CURRENT MISSION

to live.

ABOUT ME

I've always been a bit of a natural introvert, and still am to the extent that I relish the time I can spend in my own head. But as much as I appreciate my alone time, I still thrive on interesting social interactions. I find great satisfaction in lending a stranger a helping hand and then hearing the stories they have to tell, and vice-versa. In recent years I've been much more active in putting myself out there. There are simply too many interesting people in this world to be sitting in one's own personal bubble.

For photos of my travels thus far, check out my web albums at http://picasaweb.google.com/bldobson.unc (though, I'm more than a dozen cities behind in uploading pictures).

PHILOSOPHY

They say it's better to be safe than sorry, but that's simply too boring. What life is worth living if you stick to the safest, most mundane route? Sometimes you need to dive head first, live and learn, and come out of the experience all the wiser for it.

That's not to say one shouldn't be as prepared as one is able, but for too long I feel I've missed out due to hesitancy. It's time to throw caution to the wind and see what this amazing world really has to offer.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

For one full year from the summer of 2009 to the summer of 2010 I WWOOFed, couchsurfed, and hitchhiked my way throughout Western and Central Europe. I met so many amazingly awesome people through couchsurfing. I can hardly believe my good fortune in that regard.

I haven't been nearly as active in the community since being back stateside, but I always like to help out those in need.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My goodness, my goodness! How quickly the experiences accumulate when you live as a traveler, adventurer and student of the world! I wouldn't even know where to begin in numbering the amazing CouchSurfing experiences I've had. Suffice to say, I've met more incredible and generous souls through CS than I thought possible. CS has had an undeniably huge impact on my travels, as well as an influence on my general perception of humanity.

Interests

My interests generally vary from week to week. This week, I'm interested in the outdoors. And farming and traveling. And hitchhiking and cooking. And disc golf. And Derrick Jensen and tattoos and long johns. And musical mashups and sustainability. And sharing and love and generosity among strangers. And tasty beers; always tasty beers.

• tattoos
• cooking
• beer
• traveling
• outdoor activities
• backpacking
• adventure races
• golf
• hitchhiking

Music, Movies, and Books

I don't really want to rattle off a list of movies that appear on virtually every other list of favorites. So I'll simply generalize. I love Kubrick and Coppola classics, Bill Murray, zombie flicks (both big-budget productions and B-flick senseless gore), and I even love stupid contemporary comedies (i.e. Judd Apatow stuff, Happy Gilmore/Billy Madison, Grandma's Boy, Hangover, etc). I love the classic western epics, Serenity (and most certainly the series Firefly), Michel Gondry; I highly enjoy Charlie Kaufman and I'm a shameful sap for both Garden State and Lost in Translation. The Coen Brothers are of course amazing, and The Big Lebowski appears somewhere in my top 5 fav films. I could keep going. There are simply too many films to cover.

I love a wide variety of music, most of which won't be found on radio stations. Lately I've been a fan of the lo-fi/garage/surfer/glo-fi/chillwave/shoegaze/shitgaze/noise rock thing that's been sweeping blogs with bands like neon indian, little girls, wavves, pearl harbour, sleigh bells and the like. Other notable bands of interest are pavement, archers of loaf, guided by voices, dan deacon, animal collective, beirut, arcade fire, nas, busdriver, jay electronica, wale, mos def, bob dylan, grizzly bear, wolf parade, handsome furs, elliott smith, girl talk, explosions in the sky, god speed!, modest mouse, radiohead, santogold, diplo, and so on and so forth.

So far as books go, I tend to prefer contemporary fiction. Notable authors include Haruki Murakami, David Foster Wallace, Max Brooks, Gregory David Roberts, Neil Gaiman, Kurt Vonnegut, William S. Borroughs, David Sedaris, Matthew Pearl, Tolkien, Terry Pratchett, and many others. I'm also a fan of epic graphic novels and comic series such as Sandman, 100 Bullets, The Walking Dead, Preacher, The Boys, Y: The Last Man, Fables, Transmetropolitan, etc etc.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Well, I think the most amazing thing I've experienced has to be my year of travels. Dropping everything for a year and living out of my backpack. Journeying to a foreign land where I literally could not understand 90% of the people around me, yet still finding a way to learn.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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