CURRENT MISSION

I love that CS promotes kindness & goodwill, and allows people to make connections across the world, and I am happy to be a part of that.

ABOUT ME

I like talking to people.
I don't take myself too seriously.
I love dictionaries.
Dancing makes me happy, especially Blues lately.
By playing the piano I can get rid of any headache (does that work for anyone else?).
Broccoli is yucky, and so is cilantro. (23andme claims it's genetic)
I like driving and I respect people who are good drivers. Yet fancy cars don't impress me.
I got hooked on foos in grad school and still love it.
I like making things with my hands.
A home is not a home without plants.
I volunteer.
I've never met a jar I couldn't open.
I like expressive social games, like Pictionary, Wise and Otherwise, Dixit, and Cards Against Humanity.
Spam subject lines entertain me.
I am not a risk taker, but I love a good adventure.
TV is a black hole that sucks up your time. ("You don't own a TV? What's all your furniture pointed at?")
I like digital photography.
I don't like ice cream.
I never have nightmares.
I like myself, I like my life. I am happy.

So, this is who I am. Who are you?

PHILOSOPHY

My goal is to live generously, laugh at myself, plunge into adventure, and make every day amazing. If this resonates with you, we may get along well.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

meet/host/surf/travel/love

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My first couch surfing experience was years ago in Australia, and it was GREAT.

Since then, I've met many amazing people through CS and had lots of fun adventures. Here's to many more!

Interests

Growing plants, teaching kids, making crepes, staying up late, data mining/machine learning. I do only one of these for money; I bet you can guess which one.

• photography
• dancing
• tv
• traveling
• cars
• piano
• blues
• adventure races
• surfing
• science
• tourism
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

I discovered Somerset Maugham's novels at the impressionable age of 13, and I have been (re)reading his stuff ever since. Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence, Cakes and Ale, and The Razor's Edge - all wonderful... *and* available at Project Gutenberg - go get them now!

Another favorite writer, who trumps Mr. Maugham by a little, but only by the virtue of being still alive and writing, is John Irving. I discovered him about 10 years ago with The Water-Method Man - completely by accident, when I picked up a mis-shelved book in the library. I have yet to find something by him that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed; one of my favorites is A Prayer for Owen Meany. If I could write like Mr. Irving, I wouldn't ask for anything else.

A couple of favorite poets - Jacques Prévert and Sergei Yesenin. At the risk of sounding snobbish I'll say that both should be read in the original, or there's a magnitude of difference. This applies to all literature to some extent, but especially to poetry... and especially to one's favorite poetry, don't you find? :) Both guys are long dead, by the way. Oh, and it's fascinating to me that by the time Yesenin was my age, he'd married 5 times, fathered 4 children, become one of the most popular poets of the day, and committed suicide. That's some fast living.

I also read and enjoy a lot of non-fiction. I recommend The End of Poverty, Worldchanging, Collapse, The World Without Us, The Disappearing Spoon, The Invisible Gorilla, A Short History of Nearly Everything and the several PostSecret books that are out. Also, I've been quite taken by Michael Pollan's books recently and wish I had discovered him years ago.

Among my favorite films are Fight Club, Tampopo, Shrek, The Matrix, Amelie, Corpse Bride, Léon, Groundhog Day, Amadeus, Love Actually, Bend It Like Beckham, Avatar and the gently strange works of Almodovar. Something I refuse to watch is horror movies.

Music-wise, I keep on discovering new artists and styles I like. Some old favorites are Caetano Veloso, Carmen Consoli, Annie Lennox, Norah Jones, Pink Martini, Queen, Ella Fitzgerald. I unashamedly sing along with Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles, Elvis, and Abba, especially during long car trips with friends. However, I have less luck finding friends who also enjoy opera as much as I do. I've been disappointed by some modern attempts at opera, but if you can recommend a "hidden gem", I'd like to hear from you.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'm a data scientist, a traveler, a dancer, an adventurer, a burner, and an optimist.

Teach, Learn, Share

visited 28 states (56%)Create your own visited map of The United States or website vertaling duits?

visited 30 states (13.3%)Create your own visited map of The World or Brazil travel guide for Android

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Bulgaria, Russian Federation, United States

• 

•