CURRENT MISSION

"Be joyful though you have considered all the facts" -- Wendell Berry

ABOUT ME

A reader - spectator, really - curious about these roads we're all walking.

PHILOSOPHY

"Listen! I know that talking is wrong: it's better simply to set an example, better simply to begin; I have already begun; and -- and is it really possible to be unhappy? Oh, what are my grief and my trouble, if I am able to be happy? You know, I don't understand how it's possible to pass by a tree and not be happy to see it. To talk with a man and not be happy that you love him! Oh, I only don't know how to say it; but there are so many things at every step that are so beautiful, that even the most confused person finds beautiful. Look at a child, look at God's sunrise, look at the grass growing, look into the eyes that are looking at you and love you!"

--Fyodor Dostoevsky, "The Idiot"

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I'm not in a position to host anyone (yet! hopefully soon!) but I have surfed several times myself - each time was wonderful - and have a number of friends who've surfed extensively and had only good things to say about it.

Interests

Thinking, reading, listening to and making music, walking, wandering, meeting people and getting to know and love them. Trying to live humbly and gratefully.

Haven't spent much time in Europe (homeland Poland aside, and I've been in Slovakia) but am currently a resident of Henan Province, China and have traveled through much of the U.S.:

visited 37 states (74%)Create your own visited map of The United States or Free android travel guide

• writing
• books
• walking
• news
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• guitar
• hiking
• tourism
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

I've been holding good music and books and films dear my whole life, thanks to an older brother with the most impeccable of tastes and, since then, a few good teachers and friends.

It's hard to narrow down a lifetime of devoted reading, but among my favorite writers anyway (in order of discovery) are Tove Jansson, J.R.R. Tolkien, Tad Williams, Ursula K. Le Guin, Murakami Haruki, Endo Shusaku, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Franz Kafka, Leo Tolstoy, Marcel Proust, James Joyce, Wendell Berry, Thomas Pynchon, Tarjei Vesaas and John Cowper Powys.

My favorite bands include the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, The Band, Black Dub and State Radio. The last was for a long time the main reason I traveled, as the guys in the band and crew were friends of mine, and also because I belonged to a small but passionate community whose main excuse to get together was a State Radio show. I've spent the last three years exploring the history of rock music and discovering riches untold: The Beatles and Wings got me started, and now I'm deep into (to name just the best) Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Leonard Cohen. If you find that you haven't had enough beauty in your life lately, give Leonard's album "Recent Songs" a listen; that should help!

As for film, I've watched many fine productions, but my heart appears to be with the Japanese. Miyazaki Hayao and Takahata Isao are in my lifeblood (both responsible for some of my more powerful awakenings of conscience), and more recently I've discovered that Kurosawa Akira was always there, too, just waiting for me to find him. My favorite movie is indeed Kurosawa's, his third-to-last, called Dreams. But the followup Rhapsody in August is in fact equally astounding, so it's probably more accurate to say the two share the position.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

One glorious day many years ago, when staying in the Tatra mountains in Poland, my mom and I got up long before dawn to go on a nearly ten-hour hike up one of the taller mountains in the range, crossing over as well (illegally) to its sister peak in Slovakia. I still have no words to describe the sights, feel, and experience of it - suffice it to say that it made me exceedingly glad to be alive.

I also got to raise a really cool kitten I named Gogo (Final Fantasy 6 reference, for those in the know) while working on an organic family farm in Carlisle, Kentucky the summer of 2010. The farm experience as a whole was pretty great (such good people there!), and hanging out with Gogo just made everything that much better. He seemed healthy & happy last I visited him (& them).

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm an almost half-decent rhythm guitar player, so if you're still starting out I might be able to help. If you're looking to tackle Joyce's Ulysses for the first time, I can give you a few pointers. Or if you want to learn kanji, I can point you to the right book! Actually, I'll just do it anyway, to save time and spread the good news: it's by James Heisig, and the full title is "Remembering the Kanji, Volume 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters."

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