I am a climbing-obsessed, non-profit-running, tech-job-having human living in Oakland.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Here to formalize hifives while I travel.

Interests

My life passions are environmental stewardship, complex problem solving, living minimally, making music, writing, and developing meaningful connections--all while making bad jokes and playing word games.

I am obsessed with rock climbing (bouldering, sport, some trad), and I spend a fair amount of time playing guitar (poorly) and singing (slightly less poorly), writing (poetry, articles, blogs), (acro) yoga-ing, sailing, programming, reading, dancing, and minimizing my footprint/maximizing my enjoyment in this world.

• writing
• poetry
• singing
• dancing
• cooking
• beer
• vegan
• yoga
• reading
• blogging
• bouldering
• music
• guitar
• sailing
• sports
• rock climbing
• teaching
• law
• software
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

MUSIC
Punch Brothers, Chic Gamine, Bjork, Crooked Still, Aesop Rock, Cunninglinguists, Royksopp, Radiohead, Broken Bells, Air, Fleet Foxes, Lord Huron, Justice, Eric Whitacre, Kronos Quartet, Ani Difranco, Chromeo, Miles Davis, Hiatus Kaiyote, Fat Freddy's Drop, Mars Volta, BJ The Chicago Kid, Frank Ocean, Justin Timberlake, The War on Drugs, Disasterpeace, and more more more.

MOVIES
Anything Murakami, most things Wes Anderson, most things Mel Brooks, cute things like the LEGO movie, funny things like Bridesmaids, quirky things like Amelie, dark things like Edward Scissorhands, girly things like Dirty Dancing, and not much horror unless it's of the Zombieland variety.

BOOKS
Most of my life I've read linguistic / school-related texts, but apart from that, I adore fantasy (currently reading Stephen King's Dark Tower series), and inhale creator-owned comics like Saga, East of West, Sex Criminals, and Chew. I also love feminist lit, non-fiction reads, and poetry.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I spent my college years researching archival documents from the 1600's - 1800's, written in Zapotec, a language indigenous to Southwestern Mexico. I spent time in Oaxaca, Mexico City, and Tepozlan, eating strange foods (crickets, huitlacoche, and Mezcal with Sal de Gusano) and trying to learn as much as possible while avoiding those dastardly alacranes. <3

The paper I wrote during the first part of my research can be found here:
https://www.academia.edu/2559570/Orthographic_Vowel_Pairs_in_Valley_Zapotec_Wills
Check out that gorgeous document text on page one!

Teach, Learn, Share

There are too many good things to learn about in this world, and not enough time to do it in--I'll take what I can get.

I've been working for a long as it's been legal--some of my previous roles include being a sushi chef (2 years), soils lab technician (5 years), english / linguistics tutor (3.5 years), career studio consultant for undergrads (1 year), pro burrito roller (.5 year), rock climbing obsessor (7 years), and volunteer (forever).

Harvard taught me to surf that stiff social upper crust, and working as a fry cook in Reno taught me that elitism and social norms don't matter--only hard work, bad jokes, and good people do.

The creative process forever interests/scares me--show me some of the things you've made and tell me about how and why you did it. Same goes for entrepreneurial adventures.

Looking to meet folks who follow their dreams and whose goal is to make other's lives better.

Let's make conversation, dinner, and reasons to laugh.

“Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies--"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

What I Can Share with Hosts

Laughs, stories, weird dance moves, climbing and acro yoga lessons (seriously), songs, beers, and I make a mean chicken soup and/or tarte tatin from scratch. I can make the soup vegan no problem, and I'm down to experiment with the tarte tatin. :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States