Noodlery (Long and Uncut)

Everyone has something heavy on their back

Yeah, yeah, I should focus on work. Actually, if I had been focusing, I would have gone to the gym by now.

Maybe I'll restart a more serious regimen next week. But you know, no one really gives a shit if I'm in great shape or not. If it's about vanity, well, being a kind and social person gets one a lot further. Just getting through life in good health? Already got that covered.

Googlery

I'm sick to death of Google+ already. All it is is a stream of folks blabbering about how great it is. But it brings nothing new besides a few minor tweaks I don't care about. And a picture was posted of an "evolution" in which Twitter, which is the most completely worthless-yet-popular tool out there, is placed above Facebook. WTF? Facebook earns its criticisms, but it's really quite functional. All you have to do is manage privacy, block apps, and not friend people you don't want to friend. I find it invaluable for knowing what my weird Burner friends are doing, where's the next party, like that.

Wifery

I went to The House last night and helped my ex with Facebook. She hasn't been on it in a year and a half because, she says, of me. Just the idea of going on there and seeing anything that reminds her of me makes her sick to her stomach. She said this after offering me a cold beer so we could sit on the porch and chat. Since I moved out nine months ago, I'm not sure why (or that) she wasn't on the previous nine, but whatever. I fixed up her privacy and notification settings, and removed myself and my two cousins from her friends list. She should now be able to log in at less risk of severe emotional trauma.

If goaded long enough, I have a tendency to suggest she move beyond the victim stage, but this is translated as a cold-hearted typically unemotional engineer-like "get over it." It's funny how much she taught me over the years about my own whining and the whining of others has opened my eyes to hers.

I am starting to sound like a man who complains about his ex. This is a start down a road so eloquently and childishly dominated by certain others that I must caution myself.

Jobbery

I am a lucky man. I spent winter and spring angsting and stressing over the bad fit I found myself to be for my job, certain I would be unemployed by now, and then late spring and early summer discovering that it wasn't just me, but the environment, and that management knew it, and are working to fix the environment. It's very difficult to fix, because the environment is made up of individuals, people who possess the combination of talent and knowledge and experience the job requires who have made it what it is through force of personality, are not likely to change, and cannot be encouraged to leave. Indeed, we are seriously understaffed. Thus, I found that despite my unique challenges, others had theirs as well, and that I am wanted just as the others are. Same time, I found a group nearby who wanted people with talents and knowledge such as I have that my present job does not exercise, and which I'm better at, and which is also starving for heads. It is very difficult to find good candidates for these positions. So I initiated some conversations, and finally got a job offer contingent on my presenting a transition plan and schedule. A lateral move with no compensation changes (as all internal moves properly should be), but I feel wanted, and it's cool. And in this economy and at my age, it's a great blessing. Should take about two months.

Jeepery

I love my old Jeep. It got me the 250 miles to the high desert and 250 miles back again with no problems at all. Shouldn't be a surprise but for awhile, after retrieving it from its semi-retirement following my sons' usage during high school, I was nervous about taking it out of town. I did discover that the tape deck doesn't work, which was a drag when I tried to listen to my new MP3 player through one of those audio-device-to-tape-deck gizmos; and then last week I lost air conditioning, radio, and turn signals until troubleshooting it back to loose connections in the ignition switch, which can be jiggled to make them work again. But by and large it's a workhorse.

Those loose connections are getting looser. I fear I may have to rebuild my steering column rather soon. Done it before. Big hassle.

Burnery

This Burner thing. Big goose to my social persona, which was never properly developed before, and of course the event itself feeds me with its arresting combinations of art and engineering and sensory overload. But I can see it also as a transition, a stage I need to go through to get to the next stage. Even this next Burn, which will be my first as a single person, could very well turn out to be a relatively quiet experience, spent in the company of a small number of quality people, much of the energy already being in the been-there-done-that or not-been-there-don't-wanna-do-that categories.

Last Monday we had our camp meeting, and as Camp Mayor, complete with top hat (from my wedding) and tails (from a costume shop), I stood to introduce myself and the fact that though this will be my fourth Burn I still feel like a newbie, because--

"Because you're unmarried!" interrupted R, loudly and with a grin.

And it's true. I will go in with a fresh outlook. I will also go in with responsibilities, some of which are a worse fit for me than this job. Chiefly these will involve getting signed-up people placed in our camp area, kicking out squatters, and negotiating with people who are not on our list and who are nice about it. I will just have to feel my way, and prepare ahead of time. I think the main thing will be to make sure I am conscious early early Monday when people start arriving so I can keep the more aggressive types from taking over space allocated to our friends who haven't arrived yet. Given that we will be out at the gate well past midnight stealing cars, that probably means I will get either a short nap or no sleep at all. And that's okay, because it's Burning Man.

And what the hell does that mean, you ask? It means that we serve ourselves and others best by taking life as it comes, accepting what is, and working with grace to influence events to the better if we can. Part of the magic of Burning Man is that this attitude becomes pervasive. Not sure why. Maybe it's because all of us humans really want to live in harmony with others and that is easier in an environment in which others do the same, and at the Burn most people come with the intention of doing just that, thus creating the environment. Many people have learned life lessons there and taken them home to apply to their real lives. Others just come to fuck around. So, who knows.