HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING I'm new to CS but have been traveling with friends for many years, usually for concerts or art exhibits. My current living situation does not allow me to host, but I'd love to welcome people to this area and share my knowledge about domestic travel, especially road trips. COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE In 1999, Friend A had her good friend (Friend B) coming through town on a coast-to-coast post-college move. Friend A was living with family at the time, so she begged me to let them sleep on my floor... No problem. Friend B shows up with his pal (Friend C) and they stay for one night of fun-- live music, drinks, conversation. Friends B and C hit the road the next day, up and gone before I wake. 2004, NYC: I'm in town for a solo birthday trip to see the Mets home opener. I'm on my usual self-guided art tour when I spy a beautiful painting through a window in Chelsea. The place wasn't on my must-see list, but I felt some kind of pull to check it out. I went in, was enjoying the art, and see a guy walk by who triggers... something. Walking, looking, loving the art, and I decided to ask him, "Is your name X?" Yes, he says. Friend C from that one night in KC so long ago! It was him. And it was a GIANT reminder of how this world is small, that we all know each other, and to value every person you meet.

movies: not a big fan, I only go to the theater every 5 years; Sugar Town, It's a Wonderful Life, The Professional, The Player, From Dusk till Dawn, American Hardcore, The Basketball Diaries, The Man from Elysian Fields, Buffalo 66, Reservoir Dogs music: Sex Pistols, Jane's Addiction, The Cult, Portishead, Rolling Stones, Bjork, The Velvet Underground, Wolfmother, Eagles Of Death Metal, Mickey Avalon, Neurotic Outsiders, Puscifer, The Chemical Brothers, Brazilian Girls, Kinky, Lords of Acid, KMFDM, mashups, Billy Idol, old jazz, Duran Duran, Peaches, NIN, I could go on forever... books: Henry Rollins, Pete Hamill, Charles Bukowski, Bret Easton Ellis, Tama Janowitz, Jay McInerney, Fran Leibowitz, David Sedaris, Richard Rhode's 'A Hole in the World,' Running with Scissors, and biographies