Early-riser. Food, coffee and beer enthusiast. Urban cyclist. Buddhist practitioner. Lazy neat freak. Brewer. Baker. Candlestick Maker (kidding). Equal parts talker and listener. Musician. Autodidact. Occasional stress-ball. Relatively outgoing introvert. Outdoor enthusiast. Reforming procrastinator.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I've been on Couchsurfing since the moment I heard about it because it positively impacts the world. It helps us make connections in far-flung places and keeps traveling from becoming a sterile experience .

HOSTING: I try to help out whoever I can given timing and my living situation at that moment. I've hosted in Boston, San Diego and I hope I'll be able to host again soon after returning to the United States (Traveling 12/2014 - 07/2015 in SE Asia and Oceania).

SURFING: I've surfed in New Orleans, Seattle, Yakima & Orange County; all of those experiences were amazing. I find hosts whose profiles resonate with me in some way. Having a couch to sleep on is great, but the best part about CS is meeting people and making connections that otherwise wouldn't be made. I normally try to stay more than one night in order to actually have some time to meet hosts and I've found that cooking/eating dinners together is a great way to get to know one another. I can't promise I'm the best cook, but I'm always willing to make dinner for whoever is hosting me.

MEETUPS/COUCHCRASHES/ETC: I've attended a few, especially when I had just moved to Orange County. There's no better way to get your bearings in a new place or explore a city if you only have a limited number of days! I also attended Detroit CouchCrash 2010 and it was unbelievably fun. It was the perfect way to explore a city that I had wanted to experience for a long time. I met a bunch of really great people and saw Detroit in a way that I never would have on my own. Randomly enough CS also helped me find Rana, my beloved '95 station wagon of the last few years.

Interests

music (bass, guitar, recording & gamelan), spirituality, zen practice, local and/or non-governmental methods of political organization and action, home- and professional-brewing, bread baking, permaculture and open source ethics, gardening, yoga, archery, auto and bike maintenance, woodworking, communal living, food politics, programming and web development, language learning, drawing

• culture
• diy
• dancing
• ethics
• dining
• cooking
• beer
• coffee
• baking
• vegan
• yoga
• drinking
• gardening
• politics
• traveling
• socializing
• homebrewing
• drawing
• woodworking
• music
• guitar
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• surfing
• rock climbing
• archery

Music, Movies, and Books

Directors/Movies: Linklater, Aronofsky, Leone, Tarantino, Ford Coppola, Miyazaki, Van Sant, Blade Runner, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Koyaanisqatsi, The Holy Mountain!!!

Music: I grew up on 90's alt-rock, metal and classic rock, and my tastes have since expanded to include jazz, bluegrass, dub, electronic musics of various sorts, funk, hip hop. listen to a wide range of music. Most recently I've been listening to music with a more experimental attitude and/or instrumentation: Deerhoof, Tyondai Braxton, Jack Rose, Swans, Terry Riley, Low-End Theory DJs, Wolves in the Throne Room, etc

Favorite Live Act - Deerhoof
Favorite Lyricist - John Darnielle - The Mountain Goat
Favorite Instrumental Act - James Blackshaw

Authors: Haruki Murakami, David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers, John Kennedy Toole, Kurt Vonnegut, Jack Kerouac, Douglas Adams, Ram Dass, Ken Wilber, P.K. Dick, Frank Herbert,

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

1. My dad and I saw a perfect sunrise at 10,000 feet on Haleakala. The clouds capped off at probably 7,000 and we watched them dance back and forth in and out of the crater while the sun came up. When the sun was just about peek above the distant sea it created a 360 degree rainbow highlighting the entire horizon.

2. I saw an unlikely yet much-hoped-for display of the Southern Lights from Mt. John Observatory in New Zealand. Dancing pillars of green luminescence with a captivated crowd of astro-geeks.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach: I could help you figure out how to start homebrewing your own beer. I also have limited experience distilling liquor.

I could also teach beginning bass lessons, or certainly play with people who are looking for someone to jam with.

I'm getting to be a pretty decent vegan cook / (still a ways to go) baker, so I can help ease the transition.

Learn: First of all, I want to learn more about anything that I mentioned I could teach something about!

Guitar, bread baking, all-grain homebrewing, how to build a cob oven, rock-climbing, recording music, drawing, - all of these are things I would love to learn more about.

Share: Food, baked goods, homemade beverages. Exploring cities or nature (known or unknown). DIY projects of all kinds - they make great ways to hang out without feeding in to consumer culture, plus everything is more fulfilling to experience after you've tried to do/make it yourself!

What I Can Share with Hosts

Laughs? Food? Drink? Sunrise? Music?

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Russian Federation, Slovakia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands, British, Virgin Islands, U.S., Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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