CURRENT MISSION

to meet fellow devils in the white city ;-)

ABOUT ME

I am quirky, admittedly a bit high strung when I shouldn't be but laid back when I shouldn't be... I'm in graduate school and trying to balance that with working full time.... I'm really hard on myself but I'm trying to loosen up (can you tell it's shortly after January 1? lol)...I never know what to put in these things because I'd rather people get to know people by talking to them... I can be a bit refined but a tad rough around the edges, I guess I still have a redneck streak (I grew up in the South for a while so I have an accent that comes and goes, I like to shoot, I love to ride motorcycles on the Natchez Trace, but there's much more to me than that!)... I can range from painfully shy to painfully forward... I like foods, teas, coffees, and wines of exceptional quality and/or taste.... I mainly like things and people that have a story behind them. I'm blessed to have lots of stories, but stories are nothing until they're swapped with other people!

PHILOSOPHY

There is a Zulu proverb that says: Oquaqokuqaqekayo Okungaqaqi Kuyishiyela abanye. That means roughly that man can only do so much, and I interpret that in a number of ways. One way is that man can only do so much by himself, and therefore we need each other - whether on an individual basis or as a whole.

Why do I live my life? Hmm I've never been asked that! I suppose because we're only given one at a time, right?

Feelings... I like feeling part of something greater than myself, which is why I spend a lot of time studying or participating in monotheistic religions, though I am not too religious myself. There's a West African singer Angelique Kidjo who has a lyric "We are more than we are, we are one." I think so, at least.

Pourquoi je suis sur Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'd love to meet fellow DC people for coffee or a drink, to get to know new people!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've never couchsurfed! My best friend Mariska Seipke is about to try it in our native Paris, and she encouraged me to use this thing to meet people with similar interests.

Centres d'intérêt

great film scores, especially those of Philip Glass, Hans Zimmer, Craig Armstrong, etc; wrestling with Arabic grammar; incense; office supplies; being disorganised; triple-grande white mochas but chai tea lattes are a bit healthier; movie theatres with big screens; books by former government officials that just shift the blame for 400 pages; quoting movies out of context; Greg Jaffe's columns in the Washington Post; previews in movies; defense news periodical; broadway musical greats and flops; puccini operas; baz lurhmann movies; studying the Quran; Jewish traditions; Christian studies; cooking; spices; long walks and taking pictures of interesting things even though I suck at photography and don't much care; the Indian neighborhood in Paris; the Capitol Crescent Trail near my house; playing piano; bbming my friends throughout the world that I miss so much; headbands; window shopping; movies nights; long phone conversations; texting; flirting; the Tarot and other superstitions; the Food Network; CNN; following politicans on Twitter; other languages; Ovation Channel (the artsy one on Verizon cable!) and the Pentagon Channel; downtown DC; matzoh ball soup; Lebanese and Turkish food; Adams Morgan; meeting people; wearing suits during the day and sweatpants at night; Omar Khayyam's The Rubaiyat; most teas except for roiboos and Earl Grey.

• books
• photography
• dining
• cooking
• coffee
• walking
• drinking
• motorcycles
• shopping
• news
• movies
• socializing
• music
• piano
• wrestling
• languages
• religion

Morceaux de musique, films et livres

Music: Film scores, music that makes me feel various emotions (current playlist includes Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Lady Gaga (don't judge! lol), Sami Yusuf (get into him if you don't know him, fellow Arabic speakers!), Broadway soundtracks, Green Day, U2, Rihanna, Lebo M, etc. I like upbeat music from all over the world.

That said, Sarah Brightman has been my HERO since I was about 7 years old.

Books: Currently reading "Secdef: The Nearly Impossible Job of Secretary of Defense" and I can hardly put it down! Favorite book of ALL time is Gaston Leroux's original 1911 le Fantome de l'Opera, and I also like Dumas and Hugo... I also like the most recent biography on Donald Rumsfeld, Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," Clinton Rossiter's "Conservatism in America," TS Eliot, Les Tarots de Marseille, and the Congressional Club Cookbook.

Movies: I'll try to rank them in order. Joyeux Noel, Evita, Gone with the Wind, Titanic, Memoirs of a Geisha, Moulin Rouge, V for Vendetta, The Interpreter, A Little Princess, Paris je t'aime, The Kite Runner, The Island, I Robot, W, Bride and Prejudice, Walk the Line, the 2000 version of Jesus Christ Superstar, and Pocahontas.

Une aventure extraordinaire que j'ai vécue

I've been to two papal masses with 2 different popes, and each mass meant something completely different to me. I've also seen the bones of St Peter in the Necropolis below the Vatican... but I mean people do amazing things on travels all the time. What really sticks out to me in my mind is walking through the Marais in Paris on a beautiful Easter Sunday, one of my favorite holidays and incidentally this past year my 21st birthday, with my army of the best friends I could ever hope for. I have seen many beautiful things in my life, but the memories were made with the people that I shared them with. I miss them so much, can't you tell? ;-)

Enseignez, apprenez, partagez

What do I have to share??? Hmm. This has got to be the most unusual survey profile thing ever!

I like to share my passion for Middle Eastern cultures with people, I guess? Like if I say something or type something that comes out natural to me but not to the other person, like even just a word like "mashallah" or something, I love explaining things like that to people. I like introducing people to new music as well.

Pays que j'ai visités

Belgium, Canada, Cayman Islands, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Turkey, United Kingdom

Pays dans lesquels j'ai vécu

France, United States