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I Burn (1 of x)

Posted: | 6 min read

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Part of series: Exploration & Discovery

Series: Exploration & Discovery

I recently went to my first burn event (burnhalla, a 24h burn in an old industrial site with around 1,000 people) and found it incredibly valuable!

In the weeks and days leading up to the event I was a bit nervous, both bc I knew almost no one (although this reduced as I helped more and more people before and during build1) and bc I didn’t know what to expect, including whether things might happen that might activate old mental health triggers.

But not only did I not end up a spiralling mess, I had an incredibly enriching and rewarding experience! I’ve met lots of cool ppl, had fun conversations, completed two side quest bingo cards, finished one of the two main quests, and very much satisfied Exploration & Discovery.

The Quests

Main Quests:

  • “To make others more comfortable saying ‘no’, make requests or ask questions. Gather 3 ‘no’s.” 2
  • “Do something very queer tonight, this can be something very small or very large.” 3

These were handed out by a barmaid at the Inn Between, as well as wandering cosplayers that had actual glowing ? and ! marks above their heads! This was great, if I ever get to do this I’d love to try and stand around for a while, doing an awkward idle animation until I get approached :D

Side Quests:
(some of my favorites)

  • Start a protest4
  • Take a “family photo” with complete strangers5
  • Ask someone to carry you around6
  • Sweat in a sauna
  • Inspect someone’s bauble. Give it a rating out of 10
  • Lead a demonstration “Participation is sexy!” and “Everybody is a realizer!” signs7
  • Press yourself against a speaker and feel some music
  • Tell someone what you like about their outfit

A chest with a big button prints out a 3x3 matrix of randomly selected side quests for you to do. The reward: finish a line and get a hit of dopamine; finish the entire sheet and get a crisp high-five!

Things that were cool, meaningful, and made me grow

  • Kitty Collar Workshop: made a collar and matching wristband :3
  • Attended s+ workshops:
    • Hips don’t lie (engaging more w body and hips; unfortunatly, this got disphoric for me when everyone was encouraged to do the “male part” to the mattresses; sitting out on that part helped and was no issue)
    • Cuddly Bondage (whilst I arrived quite late, I got instructed and tied up in thick rope by an experienced participant!)
    • Sensual Awareness: besides that it also had a surprise penis Shiatsu demonstration (was not particularly sexual; felt bit awkward but also fine)
  • Chanted the Sacret Rites of Crucifera, got baptized and baptized the master-of-ceremony
  • Learned to dance at the Primal Body Activation workshop (or Org$Smic Dance?)
  • Watched the Buttplug Laser Games8
    • this was super crowded so I held onto a kind stranger as we balanced on smth elevated, then climbed onto a discoball-ed car and afterwards a large speaker to get a better view
  • Playfought 2 diff women in front of ~35 ppl
    • just as the fight was about to start and the tension was highest I turned on my body-strung fairy lights which got a great reaction from the crowd! this was great!
    • Ribs still hurt almost two weeks later, but worth it!
    • also playfought 3 other ppl as a warm-up without being in the “arena”
    • see Playfights
  • On the next morning I felt the music for the first time and danced at the front, close to the DJ. This was really, unexpectedly great!
    • I never knew what ppl meant when they previously gave that advise, but this time it just. worked. It really makes my personal progress and development feel visceral and real.
  • After hearing about Organysmo and LEDpulse and seeing them construct some of their installations, I bought a ticket for their event in the same venue the weekend after. I wasn’t sure whether this is a concert or not, but was excited to grow more comfortable w dancing and expand my comfort zone further!

Some other nice things were having been out to everyone there and that I discovered new things abt style for myself!

This event was great and Exploration & Discovery loved this!

Footnotes

  1. I investigated the location in advance and helped various people with their things, including

    • testing a high-powered laser projector
    • setting up a bunch of fabric layers for the laser to shine through,
    • cozying up the Romanesco Realm with curtains, lights, and pillows, and
    • lent a router to someone who needed a local network for controlling smart lights.
    ↩

  2. 1st: asking someone to carry me around for an hour
    2nd: offering a sesame bar to someone
    3rd: do you have a few minutes? we need one more person to start a protest.

    I wish I’d have had the courage to ask some cool girl for a kiss; that’d have helped either quest, but alas… ↩

  3. welp, at least I rolled on the floor w one girl and blindfold-fought another for her socks at Playfights and did some kinky activities like getting tied up in ropes; not the same, but still new, comfort-zone expanding experiences ↩

  4. was quite random, but we were 4-5 people and briefly protested against the rampant use of cold colors and for more warm colors! ↩

  5. this was amazing! After the first round of an old-style family portrait was done with some UV floodlight for ghostly looks, a cool girl from the playfight and her friends also wanted to take a picture.
    I’m now the oldest daughter and heiress to two noble families! ↩

  6. had fun getting carried around by a cool guy; also got my first “no” for my main quest by asking whether he’d do this for an entire hour please :D ↩

  7. this was awesome! My “early”-morning protest was a rousing success with 6 ppl at peak and 8 in total plus 2 more (that were interested but weren’t there when we started) ↩

  8. 3v3 teams; buttplugs with lasers attached that have to be shone onto a special roomba to move it away from you and across the rivals’ line ↩

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