I moved to Missoula, MT to study at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. It graduated and now my career is photography.

I love people. That's the foundation of my personal motivation. When I talk to people I make then feel good about themselves and consider this my greatest ability--it's like granting them more life and validating everything innately good about them.

For example: the Happy Birthday letters I write people literally make their days. I know because they tell me so!

I have a catnip. That catnip is languages. I've been addicted to learning languages since I was a kid! I've taught myself Spanish to fluency and constantly work on many others. Learning languages is appealing to me because it lets me connect with more people. And there's nothing like the feeling of greeting an old Phillipino stranger in his native tongue or asking a hard-working Latina cleaning lady how she's doing. They feel the love. And that makes me happy! It's catnip, I say. Spiritual catnip.

I've grown up in sunny Clearwater, Florida and love this place. The beauty of my beaches, islands and endless forested lowlands has a mystic quality to it. The humid, salty air has a gravity to it that makes the entire atmosphere feel to be teeming with life!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Stayed at a foreign exchange student boarding house in Salamanca, Spain for a month or so! There were students from around the world there.
The most interesting moment for me was when I learned that one of the students I lived with was Japanese. I speak enough Japanese to get by so I was excited to surprise her with some Japanese! I asked "How are you?" in. Japanese and--without missing a beat--she answered me in SPANISH! Now that shouldn't have come to a surprise to me since we were all there to experience Spanish culture. But it just did. And it was terrific.

Interests

I learned analog photography (with chemicals and the dark room) when I was younger. I never would have expected myself to become a highly trained professional as now I am! I love photography. And I'm good at it too.

Learning other languages is a huge hobby for me. It gives me a rush to be able to learn some words and phrases, and then suddenly have access to becoming friends with millions of new people around the world who speak that language. I can learn and teach any language to anyone.

I am a traveler. It's just a part of the essence of who I am. I've been to Paris and Spain and the wilds of western Canada. I've road tripped 12,000 miles so far and I am addicted to road

I love being active!!! Rock climbing, hiking, frisby, pickle ball, badminton, tree climbing, just walking, racquetball, tennis, slacklining, foosball... I love these things. Special shoutout to walking, by the way. Walking makes me happy.

I've worked at a couple coffee shops and consider it my duty to visit coffee shops around the world and leave them honest and helpful reviews. (Because Yelp is a scary place for independent coffee shop owners and they could always use a little help.)

My purpose in life, by the way, is to help people. That's really simple and just as true.

• culture
• photography
• beauty
• dining
• coffee
• walking
• traveling
• bouldering
• hiking
• rock climbing
• tennis
• teaching
• languages
• beaches
• slackline
• slacklining
• walking around
• coffee shops
• pickleball

Music, Movies, and Books

THE ALCHEMIST was an amazing book that reminded me of who I am. JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL reminded me of who I could be. INKHEART made me fall in love with old and fine books. HARRY POTTER brought magic to the real world around me. FRANCIS FACEMAKER made going to bed as a child far easier. THE SLOW REGARD OF SILENT THINGS is the most beautiful thing ever written and changed how I talk and write.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Once, I made someone's day.

Teach, Learn, Share

Photography. Spanish. English. Grammar. Scientology. Coffee-making. Tennis. Bouldering. Hammocking. Driving. Spanish. French.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Photography! Good photography. Let me take a nice photo of you or your dog or your house or something! It's practice for me and a quality photo for you!

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Cayman Islands, France, Spain, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States