Justin-Klein.com – Life of a Traveling Programmer

Yep, I survived the Bangkok floods. But only just barely.

Hey all,

As it’s now been nearly six weeks since my last post (which was already quite far behind), I thought I’d give just a quick realtime update. Nope, I haven’t forgotten about this blog – as usual, after a period of intense travel I’ve just ended up under a pile of catchup work and am now doing my best to dig my way out
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It’s a loooong road to Kazantip, on the Black Sea coast just a few hundred kilometers from Russia. But if you’ve ever heard anything about this “Shangri La of parties”…you’ll know that it’s worth it ; )

A few posts ago I ended with a bit of a teaser. I said that rather than returning to Hanoi as planned, I’d be “flying the other direction.” What exactly does this mean, you ask?

It means that first thing tomorrow morning, I’m heading off to Europe. Eastern Europe, to be precise. For yet another wild and crazy festival

As the end of the summer is just around the corner the time has come for Herb and I to keep our promises to each other – we’re dropping everything and flying across the world yet again. The destination: a distant corner of the Crimean Peninsula for an off-the-beaten-path party I’ve been anxious to experience since first hearing its name just one year ago.

I’m talking, of course, about the Republic of Kazantip. Continue reading »

Back when I was a student at UCSD, one of my oldest and closest friends emailed me a short story he’d written for his creative writing class. I thought it was amazing, as did everyone who read it. His teacher was so impressed that she insisted he continue. And that’s exactly what he did.

Eight years later, Nick’s original “Fox and the Peach” is just the introduction of a full 350-page novel; a part-history part-mythology tale set in ancient Japan.

As I’ve been pretty “in the loop” throughout his whole process I must admit that it’s cool to see this thing finally go public. Especially because many of the characters’ personalities are based loosely on those of myself and my friends. I’ve even got my own little mention in the “Thanks To” section

So as my “Thanks To” Nick, here’s a quick little plug:
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For those who haven’t noticed, I finally got around to implementing a long-needed blog feature: the ability to subscribe to posts via e-mail. Continue reading »

Looking back at the crowd in front of circuitGROUNDS, one of EDC’s six enormous stages.

You might expect that after having been to so many unusual festivals around the world, they’d eventually start to get old.

But you’d be wrong.

Far more than just a concert, a festival, or a rave…EDC is an extravaganza unlike any other.

The thing that keeps me coming for more is the sheer diversity – the fact that the water war of Thai Songkran is completely and utterly different from the peace-and-love music festival of Roskilde, which is in turn nothing like the traditional Japanese dance of Awa Odori or the decadence of Brazilian Carnaval.

Quite a couple of costumes!

…And well, once again, I can honestly say that nothing I’ve ever experienced has been quite like the Electric Daisy Carnival.
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