CURRENT MISSION

Explore my new home country!

ABOUT ME

I am am English guy currently living in San Diego, awaiting the processing of my visa and work authorisation, and enjoying my mandatory unemployment in the mean time. I'm hoping to use the free time to explore some of the nearby area with visiting friends.

I like to think I'm a pretty good house-guest. I'll do the washing up and maybe tell you a joke and buy you a drink or something. I always enjoy meeting new people and seeing where the conversation leads us.

PHILOSOPHY

I wouldn't call it a philosophy but I try to generally be nice to people and to be open to ideas and opinions from different sources. I also try to challenge people who behave in a way which is oppressive to others.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've lived in CS hosting places for a couple of years and have met some lovely people, but have never actually got around to setting up my own profile until now. I have used couchsurfing several times while on self-booked tours as a musician.

I hope to be able to start hosting surfers here in San Diego soon.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Through couchsurfers I met my first ever Belgian and my first ever Finns. Life enriching experiences both.

Interests

I'm interested in learning about things I didn't realise were interesting and meeting new people and hearing their stories. And in hanging out, not sweating the passage of time too much.

• drinking
• survival
• darts
• music
• guitar
• soccer
• genealogy
• tours

Music, Movies, and Books

I like all three! Music is my favourite though. Then probably books. Or movies!

Music!
Thanksgiving
Docteur Nico et l'African Fiesta
Cypher in the snow
GZA
Lift To Experience
Bob Dylan
Dear Nora
Guided By Voices
Fugazi
Team Dresch
Cougar Pants
Paddington DC
Electrelane
Anton Webern
Adam Lipman
(((vvrssnn)))
Sleater-Kinney
... and junk.

Books!
John Fante
Jeanette Winterson
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Guy Vanderhaeghe
Margaret Atwood
Issac Bashevis Singer
Raymond Carver
Joyce Carol Oates
... and junk.

Movies!
Uh... indie-schmindie Hollywood stuff like the Cohens and Wes Anderson. And Ingmar Bergman. And Die Hard 1. And Askoldov's 'Komissar'. And Flash Gordon with Sam J Jones and Brian Blessed. And The Shining. And all sorts of junk. I like movies!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Well, the first thing that springs to mind is the first time I toured the USA back in 2004. I was there during GW Bush's re-election and the general impression in England was that the US must be full of insane right-wing fundamentalists. However, I met some of the most helpful, friendly and broad-minded people I've ever come across as I travelled around the country for 3 months, more or less wholly dependent on the kindness of strangers for my survival. This is why I am so totally excited about coming back.

Teach, Learn, Share

Uh, I'm not bad in a kitchen and can knock out a pretty decent loaf of bread or a carrot cake. I can just about play a guitar. I'll teach you backgammon if you like. And if you want to talk a bit about the first round of Wu Tang solo albums, I'm usually up for having that conversation. Or about grunge family trees (mis-spent youth), or Queercore, or lots of other sub-stratas of music. If you're American I'm happy to teach you how to play football, but if you insist on calling it 'soccer' I might be sick. Also: darts!

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