CURRENT MISSION

To live a full life and have a positive impact on the world…while spreading good karma and enthusiasm, leaving no stone unturned, fitting in as much as I can (both in life and in my stomach), cranking up the adrenaline, and extreme maximising!

ABOUT ME

I seem to find myself constantly in polar opposites.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time studying to be an aerospace engineer, but I still love intermingling that with the life of working as a ski instructor, earning peanuts.

One moment I'll be stuffing my face with the epic buffet dinner and chocolate mudcake, the next moment I'll be going vegetarian and blending green smoothies.

One minute, you'll find me partying my heart out. The next, I'll be indulging my introversion, doing suitably nerdy things.

Just when I thought I was a sentimental hoarder, then I'll try to get rid of everything and live out of a bag.

One moment, you'll find me in a business suit, the next, I am likely to be in the most ridiculous dressup costume I can think of for the party theme.

I spend my days in Oz dreaming about the snow and mountains and skiing. Then when I'm shredding powder, I'm dreaming about beaches, ocean and kitesurfing.

...Tell me what can't be done, and I'll set about trying to do otherwise.

"Settle down"? What!?

My sister gave me a card before the first time I ever went overseas; the front cover said "Why put off until tomorrow the fun you can have today?"...I think that says it all. Live like you'll die tomorrow, plan like you'll live forever!!!

PHILOSOPHY

I have this fine piece of literature stuck to my wall...

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RISK

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental
To reach out for another is to risk involvement
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self
To place your ideas, your dreams before the
crowd is to risk their loss

To love is to risk not being loved in return
To live is to risk dying
To hope is to risk despair
To try is to risk failure

But risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing
They may avoid suffering and sorrow
But they simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow,
love, live...
Chained by their certitudes they are slaves; they
have forfeited freedom
Only a person who risks is free

---- How we should all live, wouldn't you say?

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I was born deaf. I have no hearing in one ear, and not much in the other, which I use a hearing aid in to get me by.
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Some favourite quotes...

"20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

...And for those times when the sh*t hits the fan:

"These aren't the moments we live for, they're the moments we live with, but every moment we live with, is a moment closer to what we live for..."

Что привело меня на Couchsurfing

Because living in hotels means living a sheltered life and not understanding our world.

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

By destroying people's couches and eating all their food.

No just kidding. Really.

WHEN COUCHSURFING IS TAKEN TOO LITERALLY

To those out there that have jumped on the Couchsurfing bandwagon purely to get a free place to stay, and that's it; to those that turn up at a host's door, and take it for granted, 'who cares' about whoever is hosting you:

Not cool. Let's share the love, ppl! Be nice. Appreciate.

Интересы

Living the dream, be it:

Sampling the world, searching for my "ness", caring about our environment, hugging, finding the best ways to get paid to have fun, healthy food and the making of it, extreme sports, getting battered on the water kiteboarding, nutrition and the science disparaging modern day processed crap, feeling free up high paragliding, days out in the boat fishing/wakeboarding, eating, eating, did I say eating?, the smell of freshly cooked curries, jeepboarding, spraying powder in the ski fields, jet-skiing, rock climbing, blending green smoothies, snowboarding, turning off light switches if you don't need them on!!!, dreaming up contraptions and building them, playing with fire, beer cheeks, playing any sport- cricket/tennis/rugby/hockey etc, building rockets and watching them fly or fail spectacularly, cooking rocket fuel on the kitchen stove, sailing, martial arts (jiu jitsu), flying radio controlled planes, having All-Aussie Adventures, convincing others to join in on the All-Aussie Adventures, Bundy Rum, Yum-Cha for brunch after a big night, getting lost, believing I may die doing what I am about to do then getting past it, searching for my soul, kissing, jumping off very high things, shotgunning, enjoying the company of genuine and stimulating people who appreciate consumption of coffee or alcohol while discussing the meaning of Life the Universe and Everything, creative room roaching, getting off a plane and not knowing what to do next, hitchhiking (preferably not with killers), hoping people will start to care more about nature, philosophical conversations over coffee, surfing, free diving and scuba, getting to know strangers, white-water/surf kayaking, and hmm perhaps I should stop here.

• arts
• literature
• environment
• dining
• cooking
• chocolate
• beer
• coffee
• vegetarian
• instructor
• partying
• flying
• boating
• fishing
• kayaking
• surfing
• scuba diving
• sailing
• skiing
• snowboarding
• wakeboarding
• sports
• martial arts
• cricket
• rock climbing
• hockey
• tennis
• rugby
• paragliding
• jiu jitsu
• extreme sports
• business
• engineering
• science
• hitchhiking
• beaches
• mountains

Музыка, кино и книги

BOOKS

The Alchemist (Paulo Coehlo)
Jonathan Livingstone Seagull and Illusions- Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (both by Richard Bach)
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (the book, not the movie...)
I'd say Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance but I'm too stupid to get it.
Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
An Astronaut's Guide to Life (Chris Hadfield)
The Slight Edge (Jeff Olsen)
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari (Robin Sharma)
Mud Sweat and Tears (Bear Grylls)
Elon Musk (Ashlee Vance)
The Art of Racing in the Rain (Garth Stein)

In general, biographies about people who do extraordinary things in difficult circumstances.

MUSIC

I hate the old "so what music do you like" question- I can't pin it, I am a "one of every kind" person...my music collection is VERY random and widespread...so long as it's not heavy metal/rap, noise etc :)

That said, a couple of classics:
- The Sunscreen Song (Everybody's Free)
- Danger Zone. Nuff said.

MOVIES

Too many...

Quite often, ones that everyone else thinks are sh*t :)

Top Gun! And the Hot Shots spin off :)

Remember the Titans, Inside Man

And b-grade comedies :P ...any of Yahoo Serious's fine work, (ie. Young Einstein, Reckless Kelly), Flying High, all the "Police Academy"s, You Me and Dupree, Blades of Glory etc etc

Классная вещь, которую я сделал(-а)

Paragliding high above beautiful Australian coastline, doing spiral dives over turquoise coloured ocean and surf.

Contemplating the world while being yanked up above the ocean, driven by the wind and soaking in the Hawaiian ocean wave sets- kiteboarding in Maui...heaven every sesh.

Watching and listening to the roar of my first successful experimental rocket launching...now I understand how your brain can process in 'slow motion'...

Exploring an abandoned theme park in Montreal at 2am in the morning and glimpsing a pack of howling wolves in the darkness...only to realise later that it was the local tourist sled huskies on leashes :P

And most recently, fulfilling a lifelong dream of becoming a pilot.

Учу, учусь, делюсь опытом и информацией

If I only achieve 2 things, I will be happy:

I want to inspire people to care about our world more, because we only have one to live on.

* and *

I want to encourage people to be open to strangers, because they could be your future best friend.

Чем я могу поделиться с хостами

It kind of depends where we are! Inside the house? Hmm, well, how to cook up rocket fuel in your kitchen? If you're in Edmonton, we can go for a fly?

Где я побывал(-а)

Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Canada, Fiji, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Где я жил(-а)

Australia, Austria, Canada, United States

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