CURRENT MISSION

Get back into hosting more in 2012

ABOUT ME

I love: Finding new music, new songs, and new books. Long road trips by myself in rental cars. The months of planning before a big trip. Sitting in Singapore's China Town at night, with a coke, a cigarette, and good friends. Breakfast at Cafe Diana's in London. Meeting strangers and becoming friends. Walking around the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in France on a cold grey day. Rain, anytime I can get it (especially if there is thunder and lightning involved). Central Vienna. The way time doesn't exist on Isla Mujeres. Being on the east coast in the autumn, with the colors changing, pumpkins everywhere, cider for sale and the smell of leaves burning. Any time spent in Chico. Coffee in Kuala Lumpur. Taking a good photograph or the work of any gifted photographer, especially my friends Kathy and Lorenzo. The funky carpet designs in the Manchester and Penang airports. Hotels that offer "Pillow Menus". Any foreign subway system; especially the smell of chocolate croissants that wafts up from all the metro stops in Budapest, and how incredibly deep underground you go for the Piccadilly stop in London... The sound and smell when you walk in snow. Any ocean at all. Forests and Jungles. Being with friends.

PHILOSOPHY

I spent a week with a group of friends on the beach in North Carolina once... most of my time was spent in the ocean. I noticed that when you're standing in the ocean, if you fight the waves, they will knock you down, every time. But if you loosen up, and move with them a bit, you can stay standing up. I think life works the same way.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Mostly a host, but I've loved surfing when I've gotten to do it. I used to volunteer a lot on CS, but now I'm spending time just being a member.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I used to list it, but it's gotten to be too long. Events and meet ups in Parma and Florence Italy,New York, Isla Mujeres Mexico, Long Beach, and Memphis. Parties in London, Phoenix, Chico and Los Angeles. Surfed in Los Angeles, San Jose, Cancun Mexico and Chico. I've hosted, and hosted, and hosted some more.

Interests

Travel, Photography, Music, Reading, Art, Meeting new people,NPR, Cooking, Learning about all different cultures' food, Writing letters, TV (yes I love it - get over it), Alone time, Sleeping in, Playing pool (badly), Hard Cider in England, The history of the Black Plague, Maps and Geography, Tree House Lodges in the Amazon, the Red Crab Migration on Christmas Island, Torres Del Paine National Park

• arts
• writing
• books
• photography
• dining
• cooking
• breakfast
• chocolate
• coffee
• walking
• partying
• reading
• tv
• traveling
• billiards
• cars
• music
• surfing
• cartography
• geography
• history
• volunteering
• road trips
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

MUSIC:
Sting, Van Morrison, Billy Joel, The Smiths, Crowded House, Michael Penn, Innocence Mission, Joshua Radin, Simon and Garfunkle, The Sundays, Everything But The Girl, Leonard Cohen, The Housemartins, The Beautiful South, Toni Childs, Kate Bush, Counting Crows, Shawn Colvin, Joni Mitchell, Joe Jackson, Billy Bragg, Paul Simon

MOVIES:
Broadcast News, Lost in Translation, American Rhapsody, Walking and Talking, Secretary, Moonlight Mile, Myth of Fingerprints, Garden State, Girl with a Pearl Earing, Match Point, Donnie Darko, Everyone Says I Love You, Almost Famous, Gaslight, Closer

BOOKS:
A Debt to Pleasure, A Prayer for Owen Meany, A Cooks Tour, A Tale of Two Cities, Altered States, The Witching Hour

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I can't choose one; here are some:

Being at the Putrajaya Mosque in Malaysia as the call to prayer went out during Ramadan; it was a very moving experience that I will never forget. Almost being mugged in Bangkok. Being taught by two of the kindest strangers I've ever meet in Thailand the proper way to bow. My first experience with Sturm in Vienna. Landing in England (my spiritual home) for the very first time and realizing I was finally home. New Years in Edinburgh. The amazing train ride from Newcastle to Edinburgh every time I get to take it, with the train right on the edge of the land, and the waves of the North Sea crashing up right next to you. The amazing view of Penang, right before the plane landed. Feeding a kangaroo in Australia. Seeing the Coliseum for the first time.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Slovakia, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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