CURRENT MISSION

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

ABOUT ME

I'm an incredibly mellow person, happy to fill my work days with rigor and my off days with reading, cooking, and gardening.

The thought of long term vagabonding excites me just about as much as when I'm at a Venetian Snares show, which is about as excited as I've ever been. That said, my passions are food, music, travel (not just for vacation's sake, but for the experience, the sights, the animals, the language, and the people), reading, and the outdoors.

I absolutely love to travel, and intend to do much more of it in the future. For now, though, I plan to gain what amazing experiences I can here in the States until I finish school in the Spring of 2013, after which I plan on WWOOFing, traveling, and applying for the Peace Corps. Two years seems a long way away, but I know that those experiences waiting for me will be so worth it.

My blog- http://stayweird.blogspot.com/

PHILOSOPHY

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

People are on the whole absolutely loving and trustworthy. People are on the whole genuine, honest, and good. It is my growing belief that more people than not would be willing to stick their neck out to help someone in need. It is my growing belief that there is an enormous amount of good going on in the world, and it just takes a bit of cynicism-incineration to notice that. I'm not the pessimist I used to be, and this is why I am so happy to have found a resource like CS, which I hope to utilize to show myself and others just how good, loving, and trustworthy most of us earthlings really are.

My personal philosophy is to live and let live, though my goal is to live by setting what I hope to be good examples for my friends and other onlookers, and for future generations. At times it seems as if I live only to plan, though I have in more recent times been striving to live more in the moment and to enjoy the day I'm living in.

Large-scale events, I try to reiterate to myself, shouldn't always be what I look forward to. I want to continue to look up at the sky, take a breath, and to just listen. This is because those times of peace are sometimes the most rejuvenating of all moments, and can bring unexpected rewards.

I live to learn, and I live in the hopes of making as little of a negative impact on our planet and on its inhabitants as possible. And I live to meet new people, to interact with them, to hear their stories, and to learn about their personal philosophies.

"The more we associate experience with cash value, the more we think that money is what we need to live." - Rolf Potts, Vagabonding

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

One of my central missions in participating in the CS project is to make contacts and to meet others from around the globe, simultaneously enhancing an understanding of our uniqueness and of our shared qualities. I hope to achieve this by attending meet-ups, meeting others traveling through the area, couch surfing abroad, and (Eventually! I swear it!) hosting many on my very own couch!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I am incredibly new to CS, so other than the very kind welcome messages from some other surfers, I have yet to have any Couch Surfing experiences. Though I hope for this to change in the very near future!

I'd love to host in the future, and would like to surf in California starting this summer!

Interests

Finger drumming on desks(music is my love, my passion, what wakes me up and what puts me to sleep), traveling, vegetarianism, environmental issues and action in general, vertebrate ecology and sustainable farming/gardening in particular, planning, not planning, hanging out and enjoying the genuine belly laugh with my good friends, live music, playing hacky sack, cooking, reading arguments on metaphysics and the theory of knowledge, dreaming up creative ways to consume less resources, improv comedy, juggling, getting excited after watching TED videos, reading about extreme philosophies, getting absorbed into a film and then opening the theatre doors into a warm Summer evening, "Addicted to Netflix, it's trying to get me," reading while listening to the rain land on a vinyl awning, meeting and conversing with people of differing backgrounds and beliefs from around the globe, learning Spanish, attending plays, writing plays (though, admittedly, I've yet to complete one), and dancing to loud music surrounded by lots of other people. I'm a politics junkie, and I love playing devil's advocate in any argument.

As much as I want to get out of college as soon as possible, I adore the feelings that I have when on campus and in the classroom. Academic fields that I'm interested in go: Biology, Film, Philosophy, Ecology, History, Psychology, and Geography.

• animals
• birds
• culture
• writing
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• beer
• drinking
• flying
• gardening
• boating
• politics
• reading
• tv
• traveling
• juggling
• blogging
• music
• live music
• outdoor activities
• kayaking
• surfing
• biology
• ecology
• geography
• history
• psychology

Music, Movies, and Books

Directors- Jim Jarmusch, Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Nolan, Larry Clark, Daren Aranofsky, The Coen Brothers, David Lynch, Tarantino, Todd Solondz

Actors- Tilda Swinton, Isaach De Bankole, Gary Oldman, Christian Bale, Steve Buscemi, Forest Whitaker, Michael C. Hall, James Gandolfini, Michael Fassbender, Chloe Sevigny, Willem Dafoe, Sam Rockwell, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Movies- Limits of Control, A Serious Man, Harsh Times, Aliens, History of Violence, Gomorrah, Office Space

Production Company- Focus Features

TV- Breaking Bad, Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Archer, Nip/Tuck, Weeds, Carnivale, Louie

MISC- Vice Guide (VBS.tv)

Music- Gabber, Breakcore, Persian influenced surf rock, Dubstep, prog rock, Noise, country rap (Tim Fite), anything genuine made with heart, a music-first attitude, happiness, sorrow, anger, and/or anything that makes your head move or comes with a disgusting amount of grimy bass.
ie- The Locust, Otto Von Schirach, Ethiopiques, Secret Chiefs 3, Fantomas, Melvins, Venetian Snares, Luke Vibert, Mr. Bungle, Debmaster, Tim Fite, Primus, Food For Animals (FFA), Bjork, Rahzel, Dalek, Roots Manuva, John Coltrane, Duran Duran Duran, Teknoist, Bong-Ra, Lounge Lizards, MIA, Captain Ahab, Flying Lotus (FLYLO), KID606, Jay Lesser, Matmos, HELLA, Swans, Sickboy, Neurosis, Nero's Day At Disneyland, Ladyscraper, DJ Donna Summer, Thrones, Aphex Twin, Ars Dada, Retrigger, Mochipet.

Comedy- Andrew Daly, ASSSSCAT (UCB), Bill Hicks, Todd Barry, David Cross

Favorite Books- Tree of Smoke, Resuscitation of a Hanged Man, The Sex Lives of Cannibals, What Is The What, Life of Pi, To A God Unknown, Vagabonding

Writers- Dave Eggers, Alan Moore, Denis Johnson, Steinbeck, Alan Furst, John Muir, J. Maarten Troost, Yann Martel, HS Thompson

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

One of my favorite moments thus far- Kayaking along the coast line of the Pacific Ocean near Bahia Drake, Costa Rica, while listening to my new friend, a local, talk about his hitchiking excursion into the US and Mexico in the 1970's(falling in love, catching his pack on fire, meeting strange and beautiful people, getting into trouble, etc.), all while feeling the warm water rush into the boat and watching frigate birds fly into the setting sun.

-Late night Hostel conversations about language, culture, politics, and travel with a Portuguese man and a wonderful young Canadian woman, drinking beer and wine with them until 2am only to have to wake up at 4 to catch my flight out of the country. Hearing Bjork broadcast on the country's national TV station in the background didn't make things any worse, either.

-Reading and watching the setting sun over the bay, listening to my French neighbors at the lodge and the scarlet macaws and parakeets flying overhead my first night in the Costa Rican jungle.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belize, Costa Rica

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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