Birgin from Vancouver/Saskatoon

[bandaloops_M&L]

Hey I'm Miranda.
It's my first time posting on this as well as title states first time for burning man. I must say I cannot wait!!! Life is all about adventure, new experiences, meeting new people, and enriching others lives by sharing our passions and gifts as each person has. I am originally a prairie girl from Saskatoon, Sk, but for the last year after a very random encounter at Shambhala spontaneously relocated to Vancouver where I fell in love with the city, surroundings, and people. My friend Lauren and I were lucky enough to score tickets to Burning Man this year (my heart goes out to those who have yet to obtain tickets, everything happens for a reason and where there is a will there is a way. So don't give up yet! There is still time!!!).
I should really let Lauren write her own introduction, so I will just say a bit about myself.
My two biggest passions in life are travel and meeting new people..which is perfect as the two go hand in hand. The most commonly used to describe me are bubbly and a hippy. Both of which I actually adore; bubbly only negates to my incredibly strong positive nature as well as being a naturally happy person. Hippy I usually consider because of my non-judging personality and I'm very free-spirited.
***Think good thoughts, think good thoughts. Imagine what the world would be if we will, we would just think good thoughts. Starve the bad from feeding. Oh I won't let the negativity turn me into my enemy. Promise to myself that I won't let it get the best of me. That's how I want to be.*
BFAB>Born from a boombox. Music is also a huge part of my life. I have been singing for as long as I can remember and usually I try to do it out loud. It tends to brighten peoples days. Music is such a strong being, it has the power to instill every emotion inside us and acts as a way for us to channel our own emotions. I can't imagine life without it.
All artistic forms of expression are dear to me though. I try my hand at trick hula hooping, but I have a long way to go. Writing poetry and songs. Painting and sketching. Mostly I enjoy writing..which I apologize if this intro is incredibly long! I just have no idea what the "normal" one is like. So even if people decide not to read the whole thing I would understand. I will at least know I got to say exactly what I wanted to.
If anyone has helpful tips on what to plan for the Burn I would love to hear them. As much as I love talking (oh my goodness do I ever), I also love listening. I'm always very curious to learn about others. Their stories, passions, what drives them and makes them who they are. So please share with me.. *I share, you share. We all share together. Because sharing together that's the thing to do.*
Can't wait to meet all your beautiful souls at Black Rock City this August!
Love and Light

[Savannah]

Hi Miranda!

Welcome to the board. The Survival Guide linked in my signature is a must-read, and has a starter packing list (but googling "Burning Man pack list" is good too). The "Preparation" forum here is a good place for your planning. So is the "Open Discussion" forum--when you need a reminder that the seasoned Burners here are not strictly curmudgeonly, but actually compassionate and multi-faceted.

There can be a certain amount of chop-busting about the "easy" questions (because no one wants to encourage the lazy to attend--they make bad neighbors) but if people can tell you've read a lot first, and are truly stumped by something . . . they are usually keen to direct you.

Here's a good search trick: skip this site's "Search" function in favor of googling a keyword + the word eplaya. Then you can click "more results from eplaya" and narrow all answers to this site only.

[Drawingablank]

Welcome to eplaya.

[jkisha]

Hey there, welcome to eplaya!

[Stickygreen]

from one Vancouverite to another, you may want to check out these links, to connect to a few local "burners' (damn I hate that title) But still a good group of peeps, with plenty of activity.

Keep your eyes on the look out for Burnerschool... it's so much fun.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BurningVan/

http://www.burningvan.org/

http://gvias.org/

oh, and check out this totally awesome new store that just opened in Gastown : http://whyknotscuriosities.com/

[squishelle]

Thanks for being on it Stickygreen !

Yep check out those links and also, most importantly, get on our local Announce list, as that is where we post the most important news & info on local happenings.

There's Burner Skool coming up, and the other best way to connect is to come to a Regional Burn!
Burn in the Forest, July 13 weekend, get tickets asap! http://www.burnintheforest.com

the fb group is the most active, and that's where you'll find out about last minute burners & beers get togethers
there's a standing first friday of the month B&B

this and many burner friendly events are posted on our public googe calendar, which you can add to see on your own google cal account if you use gmail:
http://bit.ly/BMVanCalendar

and yes, Why Knot's Curiosities is an awesome new store, burner owned, and they are awesome at helping out local burners... and are prepping to host great workshops too, like el-wire, etc

are we there yet?

squishelle
Community Leader and one of the Burning Man Regional Contacts for Vancouver

[dragonpilot]

If you can't wait here's an invitation to join NW Burners in July at our annual Critical Massive event:

http://www.criticalmassive.org/

Burning Man NW style! We do put on a great party!

[bandaloops_M&L]

Hehe awe thanks to everyone for your posts! You are wonderful!!!!!!!! Hopefully get to meet some of your lovely faces and beautiful souls.

Lauren and I are getting together tonight to discuss more plans. She also got a guidebook passed to her from someone who went last year. I'll be sure to study up! Because yes your absolutely right. it's so not fair to go there and just expect people to help you because your new and didn't take any time preparing. Oh but question! And I'm not sure if it's silly or not..but in the pages that I've read I have not once seen a map or anything of how to actually get to Black Rock City. We are thinking of doing a rideshare, but i mean should probably understand where it is we are going.
Apologies if that is blatantly obvious..perhaps its one of those cases where you are looking for something that is right in front of you.
Any help though would be much appreciated!
YAYYYYYYYY!!!! Not long now!
Love and Light. Have a wonderous day!

[bandaloops_M&L]

[quote="bandaloops_M&L"]Hehe awe thanks to everyone for your posts! You are wonderful!!!!!!!! Hopefully get to meet some of your lovely faces and beautiful souls.

Lauren and I are getting together tonight to discuss more plans. She also got a guidebook passed to her from someone who went last year. I'll be sure to study up! Because yes your absolutely right. it's so not fair to go there and just expect people to help you because your new and didn't take any time preparing. Oh but question! And I'm not sure if it's silly or not..but in the pages that I've read I have not once seen a map or anything of how to actually get to Black Rock City. We are thinking of doing a rideshare, but i mean should probably understand where it is we are going.
Apologies if that is blatantly obvious..perhaps its one of those cases where you are looking for something that is right in front of you.
Any help though would be much appreciated!
YAYYYYYYYY!!!! Not long now!
Love and Light. Have a wonderous day!

[Savannah]

Hehe awe thanks to everyone for your posts! You are wonderful!!!!!!!! Hopefully get to meet some of your lovely faces and beautiful souls.

Lauren and I are getting together tonight to discuss more plans. She also got a guidebook passed to her from someone who went last year. I'll be sure to study up! Because yes your absolutely right. it's so not fair to go there and just expect people to help you because your new and didn't take any time preparing. Oh but question! And I'm not sure if it's silly or not..but in the pages that I've read I have not once seen a map or anything of how to actually get to Black Rock City. We are thinking of doing a rideshare, but i mean should probably understand where it is we are going.

Directions are in two places you might have encountered them already. The Survival Guide, which is sounds like your friend has. It's also online. See my signature below. It's a very good idea to print out your own copy of the PDF version and read it a few times.

Directions are also on the main Burning Man site. You should dig around there a bit too, there's lots of good stuff. Go to this link and scroll down on the right.

http://www.burningman.com/preparation/

If you are on Google maps and trying to get a general idea, the closest thing to an end destination would be Gerlach, Nevada . . . although not everyone literally drives through Gerlach. I come from the Northwest, for example, and highway 447 releases me maybe half a mile NE of Gerlach. I can see it, but I don't go through it.

[Stickygreen]

most of the info you will find on the BM site, and in the survival guide will be geared for people coming from teh Bay area, or even from other US areas.

Us Canadians go a different route.

Gwally is your best site for directions : http://gwally.com/directions/cat_routes.php

I've driven all 4 of the suggested routes, and even went my ow way once, personally i feel route 1 is best : http://gwally.com/directions/000402.php

[theCryptofishist]

most of the info you will find about driving to the event on the BM site, and in the survival guide will be geared for people coming from teh Bay area, or even from other US areas.

Us Canadians go a different route.

Gwally is your best site for directions : http://gwally.com/directions/cat_routes.php

I've driven all 4 of the suggested routes, and even went my ow way once, personally i feel route 1 is best : http://gwally.com/directions/000402.php