Thank you to so many incredible couch surfers. Like many of you, I live on pennies every day, and you've opened your kitchens to my odd requests to "come by and cook", as well as taken care of myself and my girlfriend -- even my van. Couch surfing is the way the world should be and that is because of you -- yes, you right there reading this. Keep being awesome!

As to myself? I'm a fractalist and musician and after a large 5m x 3m (16ft x 10ft) mural in Thailand, I am excited about the idea of my first in the United States. I'm currently fundraising to start the world's first fractal museum, a space to combine the science and art of fractals and to inspire entirely new generations of geometers.

My most recent fun to close out 2019 was at East Austin Studio Tour. Goats, wine, music, art, and fire... proper Dionysian revelries. Check it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0LO8_wqLDs

I love nature, exploring, and especially love animals: dogs, cats, marsupials, rodents, and pretty much everything that moves and wants to hang out.

My van's name is Pocket One (but you can call her Pocket). She's a rescue from Fort Worth. Her family abused, then abandoned her. She'd been forgotten on the lot where I found her. It took a lot to nurse her back to life: new spark plugs, new thermostat, new tires, and an entirely new makeover. I converted this little silver Dodge Grand Caravan into a mobile home and art studio. She's already been with me for more than 10,000 kilometers, which means we've driven the distance of a quarter of the planet together.

Pocket is awesome!

But about ME? Most people know me because of my fractal art or my music.

My fractal art appears on music albums, book covers, in videos, and even in large pieces of public art like my "Heart of the Rose" mural in Thailand. My book "Spectral Iteration" goes into these in much more depth. I love wandering forests and seeing how lines connect, how the world forms patterns all around us. That is fractal geometry, and it's my favorite art form. I publish some of the best of these here on my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fractals_by_jaya/

Others, even more so than my fractals, know me because of my music. With a pair of headphones and some studio time, I can disappear for weeks without seeing another soul -- lost in creating music and exploring different methods to generate sound. Many know me from one or more of my core albums, a series of eight connected albums of original music. But most? Most easily know me from my DJ career, especially hits like my mashup of Massive Attack with Portishead -- "Teardrop on Roads": https://soundcloud.com/jaya-prime/teardrop-on-roads

Oh, wow, hey, huge warning: "I talk about art a lot, like.. a LOT!" If you love talking about travels and art, then we're going to get along swimmingly. If art isn't your thing, then I could bore your ear off. I've just come back from my eleventh Burning Man, and art is quite literally my life.

I speak French with a Mexican accent. I speak American English with a Midwestern accent, and in the common vulgar native only to the Adult Swim late night programming. I don't speak Spanish; I speak Mexican.

On June 30th of the year 2000, I packed a backpack and hitchhiked out of Omaha, Nebraska. It's an adventure that has taken me around the world, into the world of DJing, and now into the fine arts of fractals and abstracts. It's taken me into activism, into places people wouldn't believe, into travel writing and photography, and so much more.

Tomorrow is a new horizon.

´´´_||__|´´|´´______´´´______´´´______´
´´(´´´´´´´´|´|´´´´´´|´|´´´´´´|´|´´´´´´|
´´/-()---()´~´()--()´~´()--()´~´()--()´

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Hotels are as cold as hospitals and they are too expensive. Meeting other travelers and local life on CouchSurfing? That's the life for me.

I remember when CouchSurfing had a map for all the places you had traveled. I miss that.

I remember when CouchSurfing had widgets. I miss those, also.

Remember when CouchSurfing almost disappeared and we all helped bring it back to life? That was awesome.

Mad shout out in thanks that, even with all the changes. CouchSurfing has let me keep my "extra" photo albums and photos.

I'm a surfer for life. The horizon is my addiction.

Interests

The smell of a storm, the smell after the rain passes, the smell of spring, the smell and taste of coffee brewed fresh on the plantation, the wind in the desert, the stars in the desert; the electric tension in the moment before a first kiss, and the passionate desire in the touch of the lips; swimming in a cool lake or the ocean when it is blasting hot outside, music on maximum volume with heavy bass, the fast pace of my heart beating like a racehorse because I'm packing my bag to hit the road the next day, the odd meaningful coincidences that open my heart when I'm traveling and remind me that there are worlds my eyes can never see; late night conversations and debates over philosophy, physics, politics, and the wonders and terrors that comprise the human species; breathing heavily, inhaling deep, cool mountain air and climbing trails, climbing over boulders to reach ever-greater heights; exploring new cities without a map to get lost, to discover, to explore, to play; reading books with endless horizons, books with violent flashes of red, books with magic, books to escape, books to find, and being carried away page-after-page; writing books and journals and feeling the words move through me, a dance between pen and paper, a conversation between the writer and the reader; candlelight and Christmas lights at 3am, the fire casting out shadows to play on the walls, and with laughter carried on the night; the first taste of a fresh bottle of Chupacabra Red from Merkin Vineyards; smoking with a lover in my arms, sweat mixed, the air saturated, and music playing nearby; the setting sun over a verdant garden with the smell of flowers carried upon the vivid crimsons, yellows, and indigo violets of the sky above.

• writing
• books
• graphic design
• photography
• dancing
• coffee
• flowers
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• magic
• music
• rock climbing
• swimming
• mathematics
• physics
• cosmology
• fractals
• fractal art

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Tao Te Ching, The Prophet, Ishmael, The Four Agreements, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, After Dachau, The Mastery of Love, The Little Prince, The Celestine Prophecy, Flatland, Anthem, The Voice of Knowledge, The Illustrated Alchemist, Tao of Pooh, and Spiritual Enlightenment: the Damnedest Thing.

Movies: The Fountain, Inception, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Blade Runner, Requiem for a Dream, V for Vendetta, WALL*E, Casshern, Revolver, The Matrix, Zombieland, Memento, Boondock Saints, The Fifth Element, Pirates of the Caribbean, UP!, SE7EN, Serenity, True Romance, Donnie Darko, Shaun of the Dead, 28 Days Later, The Crow, The Incredibles, Ghost in the Shell, Tombstone, Akira, The Professional, The Emperor's New Groove, and Star Wars.

TV: Game of Thrones, Firefly, American Gods

Music: Nina Simone, Maynard James Keenan, The Glitch Mob, Frank Sinatra, Massive Attack, Bassnectar, Burial, Apparat, Portishead, Dead Can Dance, Trentemoller, Azam Ali, Beats Antique, Tiesto, CloZee, Jack White, Outkast, SYNKRO, The XX, Enigma, RJD2, Carlos Santana, Nine Inch Nails, Moderat, UNKLE, Wax Tailor, Trifonic, K. Sabroso, Zitan, Nathaniel Ecko, Ludovico Einaudi, Kenji Kawai, Helios, lacunae, Borealis, Koda, Ryuichi Sakamoto, sayCet, The Flashbulb, Ugress, DJ Chad Is A DJ, Egadz, Little People, Stephan Jacobs, Rage Against the Machine, and myself -- San Jaya Prime: http://soundcloud.com/jaya-prime

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Death is the most amazing thing that I've done. I've died two times and I've also come near to death two times, and it has changed my life forever. This is the bonus round, baby, and I should have "checked out" a long, long time ago... and touching that "other space" is an experience that animates my every living day. Nothing can be more amazing than that. Nothing.

However, I can't claim to have done it intentionally. Maybe that should go under something amazing that the universe has done, and that I just so happen to be involved with.

Teach, Learn, Share

Book stores are crack dens and readers are the heroin addicts of the information age. Save a tree. Save yourself. Put down the books.

The withdrawal symptoms will pass.

PS: If it's already too late for you, and you're using books as interchangeable replacements for your pillows, then you should be warned that one of the largest bookstores in the ATX is just a few blocks south of me. Run before it's too late!

What I Can Share with Hosts

I've been back traveling non-stop for years now, so I can't host anyone anymore. I've gone from hosting to the guest side of things. A mad shout out in love and gratitude to all who I have hosted and hung out with, and to all who have hosted me, and to you who I have yet to meet!

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Belgium, Belize, Canada, England, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Spain, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Andorra, France, Mexico, United States