CURRENT MISSION

vainly finding a way to indulge the senses and control the monkey mind

ABOUT ME

A work in progress.

PHILOSOPHY

If you walk around with shit in your pocket, you can't complain that everywhere stinks.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

By trying to habitually say 'yes'. Participating by participating.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Where do I start? I've relied on the milk of human kindness, much more than I've had the chance to repay, since birth. Thank you world. I've surfed couches, floors, verandahs, beds and tables more, than I can remember, but without this site, mostly freestyling.

Interests

Oh come on, what am I not interested in? Every time I choose something not to be interested in someone goes and makes me interested in it. Sailing_nomad did it for maths. I mean maths. Since being a kid, part of my identity was not being interested in Maths. But then she showed me the spirals in flowers and I relented. Now look! So, really. I'm interested in loads of stuff: secular Buddhism (whatever that means), and religion generally, olitics (with a 'p' so small you can't see it), treading lightly, being non-dogmatic, late night conversation, drinking wines and ales and mostly not being drunk, ooooooohhhh...hot tea, from big mugs on cold days, big splashy mandis, late at night, jumping off things, big waves, boogieboarding, and swimming in rivers, libraries (just tell me when you close)... I'll come back to this, probably.

• drinking
• flowers
• buddhist
• swimming
• teaching
• mathematics
• nursing
• religion
• rivers

Music, Movies, and Books

Reading: Loads, all of them. Struggle with the 'classics', whatever that means and poetry seldom moves me. Prose and polemic, Weekend papers, A Fine Balance. Language books and travel guides, planning applications, maps, t-shirt slogans, small print on insurance policies, labels in underwear. Other people's stuff.
Watching:
All those miserable British films that show the brilliant resilience of the human spirit, Ken Loach. Riot-porn and mischief making. Worldy stuff. Tony Jaa. I'm a right sucker for weeping. Japanese Story. The Edukators.

Music: Chinese chants and groups of blokes who're shit at playing instruments but play'em anyway. I love all that Radio Chango nonsense that I suppose almost everyone on this site likes. How predictable we all are. All being different together, in the same way, at the same time and more often than not in the same cafes and bars.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Sleeping under a tree after a long, hot, hard day at work.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can massage (Swedish since wee boy, 9years old, Thai, trained at Wat Po in Bangkok)

Qualified English teacher with some experience.

Nurse, come on, everyone needs this at times. I'll listen when other people's ears might've fallen off.

Countries I’ve Visited

France, Germany, Greece, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Thailand

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Indonesia