8 ms·

I’m turned off from going by the fact that it seems the only friends I know that go are a narrow demographic of your typical techie. They plan their entire year

I’m turned off from going by the fact that it seems the only friends I know that go are a narrow demographic of your typical techie. They plan their entire year around it and act like it’s their sole purpose in life. Honestly I don’t want to end up like that, thinking that the real world offers no thrill or spectacle or surprises such that I need to reduce my life down into a few weeks in the desert at the end of the year.

zasz 8y ago
I went in 2010 and one of the first people I met there was an advertising exec who said this event was the only time she felt alive. It was really sad.
- forgottenpass 8y ago
  Hey, at least she has one in her life. That's one more per year than most people. I'm not trying to pick an argument, or imply most people are emotionally dead inside, but _come on_. You really gotta take an expression about enjoying an escaping from the humdrum of day-to-day life and use it to snark about a person's entire existence?
  - zasz 8y ago
    It wasn't intended to be snark. She was very clear that this one week was IT for her. She was a leader in an established Burning Man camp that hands out free stuff for women's health, and she said she really enjoyed the recognition she got for doing something nice for other people. At the time I thought she should look into doing volunteer work with some worthy organization the rest of the year, but now, I see that finding a satisfying community to give value to isn't so easy. What's sad is that for all the technological progress this society has made, it has failed to provide people with consistent opportunities to feel that they are doing psychologically meaningful work.
- com2kid 8y ago
  Why is that sad? She found something she enjoys doing. Better than someone who has yet to find that spark that gives life meaning. Is everyone in the advertising business supposed to love making adverts? I certainly feel more alive camping with friends than I do debugging JavaScript. I'm lucky enough to have a life where I can go on 2 or 3 major vacations a year with friends and family with another couple smaller trips spread throughout the year. For people with a busier schedule, I can see them taking great pleasure in the one time a year they get to escape. Especially since so many people never get to escape. I know plenty of people who never have had a vacation, and may very well die without ever having a day off from work and life and stress.
  - jdietrich 8y ago
    If you're an advertising executive or a software developer and decide that you'd be happier living in the desert and making weird sculptures from scrap, that is very much an option. Living in a cabin in the woods or sailing around the world or establishing a commune for circus artists is a thing that you can do, and you don't need to be a millionaire to do it.
    - marnett 8y ago
      is it possible you have any tips on the circus commune?
      - ramses0 8y ago
        wwoof + circus turns up something in oregon. Investigate if you're interested.
    - theossuary 8y ago
      I don't think you know how expensive it would be to sail around the world. Especially if you'd like to do it somewhat comfortably.
      - barbs 8y ago
        Not necessarily https://vimeo.com/15351476 https://vimeo.com/15351476
- gist 8y ago
  > I went in 2010 and one of the first people > I met there was an advertising exec who said > this event was the only time she felt alive. > It was really sad. I can't decide if what she said is 'virtue signaling'[1] or 'humble bragging' [2] It's obviously a dig at the professions that she has either chosen or can't escape from and it kind of smacks of 'anyone doing this is really lame and has no value but at least I recognize that and therefore I am a good person'. Also reminds me a bit of when people apologize about being an attorney. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue_signalling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue_signalling [2] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201803/why-people-hate-humblebragging https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/...
- peterwwillis 8y ago
  Luckily, this isn't all the attendees, but for the repeat ones, yeah. It is sad. They say things like they're "home" when they're at a burn, and they literally get depressed for a week back in the "default world". The fact that these people seem completely incapable of understanding how to live the life they want more than 1 week a year is astounding. If you want to be naked, spin fire, drink and do drugs with your friends while listening to mixes of house and world music, get a back yard with a tall fence and go to town.
  - ISL 8y ago
    A lot of people work in order to live on their vacations.
    - Joe-Z 8y ago
      This has to be one of the more depressive sentences I've read. More and more I find myself being really glad that I work in software, where flexible working hours and companies that try to offer something to their employees (because there's actual competition) are more common than in many other fields I guess.
  - beaconstudios 8y ago
    > They say things like they're "home" when they're at a burn, and they literally get depressed for a week back in the "default world". That's probably the MDMA comedown, to be honest.
    - peterwwillis 8y ago
      Not exactly. It's a different kind of chemical comedown, similar to what's called "drop" in the bdsm world. People get so excited about finally doing what they love with people who accept them, and then the actual excitement of doing those things spins off lots of natural chemical highs. When they have to leave they're both depressed in general that they have to leave those things/people behind, and then also have a drop off of those natural "high" chemicals. It's common for people who leave non-drug-related conferences or weekend-long parties to be affected by it, for up to a week or more.
- funfunfun 8y ago
  I love this story. It captures my experiences there.
fiter 8y ago
Some things you can only reasonably do once a year, and I think it'd be a disservice to them to not do some planning. I like to think of it like a harvest festival: we've worked all year, let's enjoy some of the fruits of our labor.
- maerF0x0 8y ago
  But it would be like judging people who work in the field, spending the entire year on the centerpiece and then burning it to the ground after the festival.
  - fiter 8y ago
    I think there's a bit more made than what's burned, but I believe we can agree that you can also think of it like a sand mandala[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_mandala https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_mandala
  - c22 8y ago
    All art, like all things, is ephemeral. Burning Man just makes this explicit.
tomc1985 8y ago
I think that may be more due to the fact that it is a cultural experience much like traveling to a foreign country. I haven't been to any burns but I attend one of the smaller regional events and there's always a culture-shock/reverse-culture-shock aspect to it that can be particularly thrilling. If your friends are part of any theme camps then they might have events going on throughout the year; there's a burner scene and hanging out with them certainly builds anticipation.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
ryandrake 8y ago
To be fair, it’s what, a week and a half? That’s 75% of my entire vacation time allotment for the year. So if I were to go, it’s pretty much my only time off of work for a year so I guess I would obsess and plan my year around it too.
ikeyany 8y ago
That's precisely my perception, based on the conversations I've had with burners. Every depiction of it is a place to go to feel something that they are no longer able to feel in normal life.

zasz 8y ago

I went in 2010 and one of the first people I met there was an advertising exec who said this event was the only time she felt alive. It was really sad.

forgottenpass 8y ago
Hey, at least she has one in her life. That's one more per year than most people. I'm not trying to pick an argument, or imply most people are emotionally dead inside, but _come on_. You really gotta take an expression about enjoying an escaping from the humdrum of day-to-day life and use it to snark about a person's entire existence?
- zasz 8y ago
  It wasn't intended to be snark. She was very clear that this one week was IT for her. She was a leader in an established Burning Man camp that hands out free stuff for women's health, and she said she really enjoyed the recognition she got for doing something nice for other people. At the time I thought she should look into doing volunteer work with some worthy organization the rest of the year, but now, I see that finding a satisfying community to give value to isn't so easy. What's sad is that for all the technological progress this society has made, it has failed to provide people with consistent opportunities to feel that they are doing psychologically meaningful work.
com2kid 8y ago
Why is that sad? She found something she enjoys doing. Better than someone who has yet to find that spark that gives life meaning. Is everyone in the advertising business supposed to love making adverts? I certainly feel more alive camping with friends than I do debugging JavaScript. I'm lucky enough to have a life where I can go on 2 or 3 major vacations a year with friends and family with another couple smaller trips spread throughout the year. For people with a busier schedule, I can see them taking great pleasure in the one time a year they get to escape. Especially since so many people never get to escape. I know plenty of people who never have had a vacation, and may very well die without ever having a day off from work and life and stress.
- jdietrich 8y ago
  If you're an advertising executive or a software developer and decide that you'd be happier living in the desert and making weird sculptures from scrap, that is very much an option. Living in a cabin in the woods or sailing around the world or establishing a commune for circus artists is a thing that you can do, and you don't need to be a millionaire to do it.
  - marnett 8y ago
    is it possible you have any tips on the circus commune?
    - ramses0 8y ago
      wwoof + circus turns up something in oregon. Investigate if you're interested.
  - theossuary 8y ago
    I don't think you know how expensive it would be to sail around the world. Especially if you'd like to do it somewhat comfortably.
    - barbs 8y ago
      Not necessarily https://vimeo.com/15351476 https://vimeo.com/15351476
gist 8y ago
> I went in 2010 and one of the first people > I met there was an advertising exec who said > this event was the only time she felt alive. > It was really sad. I can't decide if what she said is 'virtue signaling'[1] or 'humble bragging' [2] It's obviously a dig at the professions that she has either chosen or can't escape from and it kind of smacks of 'anyone doing this is really lame and has no value but at least I recognize that and therefore I am a good person'. Also reminds me a bit of when people apologize about being an attorney. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue_signalling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue_signalling [2] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201803/why-people-hate-humblebragging https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/...
peterwwillis 8y ago
Luckily, this isn't all the attendees, but for the repeat ones, yeah. It is sad. They say things like they're "home" when they're at a burn, and they literally get depressed for a week back in the "default world". The fact that these people seem completely incapable of understanding how to live the life they want more than 1 week a year is astounding. If you want to be naked, spin fire, drink and do drugs with your friends while listening to mixes of house and world music, get a back yard with a tall fence and go to town.
- ISL 8y ago
  A lot of people work in order to live on their vacations.
  - Joe-Z 8y ago
    This has to be one of the more depressive sentences I've read. More and more I find myself being really glad that I work in software, where flexible working hours and companies that try to offer something to their employees (because there's actual competition) are more common than in many other fields I guess.
- beaconstudios 8y ago
  > They say things like they're "home" when they're at a burn, and they literally get depressed for a week back in the "default world". That's probably the MDMA comedown, to be honest.
  - peterwwillis 8y ago
    Not exactly. It's a different kind of chemical comedown, similar to what's called "drop" in the bdsm world. People get so excited about finally doing what they love with people who accept them, and then the actual excitement of doing those things spins off lots of natural chemical highs. When they have to leave they're both depressed in general that they have to leave those things/people behind, and then also have a drop off of those natural "high" chemicals. It's common for people who leave non-drug-related conferences or weekend-long parties to be affected by it, for up to a week or more.
funfunfun 8y ago
I love this story. It captures my experiences there.

fiter 8y ago

Some things you can only reasonably do once a year, and I think it'd be a disservice to them to not do some planning. I like to think of it like a harvest festival: we've worked all year, let's enjoy some of the fruits of our labor.

maerF0x0 8y ago
But it would be like judging people who work in the field, spending the entire year on the centerpiece and then burning it to the ground after the festival.
- fiter 8y ago
  I think there's a bit more made than what's burned, but I believe we can agree that you can also think of it like a sand mandala[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_mandala https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_mandala
- c22 8y ago
  All art, like all things, is ephemeral. Burning Man just makes this explicit.

tomc1985 8y ago

I think that may be more due to the fact that it is a cultural experience much like traveling to a foreign country. I haven't been to any burns but I attend one of the smaller regional events and there's always a culture-shock/reverse-culture-shock aspect to it that can be particularly thrilling. If your friends are part of any theme camps then they might have events going on throughout the year; there's a burner scene and hanging out with them certainly builds anticipation.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

ryandrake 8y ago

To be fair, it’s what, a week and a half? That’s 75% of my entire vacation time allotment for the year. So if I were to go, it’s pretty much my only time off of work for a year so I guess I would obsess and plan my year around it too.

ikeyany 8y ago

That's precisely my perception, based on the conversations I've had with burners. Every depiction of it is a place to go to feel something that they are no longer able to feel in normal life.