CURRENT MISSION

Right now, I’m looking for a place - probably a FEW places - to crash while I look for an apartment in Seattle.

ABOUT ME

I was raised in a wee village of 306 people in Minnesota. After finishing high school there, I went to college for two years studying Theater and Philosophy. I foolishly dropped out and moved to San Diego intending to be a bar tender. I took an bar tending course and passed but failed to get a job. I then realized I had no marketable skills to make a decent living. I struggled on for a year (I was homeless at one point) before joining the Army in 1999. I did my Basic Training at Fort Benning, Georgia, my medical training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and then I spent the next two years and for months in Fort Polk, Louisiana, before ending up in Camp Humphreys in South Korea. I got out of the Army in November of 2003 and went back to college. While there, some friends and I were talking to a waiter at a Perkins who said he was going to teach English in Japan and I thought "That's a great idea!" I eventually got myself a job in Japan and taught there for all of two months before the company I was with went bankrupt. I tried to find another job there, but I was one of 5,000 teachers who had lost their jobs almost overnight, so the market was flooded with people looking for jobs. Then some friends said they were applying to Korea. As soon as I put my resume online, I started getting job offers. I taught my first year in Suji, then Jeju, then Daejeon, and finally Busan.

After that, I returned home to Minnesota to get a degree in Graphics & Animation. After graduating, I moved to Seattle, where I lived for about 2 1/2 years before moving to Portland, and now I’m trying to move back to Seattle.

PHILOSOPHY

The reason it's so easy to point to the bad news and say that the world is going to Hell is because the bad news stands out in such stark contrast against the backdrop of everyday kindness and peace. The bad news is ABnormal.

I think that the meaning of life lies in the experiences we have and what we learn from them. I try to have a good variety of experiences. My favorite metaphor for life is a roller-coaster. It has it's ups and downs and twists and turns. It's exciting and scary and it's over in a relatively brief period that just feels like a long time while it’s happening.

Spiritually, I don't subscribe to any particular religion, but I lean toward Buddhism, if I had to pick one.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I hosted a couple of guys while I was living in Jeju.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None yet, but soon.

Interests

As I said before, I'm interested in Philosophy, Technology, and Art.

• arts
• theater
• mardi gras
• technology
• news
• camping
• buddhist
• animation
• religion
• mountains
• spirituality
• spiritual growth

Music, Movies, and Books

Favorite music: Tool, Perfect Circle, 80's music, System of a Down, Depeche Mode, Radio Head, Imogen Heap, Billy Joel, Alanis Morrisette, The Bloodhound Gang, Fiona Apple, Linkin Park, Dave Matthews Band, Alice in Chains, Eminem, KoRn, Static-X, The Who, Tom Lehrer, various classical and choir CDs, various musicals, and too many novelty songs to name.

Favorite TV Shows:
Brooklyn 99, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Futurama, Monty Pythons Flying Circus, Star Trek, The Boys, Game of Thrones, Super Jail, Axe Cop

Favorite Movies:
The Shawshank Redemption, The Butterfly Effect, American Beauty, The Mirror Mask, The Raid, Django Unchained, FFVII: Advent Children, Gramma's Boy, Contact, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, anything from Monty Python, American Psycho, An American Werewolf in London/Paris, Fantastic Planet, Battle Royale, Suicide Club, The Boondock Saints, Boogie Nights, Dawn of The Dead, any Friday the 13th movie, From Dusk Till Dawn, Frailty (that guy reminds me of my dad), Kill Bill, Snatch, Moulin Rouge, MST3K, Perfect Blue, Reefer Madness, Se7en, 28 Days Later,

Favorite Books:
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Conversations With God, Waking Up, Anything by Bishop John Shelby Spong, The Martian Tales of E.R.Burroughs, Enders Game, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I saw some pretty crazy stuff in Thailand. I've been to New Orleans a few times including once during Mardi Gras and another time after the big hurricane. I've seen lots of great mountains and sunsets on the ocean. I've seen a hillside on fire and hundreds of people covered in mud.

Teach, Learn, Share

Might be able to help you learn Photoshop and other Adobe programs.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, England, Jamaica, Japan, Netherlands, Thailand

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, South Korea, United States

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