Boy - August 29th will be here sooner than I know. And much sooner than I expected.

With my two friends, carshare and camp companions bowing out of Burning Man at the last minute, I'm left scrambling for a ride - and a variety of other stuff their camping trailer would have provided (such as a stove, fridge, shower, and an awning for shade).

Instead, I'm now going with a friend of theirs - Sarah, a fun, tough hippie mama and one-year veteran of BM - I've met once at a party a couple of years ago. She has kindly agreed to give me a ride and share camp, but there is still much to plan, and discuss, and figure out. I'll have to start again all over.

I suppose in some cosmic way, it's all going to work out the way it should have all along - and in the very least, I will experience the theme of "radical self reliance" up close and personal and maybe be a better person for it. After all, this isn't just a camping trip to the desert.

In addition to that, I just found that I actually have to register as press in order to bring my camera to the event and be able to publish the resulting images to more than just my friends and family (for example to this website). As the BM staff puts it: If you are shooting still photography for any reason other than to show your friends and family, you must register, in advance of the event, with the Media Team. One more hurdle. Sigh.

If alert readers have any wisdom to contribute to this virgin BM participant, by all means - fire away (like - seriously - do I really need *rebar* for tent stakes? Or will 10 inch-deep steele stakes do?) And where's a good place to camp in the overall scheme of things?

So much to plan - so little time.