Burning Man Skills

Step 21 Extremely Comfortable Plywood-and-Stick Couch of Memories

The sight of that couch brings back memories.
In 2003, my first year, I showed up at burning man with an orange sheet, some airline blankets sewed together to make them big enough, and a share in "foodlab" which provided food and water for a week. And a folding bike.

[inset text box, 30% yellow screen, this won't be on the quiz ]
One way to get girls to talk to you is to act like you're dead.
It requires patience, but severe depression can be a good substitute for that.
Just collapse somewhere and don't move for a few hours. Some nice lady is sure to come asking you questions about the nature of existence and whether you've got one.
[ end sidenote ]

Warning: There's no sex in the following story.
I felt the need to sleep somewhere public and loud, so I plunked down on one of these super-comfortable plywood-and-slat couches for some Z's in a disco dome. Eventually a female of the species got the same idea and plunked down next to me. The night chill hit her and her tossing and turning rolled her right over to me and she snuggled up for some warmth. We had a nice talk about her research, something about retail shelves and psychology. I took the liberty of rolling my eyes back into my head to read her soul. She already had a labrador retriever and a dude named "Bo" there in a baseball cap. She went outside to pee and I fell asleep. She returned, and no, wait, it was someone else named girl #2! I looked up and girl #1 was grinning and giving me a thumbs-up, while lip-miming something like "attaboy!" Girl #2 had nothing to say and shoved her scapulas in my face for a minute or two, then she got up and tried to take my blanket with her. I clung to it despite sleep paralysis, and there we were, doing a tug-of-war with the blanket. She said she just needed to wear it outside to pee and she'd bring it right back. She never reappeared. Probably she worked for the airline. I took it as a sign to practice monkish mind-over-body self-warming meditation techniques. As a result I was miserably cold. The next night I tried again, and after that being miserable was an unbreakable habit. Eventually I discovered it was easier to be warm when I ate a rich dinner first.

That interaction with random women took place on Wednesday night. You should be aware that on thursday all the women leave and are replaced by fat guys with no pants and a camera. That's absolutely true. After thursday there are no women at burning man. They have all been scared away by thousands of fat guys with cameras wearing a shirt and no pants.

Comments

[mmadesky]

I loved those couches so much I came back to them several times & had to bring my friends who were veterans to check them out.

[aborior]

I would love to see an instructable on these couches! i will try to make them by the pictures anyway. thank you for this.

[thebriguy]

Go to a plasma donation center and look at their giant chair recliners because they are very comfortable and a similar shape. Take a few measurements and pictures. Then post an instructable ;-)

[turkey tek]

i was intrigued by these couches as well... a very simple technique for creating a complicated contoured back while still having only simple pi/2 joints between the slats and the plywood. i'd been thinking for some time about an almost identical design for my living room. as usual, if you can think of it, chances are someone on the playa is already doing it!

[spunpup]

Hahaha, the fat camera guys, I'd almost forgotten about that. He tells the truth folks, tis' no lie!