CURRENT MISSION

Learn Spanish, dance tango, know my city, and play football better than a child

ABOUT ME

Last year I cleared out my bank account for the last time and left the country. Now I'm back and I'm serious. I work for a non-profit and I enjoy my job and I'm learning how to write grants. I still want my head to be filled up with a whirlwind of fantasy, but mostly now it's plans and fascinations. Recently I learned how to turn my ideals into the things that I'm doing with my life. Since that point I have been employed in a strong and successful effort in keeping the two in line with each other. I like to debate, but I really like solutions.
About Travel
I'm convinced that travel is more than just moving your body somewhere else. The reason that people who need a fresh start go away isn't just so they can leave where they are. Implicit in travel is the creation of a new identity. You can pack what you want to take it with you, but the place where you're going will gobble you up. That's how I like to travel--as a morsel for a location. A plane is a cocoon, and a long bus ride is a furious shedding of skin. I don't want to leave who I am, but I want to become where I am.

PHILOSOPHY

I think that people are people and that's about the most interesting thing that there is besides everything else too. Meaning, meaning meaning meaning meaning buffalo buffalo buffalo, etc.
I think I would position myself against the Vienna Circle and absolute rationalism (even though I use their tools for everyday reasoning) because I really do believe that there are greater things out there beyond our reasoning and in the spaces between our senses, and to believe that anything beyond human conception is impossible is an arrogant understatement of reality. Reality is a big big big thing and it is important to be a part of it, and there are a lot of ways to get inside of it, only one of which is with a body, only another of which is thinking, or learning, or practicing science, or religion, or flexing, or loving, or even believing.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I host people. I walk them around and think of my favorite places and tell them to go there. I loosen up with a couple of drinks and we talk about the places you've been and the things that you do and don't believe in. I like to talk to talk to talk to strangers.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My wife Victoria became involved in CouchSurfing in 2007 and I participated by proxy for several years. After helping her host for a long time I was struck by how amazing it had been for me to meet all of the traveling people who I would have never come in contact with otherwise. I think this is the ultimate reward of couchsurfing. I am very happy with couch urfing, and the way that it removes the anonymity from travel, both at home, and when I've surfed the couches of others abroad.

Interests

Curiosity for knowing all things has led me to an interest in making most things. Gardening, cooking, building, writing, telling stories, planning.
Are you good at something? Do you love something? Is there a thing that you do or think about that tears up your brain in raptures of ecstasy? SHARE IT. I haven't found one thing I'm not interested in yet. Except for psychology. I fucking hate psychology. And drum circles.
That said, here are some of my current obsessions:
Continental Philosophy, Romantic Composers and Poets, Classical and Pagan mythology, Experience and the creation of memory, Hiking, Urban Exploring, the war in Iraq, Literary Criticism, Sci-Fi.

• writing
• literature
• dancing
• tango
• cooking
• drinking
• gardening
• traveling
• hiking
• soccer
• teaching
• psychology
• religion
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Hopscotch, The Aleph, The Stranger, Neuromancer, Anathem, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Infinite Jest, The New York Trilogy, Crash, The Trial, Fear and Trembling, Subterraneans.
The Romantics--I want to know more about who made this music, what their lives were like, and what's good to listen to. If you're a fan of classical music then lets share!
I love movies but I can't find the time for them.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The San Blas islands in Panama.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm not a very good teacher, but maybe we could talk about western literature or the functions of grammar. I want to learn to speak and read Spanish, to dance tango and salsa, and how to grow a garden high. I will share my love of ideas.

Countries I’ve Visited

Ireland, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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