CURRENT MISSION

I have no clear mission. It's more fun that way.

ABOUT ME

I'm an easygoing and friendly Australian guy, who got bored, quit his job, and decided to move to the other side of the world.

I like travelling, meeting people, seeing new sights, trying new food, and having good conversations with interesting people over beer and coffee.

PHILOSOPHY

pleasure and pain are merely surfaces
(one itself showing,itself hiding one)
life's only and true value neither is
love makes the little thickness of the coin

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm back on the road at the moment, so I'm on the asking end of the CS game. I didn't really have a chance to host anybody for a while before I left home (complicatd sharehouse situation), but I definitely met up with a number of CSers for coffee/beer and tried to help them understand the weird little place that is my home town. Basically I think that the accommodation part of CS is secondary -- the most important part is local knowledge, and I love to share it.

Interests

Music is the core of my life, and I spend lots of leisure time involved with it. I like to frequent bars, clubs and discos - particularly if there's a good band or DJ playing/spinning. I'm a bedroom DJ with delusions of talent, and occasionally I'll get up at a party or similar and play a set; my style has progressed through trance and house into breaks, and currently rests as an eclectic mix of old- and new-school funk with down-tempo breaks and alternative hip-hop.

Sometimes I like to pretend I'm a photographer, although I haven't taken many photos of late. Here are some of my favourite shots (one won a competition, and one might have been used in an Indian in-flight magazine, although I never saw my cheque): http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesbarker/sets/72157603925723559/

I like climbing things, particularly mountains and rocks, but just about anything is possible after a drink or two. I'm a little out of practice -- I've had a bad run with injuries and enforced time off for the last few years. I'm still always keen for a climb though -- I much prefer outdoor, particularly "adventurous" sport and entertaining trad. There are some character-building granite slabs in the hills around Canberra... Good fun!

• design
• music festivals
• festivals
• dancing
• dining
• beer
• coffee
• running
• partying
• drinking
• clubbing
• politics
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• guitar
• outdoor activities
• scuba diving
• sports
• rock climbing
• logic
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Music? I'm not a snob - I will listen to anything if I enjoy it. I cut my teeth on rock and metal, and I still go back to them regularly. I also love just about anything hip-hop, funk of all descriptions, dub, reggae, and interesting electronica. Sample artists include Soundgarden, Trentemøller, Dessa, Hermitude, Aesop Rock, Urthboy, Synaecide, Paul Dempsey, Nickodemus, Emancipator, Salmonella Dub, Fat Freddy's Drop, Dead Can Dance, Leonard Cohen, TZU, BT, Propellerheads, Adam Freeland, Way Out West, Mos Def, UNKLE, and Casual Projects. The list goes on. :)

Books? I mainly read fiction in my off hours, but I'm always interested in philosophy, politics, histories, travel literature, and some autobiographical stuff. Currently on my bedside table is Robert Fisk's The Great War for Civilisation -- it's a bit of a housebrick. My favourite book of all time is Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon - an absolute mind-bender of postmodern literature, and the closest thing I have to a holy text.

Movies? I like films that challenge me and move me and mess with my head and make me think. I also like mindless action flicks and cheesy romances. :) A favourite list of films might include, in no particular order: The Proposition, Blade Runner, Das Boot, Rock 'n Rolla, The Thin Red Line, Aliens, Baraka, The Fountain, and Waltz With Bashir. Or it might not, depending on the day.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've had so many fantastic experiences in my life, I can't narrow it down to one. Diving from a 15m sea-cliff in Dorset. The taste in the wind as I walked on my own through the Cairngorm passes in Autumn. Sitting on a high point in Taranaki, watching the rugged topography of the hill country rise silently from a sinking dawn mist. Hauling myself, tired and frozen and hypoxic, across the Thorung La pass in Nepal. Losing myself in the medinas of Spain. The roar and pulse of ten thousand people dancing together at various music festivals. Watching the world go by from the roof of an old Portuguese cathedral in Diu. Seeing the sky explode in a crimson sunrise, working offshore in the Timor Sea. Developing highly efficient parallel methods on the fastest supercomputer in Australia. Dangling over a hundred metres of empty space in the Blue Mountains. These are only a few.

Teach, Learn, Share

I have a host of random skills, and I love sharing them. Among others, I can teach you how to:

- Take sweet photos.
- Create the perfect cappuccino or macchiato.
- Scale a hundred-metre cliff.
- Understand the intricacies of Australian politics.
- Design and construct efficient and reliable parallel systems.
- Construct different sized infinities, and then break logic (just for shits and giggles).
- Jam along on guitar.
- DJ hip-hop, funk, breaks, trance, or pretty much anything.

I can also introduce you to some great music. All you need to do is ask! :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, France, India, Laos, Nepal, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom

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