CURRENT MISSION

Explore outer and inner worlds, very literally

ABOUT ME

In russian:
http://izvne.com/page/About-Me.aspx

Please note, currently I'm severely ill and will not host in the foreseeable future.

PHILOSOPHY

I like science and reason.

I don't eat meat usually, but I do eat fish sometimes.

I'm pretty emotional, open and mostly straightforward, rarely lie.

I like things like meditation (took Vipassana course), buddhism and overall theism as the perception of beauty and harmony of the world, I consider myself secular buddhist somewhat.

I don't like new-age vagueness, but I share ideals of peace, unity, love and respect these spiritual teachings promote, so I hang out near neohippy crowd often.

I have kind of liberal (from the point of personal freedom) and leftist views (from the economic standpoint)

I'm pretty open minded, I accept anything and anyone in life, except violence, deception and harming others. I don't mind people doing what they like, even if this is somewhat rare hobby or interest.

In terms of RPG slang, I'm more of chaotic good character, always interested in something, but not for long.

I get along well with many kinds of different people: spiritual and mystical and rational and pragmatic alike, so chances are, it will be fun talking with you, too!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I hosted a lot of people, surfed once, meet even more and generally enjoy doing it. I also introduced many friends to CS in hopes our movement will grow.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Hosted, surfed, all positive!

Interests

Fitness lifestyle: cycling, hiking, swimming, canoeing, fitness, yoga, weightlifting

Mind, brain, conscience, a little of neurophysiology and psychopharmacology.

Popular science and educational materials. Art, esp. electronic/underground/alternative/strange/experimental music (including raves and festivals), sci-fi books, programming, web, technology. Sometimes movies and series of more intelligent kind, but not arthouse, but overall I watched very few movies.

• fish
• arts
• culture
• books
• modern art
• beauty
• festivals
• beer
• coffee
• fitness
• yoga
• running
• meditation
• raves
• technology
• movies
• traveling
• cars
• music
• cycling
• fishing
• hiking
• canoeing
• scuba diving
• buddhist
• swimming
• cartography
• chemistry
• science
• lakes
• rivers
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Music:
I like music a lot, experimental/underground/weird and unusual, but more mainstream stuff too.
http://www.last.fm/user/Vladekk/

Movies:
I am not big movies watcher, don't know the actors and directors.
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=7443270&s=uservote&s=reverse_uservote

Anime:
I like anime, and watched many popular titles.
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?uid=23113&show=myvotes&orderdir=1&orderby.vote=0.1&orderby.name=1.1&orderby=vote&do=anime

Authors:
I read Science Fiction when I was younger. I still like these authors:
Vernor Vinge, Dan Simmons, Bruce Sterling, Neal Stepehenson,Lois McMaster Bujold, Asimov, Simak, etc

More classic authors I like:
Erich Maria Remarque, Hermann Hesse, Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

First time traveling by myself I relaxed under the bright sun in Crete's all-inclusive hotel, and soon understood this is not for me. Then I had thermal bath in German city Kassel and saw nudist second stage for the first time, but found preorganized bus traveling almost as boring, as all-inclusive hotel.

So, after that I rode on bicycle through Turkish mountains and slept in Vietnam peasant hut,was swimming
in Norwegian fjords, worked in research triangle in USA and visited Grand Canyon, seen Crimean cave cities and hanged around Amsterdam coffee shops and Van Gogh museum. London was monumental in its financial and architectural glory. I walked around Kremlin and US embassy in Moscow, breathing exhaust (both huge distances) and meeting one of Russian internet founding fathers.

I walked with my heavy bicycle on snowy Montenegrin mountains, with my legs frozen and hurting, but fascinating landscapes did not allow to think of that.

I got into the storm in Iceland, diving into its glorious and scary nature to the extreme, and pushed my bike 30 kilometers against the strongest wind you can imagine.

I listened to spacey psychedelic rock in Copenhagen's Loppen in Christiania, surrounded by the clouds of smoke, and danced to hard techno in KB18, surrounded by kissing hipsters and friendly beer drinkers. I also cycled 37 km there and back to Luisiana modern art museum in Denmark.

I also love my neighboring countries. Elk in Belarus was running like crazy from my bicycle, while they usually don't pass cars in Braslav natural reserve. I saw wooden "road posts" in lakes and rivers when canoeing in Aukštaitija (Lithuania).

I surely I love my native Latvian and Latgalian nature with all my heart.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm proficient in programming with C#/.NET, use javascript/css/html (webpages), have basic linux server skills, TCP/IP networking skills, understand maps/GPS work a little, know something about brain chemistry and science.

Know some things about russian internet culture and memes.

What I Can Share with Hosts

From practical stuff, I can help you with computers and with GPS/maps (esp. for android) somewhat, with russian-english translations in any form.

Sure, if you want to listen, I can share stories of my travels, and I enjoy learning about other cultures myself.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belarus, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Latvia, United States