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My tree planting season is over. I will see the man soon. I have dreamed about it for so many years. But first I need to hitch from Vancouver to Nevada. Just a straight road-arrow down. I am at the Peace Arch crossing being asked by a customs officer: - Where are you traveling, Mr. Dovhyi? - I go to Burning Man, sir. - What is this burning man?.. A: Burning Man is an event that takes place in Black Rock Desert, Nevada, annually. Approximately seventy thousand people come there, build a city, live there for a week, tear down the city, clean the desert and leave. That simple. Driving in the desert at night. Lights are so bright and vigorous. We listen to the event radio: Приветствуем Вас на Бёрнин Мен! Bienvenido a Burning Man! Welcome to Burning Man! ... When the car hits our spot I immediately jump out and start to run in the dark streets. I feel free as a wind. Shortly after I ran across a tall giraffe-shaped art-car. I petted its night-desert-cold metal skin. And then suddenly a tiny little sticker caught my eye: BURNING MAN RUINED MY LIFE. Whaaaat?.. Why? I just couldn't understand, that moment; I do, now. I laughed. Day: One When a community hugs you - you want to hug it back. How do you do it? You do it with a good deed. Man nicknamed Buddy and I built a shower. A shower, in a desert! For the people. A dance of tubes, hoses, slip nuts, screws, plywood, a couple of hours of work and a hundred of combinations, not working, not working, ..., working. - Do you want to take a shower, buddy? Day: Postcard I wanted to send a postcard to my mom. I came to a post office. A gorgeous naked woman served me there. I bet with staff like that it is very easy to find volunteers. So, my task was to find a person I didn't know, from a camp I didn't know the location of, and to give him a letter. I used a map, I came there, but the camp was not there. A couple of days later I figured out that the man I was talking with in a tea house was the recipient I looked for. Pure magic. Day: Lisa It was a spectacular show to watch that day. The name of the show was - Lisa just being everyday Lisa. Within twenty minutes that girl: brought her drunk friend to his tent, made sandwiches for James and me, cleaned James' injured feet and put adhesive bandages on it, and all that time staying extremely funny, attentive, smiling, caring effortlessly. I quickly realized that Burning Man is about people. They are the true nature of that place, the true gems of that desert, the true art of that world. Lisa was Mona Lisa to me that day. Day: Edge Overwhelmed with non-stopping sensations. Need to be alone. To reflect. It is night. I start walking deeper in the desert, away from the city. There is a bit of a sand storm, but not too bad. I walked, and walked, and walked. Till I got to the Trash Fence - the fence that protects the rest of the desert from our litter. I lie down, lean on the fence with my back. I observe the Milky Way. Think about people I love. About my mistakes. About my cat. About Gauguin - Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? Stars out there... Day: Temple The wooden temple is on fire now. Thousands of people sit and watch it in total silence. All the grief, the cries, the tears, the goodbyes, that were left in this sacred place, are shared with other beholders of the fire now. You feel the energy in the soil, the heat on your face. When such things are shared they become lighter. Ashes of people's emotions go up to the Universe. She can take them all. "BURNING MAN RUINED MY LIFE." Because I want to come back already. Because I want to see it in the out-of-the-desert world. Please come this year.