, but nothing too great.
In less than a minute, the outline was done! I was excited, this wasn’t bad at all.

Then the coloring began, and the story changed. Kelly says my face went pale. And with reason. I was hurtin’. The worst part was at the top, over the eyes section. I also felt the most intense discomfort when he’d been doing a long streak, without stopping. Breaks were a welcome thing, although I didn’t say anything and tried to take it like a manly man. But I don’t think I fooled anyone.

Luckily, 40 minutes later, no tears had been shed, and the job was done! The owl was now in, on my left shoulder. It was wrapped up, and I was on my way out the door.

I’ve been babying the fresh tattoo with Aquaphor, and it’s healing up nicely. The colors are starting to come in, and I expect to have it fully healed and looking awesome in a couple of weeks. A picture will certainly come.

And another tattoo, sometime in the future, will definitely come as well.

That’s right! This Saturday, July 19th, the Atomiks are playing at Zephyr. It’s a fundraiser show for our Burning Man camp: Atomikamp, aka The Fallout Shelter. It’s only $5, and good times shall be had by all.
Tell your friends, and see you there!

This great YouTube series of videos is my current favorite internet “thing”.
The premise is: back in 1968, Alrugo Entertainment filmed an italian action-adventure movie. It was deemed “un-viewable” by italian distributors and never released or shown.
The only 35mm print of the film was lost at sea, but it was recently recovered. Alrugo Entertainment now releases the film through YouTube, one bit a week.
The “production” does give the cheap, cheesy sense of it being an old movie. Or at least, it does for me, because I haven’t seen too many movies from that time. Regardless, it’s awesome. And that’s what matters right now.
Here is the trailer:

And if you go here, you can must see all the episodes.

First, will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas made a video (it’s the first one shown below) about Barak Obama’s campaign. Then, there was a parody about John McCain. I found them both to be interesting, and refreshing. Specially the parody part. See here:

and then…

That’s all. :colbert:

Yes! A new Indiana Jones movie! Scheduled to come out on May 22, this is one movie I’d like to see.

It’s been 19 years since the Last Crusade, both in the real world and in the movie itself, which I think is a pretty cool concept. Word is that there’ll be quite a bit of humor about how Indiana is getting old, but from the trailer alone, I can see that Harrison Ford is not going to be a huge pansy about it all, emulating the bad-assness of Sean Connery.