CURRENT MISSION

Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito. (Yield not to misfortunes, but advance all the more boldly against them!)

ABOUT ME

I am what you discern through the text of this website; a traveler, scholar and budding dialectician (to say nothing of a recent transplant to Shanghai).

In all seriousness, however, I am (among my many vices) a graduate student pondering a terminal degree after which I plan to live a genteel life of largesse, integrity and all-around chivalric romance.

PHILOSOPHY

In my spare time, I take a cue from Robert Heinlein:

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

Self-improvement is a constant endeavor. Also, I pursue convivial companionship, fine food and superb beverages with tremendous zeal.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

With CS, I have met new friends in Russia, Finland, Japan, Taiwan and the United States...hoping to add many more experiences in the future! My role has varied from surfer to local guide and language tutor with the hope that someday I will be able to host guests more often once I'm travelling less for work.

Interests

Reading, writing, scuba diving, cooking, hiking & rambling, travel, cats, witty ripostes and poetic swordplay, organic gardening, mountaineering, good scholarship, trains and rail travel, pulp fiction (in the penny dreadful sense), tea, role-playing games and extraordinary things. Also, pickled okra.

• cats
• insects
• writing
• design
• dining
• cooking
• recipes
• gardening
• chess
• reading
• traveling
• hiking
• mountaineering
• scuba diving
• fencing
• rock climbing
• astronomy
• teaching
• religion
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

These are merely guidelines and hardly exhaustive lists. Maybe you can recommend something?

Yojimbo, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, 2046, In the Mood for Love, Star Wars IV-VI, Blues Brothers, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Big Trouble in Little China, The Seventh Seal, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

Zhuangzi, Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, Neal Stephenson, Paul Theroux, H.P. Lovecraft, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Ursula Le Guin, William Gibson, Jules Verne, Angela Carter, Clark Ashton Smith, Peter Hessler.

Tchaikovsky, Dick Dale, The Dandy Warhols, The Pillows, The Shins, Leningrad Cowboys, Billy Joel, Miles Davis, The New Pornographers, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra.

Planescape: Torment, Final Fantasy, Vagrant Story, Arcanum, Red Alert 2, Chrono Trigger.

The Venture Bros., Firefly, The Avengers (with Diana Rigg, obviously), PBS, No Reservations, Mystery Science Theater.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

1. Dodging lightning bolts on a Himalayan mountaintop...in the middle of a blizzard.

2. Siberian scuba diving in Lake Baikal, Russia.

3. Climbing to Tiger's Nest monastery in Bhutan.

Teach, Learn, Share

I make an effort to cultivate a wide range of scholastic interests, from East Asian religion to scientific policy and astronomy. Try me on whatever you wish.

Some subjects that presently interest me to learn more about are apiculture, Mandarin Chinese and delicious dinner recipes, although if you have a particular specialty or area of interest I would be delighted to hear more about it! Also, I would like to become a better chess player--I know the rules of the game, but I would like to unlock some of its mysteries.

Countries I’ve Visited

Armenia, Bhutan, Cambodia, Canada, China, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Georgia, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Mongolia, Philippines, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Taiwan, United States

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