Liz Baumann

Last night on the Forbidden Planet: complete blur.

The 80/20 rule was followed
The 20 as acquaintances came first
Interesting
Still so many I did not see
I saw life passing me by once again when I said ‘hi’ to 5th Element
I said I was one of her 4
But I really rather like the idea of being the 6th
Randomness invited me over to the Otherside
I did not get a chance to find out Weather I could see my reflection in the Mirrorman
I got caught in a Bizarre Liz Triangle!!
I was happy to see the Southern Sun again
And, too, the woman who started it all
Or at least started my absurd relationship with the Whether
Pennycat told me that maybe my idea is not too crazy after all
I had too much to drink
There was a bunch of ice
And we all agreed that time passed too quickly
But it’s quality, not quantity
For me, at least.
Or I should remember that.

Not nearly enough pictures: Flickr

I was at this party in a series of parking lots. There was a white figure that produced green fire from its hands. I met a cheshire cat and a woman with flashing LED antennas made of organ wire. A bunch of people flitted about with wings. Someone was wearing their heart on their back, it was blue and pulsing. I was hypnotized by a green, blue and white ring. A yellow submarine kept running around on the ground.

The music was good and for a while all I wanted to do was dance on a lighted box. So I did, but my fur kept falling down and I was nearly tripping on it. Everyone else was busy watching fireflies and dancing flames.

In another tent I met a beautiful woman who had the voice of a man; she had a lucky charm with her which talked with me for a spell. A little while later there was a lighted flower whose petals flashed with color. A crowd had gathered to worship it and the music was beating in time to its petals.

I went outside again and someone was playing with a bright and colorful yo-yo made from two martini glasses stuck together. There was an orb within a rigid geometric structure that had landed in the parking lot, it was flashing red, green and blue.

Later on, just before I woke up, I walked back into the flower tent and went downstairs to have a conversation with a rainbow man about pick-up lines. Then I tried to make friends with a dog but it snarled at me.

Wow, that was some dream.

More photos on flickr

In my last post I promised to spill why my burner name is “Sparks”. There are a bunch of reasons:

• This spring I had a dream I was camping alone and was able to light a fire but then had no fuel to put on it*
• One day a couple months ago my friend Malina, in complete seriousness, asked me if I had her spark. (She wanted to do an Ignite Boulder presentation and they call the topic summary a “spark”; she couldn’t find her copy from before. I of course knew I would have it, and I did.)
• I’ve found 2 lighters since June (fuel)
• My obsession with sparkler painting this July 4 (one of those lighters came at exactly the right time for that)
• My interest in lighting up clothes, bikes etc.
• I have a sneaking suspicion I’ve sparked at least one relationship between other people
• I need to be careful around people who are dynamite with a short fuse
• Various people using the word spark around me and/or saying I sparked some thought for them
• Let’s just say, it takes one to know one
• more that I won’t say, have forgotten, or haven’t learned yet… it seems almost daily the word surfaces or there’s a metaphor or song or some other new reason

Does that spark anything for you?

****

*The dream mentioned above was interesting in its own right so I’ll tell the whole story:
I had a dream I was camping alone and was able to light a fire but then realized I had no fuel to put on it, leaving me to helplessly watch it smolder. Then I realized that I should have put up my tent beforehand; now it was dark, cold and starting to rain. I got the tent up only to find I was camping somewhere off-limits and had to move. Now I was at my wits end, feeling very hopeless… but then there was a voice (my power animal?) pointing out that I had a car which I could put my things in and which would provide temporary shelter, and that was enough comfort to make me go on.

Post-dream analysis:
In waking life I was feeling pretty inadequate about something so the dream fit there and really made an impression. After I thought about it for a few days I felt the part about my car was telling me to spend time in Denver not just Boulder. At Apogaea this summer we started setting up camp and then were told we couldn’t camp on that spot and had to move.

For weeks I’ve been telling myself I should have finished this post by now. I think I’m still trying to decide how I feel about having gone to Burning Man. Maybe I should just list a bunch of random thoughts.

Burn In

• I suspect you can only really know what it’s like by going. I’m glad I went. The official Burning Man website, Wikipedia or Google can tell you what the event is all about in general.
• I met totally awesome people at my camp. I had several deep and meaningful conversations with new friends; that is one of the things I look forward to in this community.
• Like when you go hiking in a beautiful place, almost no one was grumpy. There was a couple fighting outside my tent one night (“Listen to me! Listen to me!” Then silence … he was listening, so then why didn’t she talk? LOL), but that was the only negativity I can remember personally.
• Having some sort of purpose there is important. I helped out with an art project and also our camp setup/takedown.
• I didn’t see all the art on the playa. I didn’t go down all the streets. I didn’t see all my friends who were there. You can probably replace “didn’t” with “couldn’t” and these statements don’t lose any accuracy.
• In spite of being about radical self-expression, I found myself feeling a little withdrawn. I missed my electronic connections, especially Facebook, my primary outlet for making cryptic comments, airing deep thoughts and cracking stupid jokes. When the rest of the 50,000 or so people got to the playa I realized I might as well put my phone away, plus I thought it might be good for me to just give it up for a week and so I did. I think I would have been alright if I’d thought up something to replace it with. But I didn’t, and so in some sense I withdrew a little.
• Adding to that, I found the weather/climate very uncomfortable, especially in the day: hot, dry and very dusty – and this was a “good” year. In a way the whole thing was like a big party; I enjoy but am not a big partier. I was there early and left late. 11 days of uncomfortable partying is too long for me for.
• I did really enjoy going out at night wearing all sorts of light-up stuff and seeing other people’s illuminated creativity and seeking out good music. Disorient, Space Cowboys, Bass Couch and the Robot Heart… The last time I found the Robot Heart it was on the move, and I was one of dozens of people on bikes, pedaling along on the port side. It reminded me of how dolphins follow a boat. So then I wondered if the sound which boats make as they motor by is like the house/psytrance music from the Robot Heart. I’ll choose to believe that.
• I already had a burner name in mind for myself and on the way out there explained to some of my campmates and one of them started calling me that: “Sparks”. More on that in some other post

Burn Out

• As I’ve wondered whether I can wash suede, sussed out how to clean my suitcases, and was rearranging the dust in and around my pickup the other day, I mused about why people burn so much there. And was reminded of what a trailwork friend from California said after he’d been working around poison oak – that he would wash his clothes in the fireplace.
• Being in some kind of funk after the burn is all too common. I felt a little like I’d been in a plane that someone else had been driving and they’d suddenly left and left me at the controls. Several people I know came down with physical illnesses. Socially it sounds like we’re walking on shifting sands. It can feel like a hangover. I didn’t get sick, but I felt depressed. Now I’ve mostly got control of the plane again, but it still has a few dips and swoops. But maybe it’s better that way; don’t want to get too comfortable.
• Those feelings notwithstanding, it WAS worthwhile, I’m real glad I went and I do hope to do it again sometime. Just more comfortably and/or not for so long. Maybe next year, maybe not. If they continue to limit ticket sales, I might prefer to imagine my ticket in the dusty hands of someone who’s never gone before. We’ll see. Shifting sands…

Burning Man 2011: black flowers before the temple

More photos on Flickr.

Last weekend I was at Apogaea, Colorado’s regional burn. Similar to Burning Man, but just for Colorado. For those of you still asking “what’s that?”, the website says “Apogaea is a collaborative outdoor arts and music festival held in beautiful mountains of Colorado.” Not sure that really covers it all, but it’s a start. It was my first time (they affectionately call us newbies “virgins”), and while I can agree with the above description, it was a lot of other things too. It had the art and the music – mostly electronic music, loud and entrancing until dawn – but also community, collaboration, celebration, fire (burning effigies at the end), things that light up (LEDs/EL wire/blacklights/flourescent paint and materials etc.), interesting activities (I especially liked the High Flying Aerial Acrobatics workshop, Camp Wardrobe Malfunktion was fun too), people in costumes, etc. In short, lots of different things to sink one’s teeth into.

In the days before heading off I made a Day of the Dead costume. While I’ve normally been adding my pretty little LEDs to Goodwill-hunted merchandise, this one was something I designed and made from a raw sheet of fabric, something I haven’t done in a while. Not intending to leave it unLEDed, I placed 1.8mm red LEDs in each of the eyes. The effect was so illuminating that even Facebook thought one of the skulls was a person and asked me to tag them! LOL. I was kind of rushed getting it done, no time for lining on this one, but it held up ok considering. My Rainbow Raincoat, Smolder dress and Flower Power dress also came along with me and showed their colors.

I camped with some friends I met through the Boulder Hackerspace who created the Musical Universe of Faux Fur Flowers (MUFFFs) – a sound-interactive art installation with LED strips, faux fur, bent pipes and flourescent paint. It was fun helping with assembly and take-down, and also joining the cuddle-puddle I found one night lying underneath enjoying the lights react to the music and their conversation! Here’s some videos of the MUFFFs in action: Cuddle puddle or with drums

And here’s some photos from the event: