I just finished a six year educational odyssey that I embarked on in 2010. I did this because I had worked in the grocery industry (Whole Foods, mostly) for about eleven years, and wanted a change. I'm now out of school, working, and learning how to have free time again.

Instagram: imnatemartin

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing.com is rad. I was welcomed into a number of homes while traveling through western Europe a few years ago, and was glad to meet and learn from people that I might not have encountered otherwise. I have also been able to host a couple people here at my home in Portland, and my encounters were memorable and positive.

Couchsurfing is a fantastic way to meet people and build community and help each other.

Interests

Art, above all.
Then, feeding, clothing, and housing myself.
All these other things, too. Creative writing - mostly fiction, poetry and essays. Aikido (Aikikai, 5th kyu). Doing things on my bicycle. Reading. Brewing beer. Singing and playing the banjo. Poker. Board games. Video games. Pinball!

• arts
• writing
• poetry
• singing
• wine
• cheese
• beer
• clothing
• video games
• board games
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• homebrewing
• poker
• backpacking
• camping
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: "Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus," "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World," "Nowhere," most of the Marvel films. I'm sort of picky, sort of not. I watch movies to match my mood, generally. I like documentaries and good action films. I'm allergic to poorly written narratives and poorly written dialogue.

Books: I really like Samuel R. DeLaney. Orson Scott Card's "Ender" books. Ursula K. LeGuinn. China Mieville. Shakespeare. Kafka. Ovid's "Metamorphoses." I read a lot of SF. Same allergy caveat as above.

Music: The Mountain Goats, Tom Waits. The Jezabels. Lots of other things. Recently a bunch of dance music (C2C, Clean Bandit). Angel Haze.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I once tasted the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea in one week.

Teach, Learn, Share

Three things that I've been corrected on:

Glass is not actually a viscous liquid. It's an amorphous solid. Irregularities in old glass that make the glass appear to be slowly drooping are actually due to imperfections in the glass-making process that have been improved upon over time.

The skin is not much of an excretory organ. Very little excretion is actually done through the skin.

Mass from fat cells is primarily lost by the body through exhaling.

SCIENCE!

What I Can Share with Hosts

Bicycle knowledge (touring, camping, wrenching, commuting.) Conversational German and grammar. Banjo basics. Brewing beer. Some knowledge about wine and cheese. Japanese grammar and Kanji. Aikido locks and stretches. Ubuntu (Linux distro). Short colloquial versions of classical stories and Shakespeare plays.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States