City Living

Old friends and new...... If you are attending Burning Man this year, feel free to comment or message me with your location, any events or things of interest, or places and times you are playing music.

I will be with my old new paltz, new york/california pals and some others right next to Pink Mammoth. (Pink Mammoth is a San Francisco-based, well-established yet unofficial party spot with a pink bar, serious dancefloor, daily packed happy hour, and house music. It is usually at 8:30 and G).

Get a teenytiny notebook, keep track of the happs and where people are at, and slip it in your fanny pack with your altoids....

Our crew will be next to/behind Pink Mammmoth, at approximately 8:40 and G or G/H. Unofficially, we are Camp in the Cut, or the Infinity Crew. Just keep your eyes peeled for weirdo pretty people in the shade, and listen for lots of laughing. And strong, male accents from New York. (Yeah....I know.... them's the breaks....)

Our more exotic amenities include but are not limited to:

homemade tv film set with a backdrop to film Charlie-Rose-esque interviews, hosted by Roscoe

strange large pick-up-sticks like structure, with fabric somehow involved

graffiti wall

cuddle pool

lots of homemade absynthe, tried and true



My personal endeavors this year are modest and reasonable. They include:

-Bartending Thursday around 4pm or so at the Burning Man Radio station, right next to the DMV. This is in conjunction with The Billion Bunny March.

-Putting up alot of my poetry. Debut of internet-unfriendly pieces including "Paper or Drop" and "Where the Good Green Grows" along with the usual R-rated and comedic classics. Poetry will be taped to the outside of portapotties. Especially at 8:30 and G.

- Tequila. I will be bringing alot of great blanco tequila, so if you need a pick-me-up, you know who to find. (Delicious juice optional)

- Postcards with a Metropolis-themed piece of my writing called "I am What I am". I will be giving them out, and I will have stamps, can mail them for you from Black Rock City post office, and then they will have a postmark from Black Rock City. Bring an address of a friend who can't make it this year.....Or send one to your grandma......

- Firehooping with my broken firehoop

Finally, we will also hopefully have a tiny camp on the opposite side of the playa, between 2 and 4. It will be called Bizarro World and contrary to my main place, it will be for serious, desperate partying measures only. This will be a party survival camp with little to no creative visual arts, save the flesh of hot, intoxicated bodies. Box wine and granola bars will reign as Queen and King here.

So, that's it as of now. I would love to see you! And please, message me or comment about where you will be or what happenings you are looking forward to being around for

Bolsena

We left Rome for lake in the hills. Lake Bolsena has a town that shares its name. It met all the stereotypes I held for small-town Italy; beautifully quaint archetecture, narrow, winding,cobblestone streets, the best produce, and of course, no where to get food for much of the day and night. Lazy Italians. There is a waterfront, with restaurants and bars. And lots of places to get gelato. Basically, every other storefront in the Italy I have seen is a gelateria.
The place with a pool table (that I did ok on) has one euro wine. Nice. Saturday, I made the soup I like, with red peppers I roast, beans, and some vegetables. It was a hit.

The Swiss people have never been fishing before, and they have 2 poles from their friends.Today, Larsen and I brought one down to the water. He also brought some gross worms that Bjorn bought the previous night. The worms were meal worms- tiny, not the size worms that I think people fish with. And when I would go fishing growing up, we would use fish as bait, or fake lures. Not worms. They gross me out. Anyhow, I was all ready to teach him how to cast, when he insisted one baiting the hook. But he wouldn't touch the worms. I really didn't want to either. He said he would get me a Long Island iced tea if I did it. I tried, but it did not happen. The worms were too small to get on the hook, and they were squirming around so much I couldn't hold on to them for more than 15 seconds. No Long Island. And no more fishing today, since Larsen did not want to do anything for practice. He is under the impression that people who go fishing actually catch fish. Which I know is the case sometimes, but in this lake, nope.

I made 2 pastas- one with veggies in a creamy white, garlic basil sauce, and another simple pasta salad for the next day। I am very happy with how the first one came out, since it was spontaneous, using whatever was around, and it was another hit. Woo hoo! We finally did some fire stuff, on the beach. Rahel used her firehoop for the first time, Bjorn did a fire stick thing, and I used my hoop. They had this pink fuel Larsen bought that smelled like tequila. It is great for beginners who are not used to flames, but for me it was too mild; the flame is not as vibrant and the adrenaline does not hit me as strongly as it does with other fuels. Plus, I hold tequila so dearly to my heart that I don't want to smell a fuel and think of it.

P.S. I really was under the impression that we would be doing fire shows on the street. This is not the case, as of yet. I don't mind though, since I am having fun.

Sleeping in an Italian Insane Asylum

The Crazy Swiss firebus told me they got delayed and would not be in Rome by the time I arrived on Monday, so I reserved a bed in a hostel on the beach close to the airport, and a half hour train ride or so from the center of Rome. The hostel is an old insane asylum.
After taking 2 buses (which I did not pay for even though you are supposed to... I did not have the standard metro card and the drivers did not seem to care) I arrived at Litus Hostel.
The building itself is massive, and has one or two other businesses within it. Inside, it is bright and airy, with really high ceilings and lots of colorful art and cool furniture. Maybe they try to make you feel like you are in an art gallery to make you forget you are where hundreds of loonies used to be. I like it. It is empty; besides the staff I have only seen a total of 6 women or so. Not one male guest. Which besides being weird is fine since I am in little mood for banter.
On my way to the beach, I noticed that next to the hostel there was this fence, and behind the fence was this courtyard with palm trees and cool grafitti. Not just grafitti- cause that is everywhere, but cool grafitti. The fence was locked but there was a space to climb through, so I did, and walked up to the building. Seeing someone inside, I left. I was a few feet down there street when this Italian kid came out and started talking to me. From what I gathered (I don't speak Italian yet but Spanish helps), he said the place was for youth, when I asked. Then he invited me to smoke blahblah and drink. I told him maybe later. Yeah, maybe later, if you weren't 20 years old tops. He did say the place was for youth. Note: If I still smoked blahblah, I would have entertained the idea, but if I were to now, I would be a paranoid weirdo. Double no thanks.
The beach is across the street, and is actually nice. Not amazing from a picture book of Hawaii or anything, but nice. It is on the Tyrrhenian Sea, has black sand, and the blue water is not too cold. I layed down and slept on and off (mostly on.... jetlag) for 6 hours as bunched of people came and went. I missed one long strip of my leg with sunblock so now I have a red strip of pain. I went in the water once... it was nice. Especially since I had to pee. Don't tell.
I was hungry in the evening and instead of pizza (which was the only alternative close enough to where I was willing to walk in the moment), I got Chinese food. Yeah, I am a weirdo, I know. I just figured I have plenty of time to eat pizza, eat it all the time anyway, and was not in the mood for it, but was curious to see if Italianized Chinese food is similar to Americanized Chinese food. I got spring rolls and curry-fried rice. Yeah, the stuff I got is same, pretty much. Except the duck sauce for the spring rolls had a notable amount of vinegar. Not bad; I like vinegar.
I spoke to Larsen, my swiss friend. He said they will be arriving here around noon or so, and that I should get good rest and be ready for the party to begin. What he does not know is that if I am not well-rested, it does not matter. Cause I got a bottle of Milagro Silver Tequila at the airport for CHEAP. Milagro means miracle. Tequila is my coffee; my reliable, tried and true pick-me-up. When my body tells me know, tequila screams back YES! I should have bought more than just one bottle. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.
Note: While on the topic of shoulda, woulda, coulda, I shoulda tried out the camera I bought at the pawn shop. Since, now I see it does not work. And since my other one was sent off for repair, I am camera-less at the moment. Why must the digital camera gods despise me so?
Tomorrow, before the swiss crazies arrive, I will try (try) to check out the Ostia Ruins, which all the websites compare to Pompei. We'll see.
Note: I could really use a lower back massage. And there are more than just 6 women at the hostel. I was wrong. I kind of liked the idea of 6 weirdo spinster women like myself all alone in this giant art-deco looney bin.