CURRENT MISSION

empowerment, self and otherwise

ABOUT ME

i am perpetually trying to reduce the amount of things i have and increase the amount of experiences. always searching for a meaningful and ethical existence without taking myself (or anything else) too seriously.

i love to create things, and to that end used be constantly working on some sewing project or other. i started a "make all my own clothes" project, and i make new things every couple of weeks. i am also obsessed with knitting, which happily takes up a huge chunk of my time. if you have ideas for craft projects that don't require much in the way of resources, i'm interested!

two years ago i decided to buy and move into a camper van for general living and traveling purposes. it was an experiment in uber-frugal and alternative living, and something i thought about doing for maybe a decade. there were pluses and minuses, but overall a good learning experience and even though i'm not doing it anymore, i think it speaks a lot to who i am as a person.

it is now november 2013 and i have recently returned to austin after spending the summer working in alaska on a small cruise ship, my third and final season with the company. now that seasonal work is over for me, i am testing out a new career: baker. i am currently working baking cupcakes for a company that sells them out of airstream trailers all over town. my work schedule (i have to be at work around 3 or 4am) can make connecting with folks difficult, but otherwise i love it!

PHILOSOPHY

easier said than done, but! i try not to put myself, my ideas or others in boxes. i think everything should be open to continual reinterpretation, and labeling prevents that.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

for lots of different reasons, most of my cs experiences have been through meet ups instead of hosting or surfing. i have done both of those however.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

some of my very favorite people in the world i met through cs. nothing better i can say than that!

Interests

the absurd, community, coffee shops, people watching, cooking, simplifying, diy, libraries, bicycles, sharing ideas, conversation, ayurveda, boundary pushing, alternative education, freeganism, qi gong, learning new things, zero impact living, foraging, sustainable practices, homebrewing, knitting, creating and things like that!

• diy
• education
• cooking
• coffee
• baking
• clothing
• traveling
• homebrewing
• knitting
• drawing
• camping
• surfing
• rock climbing
• teaching

Music, Movies, and Books

the movies that i like tend to focus on seemingly normal people, folks that may be my neighbors, doing either ordinary or extraordinary things. whimsical, but not quite fantastical. stuff that might really happen. like waiting for guffman, little miss sunshine, fight club, american beauty and eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.

most genres of music have something i like; right now my favorite artists include: the dodos, animal collective, the avett brothers, born ruffians and random african artists. doo wop, soul and oldies are perennial favorites.

books that speak to me include: on the road, the unbearable lightness of being, harry potter, 1984, the razor's edge, steppenwolf, one man's wilderness, catch 22, fantasy stuff like george rr martin and tolkien, and pretty much anything by kurt vonnegut, but especially player piano.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

rebuilding houses in peru is up there. so is climbing mt sinai in the pitch black to see the sun rise from the top, or watching humpback whales and orcas breach mere feet away!

Teach, Learn, Share

i love to cook, sew and craft things in general--basically anything that involves creating with my hands. i'm always working on some new project or learning some new craft (currently: drawing and knitting). i often times take classes at community colleges, but would love to be able to start some kind of knowledge exchange in the seattle cs community and learn & teach things that way. if you're interested, get in touch!

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Peru, Slovenia, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Egypt, Turkey, United States

•