CURRENT MISSION

To walk the Oregon Trail from Missouri to Oregon

ABOUT ME

I'm the Fulbright Scholar and Eagle Scout your mother warned you about. Formerly New Zealand's only Chinese/Hungarian-American. Director of feature documentaries Squeegee Bandit and Behaviors of the Backpacker. Writer. (http://www.amazon.com/Sandor-Lau/e/B0046ILZJW).
From small town in Colorado. Traveled Europe and some Asia in 1990s. Lived New Zealand 2000-2007. Eugene, Oregon USA 2007 to present. Currently living as responsible tax-paying citizen.
I spend a lot of time participating in and organizing two local Meetup.com groups.
Quite serious about walking the Oregon Trail.

PHILOSOPHY

I am dying. Not in any special way, just in the same way that every one of us is closer to death every day. I'm an atheist so I don't get any second chances. Every day is a gift and I'm here on this earth to tell beautiful stories and make art and share them with people.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have just recently signed up for Couchsurfing.org but have been couchsurfing since the 1990s. When I was on a Fulbright Scholarship in New Zealand, all of us Fulbrighters couchsurfed at each other's places around the country.

Interests

film. literature. hiking. cross country skiing. camping. real estate. investing. documentaries. photography. cooking. filling my passport with stamps. history. yoga.

• arts
• writing
• literature
• photography
• documentaries
• cooking
• yoga
• coach
• walking
• investing
• stamps
• hiking
• backpacking
• camping
• skiing
• atheism
• history
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Books:

Freakonomics
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
Assassination Vacation
Notes from a Small Island
Catch-22
The Men Who Stare at Goats
In Xanadu
Candide
The Perfect Storm
Naked
The New Kings of Non Fiction
Catcher In The Rye
No Logo
White Teeth
The God of Small Things
America: A Citizen's Guide To Democracy Inaction
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Ballad of the Whisky Robber
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
El Llano en llamas
Jarhead

Movies:
Dr. Strangelove
The Corporation
Genghis Blues
Double Indemnity
Squeegee Bandit
Behaviors of the Backpacker (Behaviours of the Backpacker)
Trainspotting
Drinking for England
Breakfast at Tiffany's
To Have and Have Not
Maqbool
Mirch Masala
The Chess Players
House of yes
Delicatessen
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Tarnation
Sherman's March
The Triplets of Belleville
Yellow Earth
Red Sorghum
Throne of Blood
Ran
Tears of the Black Tiger
Oasis
Raghu Romeo
Tale of a Naughty Girl
Super Size Me
Smoke Signals
American Movie
The West
El Callejon de los Milagros
A Fistful of Dollars
Cane Toads
Natural History of the Chicken

Television (I rarely watch television)

This American Life
Blackadder
Flight of the Conchords
Mad Men
The Wire
My Oregon Trail
The West
Deadwood
My So-Called Life
The Daily Show
Yes Minister

Listening (really I listen to more audio books and podcasts than music)

This American Life
Npr
Leonard Cohen
Johnny Cash
Mystic Seaport Chantymen
Alan Lomax Recording

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Walked 500km across New Zealand. My film Behaviors of the Backpacker has the whole story. www.sandorlau.net

Teach, Learn, Share

Things I can teach:
-making fire with sticks
-making stone arrowheads
-traditional Maori flax weaving
-financial planning (a am a financial coach for many friends)
-photography and videography
-languages I know (English, Spanish, French)