ZOOM was at Burning Man in 2023!

[JoshWillTravel]

Hey Camp Envy! Today was magic! I finally got to thank Matthew F. Reyes aka MotorbikeMatt for everything in person via the interweb! I've been Camp Envy since 2013 and my gift has been grabbing screen shots of the webcast, and reposting them (sometimes with meme qualities) to share with Camp Envy because they missed it. Like the pic here from 2022. Also people on The Playa don't have our perspective of "master shot from far away" and these pic are incredible, immediate and history! This year I was enthralled in TheWindow project: a zoom window in the Artery on the Esplanade during the event, so I wasn't here at all. Watching bikes ride by, mutant vehicles parked outside, hearing the OOOONTZ OOONTZ OOONTZ of music, and having a community of Burners talking to Burners on The Playa was so much more interactive than watching the static shot and typing at the chat. I have been sharing pics from the Burn and from the people we met this week. Pictures that haven't been seen. History that hasn't been told. So, if you are interested, we have evolved TheWindow project into Camp FOMO. We also have a discord and I am sharing pics, vids, and stories both places with Camp Envy members who want to see and hear and participate. So, not everyone knows that Matt almost died in a motel room in Empire last year making the BMWebcast happen for all of us, and then ended up in the hospital. F*CK YEAH THAT HAPPENED! So my post last night was a digital Thank you for this year and the years before. Thank you all for making that happen. You reactions and comments were beautiful! And I didn't tag Matt until there was a trail of hearts coming off of it. Then I sent him a message "For all you do, Thanking you!"

I've been trying to get him in the Zoom chat since Tuesday of the Burn, and he was sending story pics back on fb from restaurants and other not Burning Man locations all week. So today I was alone chatting with my Second Life avatar friend from the United Kingdom, waiting for the next digital adventurer to click the link that I was posting all week and stumble into our little Black Rock City, BRCVR and Camp Envy adjacent space... when Matt finally opened a window and appeared from his office space! MIND BLOWN! TOTAL FANBOY! OMG! So that happened. You should have been there. So, even more Playa Magic through this project. Come and hear stories, tell stories, see pic and vids that haven't been seen in twenty years, engage in human interaction through this f*cking piece of electronic isolation! We BURNED on THE PLAYA with the differently abled, medically challenged, financially unable, Burners from other countries, and others who can never be at Burning Man. But they could because of TheWindow. And I got to Thank Matt in person at last! Thanks for reading all the way through. I hope you will be there with me for the next magic moment. We are keeping the Camp FOMO window open for as long as there is interest and participation. We are also thinking of having our own camp and digital connection next Burn, and as long as we have consent and co-operation from the BMorg, we can make it happen next year too. The BMWebcast is an integral part of the experience and THANKS EVERYONE AGAIN in case you missed my messages! We formed a community and Burned together and with people on The Playa. When they had to shut the Zoom window in the Artery down on Friday when the storm hit, we zoomed with people in the mud and stuck in camp. We knew the news before BMIR including the truth about the unfortunate death on Friday. And we were laughing at the media reports coming in, the Dip-sh+t coverage, etc. because we were in contact with our friends and family out there and were sharing those reports with the group. Thanks to a Ranger at Greeters' Camp, and friends in different camps we had a unique perspective on the media created "disaster". We had amazing Burners drop in and tell stories. We got Danger Ranger telling the origin story from Black Beach to Black Rock City! IT WAS AWESOME! And Saturday night we burned The Man in Ross' and my backyard together, then watched the real Man Burn together. FOMO, JOMO, and FOMO again. And then we all cried together in our zoom chat while muted in silence during the Temple burn. We watched the Exodus and teardown via news and interweb vids as the first escapees from the mud came and told us what happened. Camp FOMO is radically inclusive and we are still open.

THANK YOU IF YOU READ MY LONG WNDED TALE! I would love to share my story of riding a dragon across The Playa at night with swing music playing and then having the neck break and almost getting blown up at Burning Man.... IT WAS AWESOME!

And now it has a new ending and video and audio attachments!

THANK YOU MATT! THANK YOU Professr Pickle! (Pickle was just here too, and we had the best time tonight) THANK YOU EVERYONE INVOVED IN THE BM WEBCAST AND THEWINDOW PROJECT! THANK YOU CAMP ENVY!

Peace and Love, JoshWillTravel

The Temple of The Heart burns! (as seen from Camp FOMO) Thank you Rand and Temple Crew! We talked to the guy who did all the solar and also keeps the art lit in Deep Playa at night during the Burn. He came to the window and told us they ran out of night as they were lighting the Temple. BRAVO! Best Temple ever!

p.s. sorry for the typos, it's late and it came out naturally...

I'll go back and fix them in the morning.