Firefly 2014
Jul. 12th, 2014 10:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sparrFirefly 2014
The good:
The bus and cargo truck were great! There were minor problems with coordination of times and locations, as well as places the bus could and couldn't fit, but those will be easy enough to iron out next time. Aside from that, it was affordable, convenient, comfortable, and [optionally] more social than traveling alone.
I was able to coordinate my plans to get most of my work in the field done during dusk hours, which combined with wearing a hat to lead to no sunburn and minimal time disabled due to heat. It was still uncomfortably warm around the middle of most of the days, but far more bearable without needing to leave the woods during the daytime.
Some of the people who have taken issue with my character and opinions in various contexts are still capable of behaving like adults and remaining cordial and effective in our practical/impersonal interactions. Thank you, Blake and David and Ripley in particular.
Some people sought me out to thank me for having the difficult conversations that so many of my acquaintances object to. Some of them, and others, also approached me to have those conversations in person. This sort of feedback is what fills the other half of the scale when I'm weighing whether or not I should continue addressing controversial topics against all of the people who find my posts offensive or disturbing.
I simplified the "shower" hose this year. I made it shorter to appease the people who objected to seeing it running through the stream, mostly avoided using a handheld spray nozzle, and got rid of the bridge platform that caused loadout problems last year. Making it shorter simplified the installation while still allowing a useful amount of pressure below the waterfall at Bring A Cup. Not bringing the bridge led to the same sort of post-cleaning dirty feet that are commonly encountered at the pool. Ditching the spray nozzle helped avoid clogs and people moving the hose around as much. Overall this was a successful and effective project. As more people learn about the existence of the hose I get more feedback, mostly positive, on it. It will return in future years with some tweaks and improvements.
A few ongoing potential relationships, of various sorts, saw some activity. I had important conversations that might lead somewhere, and got to spend time with people whose paths I've failed to cross lately.
Lots of people, from friends to strangers to acquaintances, asked how I was feeling and if they could help when I seemed down. For the record, at no point during the burn was I particularly unhappy. Most of the times you stopped me, I was simply bored or tired, with small doses of frustrated, mostly with myself (see below).
We managed to cook then eat and/or feed to people two of my gallon cans of surplus food, and another six gallons ended up donated to the canned food drive for Bethel. I really love that people can bring in extra food without having to worry about packing it out if they are willing to donate it to a good cause.
Not only was there little to no mud this year due to less rain, the improvements to the site since last year, including during the work weekends this year, made for much more manageable treks. Sawdust from last year was joined by gravel and more evenly and widely graded roads at the entrance. More and longer and wider boardwalks and bridges made getting carts through the watershed areas much easier. Kudos to everyone in DPW, and any organizers of non-Firefly events who do site improvement, and Kurt as well.
After deciding on Friday that I would not bring the hot air balloon back next year, due to poor wind conditions and oppressive heat yet again, my mind was possibly changed on Saturday when dozens of people started to approach me to tell me how amazing it had been on Saturday morning. It's still not as reliable as at Alchemy, but a few hours of breeze and gusts in the right direction seem to have made it visible and enjoyable to enough people to make it worth the effort. See below for concerns regarding bringing it at all, but at least it's still on the agenda.
The bad:
I packed late and poorly, leaving behind some parts of projects that led to disappointments and wasted cargo carrying. The vacuum cube did not happen at all, and my TENS-glove adventure was stuck on a tether to our power grid.
I wasn't ever able to do any tabletop gaming. I brought mostly 3-5 player games. Every time I wanted to play, I could only find one other person to play, and then every time 2+ people asked me to play I wasn't in the mood. C'est la vie.
My previous observation that more people at Firefly than at other regional burns participate in events and projects seems to strongly correlate to my more recent realization that far fewer people are able/willing to spontaneously assist with projects requiring short term manpower. Prior to Sunday, I was depressingly consistently unable to find people willing to help move and assemble the hot air balloon and frame.
Relatedly, I tried to pre-arrange assistance from a vehicle for loading out the hot air balloon and its associated hardware, but that fell through. This led to me almost missing the bus. This is also an area in which I need to get solid commitments ahead of time.
My tent wasn't big enough for sexy or kinky play, which led to some missed opportunities. Some quick surveying leads me to believe this is not an infrequent occurrence at Firefly, as few people bring in large camping structures (big tents, personal domes, yurts, etc) due to the landscape. I'll be aiming to rectify this next year with a public/private play space similar to the Fucking Awesome dome at Alchemy/Euphoria or the Shameless Sexytime Soiree space at Preheat/Afterburn.
As mentioned above, I was approached by people wanting to engage me and others in person in the sorts of conversations that make some people not like me online. Both times this happened we apparently caused distress to those sitting around us, including many who were not able or willing to inform us of that distress. I really don't know what the solution to this problem is, aside from bringing my own "serious talk" camp just to drag people to when they want to have those conversations.
The ugly:
Someone took one of my helium tanks. In retrospect, I probably saw it being used for helium karaoke, but at the time I assumed that they had simply brought the same brand tank as mine. It somehow made its way back to me post-event, minus all of its helium.
The whiny:
The event would be every so slightly prettier if camps took down their placement tape/flags once they set up. Seeing a bunch of orange tape strung up between trees for no real reason makes me think of logging operations.
The good:
The bus and cargo truck were great! There were minor problems with coordination of times and locations, as well as places the bus could and couldn't fit, but those will be easy enough to iron out next time. Aside from that, it was affordable, convenient, comfortable, and [optionally] more social than traveling alone.
I was able to coordinate my plans to get most of my work in the field done during dusk hours, which combined with wearing a hat to lead to no sunburn and minimal time disabled due to heat. It was still uncomfortably warm around the middle of most of the days, but far more bearable without needing to leave the woods during the daytime.
Some of the people who have taken issue with my character and opinions in various contexts are still capable of behaving like adults and remaining cordial and effective in our practical/impersonal interactions. Thank you, Blake and David and Ripley in particular.
Some people sought me out to thank me for having the difficult conversations that so many of my acquaintances object to. Some of them, and others, also approached me to have those conversations in person. This sort of feedback is what fills the other half of the scale when I'm weighing whether or not I should continue addressing controversial topics against all of the people who find my posts offensive or disturbing.
I simplified the "shower" hose this year. I made it shorter to appease the people who objected to seeing it running through the stream, mostly avoided using a handheld spray nozzle, and got rid of the bridge platform that caused loadout problems last year. Making it shorter simplified the installation while still allowing a useful amount of pressure below the waterfall at Bring A Cup. Not bringing the bridge led to the same sort of post-cleaning dirty feet that are commonly encountered at the pool. Ditching the spray nozzle helped avoid clogs and people moving the hose around as much. Overall this was a successful and effective project. As more people learn about the existence of the hose I get more feedback, mostly positive, on it. It will return in future years with some tweaks and improvements.
A few ongoing potential relationships, of various sorts, saw some activity. I had important conversations that might lead somewhere, and got to spend time with people whose paths I've failed to cross lately.
Lots of people, from friends to strangers to acquaintances, asked how I was feeling and if they could help when I seemed down. For the record, at no point during the burn was I particularly unhappy. Most of the times you stopped me, I was simply bored or tired, with small doses of frustrated, mostly with myself (see below).
We managed to cook then eat and/or feed to people two of my gallon cans of surplus food, and another six gallons ended up donated to the canned food drive for Bethel. I really love that people can bring in extra food without having to worry about packing it out if they are willing to donate it to a good cause.
Not only was there little to no mud this year due to less rain, the improvements to the site since last year, including during the work weekends this year, made for much more manageable treks. Sawdust from last year was joined by gravel and more evenly and widely graded roads at the entrance. More and longer and wider boardwalks and bridges made getting carts through the watershed areas much easier. Kudos to everyone in DPW, and any organizers of non-Firefly events who do site improvement, and Kurt as well.
After deciding on Friday that I would not bring the hot air balloon back next year, due to poor wind conditions and oppressive heat yet again, my mind was possibly changed on Saturday when dozens of people started to approach me to tell me how amazing it had been on Saturday morning. It's still not as reliable as at Alchemy, but a few hours of breeze and gusts in the right direction seem to have made it visible and enjoyable to enough people to make it worth the effort. See below for concerns regarding bringing it at all, but at least it's still on the agenda.
The bad:
I packed late and poorly, leaving behind some parts of projects that led to disappointments and wasted cargo carrying. The vacuum cube did not happen at all, and my TENS-glove adventure was stuck on a tether to our power grid.
I wasn't ever able to do any tabletop gaming. I brought mostly 3-5 player games. Every time I wanted to play, I could only find one other person to play, and then every time 2+ people asked me to play I wasn't in the mood. C'est la vie.
My previous observation that more people at Firefly than at other regional burns participate in events and projects seems to strongly correlate to my more recent realization that far fewer people are able/willing to spontaneously assist with projects requiring short term manpower. Prior to Sunday, I was depressingly consistently unable to find people willing to help move and assemble the hot air balloon and frame.
Relatedly, I tried to pre-arrange assistance from a vehicle for loading out the hot air balloon and its associated hardware, but that fell through. This led to me almost missing the bus. This is also an area in which I need to get solid commitments ahead of time.
My tent wasn't big enough for sexy or kinky play, which led to some missed opportunities. Some quick surveying leads me to believe this is not an infrequent occurrence at Firefly, as few people bring in large camping structures (big tents, personal domes, yurts, etc) due to the landscape. I'll be aiming to rectify this next year with a public/private play space similar to the Fucking Awesome dome at Alchemy/Euphoria or the Shameless Sexytime Soiree space at Preheat/Afterburn.
As mentioned above, I was approached by people wanting to engage me and others in person in the sorts of conversations that make some people not like me online. Both times this happened we apparently caused distress to those sitting around us, including many who were not able or willing to inform us of that distress. I really don't know what the solution to this problem is, aside from bringing my own "serious talk" camp just to drag people to when they want to have those conversations.
The ugly:
Someone took one of my helium tanks. In retrospect, I probably saw it being used for helium karaoke, but at the time I assumed that they had simply brought the same brand tank as mine. It somehow made its way back to me post-event, minus all of its helium.
The whiny:
The event would be every so slightly prettier if camps took down their placement tape/flags once they set up. Seeing a bunch of orange tape strung up between trees for no real reason makes me think of logging operations.