CURRENT MISSION

avoiding both cubicles and the gathering of moss

ABOUT ME

I'm a pretty simple person. I need very little. Actually, we all need very little but too many people mistake wants for needs. Perhaps I am not as simple as I'd like to think I am. People are really complex, confusing and incredibly interesting. I am not picky and find it hard to understand why people are. Laid back to a fault. I'm a terrible judge of character cause I like people. I can put up with almost anything. I'm optimistic laced with outbursts of mild cynicism. Sometimes I'm too intellectual. Sometimes I'm not intellectual at all. I can enjoy a good beer, or a bad one if I have good company. I kinda just do what happens to me. The path of least resistance leads you to some interesting places. In the end, I like learning something about anything. I've seen enough to know that there is much more to see. I dislike starting all my sentences with "I", especially when writing a letter, but its hard to avoid here. I rail against the cult of productivity.

This summer I will be traveling with my lovely and wonderful partner in life, Emily. She is newer to couch surfing experiences, but is perfectly suited to them. She and I have hosted a few couples since we moved in together, the only complaint being the lack of sleep after overly eventful and enjoyable weekends with good friends.

PHILOSOPHY

I enjoy thinking. I also enjoy not thinking. Some of the best times of my life have been had due to a lack of forethought and reason.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

good times. people walk into your home and share

Interests

people, talking, drinking on curbs and/or front porches, people, music, prison rodeos, intellectual abstractions, New Orleans (see also: earlier mention of drinking on front porches), biking extremely long distances (but not quickly or racing or competing - just riding and stopping and loving), not cutting my hair as often as is hygienically and socially acceptable, people, politics, arbitrarily choosing future plans knowing that we only pretend to know what we want anyway...

• writing
• beauty
• beer
• drinking
• politics
• traveling
• music
• cycling
• surfing

Music, Movies, and Books

I dabble in the blues harp. The greatest friend of a traveler. We'll see how long this phase lasts.

My hard drive is a slut, meaning I will copy anyone's music onto it and learn to enjoy it, and of course return the favor if anything appealing can be found.

I like books. Pretty much all of them. Ironically, what I like about books is that you can't travel with a lot of them, so you are constantly forced to give/trade them with others.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Camped beneath the outer crumbling reaches of the Great Wall.

Got lost for a few days at 17,000 feet.

Taught my 62 year old mother to couchsurf. Thanks again to all our awesome hosts.

Rode my bicycle from New Orleans to San Francisco via the oregon trail. Epic, truely epic.

Teach, Learn, Share

"Travelling is a fool's paradise. Our first journeys discover to us the indifference of places. At home I dream that at Naples, at Rome, I can be intoxicated with beauty and lose my sadness. I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from. I seek the Vatican and the palaces. I affect to be intoxicated with sights and suggestions, but I am not intoxicated. My giant goes with me wherever I go."

- The Couchsurfer's Gospel according to Ralph.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bermuda, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Mexico, Morocco, Spain, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Nepal, United States

•