Turns out that being stuck in the apocalypse with 70,000 of the planet's most awe-inspiring and talented individuals is absolutely delightful. Ironically, it might've been the best Burn ever.

I once told the woman I would eventually fall in love with that visiting Burning Man for the first time would restore your faith in humanity. Little did I know then that 16 Burns later, the sentiment would still ring true for me.

Last year, I showed up back to Default with a five-page self-improvement manifesto and laundry list of good intentions and plans for our camp. This year, my heart's full of appreciation and gratitude to share with you all. This is going to be a long read.

Big thanks to everyone who braved the rain and mud to keep our spirits high and our asses safe. A shout-out to the leads at the neighboring 9 and B Plaza camp for coordinating necessities like water, meds, power, internet, and even planning to organize food banks for solo campers. The rain poured, the mud sloshed, and some people were losing their minds, but the music, laughter, and revelry didn't miss a beat. We didn't just survive; we fucking thrived and somehow made the thing 10 times better. 

Kudos for the unforgettable sunrises, and to that ridiculously fun couple who came straight to me to tell me I didn't stop smiling for the last two hours during the Tycho set. Love to Robot Heart for coming out of their camp for that 5 a.m. ride along the trash fence, playing killer synth as the sun crept up for a lucky few of us. Major props to everyone who helped get the Heavy Petting Zoo Art Car unstuck from the mud after the rain while the DJ was still playing.  Mind-blowing how we pulled that off, especially as fucked up as we all were.

Infinite gratitude and love for that mysterious and beautiful individual from a decade ago who, in one of the most emotional and pivotal moment of my life, made me the promise that if I wrote my feelings down to myself in a letter, they would send it back to me after 10 years. I received it right on time. Your promise might've slipped my mind, but you never forgot, and for that, I'm eternally grateful. Reading that while crying in the Temple was the absolute highlight of my journey. Young Pablo is pleased and happy I checked all the boxes and became the person I am today. 

Thanks to the BRC Rangers for keeping the Tokyo bar across the street alive and kicking. Those 50 treacherous, slippery feet separating my camp from yours were always worth the journey. Props to the fun bartender with a plastic hand glued to her nose who pivoted to feelings-based mocktails when the serving booze started to be too dangerous. My 'happiness with a hint of snark'? Perfection. Cheers to the mud wrestling and to the genius who slapped giant trash bags on that colossal pink bunny's feet. Pure fucking Burner poetry and comedy.

Thanks to all the Burn virgins in our camp for allowing me to experience this with your fresh eyes to reminding me why we do what we do. Now you know why this is like trying to explain colors to someone who's never seen them. Your turn to spread the magic now. To those women who randomly confided feeling safe with me – you know who you are, but you might never grasp how much that means and how hard I have been working on this. To that drunk fun septuagenarian judge with an elaborate fantasy of putting me in a cage and feeding me the rest of the burn. Definitely not my kink but I hope you found what you were looking for, you fun imaginative hilarious freak.

Vinay, thanks for being an authentic soul and the continuous gifts. Your insights, energy and contributions. That talk about what could really go wrong and what we could do about it during muddy wet dinner made the entire camp feel at ease for the rest of the Burn. Thanks for bringing me to the Cacophony Society Cocktail in my formal attire, to meet the OG weirdos who started all this almost 40 years ago. Unforgettable.

Props to the entire Meshtastic  Project for keeping a huge city connected with a few hundred dollars worth of electronics. For meeting mid-week to adjust. For reminding me that the LORA repeater on top of our camp tower was keeping both sides of the city connected. It gave me the energy to keep climbing up and fixing that little thing and its fucked up dusty solar panel over and over under 10x the traffic I was expecting. Playa does fuck your electronics up. 

Infinite appreciation to Zach, Hui Woon, Luke, Renée, John, and Emily for organizing magic. Our camp was legendary, a testament to months of preparation. We nailed it this year. Let's keep that momentum. Renee, you're the ultimate fun partner in mischief and you manifested some serious shit with those Choose Chaos stickers. Gratitude to everyone at camp Kaleidoscope for the magic, whether you camped with us or not. Every single one of you made a huge difference. 

Thanks to everyone who stayed through Monday and kept the small, early-2000s Burn vibe alive; being in the front rows was pure joy. Infinite love to those wild souls who didn't let broken bones or casts put a damper on their party. You fun fucked up weirdos. 

To my fun party brothers Darren and Michael, I didn't have enough of you. To my incredible friends and partner for keeping the memes from Default flowing in. We didn't catch ebola, we didn't eat human flesh, there were no new viruses, I don't think the National Guard was distributing ketamine. But I had a hell of a time telling everyone what y'all thought we were going through.

We managed to make the most incredible experience even better. Let's do it again and again and again and again. Let's build a city. 
Bless your Burn. The Man burns in 362 days.