CURRENT MISSION

to be featherlight

ABOUT ME

Slow living, good food, well made music, the wild world, understanding, laughter! Why is everyone in such a hurry? I know we all have things to do, but really! I think that much of life is learning when to be efficient and when to relax and enjoy what we already have..................... ................Did I mention food? I love to cook and love to eat. The reputation of my amazing appetite, which was previously known only to my friends and family, is increasing as I eat my way around the world..............................................To experience another culture from the inside is the best! The different personalities flavor your trips and color your memories, and everyone leaves a print on you until you are one big collage of impressions, attitudes, viewpoints, anectdotes, jokes, perspectives, opinions, and all the other stuff that makes a person full and interesting. Respect between people is essential. I don't like to push my views on you (okay, maybe a little) and I don't want you to push your views on me (unless you can do it very well) but sometimes I love a good debate!....................... ..................I wish to be featherweight and enjoy enlightening company. I am working out the heavy, bit by bit. If it isn't fun, I'm not sure I am interested. I also love people...all kinds of people...I find them so damn interesting, though if you have misanthropic tendencies we might not get along. I devour books, I digest information. It pains me to see the world becoming so frighteningly homogeneous, and so I do my part to save out a bit of uncommonness and vagary for those who wish a more enchanting and delightful world. Why buy Starbucks when there is a little cafe with strange things hanging on the walls and a staff of people who may or may not be completely sane but are always interesting? Don't even get me started on Coca-Cola. It is good for clearing clogged drains, though.
One more thing: make me laugh and I will help you do anything. Except lie, cheat, or steal. Safe travels!
P.S. I think I might be a bit of a hippie.

PHILOSOPHY

Nothing would sleep in that cellar, dank as a ditch, Bulbs broke out of boxes hunting for chinks in the dark, Shoots dangled and drooped, Lolling obscenely from mildewed crates, Hung down long yellow evil necks, like tropical snakes. And what a congress of stinks! Roots ripe as old bait, Pulpy stems, rank, silo-rich, Leaf-mold, manure, lime, piled against slippery planks. Nothing would give up life: Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath. -Theodore Roethke....................... ..................

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I just joined, ferchissakes! Haven't done anything yet! *UPDATE* I help strengthen the CS community here in Portland by organizing meetings and getting to know my CS neighbors. I will help people who are traveling here in any way I can. If you are in Portland and I am not I can at least tell you some of the best parts of the city through email. I am an expert on this city!!!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have done a little hospitality club and have loved it. Surfed through Morocco for two months. Have, over the years, given and accepted couch space the country over.

Interests

Water, words, music. Wild(er)ness. Travel. Food! I love to cook and eat! Passionate involvement in life. Activity. Contemplation. Social Justice and other futile fantasies. Ethical living. Walking without interruption. I am a bit of an experience junkie. *see also: music, reading, writing, sitting in cafes watching people, drinks on the veranda, hiking, biking, swimming, arts/crafts, movies, cultural exchange and maintaining a sense of humor; basically enjoying this short life to the fullest

• arts
• culture
• writing
• books
• coloring
• dining
• cooking
• working out
• walking
• drinking
• clubbing
• crafts
• boating
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• knitting
• music
• cycling
• hiking
• hunting
• swimming
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

MUSIC: bob dylan; coco rosie; joanna newsom; beck; kings of leon; amalia rodriguez(or any fado style); nick drake; the kinks; ; pj harvey; nico; rolling stones; liz phair; elvis costello; ween; arvo part; bach cello suites; m ward; t-rex; roots control; roxy music; clash; magnetic fields; sam cooke; sometimes aretha; arcade fire; four tet; compilations (homemade); and so much more
MOVIES: The Sheltering Sky; Lone Star; The Third Man; Latcho Drom; nearly anything with Johhny Depp; Bodies, Rest, and Motion; things directed by Hal Hartley; The Usual Suspects; Dirty Filthy Love; Y Tu Mama Tambien; Sex and Lucia; The Triplets of Belleville; Lost in Translation; The Corporation; Office Space; The Jerk; The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Napoleon Dynamite; Baraka. I don't know, many more that I cannot recall on demand.
BOOKS: Jitterbug Perfume; Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S.; One Hundred Years of Solitude; The River Why; The Tortilla Curtain; Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television; Guns, Germs, and Steel; Fast Food Nation; The Botany of Desire; A Pattern Language.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I once navigated a passenger sailboat through the Mediterranean at night, using the lights from shore to guide me, while the phosphorescence streamed radiant in the wake of the boat. Jumping out of an airplane was pretty cool, too.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach cooking, knitting, beadwork, elementary Spanish for casual learners, and maybe something else I cannot remember right now.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, Canada, France, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Taiwan, Thailand, United States

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