CURRENT MISSION

notice the mistakes i make BEFORE i make them

ABOUT ME

i love reading, writing, watching science fiction movies, talking about everything, scuba diving, seeing the world, that time when the airplane lurches up into the air. i don't like irresponsible people or anyone who snaps their gum (i can't help it!). i have an undergraduate degree in sociolinguistics and film studies, which means i can talk a lot about f-stops in a deeply pretentious way. I also do a lot of yoga and recently lived in a Thai Buddhist monastery for a month, studying meditation, so I'm EVEN MORE PRETENTIOUS.

i'm an activist, mostly in native and GLBT rights and sustainability stuff, but i'm prepared to shout about anything that looks wrong. i'm pretty easygoing, and not really interested in partying; my idea of a good time is reading on a beach, walking a dog, or chatting all night over tea. i love dogs. and cats. and, you know, chickens and things.

i'm a vegetarian but i'm certainly not going to complain if YOU eat meat. that's your choice! just don't wave your hamburger under my nose or stuff it in my mouth while i'm sleeping. or cook it in my cast-iron frying pan.

i've spent the last two and a half years living in perth, but it's time to move on for awhile. i'm aiming for canada but have no real set plans.

PHILOSOPHY

"All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea."
- Tennyson, "Ulysses"

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

i've hosted and surfed and had nothing but excellent experiences...including finding amazing housemates through couchsurfing. and some great friends. and, you know, giving people something to say "wow, aren't you scared?" about when i tell them i stay in strangers' houses. (hint: the answer is "no.")

in perth, i hosted a fair bit, and always tried to go to CS events when they were happening...but they never gave me enough advance notice! i met some GREAT friends through CS in chiang mai.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

hosting, surfing, making dinner, going for coffee and on outings...i'd work for couchsurfing if i stayed in one place long enough. and, you know, they wanted me. it's funny, i can safely say i've been a member of CS since WAY before it was popular...does that make me hipster, or just a filthy hippie?

Interests

anything? um...poetry? eating donuts? being a smart ass?

okay, here's something to say.

next time you're at a party, ask if there's a veterinarian. when someone says, "why?", curl your bicep and say, "Because these pythons are SICK."

i like terrible puns and big waves and splashing around in water on 42 degree summer days. i love learning new things. i sound like such a cliche.

• cats
• dogs
• chickens
• writing
• poetry
• cooking
• coffee
• vegetarian
• yoga
• meditation
• walking
• partying
• movies
• reading
• surfing
• scuba diving
• science
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

WAY too many to enumerate all of them...

MUSIC: jonathan coulton, great big sea, antje duvekot, paul simon, the beatles, moxy fruvous, the decemberists, the weakerthans, soundtrack to hedwig and the angry inch

MOVIES: fight club, gone with the wind, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, the big lebowski, 12 monkeys, serenity...off the top of my head

BOOKS: the english patient by michael ondaatje, time-traveler's wife by audrey niffenegger, white oleander by janet fitch, narnia, most young adult novels, anything science fiction-y (within reason)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

traveled for 32 hours straight on a variety of conveyances to get to the sahara desert in morocco (zagora) on the last summer solstice of the last millenium

Teach, Learn, Share

How To Write A Successful Short Story

- Be aware of your verb tenses. This sounds obvious, but it's something that people are often sloppy on. I'm not entirely sure why, but I suspect it has something to do with grammar not being taught in schools.
- For heaven's sake, don't use the passive voice. That means, don't say, "Fun was had," instead of, "We had fun." Always have an object and a subject in your sentence.
- Don't use big words when concise ones are easier to understand. Why say "precipitate" when you mean "rain"? It doesn't make you look smarter; it just makes you look pretentious.
- Read your story aloud before submitting it anywhere. if you stumble someplace, polish that place until it shines.
- Expect many drafts. if you ever open the file (assuming you write on computer) WITHOUT changing something, you're probably missing some serious flaws in your writing.
- When submitting writing to markets: Follow the guidelines exactly. Do not take rejection personally; it's not.
- Sometimes a part of the story comes to you out of order. Write it down when you think about it and fix the whole "in order" thing later.
- I find endings to be the hardest part; beginnings just come to me, and somewhere around 3/4 of the way through, I start to drag. Push on through. You can always fix it later.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Laos, Mexico, Morocco, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Canada, United States

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