CURRENT MISSION

as much traveling as possible!

ABOUT ME

I graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008, studying computer science. I stuck around Champaign for another year and a half working for the university, but recently came up with a telecommuting job that'll hopefully allow me to participate in CS a lot more. Just need to decide on a new place to live! I'm on my way to Boston at the moment, hopefully I'll be able to find a place there... we'll see!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Stayed with a couple for a few nights in Vienna, while traveling around Europe in the summer of 08. Also participated in TentSurf 09... it was a blast!

Interests

I'm pretty interested in music, I have a pretty huge collection. I was in band in high school (clarinet and tenor sax), but haven't actually gotten around to playing any more instruments, even though I keep meaning to.

I work with computers, and I enjoy that a lot too. I'm a Perl programmer mostly, although I've used a lot of different languages and environments.

I'm also currently in the process of getting my skydiving license. I've made about 11 jumps so far, up to the 10 second delay in the static line progression. One of my nearer-term goals is to finally get licensed (I started a couple years ago, but had trouble finding the time until recently).

For getting around, I enjoy rollerblading... I was in a rollerblading club in college (Inline Insomniacs! We skate at midnight!) and still do it a decent amount.

Languages and linguistics also interest me, although I'm not very good at it. I've learned some German and some Hindi, and I'd like to learn more.

My most recent activity that I've taken up is rock climbing... just indoor top-rope climbing so far, and I haven't done much of it, but it's a lot of fun, and I really want to continue with it.

• clubbing
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• skydiving
• basketball
• rock climbing
• computer science
• languages
• mathematics
• science
• software
• road trips

Music, Movies, and Books

Bands I like:
Ani DiFranco, Aphex Twin, Badly Drawn Boy, Belle and Sebastian, Brand New, CAKE, Cocteau Twins, Counting Crows, Crosstide, Death Cab for Cutie, Grand National, Mark Schwaber, Massive Attack, Midlake, Minus the Bear, Philip Glass, Pinback, Radiohead, Regina Spektor, Sufjan Stevens, Sun Kil Moon, Team Sleep, The Decemberists, The Dresden Dolls, The Mountain Goats, The National, Third Eye Blind, Tracy Chapman (and see also http://www.last.fm/user/doyster)

Movies I like:
Lost in Translation, Office Space, Pulp Fiction, The Big Lebowski, American Beauty, American History X, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Fight Club, Full Metal Jacket, Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, Igby Goes Down, Memento, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Mulholland Dr., Primer, Requiem for a Dream, Se7en, Serenity, Super Troopers, The Manchurian Candidate, The Shining, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Usual Suspects (and see also http://www.flixster.com/user/doyster/ratings?sort=2)

I don't read nearly as much as I'd like to, but some books I've read recently and enjoyed are House of Leaves, Water for Elephants, and A Thousand Splendid Suns. I'm currently reading both Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid and Love in the Time of Cholera, depending on my mood. I'm also always on the lookout for book recommendations (or music or movies for that matter), so let me know!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I grew up working on my family's traveling carnival (Luehrs Ideal Rides) every summer. There were definitely downsides to the situation (living in a tiny house trailer, little pay, long hours, lots of manual labor, etc), but some of my favorite memories have come from there too (holding down a game tent for dear life in the middle of a huge thunderstorm, me and a friend being able to put together our basketball game by ourselves in under 20 minutes). More importantly, it made me into someone who loves traveling, road trips, meeting new people, and not being tied down.

Teach, Learn, Share

I could teach people how to rollerblade... I'm sure there are other things that I'm not thinking of. Programming or math, I suppose, although that's not all that interesting(: I also have a whole mess of carnival related knowledge that I have no idea what to do with, although at this point I don't really expect to find a use for it. Stories maybe! (although I'm bad at storytelling...)

I'd like to meet people who I could practice my (quite limited) Hindi and German with.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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