My brother, the burner

According to my parents (who are about to get hit by yet another hurricane), my brother took two weeks off of work to drive out to the desert to attend Burning Man. (Note: I didn't speak with him this week, so I cannot confirm the hearsay. But, since he's gone out there every year for the past several years, the information has the indicia of reliability.)

I don't think I'm actually jealous of the Burning Man thing, since hanging out in the middle of the Nevada desert without bathrooms while having to barter for stuff isn't exactly my idea of a smashing good time. But, as anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis can probably guess, I am acutely jealous of his ability to just take that much time off of work to do something random. The last time I did anything like that was in January, 2003, when I took 6 sequential days off in order to go to Israel.

I wish I felt like I could do something like that now. I think I'd go to the Greek Isles, Italy, or Australia. Maybe North Africa, like Morocco or Egypt. But definitely not the Nevada desert. Well, unless Vegas counts.