CURRENT MISSION

The time in my life when I was happiest was when I was constantly touring with a band. I'm looking to live that lifestyle again (sans-band) in Europe this summer and would love your help in making that happen!

ABOUT ME

I'm Southern at heart, but the Bay Area is definitely more conducive to my needs and interests. Thankfully my Southern sensibilities and manners have remained in tact, despite all of these Californians and their Californy ways. I was raised to respect other people's space and the things therein, and to be polite and thankful—this carries over into my house guest behavior and then some.

My inquisitiveness and curiosity know no bounds. My nerd streak is a million miles long. I can tell a story like nobody's business, and I'm a great audience for the stories of others as well. Learning new things comes easily to me, and I'm pretty good at teaching and giving advice too. DIY mentality influences many of the decisions I make, and I've become quite handy through the years despite my 1 disaster per 50 projects track record (the latest big one was blowing up a moped engine... oops). I'm great at being fiercely loyal to my friends. I'm awesome at building websites and web-based applications, and I have learned I'm also not bad at designing and building games too.

I'm an ex-hardcore kid that grew up in the scene and I still hold many of those beliefs true despite being one of the few to still do so (if you have no idea what I'm saying right now, just nod your head and smile and you can ask me about it later). I'm also vegan (meaning I don't eat, use, or wear animal products) and straight edge (meaning I don't drink or do drugs of any kind, and never will—don't worry, I'm not the asshole type of straight edge).

PHILOSOPHY

I live my life in search of the every day excitement and elation that we used to feel as children. We don't stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing.

Por qué estoy en Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'll be in Europe from May 2 through September 11, and am looking for good people to hang out with, share food with, adventure with, and crash with. I'd be happy to return the favor if you find yourself in the Bay Area at some point. I'm really easy going and am good at entertaining myself, so I'll only expect to hang out as much as you want to and can make my own way when you need down time.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I'm new to this site, but have offered my couch to many many strangers in the past: random bands, friends of friends, out of towners I met at some show, etc. I've also surfed many a couch and floor in my day, having been in a metalcore band that toured constantly—I was always the band dad, making sure everyone said please and thank you and keeping us from being much of a burden on others. In general, I've most enjoyed hanging out with similarly minded people in non-smoking, non-cat having houses (no disrespect, I'm just allergic to both, I'll gladly stay with cats and tough it out though), and having them show me their favorite things about their part of the world. I love seeing the world through someone else's eyes, and am happy to facilitate that experience for others.

Intereses

New experiences
Traveling to new places
Experiencing other cultures
Meeting new people / making new friends
Ancient history
Art history
Circus and sideshow skills
Weird macabre oddities
Vegan food
Random big kid activities (ex: lazer tag, go karts, zombie survival scenarios, kickball, etc)
Boardgames
Video games
Technology, and the advancement thereof
Movies
Hardcore
Metal
Punk
Instrumental music
Electronic music
Goth rock
Bicycles
Mopeds
Motorcycles
Scooters
DIY projects
Skill share activities
Web development
Game design
Probably a million other things I'm forgetting right now

• animals
• cats
• arts
• culture
• design
• body art
• diy
• dining
• cooking
• vegan
• drinking
• motorcycles
• technology
• movies
• video games
• traveling
• blogging
• survival
• music
• electronic music
• instrumental music
• martial arts
• track and field
• kickball
• art history
• business
• history

Música, películas y libros

Books & Authors
I read a healthy mix of fiction and non-fiction, graphic and non-graphic: Anything by Kurt Vonnegut, Neil Gaiman, or Murakami, Ender's Game, A Clockwork Orange, American Psycho, Palahniuk, Tolkein's non-academic works, Orwell, A Game of Thrones (books 1–3 & 5 only, book 4 is actually quite bad in my opinion), Burroughs, McCarthy, Harry Potter, the Sookie Stackhouse series, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Blankets, Watchmen, The Dresden Files, HP Lovecraft, Daniel Quinn, A People's History of the United States, Atheism: The Case Against God, and a whole cache of nerdy programming and game design books.

Movies
I love thought-provoking films, indie and art films, comedies, children's movies, horror movies, films of beauty, a bit of anime, sometimes even something romantic, and almost anything by Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan, or David Lynch.

Shows
I usually can't hang with junk food tv, but I'm super down with shows like: Twin Peaks, Fringe, Bored To Death, Misfits, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Mad Men, The Walking Dead, True Blood, Game of Thrones, Invader Zim, and even a little bit of Glee (hey, we all have our guilty pleasures—it was the Journey songs and multipart harmonization that did it for me).

Music
I've been on an unwavering electronica kick lately, but generally I listen to all sorts of stuff from dance music to death metal, acoustic to hardcore, pop punk to instrumental, but very little country (only really old stuff that my grandma used to listen to) and almost no jazz. Definitely not reggae.

Food
I love vegan food, and like cooking it at home and eating it at awesome restaurants. Being vegan, food is a huge part of my life—it encourages me to pillage farmer's market every weekend, and drive many hours out of my way to eat rad food. I love a plethora of cuisines, will try pretty much anything once, and there will always be a special place in my heart for Southern fare.

Algo increíble que he hecho

The most amazing thing I've ever done is tour the United States with my old band. I got to go on mostly all-expenses paid trips to new towns to meet new people and share new experiences with some of my closest friends every single day.

Enseña, aprende, comparte

Hmm... let's see... I've done skill share stuff before, so here's some topics that I can think of off of the top of my head:

Programming
Random technology teachings (ex: how certain sites/services work, how to simplify your life with technology, how to set up a blog, etc)
Fire breathing / eating
Vegan idealism and lifestyle
Cooking (especially Southern style)
Hardcore, Punk, & Metal culture and history
Metal vocal training
Body art information
Martial arts
English