CURRENT MISSION

To tear down the walls; to believe the best of people; to LIVE, rather than exist.

ABOUT ME

My mother has always wanted to see the world, or as much of it as she possibly could given our family's modest means--and that meant that we were always traveling for our vacations. We had a pop-up Rockwood trailer that my father drove all over the US and into Canada, and because of my mom's insatiable urge to travel, I've been most everywhere in the continental US, with a jaunt to Alaska as well. It was my mom's idea to send me to England and Europe with a choir--something I didn't dare ask for, but was delighted when she suggested it herself--and so I got a taste of the rest of the West in high school, as a 16 year old traveling with a group of adults who didn't care if I was the legal drinking age in Europe!

Before we started our nationwide camping adventures, when we had even less money, we drove around West Texas hunting arrowheads and dodging rattlesnakes. My father and brother would take off in the early hours of a Saturday morning with their rifles to hunt jack-rabbits. This involved driving down oilfield roads with a spotlight, while the shooter rode in the back of the pick-up. This might sound a bit red-neck, and it probably is, but it's also representative of a kind of freedom available in the West that I have absorbed, even though I really didn't enjoy the hunting of animals you can't eat.

Early on in my life I knew I'd pursue music as a career, and somehow I discovered classical music even though my parents had no knowledge of it. Music, whether classical or otherwise, is the air that I breathe. More accurately, music and books. I love creative and speculative fiction (often of the darker variety), and if I don't have time to read a bit each day, I start to feel a little crazy.

I was raised in an evangelical Christian home, but my emerging sexuality put me at odds with my faith for a very long time, and allowed me to let go of the churchiness in which I was raised in favor of what seems to me to be a more genuinely spiritual path. Sometimes I'm a little uptight about new ideas or ways of living, and I have a core that remains just a touch conservative (for myself, not others), but I no longer believe that being a follower of Christ is equivalent to going to church or being Republican, and my current favorite spiritual reading material is Aldous Huxley's "The Perennial Philosophy," which is an absolutely mind-blowing compilation of mystical knowledge from all the Eastern and Western mystical traditions. It has completely changed my life.

I have to mention that I've been married now for about 4 years to Jason Gomez, my soulmate, travel companion, and partner in crime, and that he is a constant source of inspiration for my creative efforts. He is a writer, who'd like to be writing serial drama for television if he could, and he loves to travel as well.

PHILOSOPHY

I am increasingly drawn to Eastern spiritual paths and paganism with its reverence for Nature (and its understanding that we are a part of it rather than above it). I was raised in an evangelical Christian household, but believe that a true Christian, regardless of what his stated "religion," is someone who loves his neighbor, and who strives to see everyone he encounters as a neighbor. The maxim "do what thou wilt, an' it harm none," resonates with me too. I have increasingly little patience for the self-righteous narrowness of a set of beliefs to be checked off. Everyone is a "child of God" and worthy of love--not that I can do that, as a flawed human being, but that is the goal.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I just heard about the couchsurfing experience, and right now, I am most interested in surfing, although I think it'd be fun to host.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I'll fill this in when I get some experience!

Interests

I am a musician who collects Victorian ghost stories, loves movies, reads a lot, and loves traveling. I am increasingly drawn to Eastern spiritual paths and paganism with its reverence for Nature (and its understanding that we are a part of it rather than above it).

• animals
• rabbits
• writing
• books
• drinking
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• music
• classical music
• piano
• violin
• camping
• hunting
• surfing
• languages
• law
• religion

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Orlando, Amadeus, Hair, Once, Weekend, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, Rebecca, Shadow of a Doubt, A.I., The Shining, The Haunting, The original Carrie and The Omen, The Leage of Gentleman (the British television series), and other wacky Brit humor.

Music: Prokofiev (symphonies, piano concertos, violin concertos, violin sonatas), Bach, Ratatat, Broken Bells, a lot of the Brit psych-pop that Jason has introduced me to, Benjamin Britten's operas, and of course Mozart.

Books: The Perennial Philosophy, The Dark is Rising Sequence, M.R. James, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, To The Lighthouse, Oryx and Crake, Flannery O'Connor (stories, Wise Blood), Thomas Merton

Teach, Learn, Share

I love languages, so if you speak another language, teach me the basics (swear words, etc.)! In return, I'll give you a violin or piano lesson, or tell you all about the stories you should read if you really want to see the moment that strange fiction abandoned the trappings of the Gothic and became a complex, psychological instrument.

Countries I’ve Visited

United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States