My 12 Material Possessions List

The web site www.daydreamingonpaper.com has writing prompts. Tonight I decided to give it a try. Twelve doesn't seem a very big number.

If you were only allowed to have 12 material possessions, what would they be and
why?

1. sleeping bag to keep warm
2. tent for shelter
3. hydration pack for water
4. fiddle for music
5. sketchbook and pencils for drawing
6. hat for warmth
7. bicycle for travelling
8. shoes for walking
9. coat for warmth
10. an outfit to wear
11. camp stove with fuel
12. food

There, the packing list for Burning Man. If I limited it to this much stuff it would stand a far better chance of fitting in the car.

The sleeping bag I used every night but I had a fleece liner to help keep me warm. I hate being cold.

My new instant up tent is big and roomy and a cinch to set up. Throw it and by the time it hits the ground it's up. But there's a reason why they don't show the person trying to close it. I can't close it on my own. It's really complicated and 3-d reality just doesn't map well into a 2-dimensional instruction sheet.

Water is always good but you do need a source for refilling the hydration pack. Like the giant water bottles and pump that we had.

I brought my extra cheap fiddle and my cheap synthetic bow. It came with two bows but I think that a discount luthier must have rehaired them because the hairs are too short and aren't being held. In the Irish session I was wishing I had brought my good fiddle because this one kept going out of tune which may have had something to do with being stuck in a hot trunk for days.

Afternoons I spent happily drawing naked people at the Art Model Camp. Oops! Did I say naked? I meant nude, of course. So sketchbook and pencils are essential to a happy existance.

Monday night I volunteered for the 3 am to 6 am sunrise shift at the Temple. A hat for warmth makes a huge difference when you're freezing to death. So do mittens which I didn't have and will have next year but that would be a thirteenth item unless mittens can fall with hat into accessories. Wintertime accessories that is.

Number seven, a bicycle helps you cover nine miles of playa easily. Assuming you're not following a frog water truck and that it hasn't rained which it did Monday afternoon when I was trying to pitch item two in a wind storm. No gears, no fenders, nothing fancy - wait, no, fancy is good. Decorated and with lights.

Since so much effort must be extended each day to run all over to see everything, or at least attempt to, good walking shoes save your body from stress.

At night time a warm coat makes a huge difference to whether you want to run home to bed or stay out and party.

I had separate items for clothing but then I realized I needed to have food as an item. So instead of pants, and shirt it got condensed into an outfit to wear. Certainly packing costumes (or outfits as Halcyon prefers to call them) takes a lot of room in the vehicle.

Last year was canned food. This year was mountain backpacking meals. Next year will be real food cooked on a real camp stove with real fuel. Because next year will include smokies. This year the food was horrible.

So lastly we come to food already previously discussed. Is it too early to pack for Burning Man?