ABOUT ME

If you asked my best friends about me, they might say that I am intelligent...but I come from a really small town. ;) I'm just a medium sized fish in a small pond. But I work in a highly technical field in biomedical research, as such I work with many people from many different cultures because we have many people from all over the world where I work.
I think my friends would say that I am down to Earth as well. I can relate very well with people from many different backgrounds and experiences. I like to ask people that I have just met lots of questions as I am always very curious. Our society is the culmination of everyone's experiences, goals, ambitions, the things that we do that affect one another. I am curious as to how people place themselves into the infinite matrix of our civilization. But I may show disdain for how people put limits on that, to limit and control other people through their personal ideals. I think it is antithetical to peace and prosperity for everyone. :)

Interests

I think, fundamentally, is how people strive and use their skills to be efficient stewards of the resources around them, grabs my attention and puts me in awe. Like how a farmer allows his/her herd to freely roam the land to seek nourishment from it, all the while allow the chickens to follow and eat the insect larvae from their feces which controls the insect pests from infesting the community. Why can we not learn the lessons from nature as to how things are done rather than try to twist the laws of biology by controlling everything, like the use of anti-biotics and growth hormones. Why must suffering occur for someone's benefit at the most extreme efficiency? True knowledge is what interests me, and from that an infinite array of interests follows. I'm eager to learn from other's experiences, their views, and I'm very open to even criticism of my own views and limits to what I have learned.

• chickens
• fish
• fishing
• surfing
• swimming
• biology
• rivers

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I know this might be weird, but I think it offers a little bit of insight into how I think, but to see fish being forced to swim on their sides. During normal years, the rivers in the southeastern US during spring are quite high, several feet above their summer levels. When the rivers recede it leaves small ponds along the opposite side of their banks. Fish are trapped there. As the summer heat dwindles these ponds the waters become shallow, and the fish begin swimming on their side. In this same area is a species of fish called the flounder, which looks like a fish that swims on its side. It's mouth has evolved to 'move' to it's underside, and it's eyes to the opposite side, on top. It was insightful, because to me, what I saw is that over time that very strenuous circumstances forced us, or this species, to adapt to new challenges. And those that didn't change, or were incapable, suffered the consequences. I think we HAVE to change and adapt in order to survive. And I think the human species has adapted something very important in it's 'toolkit' to do that, and that is through empathy and altruism. Ignorance, will kill us because it won't let us adapt and we will suffer the consequences. Especially, if we keep treating the Earth as we do, like an indifferent violent beast. We evolved with it, and now we're trying to evolve the Earth with unforeseen circumstances.
But I am optimistic because of the growing awareness. I think that couch-surfing can be a cultural phenomenon because it allows for us to bring our differences together for a common goal. Peace, and especially, understanding, but hopefully not limited to those that are willing. :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Germany, Ireland, Spain, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, United States