CURRENT MISSION

To be the best version of myself I can be. I want to know people who are doing great thing with their lives.
If there's something you want to know about me that you can't find out through the other parts of my profile, feel free to ask!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I surfed with my friend Apollo in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with a few other surfers and had a killer time. I've met a lot of people who use the site while traveling and others who have been hosted by friends of mine, and I love the idea of people meeting without any real pretext outside of traveling. It's great to have any excuse to experience a new perspective and enjoy times with new people.
For the first time, I have a house in a cool part of town where I can host people and return the hospitality that I've been shown over the years.

Interests

Skateboarding, learning, conversation, exploring, traveling, wine, beer, good food, discovering great places.
Riding motorcycles, breaking down in unfamiliar places, listening to great music, meeting old people when you have a mohawk and they like you anyway.
My focus right now is devising methods for alternatives to hypermasculinity among boys using things like music and skateboarding. So I spend a lot of time in pursuit of that.

• writing
• books
• dining
• wine
• beer
• motorcycles
• traveling
• music
• skateboarding
• psychology

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Lots of documentaries, All This Panic, Dazed and Confused, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Claire's Knee, Drama/Mex, Easy Rider, 1984, Big Lebowski, Pulp Fiction, Death Proof, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, tons of movies I can't think of right now

Music: So much. All kinds of jazz, blues, country, hip hop, rap, rock n roll, punk, genre defying music, some pop
Lately I've been especially into Tom Waits, the Stooges, Serge Gainsbourg, Kendrick Lamar, Big Thief, Lou Reed, Jamaican Queens, Joanna Newsom, Leonard Cohen, Nas, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Hank Williams, Karen Dalton, Skip James, Bessie Smith, Agent Orange, Jodie Foster's Army, Man Man, Third Eye Blind, No Doubt

Books: I like dystopian novels a lot. Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite authors, 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, This Perfect Day, and others. Two of my favorite writers are Haruki Murakami and George Saunders. I could read and re-read their works all day. Too many books to spend an hour at a computer thinking about.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I brought some skateboards to Cambodia to give away, but I wouldn't call it amazing. I suppose that's the kind of thing to write here, but I had the means to get the skateboards and it was just as much for me to feel the kids' reaction as it was to change their life. So it was more just a nice thing to do.
But a couple days after I flew into Phnom Penh I experienced my first monsoon-type rain and that was really special. This little kid, maybe 6 or 7 years old, came out to the road as everybody else disappeared into their shelters to wait out the storm and its ensuing flood. He stomped around in a puddle for a minute and as the rain really picked up his stomps turned into this wild dance. He used every part of his body and just lost it in the rain for about 20 minutes. I stood on a balcony above him in my own shelter and watched the whole time. He didn't look up once or look around to see if anyone was watching. Just a kid having the time of his life with some water.
That was a pretty special day.

Teach, Learn, Share

I want to learn about how to be good at living. How to be good to people and adapt to all kinds of situations and how to survive or come to terms with not being able to survive.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Time, ideas, my knowledge of the area. I've got a lot to share.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, Canada, Finland, Laos, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Mexico, United States

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