Well, I have been in a foul mood all day.  

We lost our venue at the last minute. We cancelled the party we had been prepping for weeks. We spent a bunch and worked our asses off. We let it all go. Honestly, these are the breaks. Hell it could have been all of us getting arrested for the party. It could have been our friends sent home in the middle of the night. But, damn. 

After I had sent out our statement and went home,  I went and dropped off the gear and stuff we couldn’t use. Then I went home and slumped. I did what damage control I could. I got together some playa wear and trekked out to the Decom I wasn’t going to have time to go to. 

I wandered in a bit of a daze.  It was impressive and all that, I loved the venue, the people, the burning man stuff. 

But I was so bummed. I felt like someone had kicked my puppy. I had a decent amount of fun, I ran into many people also sad to have the Homecoming Dance cancelled. I saw my friends. I saw some great acts.

I ended up heading over to Space Island for a spell. but I had been up since 7am and had been operating on  a few hours of sleep each night for a week. Make no mistake, Space Island throws a fantastic party. Seriously, it was awesome.

But, I was supposed to be hosting a fantastic party last night. 

Like I said foul mood.

We hate to do this, and we have grappled with it all morning. 

It seems that last night, a rave used our venue and blew out the location. A neighbor came by an gloated about dropping a dime on the last party, and promised in no uncertain terms that he would gleefully do the same tonight. Nice, right?  

We looked at other locations, but at the very last minute, it’s challenging. Make no mistake, when it comes to planning a party, venue is the absolute hardest part of what we do. 

Upon finding no acceptable alternatives, we are pulling the plug and accepting what losses we have already expended. We truly hope that we have caught you early enough in the day to plan your evening. We will refund all money from presales, obviously. But, please accept our humblest of apologies. 

You are fortunate, though. Tonight, Space Island is also throwing a party, Beyond the Boundaries. I am sure it’s going to awesome, and it is where I will be going. Go to:  http://www.spaceisland.org/space-island-decom.html for presales and more info. 

I am sure you will have a good time tonight, whatever you do. Just think of it like your actual high school homecoming dance, a lot of hype followed by major disappointment.

Why are we here guys? Is it to have a career? Is it to have a relationship? Is it to be healthy, or rich, or good?Is it to throw a good party, or dance your ass off?   What is our path and why do we walk it?  Why exist?

Hanging out with Rif always gives me an interesting perspective on life. It is good to be reminded sometimes of who you can be and who you are. Rif’s worldview sees the world as an epic battlefield where angels are constantly doing battle with the dark forces of the universe. I relate. I often see myself as channeling some higher, perfected power. It’s always fun to run with others who can see themselves in a similar light. I like being an angel. It works. 

We humans are uniquely equipped to create our reality. We tell ourselves about how the world is constantly. We blog, creating the universe as we go. The way the world “is” is directly related to how we keep saying it is. If god is some vengeful landlord, we will find proof for that. If our landlord is a big jerk who never does any repairs, surprise! it’s true! if people all lie, it seems to us that no one tells the truth. If I can do no wrong, then… It just goes on an on.  Of course it is my belief that the stories we tell ourselves create our reality, so there you go. True for me. 

So what if we ourselves that it is divinely inspired, that some higher power guides us, elevating us.  What if those moments when we are most alive are those moments when the veil is thinnest between that angelic self and our Malkuthian earth bodies. I hung out with people who fly last night. I met angels who fed me chocolate and tea.  I connected with old friends in a different time. The barriers between the worlds get thinner when there are more of us gathering together.  I always have fun when I get to adventure with Rif. 

This is why we gather.  All that energy and self expression, it feeds that spiritual well. We gather together and we can draw from it so easily.  Don’t you feel more alive when surrounded by the friends who you love and admire. Focus that. 

This weekend, you will see your people. Decom, Homecoming, Space Island (although, I for obvious reasons prefer you come to Homecoming, so I can see you), or wherever you are, and it is up to you to elevate it. Find your highest self. Find the highest self in others. Connect with that. Play together. Find those young angels inside these adults with jobs and lovers and worries. Join together and find yourselves in dance and laughter and magic. It’s up to you. Lets show this city what happens when gods, goddesses, angels, demons, monsters and faeries gather together in the heart and elevate it. This weekend, lets burn our own man away, and leave only the highest within.

See you there. It’s up to you. 

10 things I have have been up to since getting home. 

It’s been a few weeks.  I haven’t been blogging for the last week. I’ve been busy. I’m a bad blogger. So here’s what I have been busy with. The top things. 

1. Katie and Brian’s Wedding. Yeah, pretty much the best wedding I have been to.  It was incredible and inspiring. Just wow. See my previous post for details.

2. Went up to Benton Hot Springs with my friends Jerri and Ed. Benton is up near Bishop, you know on the way to Burning Man? Every time I pass through there, I think to myself, this is the most beautiful part of California. I’ve always wanted to visit. You know, I was right! It IS the most beautiful part of California! The hot springs were incredible. It was situated in between these huge mountains. The stars were so bright and the sky so open. I can’t wait to go back!

3. On this trip, Jerri, who is a real badass, brought her quad and dirt bike. Fuckin’ awesome! when I was thirteen or so, my dad bought my brother and I quads. I had forgotten how much fun speeding along in the dirt. I forgot the power of that. I left really thinking about buying one. Jerry had made her quad into an art car this year for the Burn. I am all about stealing people’s technology for Burning Man fun. And I hear that utility quads can pull a trailer…

4.  I’ve lost 15 pounds since July. The no sugar, no booze, and working my little tail off traveling all over the country has been paying off! I feel great!

5. I got this great program for my Mac, Delicious Library (http://www.delicious-monster.com/). It lets you scan in your media using the built in camera on your lappy. I have a pretty extensive book, comic, game and DVD collection. I tend to lend my things out. Books are best when they are shared. One of the great features of Delicious is that it lets you loan things to your contacts, giving you reminders when it’s due. It also gives you the option of selling your books on Amazon. Brilliant! I can’t wait to really get into it!

6. I’ve been working for my family’s business for the last week or so. I’ve been sorting through the little numbers for the little metal parts that we sell to keep industry alive in this country.  My grandmother started the company, Monarch Bearing,  in the 50s. It’s been in my life my whole life. That smell of industrial grease and steel. It always brings comfort to me. But this time, while counting oil seals and snap rings i saw art. I am going to make some jewelry from the parts. I kept visualizing these awesome designs. In the next few weeks I should have some pieces. 

7. Since being back in LA, I suddenly find that I have no time again. This is in stark contrast to how my life behaved in Baltimore, Black Rock City, and Denver. There I was busy, but I had nothing but time. I am really going to have to work on chilling a bit here. Nonstop.  Who am I kidding? I love it. 

8. This coming weekend is LA Decom and our party Saturday night Homecoming. (http://www.hipgenesis.com). I am really looking forward to this one. We haven’t officially thrown a party since The Winter Ball. That and as a high school student, I never made it to any of the dances. And lately, it seems like HG is doing school dances. Watch for the Sadie Hawkins Dance coming soon. 

9. I got Facebook spotted the other night. Some guy knew my name and said he saw me on Facebook. Then Y2 said he saw my picture as a Facebook ad! Kind of disturbing. The age of privacy is kind of dead, I guess. I don’t think any of that will discourage my Internet footprint.  There is much more to explore in my media creation experiment.  I think Internet famous is only 15 seconds of fame, anyway.

10. San Francisco Decom. Yeah. Going to that, too.  I miss the Playa. I am going to party the next few weekends. Who’s with me?