Mondays

...and so it begins...

I'm not sure why it takes me forever to get going on Monday mornings — it's not as if I have to get up, get dressed, and drive to a job. Maybe that's it, actually — I'm missing that ritual. Having a cup of coffee and a muffin is apparently not enough ritual.  More work is required on that one.

At any rate, today I have to create a map for the Flashpoint Artists Initiative board to use as part of our permit application for this fall's burn, Alchemy. We are once again on new property, which means that for the third time in as many years I will be designing the burn from the ground up.

Yes, I enjoy flexing my skills and authority to carve out a city where there wasn't one before, and yes, I enjoy placing each theme camp so that a) they're happy-ish; and b) they're part of the whole in such a way that the average hippie will be delighted to find them in the course of the passeggiata.

However.

Every time we move to a new property, I have to get out and tromp all over the land multiple times just to make sure I'm not trying to put a camp on the side of a hill. Trying to "discover" where the burn will be is a creative act just as harrowing as composing a new piece of music or writing a new book.  Ugh.

The challenge this time will be that the center of the main field turns into a lake if it rains, which means I cannot use it, and that means the main body of the burn will be either a large loop if we're lucky, or a horseshoe if we're not. (For an explanation of why that matters, allow me to recommend my manifesto on burn design.)

But first the board has to submit the permit application, which means I have to produce a map for new property that I don't have a complete grasp of yet.

Oh well, I knew the job was dangerous when I took it.

More work is required.  As in, get to work.