CURRENT MISSION

I believe in exploration of space, environment, function, and ability. As an artist and performer, I seek to share unfamiliar perspectives with people who don't have the opportunity to actively seek it out; as a designer and teacher, I create systems that allow those around me to discover a new boundary to their personal freedom; as a community organizer, I gather people from diverse social strata to come together in play and art.

ABOUT ME

I am a live experience and game designer in the Bay Area. I try to passionately throw myself into whatever I find interesting at the moment, which, over the years, has included unicycling, parkour, bookbinding, immersive theater, graphic novels, urban exploration, and secret societies. I grew up in a somewhat sheltered existence and found culture through the internet, but as I got involved in live communities of sport and art later on, I began to seek magic in the tangible, connection through embodiment.

I am active, enjoy healthy discussion, challenging my personal beliefs. I love food for the act of cooking and sharing nourishment more than the indulgence of eating. I am fairly minimal, keeping things light so it's easy to change things around and experiment with different modes of living. I am extroverted, and have a lot of energy around people, and I try to live by an assumption that strangers are more likely to be warm than dangerous.

PHILOSOPHY

I'm not religious, and my actions aren't guided by spirituality. As a game designer, I believe that we exist in systems that define our values, both as defined by the society that we live in, and in the ways that we choose to act to cope within those systems. I think that the rules we live by are helpful for us to act confidently and decisively, but that we have the leeway to choose the rules we act on, and to play accordingly. I try to create safe spaces to allow for the people around me to explore and experiment with the way they want to live.

As a parkour practitioner, I think that occupying our bodies, and engaging with ourselves physically is paramount to having a meaningful human experience. I think that learning a wide variety of ways to engage with the environment and obstacles we encounter teaches us important lessons about how to approach the struggles we face. By extension, in travel, "parkour" means to be resourceful and adaptive by learning about people and spaces carefully, as well as treating them with respect.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I think travel involves so much more than seeing a place. Actually, I think meeting people in a space is essential to understanding a city. Unfortunately I'm bad at quickly making acquaintances through street interactions, and I like the opportunity that Couchsurfing presents to share local culture with travellers.

Interests

parkour, unicycling, archery, crafting, beer, languages, comic books, circus arts, navelgazing, cooking, wandering, game design

• arts
• culture
• books
• theater
• design
• environment
• dining
• cooking
• beer
• traveling
• socializing
• magic
• sports
• basketball
• archery
• teaching
• languages
• urban exploration

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I went to New Zealand for an international unicycling convention. Our team, Berkeley Revolution, got second place in the world championships of unicycle basketball.

Teach, Learn, Share

I know a couple languages and I do some fringe sports. I like to talk about things that I know about, but that includes tiny bits of about everything.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I actually love washing dishes. I'm also a decent cook, have a lot to talk about, design custom rituals, and have a very playful nature. Let me know what you need!

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, China, England, France, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, United States