CURRENT MISSION

Creating dynamic change, practicing being unafraid, building a community of enthusiastic, kind and altruistic weirdos, and making my own happiness. And continuing to tell myself that I will eventually learn to play the guitar.

ABOUT ME

I'm a people person, cat-herder, enthusiastic, excitable as well as pragmatic, brusque, loyal, interested in everything and have a little knowledge about a lot of different subjects. I tend to wallflower or busy myself in the kitchen until I feel comfortable and then I want to be in the middle of everything until I don't anymore.

PHILOSOPHY

I'm all about finding and creating balance in my life: finding the right mixture between ambition, taking [calculated] risks, and desire to do better and tempering those with patience, appreciation for the "now", and peace. I can be measured and calculating, but I also am open, communicative and amicable. A phrase that I grew up with is "Assume Benevolence", and I try to live by that as best as I can.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm new to couchsurfing, though I am friends with hosts/surfers of varying degrees and have met some cool surfers through my hosting friends! I hope to be a thoughtful, fun, entertaining guest that has a positive influence on my host and vice-versa.

Interests

I'm pretty eclectic - I like everything from hiking, sports, reading, intellectual discussion, activism, quiet time with a book, knitting, writing, painting, going to shows (musical, artistic and otherwise), D&D, camping, cooking, gardening and more. I especially like learning and trying new things.

• pets
• cats
• dogs
• writing
• books
• environment
• cooking
• partying
• gardening
• reading
• knitting
• painting
• guitar
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• sports
• social work

Music, Movies, and Books

I dislike this question. Generally whatever I'm currently reading or listening to is my "favorite".

Tried and trues: All Things Bright and Beautiful; Love is a Mixed Tape; The Summer We Got Free; Ender's Game; Little Women; Terry Pratchett; Tamora Pierce; The Devin Townsend Project; A League of Their Own; The Joy Formidable; 90s Alternative & Pop; Miles Davis; Taj Mahal; Eric Clapton; The Nightmare Before Christmas

Recent/Current Books: The Outlaws of Sherwood; Magic for Beginners; The Good Lord Bird

Music: I love music, period. I will give most things a try. From Opera to Metal to Shoegaze, Jazz, Political Hip-Hop, Funk, Indie, Alternative and Back. If it makes me feel something and has a good groove, I'm into it.

Movies: The housemates and I have a "bad movie list" that sometimes has films on it that are actually good. We particularly enjoy watching cheesy or bad films to mock together. It's great fun.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I broke my foot in October 2014 and when I was cleared for all activities by my podiatrist, at the end of January 2015, I immediately went to Tahoe and climbed up a mountain in what little snow there was. It was awesome.

Decided to make a career change and start moving toward Social Work. Yeehaw!

Teach, Learn, Share

I am somewhat of a juggler of hobbies: I'm interested in anything and everything, which has lead to random forays into a wild variety of hobbies. I seek out information (my first instinct is to do research when I'm confronted with something I don't know), new ideas and activities (and grew up in an environment that encouraged learning/questioning), so I know a little about a lot of things.

I can cook, point out constellations, am a bastion of random historical information, have some cool ocean/nature knowledge, I can knit, patch a bike tire, and know a lot of different people and able to network pretty well. If you need me to do some research for you, I'm on it! I love learning and sharing knowledge - let's have an awesome exchange of information!

What I Can Share with Hosts

Positivity, cooking tips and tricks, fancy tea party ideas, networking (if you need someone that knows how to do or has done [x], I probably know someone), gardening help, help with pets (cats and dogs seem to like me a lot), random house repairs, cat-herding, organizing stuff (whether it's a party or your pantry - I'm on it!) and puns. All of the terrible puns.