CURRENT MISSION

deserve the infinite patience and kindness of those around me

ABOUT ME

I'm doing science while trying to understand what it means to do science.

In my case, this means living and working on the road, and sleeping in a tent for the summer. If you can offer a roof and accommodate the uncertainties of my schedule, I'll do my best to provide a window into this unique experience I'm enjoying.

PHILOSOPHY

I can't be a passive tourist, being led along and told what to do. The joy of travel is in discovering my own ability to learn about a place.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm just exploiting it, acquiring guests and hosts without doing anything for the project.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I helped to crucify Jesus in a church. We had been drinking.

Interests

The function of ecological communities, as an interaction of organisms and a system of cycling resources. We don't know nearly enough about these, so there's so much to discover.

How history shapes places, now that I've been travelling. But simply in studying history, it's essential to consider the different attitudes of people in the past, just as it is to consider the different attitudes of people from different cultures.

Cinema, which at its greatest firmly directs our perception and recreates the world. Music, which lets our imaginations run free either individually in contemplation or together in rhythmic movement.

Food, which requires a bit of science, a bit of history, a bit of creativity, and is deliciously interactive.

• dining
• drinking
• movies
• traveling
• music
• cycling
• hockey
• olympics
• biology
• history
• science
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

I'm going to say how I feel about each, because we don't always get exposed to the same material, so compatibility in attitudes is probably more important. Name-dropping is inevitable.

There is almost always music playing, if I have any say over it. Preferably on good speakers or quality headphones. I generally can't listen to the radio, and I can't listen to the same song repeatedly. Uncreative songwriting is anathema. Dissonance is welcome, if there's something to dissonate. There's usually a theme that sticks with me for a month or two before I move onto another thing, and sometimes I'll remember something I forgot. Pretty typical. There are a few wholly unassailable artists: Tom Waits, Pixies, Slint, and Eric's Trip come to mind.

Oh, and I mostly listen to stuff which falls under the vague description of alternative rock, if that still means anything, but I might throw on some Vaughan Williams or Brahms or Shostakovich now and then. I didn't listen to anything besides classical music before I was 16 or 17.

I prefer it when music knows its music, and I'll say the same about film. It's better if the artist acknowledges that they're making art. It's not that I'm into terrifically avant-garde material, but the director should leave an imprint on the piece instead of pretending he or she isn't there at all. So I tread a little off the beaten path: Terry Gilliam and Wes Anderson are great at times, but Jim Jarmusch is my fave. Grandly theatrical films are fine too, like Lawrence of Arabia or Apocalypse Now!.

I don't spend nearly enough time with reading books, The Economist is simply too entertaining while science papers require considerable concentration. I prefer not to waste the time I do spend on poorly written material. I've devoted my reading to non-fiction, including quite a few classic history volumes. I think Thomas Carlyle is a joy to read, but I will pick up contemporary history writing if it has been well executed. Fiction has not received my attention so much, although I do believe I'm developing a taste for Faulkner. Philip Pullman and Roald Dahl were essential in my formative years.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Embracing the ecstatic spirit of the Winter Olympics with thousands of strangers in Vancouver. Going wild over hockey, that's what we do in Canada.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Czech Republic