CURRENT MISSION

to freaking see the world. do some things. see some people. make friends abroad. make life connections. real ones.

ABOUT ME

I'm a really cool kid. I play lots of musical instruments, and like to serenade women. hah. I write and record music (www.myspace.com/benleiningermusic if you're curious..) and just generally dig sound altogether. I read alot, various things.

I guess as a general rule, being with people is what does it for me. Cool people. Sweet people. Sweet as in cool/legit/chill, and sweet as in caring/kind/considerate/emotional/tender/snuggly. I tend to be that kind of person, too. If I can get past being shy. Maybe some sweet English girl can crack that.

PHILOSOPHY

I live for myself and the people around me. Maybe I should switch that around -- I live most often for the people around me, but I can be caught from time to time being a selfish git and doing something to comfort myself rather than a friend/loved one. As for the meat and potatoes of that philosophy.. I dunno. Live to better your fellow man. Work every inch of your body to make who you are and who the people around you are to be better. Build a house as if your lover were to live in it. Till the soil as if the crops you yield are to be bread for your family. Do everything with your utmost. Live hard, love hard, work hard, play hard and you'll get the most out of life. You may have to forgive me, as I don't always follow this philosophy.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

CS2? Uh.. forgive me, but its late and I haven't really read into what that is. But.. how I participate? Let's see.

I'm a good listener. I really listen. Umm.. I can be your crying shoulder. Yeah.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

For starters.. my parents divorced when I was in my formative years, see? And then my mother moved across the country, yeah? I lived with my dad a while, and then he wanted to move out of town after the summer following my graduating year of high school. I wasn't down, so I moved in with a buddy. It was a small place (literally two bedrooms, a small bathroom and a kitchen/living/frontroom.) and his mother still lived there (long story..) so I got to crash on the couch. Or the floor, often enough. It was a rough year, and it really opened my eyes to the dynamics of living with a roommate. A selfish one, at that. The experience was good though, and I'm better for it. I know what not to do, what not to get upset about, how to stay under a person's nerve radar, and keep your nose clean. And on the topic of clean, there's nothing worse than rooming with a dirty or untidy person, for a short or extended period. It all sucks. Currently I'm staying in the same town with another friend while working, but thats short-lived and I'm looking for somewhere else. Yeah. Couchsurfing as a means of existance is something I've been doing for about 4 months now, so.. yeah. I've gotten the hang of that.. unsteady feeling. And I'm pretty level with it.

Interests

I tried vaguely to cover that in the "all about you" section, but I guess this is the in-depth version. I'm interested in hiking, music, poetry, photography, baking, biking, swimming, lots of verbs like that. I'm also really into traditional garbage. Like.. hmm. I guess I don't know how to describe it, really. Example: I've sortof been going on this.. well, for lack of a better term, 'identity trip'. I've been really invested in my family and personal history, and looking into who I am, and in making myself a better person. As for the 'traditional' comment, when I think of a general flavour or theme to the things I'm into.. I think of olde style things, very traditional styling and practices. While I'm fully supportive of this changing and evolving world, rich with new ideas and all that.. I'm simply in love with the tradition of things. Maybe thats all it is that inspires me -- the romance of it all.

• poetry
• folklore
• photography
• concerts
• baking
• technology
• anime
• music
• guitar
• piano
• cycling
• hiking
• swimming
• history

Music, Movies, and Books

I'm really into indie and folk music. Acts like The National, Midlake, Broken Social Scene, Stars, Arcade Fire, Metric, Death Cab For Cutie, Stars of Track and Field, Appleseed Cast, and some other crap. My favorite movie is Dead Poets Society. I'm a diehard loser for the Harry Potter series. But I've also invested a good amount of care into some other books, like the bible, The Prophet, and some other smart junk. I'm sure I've read, listened to, and seen many other things, though.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Seen? Done? I've seen some cool concerts. I saw RHCP, Billy Idol, Explosions in the Sky, Sigur Ros, Sufjan Stevens, etc. I met failed US Presidential candidate John Kerry in my front yard once. Got a picture with him.

But those are sortof superficial things. I've drank from a waterfall. I've crawled 10 yards on my back through a shoulder-width tunnel 50 feet under ground in the dark and squeezed out of a tiny hole to reach freedom of a sanguine, lonely cave. I've helped two drunk chicks out of a car wreck in Seattle, Washingon with a guy dressed as an anime character. I've nearly drowned. I've been hanged. I've been in love. I've been burned to death a thousand times and have risen from my own ashes numerous times.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm well-learned in many instruments, including but not limited to guitar, bass guitar, piano, mandolin, drum trap set, tuba, banjo, viola and glockenspiel. I'm also a computer tech junkie, but not the sunless pale smelly sort. More of the kind that will pay you to let them fix your computer. I live for it. So it's either be a baker, or an IT Computer Services douche.