CURRENT MISSION

Getting lost by meeting good people. Exploring.

ABOUT ME

I'm in my mid-20s, so I've figured out a few things about Life; After a few (career) struggles in my early-20s, I'm more confident in what I'm doing now. One thing is for certain: Meeting people and leaning on the wisdom in their stories has helped. I'm thankful to everyone I've met.

This past year, I self-taught myself to program (websites). Raised in Northern Virginia. Moved West in 2013. See more here: http://www.kevinkchen.com/portfolio/

PHILOSOPHY

"Don't imagine that you'll discover {the truth} by accumulating more knowledge. Knowledge creates doubt, and doubt makes you ravenous for more knowledge. You can't get full eating this way."
--Lao Tzu

"God loves you just the way you are. But He loves you too much to let you stay that way."
--Junebug (movie)

"What you have to learn is to fold early when the odds are against you or if you have a big edge, back it heavily because you don’t get a big edge often. Opportunity comes, but it doesn’t come often, so seize it when it does come."
--Charlie Munger

"We will change. We can change. I’m sure of it. Sure, we may be weak, but it’s for that reason that we try hard to grow. You may consider our steps to be futile, but each step we take, we are most surely building something up…so I’m sure we change. Because we are weak. Because we Die. We struggle to live, and we become stronger. And if your mind still isn’t made up…try to remember…the days we spent together in Resembool."
--Trisha, Full Metal Alchemist

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Chatting over a drink or two. Over lots of Tea, some coffee, or a meal. Exploring, walking.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've CS for the first time with my friend Sue-Jung during the last week of May 2010. We were in Dublin, Ireland for 3 days. Then, I had a marvelous time in Berlin, Germany for 3 days by myself; my host let me borrow his bike! The last time I CS was in Spain -- where we played cards late into the night.

Interests

Tai Chi & Martial Arts (Black Belt in Taekwondo). History, Sociology, and Religion and how it relates to Economics. Programming, start-ups.

• arts
• writing
• coffee
• walking
• drinking
• socializing
• investing
• cycling
• martial arts
• economics
• history
• religion
• sociology
• software

Music, Movies, and Books

TV: Adventure Time, House of Cards, Scrubs, Friends, Seinfeld, Veronica Mars.

MOVIES: Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty, Finding Neverland, American History X, The Dark Knight, Little Miss Sunshine, Stranger Than Fiction

BOOKS: The Great Gatsby, The Stranger, Beloved, The Shipping News, This Boy's Life, Norwegian Wood.

MUSIC: I like most music. I think that if you listen with an open mind, you'll start to like most music (Kinda also applies to people).

Nostalgic Favorite: Death Cab for Cutie.
Personal "Classics": Bon Iver, U2, Regina Spektor, Andrew Bird, Stars
Upbeat: Kanye West, Avicii
Guilty Pleasure: Taylor Swift

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've have 3 careers in the past 4 years: A year as a consultant, a year as a financial writer, and about 2 years as a programmer.

Stranded in Italy due to the Icelandic Volcano; finding my way back with a friend to London through several trains, a ferry, and a bus.
Eating at Ernest Hemmingway's favorite restaurant in Madrid.
Jumped around the pyramids of Egypt.
Spent a week at a Zen Monastery.
Tai Chi practitioner of 2 years.

Teach, Learn, Share

Programming! Mostly Ruby, Ruby on Rails, and JavaScript.

Personal Finance: Mostly investing in American companies, passive indices.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I bring around card game called "Monopoly Deal". It takes 30 minutes to learn, but, afterwards, it's all the fun of "Monopoly" in 15 minutes!

And if I forget it for some reason, I'm open to having a nice talk over some tea, coffee, or drinks.

Countries I’ve Visited

China, Egypt, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States