That Event In The Desert, 2010

[XCashier]

to thedrunkenmonkey and Kukla! May you have a happy lifetime together!

Your stories from this year's festival were quite entertaining, as usual. It's amazing how entitled some people can be. Not to mention, too foolish to plan ahead. (Would one of those huge Igloo coolers be able to hold enough ice and keep it through the festival? Well, if I ever go, I'll try that.)

And of course, because they are too foolish to plan ahead or think things out, they must project the blame onto you. Because you held a gun to their head and forced them to not plan ahead. [/sarcasm]

[Jester]

Dude, I so want to volunteer with you next year. I mean, I get to abuse people as a bartender and magician, but there are usually lines I can't cross. You get to say things that I would love to say.

I SO want to do this. Several days in the desert? Margaritas? Abusing people? Where's the flaw?

[thedrunkenmonkey]

Heh, thanks guys.

A few things:

TEITD is murder on your cooler. If you think you're going to be able to buy an extra-awesome maritime will-hold-ice-solid-for-five-months cooler, you're wrong. It'll melt. Dry ice evaporates in the heat. Wet ice melts into goopy water. So you bring $40 for ice, buy blocks of ice for your food cooler and buy cubed or crushed ice to keep beverages and the like cold.

I kept getting asked, "Why don't you sell dry ice?" And my answer ALWAYS is:

1. It's completely inefficient in energy - we can't keep the refer trucks below 34 degrees which is barely enough to keep the ice we HAVE in a solid state, let alone run something at negative yadda yadda degrees for a specific need.

2. It's a restricted product with specific safety issues that require special handling permits.

3. I'd be making dry-ice bombs all day long.

I did remember another moment of dear god AWESOME, and it was when my art car (or the car associated with our camp that I rode on all the damn time), which looks like a rocketship from the back and a white sailing vessel from the front was driving along, and got chased by a series of art cars designed like porpoises, with two women riding on the front of each.

Our ship (which has a crow's nest) had three guys dancing on the railing all night long, and I got to scream as my friend leaned out to hand off a bottle of Maker's Mark to another ship's dancer that pulled up alongside, "IF YOU FALL AND DIE I'M NOT CLEANING IT UP!"

Another SC for you guys:

One of my fellow managers at another station had to deal with a guy who, mistakenly early in the week, due to a confused cashier, got a discount he wasn't supposed to get. So, naturally, he decided that it was time to make a scene.

The only problem is, my friend and fellow manager is Surly with underlines, pirate flags, death head skulls, and more. You think I'm bad - Surly is the kind of guy who would boot you from the line for trying to tell him he needs to lighten up.

SC: I got this discount last week. You should honor it.
Surly: I don't gotta honor jackall. The prices are here. The cashier who sold you the discount made a mistake and we have to rectify it with accounting.
SC: I have been attending TEITD for ten years and you should...
Surly: Shut the fuck up.
SC: WHAT?
Surly: I said shut the fuck up. You're not getting a discount.
SC: I want to talk to your manager!
Surly: Sure. She's located at <our camping zone>. It's on the map.
SC: You need to tell me where to go!
Surly: I did. Also, go to hell. You may let her know I notified you of both locations when you find her.

Then he called it in. Our camping zone? Right behind his workplace. God, I love that guy.

[JustaCashier]

I kept getting asked, "Why don't you sell dry ice?" And my answer ALWAYS is:

1. It's completely inefficient in energy - we can't keep the refer trucks below 34 degrees which is barely enough to keep the ice we HAVE in a solid state, let alone run something at negative yadda yadda degrees for a specific need.

2. It's a restricted product with specific safety issues that require special handling permits.

3. I'd be making dry-ice bombs all day long.

4. Too many visitors to this event would be walking around with the appearance of smoke or steam spewing out of their ass.

Mike

[chainedbarista]

don't forget the potential 'liability' issues from idiots who'll use their bare hands to handle it, then put it in a sealed container.
dry ice bombs? if that were a part of it, i'd volunteer!

[EricKei]

4. Too many visitors to this event would be walking around with the appearance of smoke or steam spewing out of their ass.

...And missing bits of flesh... >_>

[thedrunkenmonkey]

...details.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I saw on some other site that TEITD was recent, and as soon as I saw that, I thought: "Yay! Monkey's gonna post his stories from the ice stand!"

I was not disappointed.

[Wenchie]

I saw on some other site that TEITD was recent, and as soon as I saw that, I thought: "Yay! Monkey's gonna post his stories from the ice stand!"

I was not disappointed.

^_^ That was my reaction too.... some friends of mine came back from TEITD and I waited for a few days and then PMed Monkey. I guess I'm impatient...

[Lachrymose]

Iiiiicccce in the desert.....fire in the sky!

[Hyena Dandy]

I never understood the appeal of That Event In The Desert... What's the point of it? And that's an honest, not sarcastic, question.

[Wenchie]

I never understood the appeal of That Event In The Desert... What's the point of it? And that's an honest, not sarcastic, question.

I haven't been, but I have a lot of friends that go, and I know what they've told me... and a lot of what they haven't but I've been able to pick up. Part of it is the comradry... the feeling that you get of belonging at an event like that. It's the same reason that I work renaissance festivals. You can be yourself there, without worrying that anyone is going to think that you're strange or weird.

Some of it's a return to simpler things... being in the desert strips off the external materialistic things in life. You can find out a lot about yourself and the people you're with when you don't have the distractions outside.

But most of all, I've had people tell me that it's a celebration of life... everything. The art, the people, the creativity, music, and just pure randomness. It's a hurricane that catches you up in the middle and then leaves you stripped bare to the world to make your path.