2012: The beginning and the end?

[sktELEMENT]

I have an idea (non burning man related) of what 2012 holds for us, and I was wondering what all you burners think that special date of December 21st, holds for us?

[Roberto Dobbisano]

im having my nails done and maybe get my hair did.

[Ugly Dougly]

Like every theme, it's about a myth, our myth about final annihilation.

[BBadger]

The winter solstice of 2012? Special why?

[hookahdude]

Because it is 4 days from Christmas!!!

[theCryptofishist]

At least it's not the 18th. What does it mean if your husband dies three days before the solstice?

[BBadger]

At least it's not the 18th. What does it mean if your husband dies three days before the solstice?

It means he is sent to the D-lot on the way to heaven.

[Timezone LaFontaine]

I think it was in twenty-ought-eight, and I had just arrived in BRC. It was morning, I had finally set up camp, and I decided to take a peek inside Center Camp and settle down from the jittery feeling that being on the road for many an hour can evoke. I sat next to a couple of attractive young women and we started chatting. Soon after, another man came up and introduced himself and the four of us were enjoying talking about what we had already seen and what we wanted to check out later in the day. At some point our conversations naturally paired off, and my conversation with the woman I was sitting next to turned to 2012 and her certainty of exactly what would happen. She went on for what seemed like the better part of an hour, and as she went on, my enthusiasm for the conversation drained away as I recognized myself in the role of a sounding board for someone's deeply-held beliefs that left no room for further explorations... Anyhow, time elapsed and soon the two women decided to head back to their camp -- something along the lines of the Willy-Nilly Squealers Camp. But before they left, they invited the two of us guys to meet them at a certain place and time that evening to go exploring the artwork on the playa together. The woman I'd been talking with took several long moments to gaze deeply into my eyes (or, I sincerely wonder, was she just checking out her reflection in my shades?), then they said "see you tonight" and left. After they'd gone, the guy turned to me, clearly enthusiastic about our potential double-date that evening, and asked me what she'd been saying to me about 2012. I told him, she believes that in 2012, the Earth will literally stop rotating, and then start spinning in the opposite direction. He replied, clearly struggling for words, "That's... crazy." I could see him trying to weigh out the potential for lusty, dusty romance with the burden of enduring an utterly wacky and self-certain new-agey form of proselytizing. I bid him a good day and got up to leave. "Do you think you'll meet up with them?" he asked me, a glint in his eye that I read as a kind of desperate request for back-up. I reflected on the tens of thousands of other interesting people to potentially connect with and advised him not to settle for any connection that felt so danged askew.

Now, I'm not saying that I don't think diddly-squat is going to happen in 2012. But I tend to believe the time that major changes occur is always right about now, regardless of the calendar date.

[Ugly Dougly]

The Mayan didn't predict Doomsday, they just stopped counting.

So:

2012: END OF TIME.

That's got plenty of built in ambiguity.

[theCryptofishist]

The woman I'd been talking with took several long moments to gaze deeply into my eyes (or, I sincerely wonder, was she just checking out her reflection in my shades?), then they said "see you tonight" and left. After they'd gone, the guy turned to me, clearly enthusiastic about our potential double-date that evening, and asked me what she'd been saying to me about 2012. I told him, she believes that in 2012, the Earth will literally stop rotating, and then start spinning in the opposite direction. He replied, clearly struggling for words, "That's... crazy." I could see him trying to weigh out the potential for lusty, dusty romance with the burden of enduring an utterly wacky and self-certain new-agey form of proselytizing. I bid him a good day and got up to leave. "Do you think you'll meet up with them?" he asked me, a glint in his eye that I read as a kind of desperate request for back-up. I reflected on the tens of thousands of other interesting people to potentially connect with and advised him not to settle for any connection that felt so danged askew.

I wonder how many of those mixed connections people looking for that "soul mate" are never going to be contacted for pretty much that.

[Timezone LaFontaine]

Fishy, do you mean that people won't find their soul mate because they are distracted by too many less than ideal connections? Or people won't make interesting connections with others because they are too fixated on finding a soul mate?

[theCryptofishist]

I mean that some people get fixated on these playa encounters and think they have found a "soulmate" when in actuality the said soulmate finds them embarrassment and lunatic and reads the "missed connection" with a mix of relief, that they never have to see this person again, and dread, just in case they do.

[FIGJAM]

Come on Fishy, I was'nt that bad.

[theCryptofishist]

You know there is literally nothing I can say to that. Except some comment on how impossible it is to comment.
So, I won't say anything.
This page deliberately blank.

[ZaphodBurner]

Tonight we noticed there is no theme announcement for 2012, and no 2012 preparation forum on the e-playa.

What the fuck is up with that, over?

[theCryptofishist]

Maybe if you had read eplaya a bit beyond the mere "noticing" stage, you would have seen that the question has been asked multiple times already. The best answer is that the admins are waiting for the theme and that Larry Harvey had a hard year and hasn't come up with one yet.

[ZaphodBurner]

Maybe if you had read eplaya a bit beyond the mere "noticing" stage, you would have seen that the question has been asked multiple times already. The best answer is that the admins are waiting for the theme and that Larry Harvey had a hard year and hasn't come up with one yet.

And maybe if I'd gone to law school I'd be a lawyer. If I had time to read the e-playa all fucking day, like some people, I'd have looked for it, but as it is I haven't been able to keep up with the e-playa for months, largely because I have a family and a job.

But, thanks for the snarky answer, Crypto. It's nice to see the e-playa hasn't changed.

[jkisha]

Eplayans tend to help those that first try to help themselves and snark to the rest.
Maybe if you knew how to use the search function you would have become a lawyer with a real job.

Maybe if you had read eplaya a bit beyond the mere "noticing" stage, you would have seen that the question has been asked multiple times already. The best answer is that the admins are waiting for the theme and that Larry Harvey had a hard year and hasn't come up with one yet.

And maybe if I'd gone to law school I'd be a lawyer. If I had time to read the e-playa all fucking day, like some people, I'd have looked for it, but as it is I haven't been able to keep up with the e-playa for months, largely because I have a family and a job.

But, thanks for the snarky answer, Crypto. It's nice to see the e-playa hasn't changed.

[Ugly Dougly]

I don't know WTF is a soul mate. I mean, do you have a geiger counter for "made for each other"?
I mean I love mysto hippie crap as much as any junkie, but wha?

[ZaphodBurner]

Eplayans tend to help those that first try to help themselves and snark to the rest.
Maybe if you knew how to use the search function you would have become a lawyer with a real job.

No shit? Is that how it works? Wow, I wish I had your l33t search-function skills.

I don't have time to jack myself off on a search function all fucking day like some of you seem to, because OF my "real job." Thanks for your advice, though. I'd inquire as to what the fuck YOU do for a living but, factually speaking, I really don't give a shit. Here's why:

(Well, for one, I'm a pilot. I fly photographers up the Columbia Gorge, around St. Helens, the Oregon coast...flew from Nevada up the Canadian Rockies and the Yukon to Fairbanks in a Cessna 172. My clients are rich and diverse, but I wouldn't trade places with them. I digress...)

Your job, whatever it is, sucks. And the other person who didn't have time to diddle her fucking search engine is the other singer in my band, who is a single mom with a 2 y.o. and just started teaching at a new Montessori school this week. Right now her job sucks too but she'll get over it. She doesn't even GET to go to Burning Man anymore because it's the start of the school year but, hey, at least she has you fucking jackwagons to remind her what so-called "burners" are actually like when the drugs wear off. Neither of us are wealthy so I suppose our jobs aren't real, but there you go. More importantly:

You wouldn't talk to either of us like that in person so -your- opinion isn't worth two turds in a toilet. Out here you're a typical stuck-up e-playan asshole who thinks it's hip to throw your snotty irrelevant two cents in like you're some kind of e-playa guru. Out there, you just wouldn't. I mean, you might, if you're some megaphone-wielding alcoholic hipster or whatever. On the playa, it doesn't matter if people are standing in front of center camp. If people ask for help, people help them. 'Cause maybe there's a reason they haven't had time to "use a search function." People on the playa are nice. People who aren't are considered assholes. And you wouldn't be an asshole to me in person either way because let's face it: You're more likely to regurgitate dogma from some toga-wearing pacifist than, say, Chesty Puller or Sparta. ("Freedom is what we reap from this way of life, my friend." -Agesilaus)

But out here, see, you get to be a nameless, faceless, anonymous total fucking jackass to anybody you want if you think it will make you look cool in front of your imaginary cool friends out here, like it's 1998. Well, I don't need to look cool. That day I flew a Cirrus SR-22, helped teach a young woman to fly over the Columbia Gorge, made it to band rehearsal and spent the rest of the evening building Lego airplanes with my little girl. Who thinks I'm pretty cool. And now you're cool too. We're like Fonzis. ("And what is Fonzi?")

Anyway, that's why I didn't have time to search the entire Burning Man website before dicking around with the search engine like some cubicle-dwelling paperclip sorter, and why I don't give a shit what you think constitutes a "real" job.

Now--whatever it is you do for a living--go ahead, take your self-righteous snark, and fuck yourself with it.

Fuck the whales.
-zb :

...Ahh, it's good to be back. I quit my sysadmin job to get a real life, so I don't have time to masturbate my psyche on the e-playa anymore. I've missed you motherfuckers.

[Eric]

But out here, see, you get to be a nameless, faceless, anonymous total fucking jackass to anybody you want if you think it will make you look cool in front of your imaginary cool friends out here, like it's 1998.

Totally anonymous, except for the constant posting of our camp locations so anyone can find us on the playa, and of course being met by tons of people at the event as well as hordes of posters from the eplaya & a good number of lurkers as well, as many of us have.

I don't remember meeting you at any of the well publicized Meet & Greets since they started years ago, but I've only made the last two; so to me (and probably quite a few others on here) you're the anonymous one posting like it's 1998, not JK.

If you don't like reading someones posts please feel free to plonk (or "foe") them & you'll never have to read them again.

Oh, and welcome back...

[ZaphodBurner]

I don't remember meeting you at any of the well publicized Meet & Greets since they started years ago, but I've only made the last two; so to me (and probably quite a few others on here) you're the anonymous one posting like it's 1998, not JK.

I don't go to Burning Man to hang out with snarky hipsters because--apparently just like you-- we're always doing stuff. For example I wrote an article or three for the Black Rock Gazette or whatever it was in 2005--Ajna, iirc--and another about the curvature of the earth or woolly mammoths or some shit. Whatever. Never got a copy. Never even set foot in the camp 'cause we were running our own saloon, volunteering at the airport, yadda... Nice to meet you.

A well-publicized Meet & Greet at Burning Man. Have fun with that; our root beer keg is tapped, I have shibari knots to tie, there's naked girls dancing on my observation platform, my wife is horny, some guy named Mohammad just gave me a plate of bacon, and my art car is on fire. Tempus fugit. You know what sucks? Warm root beer.

Besides, how the fuck do I know if I'm even COOL ENOUGH to go to a Meet & Greet with, like, actual e-playa burners. What if there's a search engine?

I'd be no good at it. How in hell can I possibly pretend to be enjoying myself at Burning Man with a small number of random people I only recognize by how well they heckle people, like those two old fucking puppets on The Muppet Show.

If you don't like reading someones posts please feel free to plonk (or "foe") them & you'll never have to read them again.

Yep. Mostly, I do. ("Mostly" -Newt) Other times I'll rub their snarky little noses in their own snarky shit, or, if it pleases me, respond entirely in movie quotes. I don't have to make these decisions in what I like to call "real life" so pardon me while I reestablish my e-playa bearings.

In the meantime, if I don't get a theme by sundown I'm shipping the Man off to military school with the goddamned Finklestein shit kid.

-zb
"When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip." - Ignatius Reilly

[hookahdude]

I can just feel the love...

Please consider the scenario:

A long time eplayan member gets a chance to do a little reading through the forums and comes across a topic he/she finds interesting. While reading the topic, he/she has a sudden thought - "Hey.. there is no theme announement on the main site... I wonder if anyone might have an idea about what the fuck is going on..." Said eplayan posts question that popped into mind.

Are we really going to fault a person for this? Are we really expecting a person to research every thought and question before asking it? It isn't like yet another new thread was STARTED... A question was posed that could have been referred to an active thread without snark.

Just a thought and I know there are opposing views and fully expect to see them...

But damn people - like I said - it wasnt a new thread - it was just a question.. Now I am wondering if I need to "research/search" every question that pops into my head or risk being sniped or belittled...

That kind of bums me out....

[jkisha]

After all that you really expect us to believe that time and your busy wonderful life is the reason you didn't do a search!?

[jkisha]

What's worse, getting called out for not searching something that has been asked, answered and discussed to death, or acting like a total asshole when you get called out for it?

I can just feel the love...

Please consider the scenario:

A long time eplayan member gets a chance to do a little reading through the forums and comes across a topic he/she finds interesting. While reading the topic, he/she has a sudden thought - "Hey.. there is no theme announement on the main site... I wonder if anyone might have an idea about what the fuck is going on..." Said eplayan posts question that popped into mind.

Are we really going to fault a person for this? Are we really expecting a person to research every thought and question before asking it? It isn't like yet another new thread was STARTED... A question was posed that could have been referred to an active thread without snark.

Just a thought and I know there are opposing views and fully expect to see them...

But damn people - like I said - it wasnt a new thread - it was just a question.. Now I am wondering if I need to "research/search" every question that pops into my head or risk being sniped or belittled...

That kind of bums me out....

[ZaphodBurner]

What's worse, getting called out for not searching something that has been asked, answered and discussed to death, or acting like a total asshole when you get called out for it?

Aw, gee whiz. Did I step on your toes, there, precious? Probably shouldn't dish it out if you can't take it.

What do you think gives you the right to "call people out" for ANYTHING out here?

[ZaphodBurner]

After all that you really expect us to believe that time and your busy wonderful life is the reason you didn't do a search!?

You can believe in the Fairy Godmother or chupacabras if you want. I don't "expect" anybody here to be able to find their assholes with both hands if they had flashlights for fingers. What have we learned about "expectations?" (Try a search engine.)

Thanks for playing, though.

[Bob]

Further proving that Burning Man will end in 2012 with a twitter, not a bang.

BTW Zaphod, your avatar is missing. Please report to the ten principals' office.

[jkisha]

[trilobyte]

Zaphod, to answer your questions...

You're correct, the theme hasn't been announced yet. It's sort of like the first 20 years of the event, where the theme announcement wasn't made on-playa on Burn Night. The intention was originally to do that, but between the launch of the non-profit, some of the additional requests for interviews connected with the 2011 event selling out, and the death of a good friend right before the event, the responsible party was a little busy. Rather than rush a half-assed write-up, the decision was made to do it after the burn. I'm told we can expect an announcement and post very soon.

As for the 2012 forums, they're generally not set up this early in the cycle. I did recently roll out a number of forum changes (detailed here), but plan to wait for the 2012 theme announcement to set up the 2012 boards.