CURRENT MISSION

Maintain a sense of wonder

PHILOSOPHY

Different quotations I like:

One day Unmon said to his disciples, "This staff of mine has transformed itself into a dragon and has swallowed up the universe! Oh, where are the rivers and mountains and the great earth?"

And I'll turn down eternity unless

The melancholy and the tenderness

Of mortal life; the passion and the pain;

The claret taillight of that dwindling plane

Off Hesperus; your gesture of dismay

On running out of cigarettes; the way

You smile at dogs; the trail of silver slime

Snails leaves on flagstones; this good ink, this rhyme,

This index card, this slender rubber band

Which always forms, when dropped, an ampersand,

Are found in Heaven by the newlydead

Stored in its strongholds through the years.

As it happened to Parmeniscus in the legend, who in the cave of Trophonius lost the ability to laugh but got it back on Delos at the sight of the shapeless block which was supposed to be the image of the goddess Leto, so too with me. When I was very young I forgot in the cave of Trophonius how to laugh; when I became older, when I opened my eyes and saw reality, I started to laugh and haven't stopped since. I saw the meaning of life was getting a livelihood, its goal acquiring a titular office, that love's rich desire was getting hold of a well-to-do girl, that the blessedness of friendship was to help one another in financial embarassment, that wisdom was what the majority assumed it to be, that enthusiasm was to make a speech, that courage was to risk losing ten dollars, that cordiality consisted in saying "You're welcome" after a dinner, that fear of God was to go to communion once a year. That's what I saw, and I laughed.

"I've just come from a place

at the lake bottom!"-- that is the look

on the little duck's face.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

A lot, especially in Iran. Read my references.

Interests

Living off-balance. Being political. Learning. Learning about learning.

• dogs
• dancing
• womens rights
• cooking
• running
• movies
• muslim
• history
• international relations
• rivers
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

books - murakami, and russian authors, Camus, J.P. Donleavy, David Foster Wallace, lots of academic stuff, bell hooks, existential philosophers, audre lorde, too much to ever name

music - lots of stuff - the canadian indie scene, afrobeat, hip-hop (especially the mid-90s new york scene, when producers developed the hazy, jazzy style I love so much), instrumental hip-hop, sixties pop, early rock and roll, jazz, gypsy music, highlife, reggae, dub, soul, funk, folk music from *probably* anywhere, but I haven't heard it all yet, delta blues, vaporwave, russian liturgical choral music (and choral music generally), romantic-era piano music and schubert lieder, chiptunes, classical and modern persian music, and more!

movies - hana-bi, gentleman broncos, fast cheap and out of control, bernie, the lives of others, apocalypse now, Turtles Can Fly, Children of Heaven, Brazil, F for Fake, Genghis Blues, The Man Without A Past, Offside, half moon, The White Balloon, The Seventh Seal, The Night of the Hunter, The Third Man, Persona, and others, but the ones listed are ABSOLUTE FAVOURITES

TV - the wire, any Tim and Eric, Wonder Showzen, Trailer Park Boys, Eastbound and Down, Nathan for You, NTSF:SD:SUV::, and Xavier: Renegade Angel

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

A lama dance in a Tibetan monastery above Kathmandu. In the middle of the dance, the power cut out (which happens for at least a couple hours every day) and the entire room went pitch-black. Almost instantly, the nuns started a slow, beautiful chant and everyone joined in - the chant continued until the power came back on a few minutes later.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach:
I can make a mean omelette, provided I can have a bit of time to figure out a stove and pans, and I did my undergrad thesis on Burma so I have some rudimentary knowledge of Burmese history. Also I've done an MA in Iranian Studies so I can tell you a lot about Iranian history, especially around questions of gender, Marxist historiography, film, Islamic feminism, international relations, etc.

Learn:
I want to learn about anything that my host is passionate about.

Share:
Enthusiasm, b-movies, movies more generally. I've been single-mindedly sucking up every single piece of knowledge I possibly can about 20th century Iran for a while now. And I love to cook - even if I don't know what to do, I'd love to help cook by chopping or whatever!

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, Tajikistan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, United Kingdom

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