Any of you who’ve been to Burning Man will understand the time vortex I’m having right now. When every day is packed with SO much stimulation and emotion and amazing people, your brain seems to have to play a little trick on you to fit it all in.

There’s so much to absorb that the only way to process it all as it happens is to alter time. Thus, although it’s only Saturday morning, and I’ve been here since Wednesday, it feels like dramatically longer because every day has about five normal days’ worth of cranial input. Wacky.

Yesterday’s conference line up was fantastic. I even got to facilitate a small group of a dozen or so people discussing venue safety and harm reduction. We also got to hear from a musicology professor from UCLA, talking about how in african drumming cultures the complexity of rhythms you learn corrosponds to your complexity of character, and how ravers have similar modes of socialization. Fascinating stuff, right up my alley, and he was a great speaker. Just the sort of professor everyone wants to have.

There was also a man from “The Farm” who came to speak about sustainability and community. He rocked it, and his manner of speaking was so heartfelt and vulnerable that the entire audience (all1 150 or so of us) were hushed and still, hoping not to miss anything.

There is, of course, always the large group participant who you have to wonder about, and this gathering is no exception. There’s this one woman who just can’t seem to say enough, no matter how off topic, interuptive, or mistimed her vocalizations may be. I mean, I talk. A lot. If you think I WRITE a lot, you should see how much I TALK, folks. But even I understand that, when someone ELSE is talking, and there are lots of people listening to that person, it’s typically best to keep your yap shut.

After our 6:30 conclusion, Dre and I headed back to Megasoul’s where I got to meet her delightful “special friend,” Jon. We all enjoyed some smoking and chat, and as per my discussion with Ev, I got to experience meeting someone for the first time who already knows me: Jon reads this blog daily (I guess Megasoul slipped him the URL) and so all introductions and getting to know me chat was bypassed. Wacky! But Good! I can’t think of a better person to be reading UF. I liked Jon a lot, and wished that Dre and I hadn’t had to rush off to the last GOTT thang of the day, a performance. It was a series of contact dance improv pieces, a great one-man piece with a man in uniform disgarding barbie doll after barbie doll, before having intimate encounters with a Ken doll.

There was some dancing, there was much hugging, but Dre and I tired early, caught a cab back to Megasoul’s (I’ve now caught a bus and cab here! How UN-LA!!), smoked with Megasoul, Jon, Jorsh (Megasoul’s roommate, my favorite of all her roommates), Jorsh’s girlfriend Karen, Wanna and her boyfriend Adam. We walked in and found empty red wine glasses and the left overs from a rousing game of Scattergories. Luckily, everyone was as tired as we were and the night ended shortly afterward.

This morning: to breakfast.