Monday was spent finishing load up and "de-mooping". MOOP is matter out of place. Something may not be trash, it may just be in the wrong place. Like the $5 I found which was better off in my pocket. I decided that I should wear the Master Shake costume one last time before retiring it.Anyway, our camp prides itself on leaving no trace, hence being awarded it's prime location each year.We left Black Rock City at about 5:30 pm. Loads of the excess alcohol was gifted to DPW who stay on for weeks to clean up. (Ironically they refuse gifts of water). After being stuck in traffic for 3 hours trying...


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Sunday was a much more low-key day. Lots of people had left after the Man burn and the big parties were all done. People were packing up all around and getting ready to return to the default world. We started with the tear-down. And after I went to do one last round of free hugs. This time I was dressed as a penguin, a costume a visitor had gifted the camp that morning. As I walked around I met a guy dressed as a bear, so I invited him to come hugging with me. A bear and a penguin go free hugging at Burning Man. Ironically, I was completely lost after that because loads of the landmarks had been...


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Saturday was a kinda lazy for me. I was kinda exhausted, needed a really good long shower and there were dust storms about. Plus, one of the side-effects of not needing caffeine now is that I'm not hyper anymore. I guess my natural state is "stoner lazy". But I managed to give out more free hugs and visited a couple of art installations. And I went into the middle of the dust storm with an art car and a bunch of us danced to some phat beats. Then I met some japanese folk who taught me how to fly one of those huge kites people use for kite-surfing. There were all sorts of randoms about, sand-boarders,...


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I woke up Thursday realizing I no longer craved Red Bull or in fact, anything caffeinated. Thats kinda a big deal seeing that my body has probably contained caffeine for 85% of its existence. I decided to go head out on another Free Hug adventure as "Master Shake". There were 50,000 friends I hadn't met yet, to hug in Black Rock City. I ditched the bike and any plans and just started walking in one direction. The response was amazing, the hugs were awesome and I even recruited some people from Quebec, along the way to join me. At night I dressed in my "evening wear". I watched the Thunderdrome,...


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On Tuesday I woke up feeling the full effects of my Red Bull withdrawal. I was miserable. There was coffee at the camp but it didn't feel the same. I had get out of my funk. I put on this ridiculous smiley face costume I had found in Reno for $3 and went out free hugging and exploring with Mike. The hugs were good, the exploring was exciting, but my migraine was killing me. We went to a misting station, an ashram and finally, a soulmate trading camp, which I found amusing and gave hugs to everyone before being bored. So I decided to venture out on my own. I came across a New Zealand camp which...


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On Monday the festival started. It was simply overwhelming. Imagine 10 awesome festivals happening simultaneously in the same location. But that location was the desert and temperatures fluctuated like crazy from day to night. And there were dust-storms and twisters. And you could not throw any dirty water on the ground. And you had to walk for 15 mins to get a pota-potty to pee in. And I had just run out of Red Bull. What the hell was I thinking??I figured out pretty quickly that most people pee in a bottle (especially in the middle of the night), so that was one problem fixed. Using baby-wipes...


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Burning Man officially started on Monday. But about 35 of us had early-bird passes and arrived the Saturday before to setup The Lost Penguins (TLP) camp. Lots of people from other camps had already been there for days/weeks, setting up the Black Rock City and camp infrastructure and their art installations.Mike and I had joined TLP via Libby & Meg who had vouched for us. TLP is basically a invitation-only camp where the mentor is responsible for the actions of the new penguins, to maintain quality. The total number for the camp was 85 which I think is slightly higher than their preferred max.The...


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"Burning Man: It's toasty." Burning Man is a celebration of community, radical self-reliance and creativity. Where no commerce is allowed (except to buy ice and coffee) but gifting is heavily encouraged.I've been trying to find the better words to describe it properly but can't. In many ways it's the way many of us non-mainstreamers may wish the world would be. In other ways, it's just another example of mass-consumption. It's a "leave no trace" event, which means everyone needs to take their garbage with them, or failing that, the organizers (DPW) will be responsible. Nothing can be left in the desert....


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