The ferry was fairly quick as far as mass transit goes, faster then the bus that is, and was rather an enjoyable way to travel. I called up another buddy and talked to him about the crazy night I had had as I cruised by San Quentin, a few other smaller islands, and Alcatraz. As I hung up with him we were already heading into the port and I was once again at the whims of the mass transit of Frisco.
I asked a couple of transit dudes, and was steered towards the street train area. After I found it it was a slightly harrowing, but in the end fairly boring ride to Burning Man Head Quarters and the potluck B-B-Q. I saw a guy on the train that was dressed in the same kind of outfit that the Ghostbusters wore when they were out not bring afraid of no ghosts and I asked him if he was there for the potluck. He said yes, then began to tell me of the glories of being a lamplighter volunteer. He had many little pendants on a length of leather around his neck that were given only to the lamplighters. The lamplighters are a group of people that volunteer to carry poles with twelve kerosene lanterns per pole. They roam the streets of Black Rock City at dusk o hang the lamps on the main streets leading to the Man, and also along the Esplanade. I let him know that I was going to the man this year, my first year, and that I was going to wander. Maybe next year ill carry the poles and light the avenues and ways of Black Rock City. I have yet to decide.
We walked together through the door to BMHQ and the first thing I noticed was the Merhorse art in the foyer. It was weird to be standing there, looking at something that I had seen many many pictures of and never thought that I would see in reality let alone touch. I reached out with tentative fingers and gently grasped the foreleg, the bent one, of a piece of art that was stationed out on the Playa. It was beautiful. Within the same foyer, leading up to the second floor were many poster sized pictures of different Man intensive things. There was a poster of the different stages of the Man burning, I think it was from a few years ago. There was a table set up, also in the foyer, where a woman was hanging out with other people. She would look at men walking by and say “I’ve got a big sausage!” and whip out a kielbasa from her purse. The lamplighter guy split I think upstairs, I saw him around later, and I went through the building looking at the different art pieces and posters. I did a quick look though, as my bladder had been screaming at me for about 45 minutes and I needed to relieve myself. In the bathroom at the urinals there were instructions that the wall needed to be written on before the buildings demise. I didn’t have a pen on me, so I couldn’t add anything pithy or intense to the destructible wall. After relieving myself I went back to the foyer and took my time walking through the building.
