The same chaos reigns over at Crude Awakening. I have been hearing stories all week from Mills about her concerns with the safety of this project, so I am a little wary of standing too close. Yesterday, they were having trouble getting pressure into the 500 feet of pipe they will pour the propane through.
I can’t see a silver Sphinx anywhere. Karen doesn’t think we’ll find it. My feet are sore.
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doesn’t mind either way. So we find another vehicle to rest in for a while and gather ourselves. Rested, we decide to keep wandering. On my way off this truck, I am looking for a foot hold and can’t find one. Someone offers me a hand and I foolishly decide to take it rather than keep looking for the foothold. I come down too heavily on my bad leg and feel my sacrum and L5 go out of place as I land. It’s enormously painful.
Walking slowly will help but I really need a chiropractor. We move slowly towards a large art car with a glowing sign: Martini Agog. Perhaps a drink or two? Parked right next to that is the silver Sphinx bus. Whoo hoo! We climb aboard. Apparently, we were supposed to meet *next* to the bus not on it, but I didn’t know that at the time. From the open top deck of the bus, we watch the amazing fireworks show before the oil derrick burns. It’s literally the best fireworks show I think I’ve ever seen and I’m including Sydney Harbour 2000 in that. Mind you, Sydney Harbour had a couple of three dimensional shapes. Perhaps it’s on par.
Then the derrick starts to burn. I have never seen anything so enormous as this fireball. I can’t help but think about how wasteful it is. “Green†Man, huh? Buying carbon credits to offset this is all well and good but this is still hugely problematic. The travel of all the people here is too. And yet, otherwise, how would they get to make this art statement about dependence on oil? Complicated.
Apparently there are four “blevvies†in this explosion. All I can see is an amazing fire tornado at its center, spinning with a wildness of a sprite chained.
I am swept with a wave of exhaustion and tell
I’m going downstairs. He joins me and we find our way past the sumptuous bar to the hidden back room, lined with deep red wallpaper and done up as a Moroccan bed chamber. There are mattresses and cushions, a round table with spaces cut into it for drinks, people draped around. There is a water feature, a little waterfall tumbling down onto some smooth rocks against one wall and a little alcove at the back with a Ganesh figure in it.
I keep snoozing. The captain of the Sphinx keeps coming in with his girlfriend all dressed in a white corset and tutu, black-framed glasses making her stern. “No sleeping!†he says. “Spankings all round if you sleep!†She administers the spankings with glee.
We eventually leave the Crude Awakening site and head, I think, back to camp, but it turns out the Sphinx plans to hang out at the Opulent Temple at 2 o’clock. I wait and wait for it to head home, since I can’t walk six whole playa blocks to 5 o’clock with my leg as it is. Luckily for me, aethyrflux works with Burners without Borders and he’s a darling. He props me up on a bean bag at a chill space and walks back to their camp at 3.30, gets me a wheel chair and then wheels me back to our camp at 5.
Needless to say, I got a few surprised looks when I got into the Village, but we sat around and talked a little longer and then I wheeled myself to the hammock again.