CURRENT MISSION

Acquiring tradable skills

ABOUT ME

I don't like to travel, I like to live. When I go to a city (because cities are what I love - nature is nice, but I prefer to be in the urban jungle), I want to know what it's like to live there and feel what it's like to live there; in other words, the character of the place. Maybe some of it has to do with the history, which can be seen in historical sites, maybe a little in museums if they reflect the taste or common consciousness, but most of it's in the people. The people choose which restaurants, shops, galleries, bars, clubs, neighborhoods they like best, and they inspire affect in visitors and craft the city's personality. So when I travel somewhere, I don't want to stay in a hostel and meet other outsiders, or pay for a tour that shows me all the things that the people who actually live there never pay attention to. Rather, I want to get to know a place by knowing it's people.

PHILOSOPHY

I am a serious student, in the scholarly, academic sense as well as in the sense that hopefully I can also be a student of our common human experience! I can, and do, and love to float around in the 'misty realm of philosophical fantasy,' but the study of society doesn't hold a candle to actually living in it!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

In the past it's been mostly as a surfer, but now that I've settled down a bit and have a CS-friendly apartment, bring on the guests!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Life-changing :) I'm happy to be part of such a generous and adventurous community. I've never met a Couch Surfer I didn't like, and have met many I like enough to sync our life-orbitals.

Interests

good dance track+good dj+good sound system+cool space+people with good taste in music leads to dancing and good vibes, all of which interest me

good world music+live instrumentation+good crowd+authentic environment

1980s and earlier bicycles+slowly warming up to 1990s road bicycles+commuting+urban and island exploration by bike+wrenching+educating

sun, sand, surf, but not me in a swim suit

modern, but alas not contemporary, art

food-buying it, making it, smelling it, gazing on it, eating it, admiring it, criticizing it, metabolizing it

the written word-font, signage, pamphlets, periodicals, books, essays, literature, philosophy, but for the most part not novels

• arts
• books
• literature
• theater
• dancing
• dining
• exercise
• clubbing
• reading
• traveling
• music
• track and field
• swimming
• history
• historic sites

Music, Movies, and Books

I never like this question.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Bunraku (dramatic Japanese puppet theater)

Teach, Learn, Share

Reading. I'm not talking about the back of cereal boxes or billboards. When was the last time you sat down with theory and could follow it for more than ten pages? Don't take literacy for granted. It is a right, not a privilege. Exercise is.

a little Japanese or German.

I don't know. Ask me!

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Germany, Mexico, Spain, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Japan, United States