I joined CS out of curiosity in 2006, and I was soon hooked, because I found the idea just brilliant. Until 2013, when things were a little less commercial, I was deeply involved in welcoming people to CS, organising events, hosting people and staying with people. I was one of those volunteers that helped CS grow into the mainstream corporation it is today. I do not regret it at all, but I don't like the direction things have taken. Nevertheless, I still hope to meet cool people through the website - after all, it's hard to leave something that was the most important part of my life for several years, and that really helped me grow. You can read a blog post with my thoughts on CS (I wrote this a few years ago) here https://vanidio.wordpress.com/2015/05/12/couchsurfing-the-end-of-an-era/

Music has always been very important to me and it's helped shape my personality and attitude. I used to sing in cover bands and jam bands. Not many of them made it on stage, but it was a great experience nevertheless! I like rock, hard rock, heavy metal, jazz, blues, indie, experimental, instrumental (especially guitar), psychedelia... I've seen many of my favourite bands live, including Porcupine Tree (my favourite band), Blackfield, Iron Maiden, Lenny Kravitz, the Rolling Stones, Duran Duran, Black Sabbath, Guns'n'Roses, Steve Vai, the Levellers, Morcheeba, Joe Satriani, Mark Knopfler, Al Di Meola, Massive Attack, Radiohead, Tangerine Dream, Van der Graaf Generator, Hawkwind, Roger Waters, the Blues Brothers, Nick Cave, Loreena McKennit, Les Paul, Motorhead, Jethro Tull, Alice Cooper, Paco De Lucia, Kiss, AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne (R.I.P.), ZZ Top, Billy Idol, Aerosmith, The Stranglers........ I love animation and fantasy movies - Disney, Miyazaki, Burton are among my favourites. Other that that, movies I've liked in the past include Clerks (absolutely insane fantastic movie), V for Vendetta, The Matrix, Dark City, Almost Famous, Velvet Goldmine, Memento, Amélie, Trainspotting, Ghost World, Human Traffic, Saving Grace, Waking Ned Devine, Clockwork Orange, Lost In Translation, American History X, The Lord Of The Rings, American Beauty, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Perfume, Fight Club, The Crow, The Royal Tenenbaums, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, The Big Lebowski, Requiem for a Dream, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Zorba the Greek, Bonnie and Clyde. I absolutely love a few short movies... here's a selection * The octopus movie - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BolgBSXjxeE * Necktie - http://www.nfb.ca/film/necktie * This really funny short movie that I was involved in - we made it with some CS people! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAFLB8bz7ro I love magazines and comics, especially old-fashioned stuff like Disney, Asterix and Lucky Luke! As for books... there are many that I have liked in the past, but these days I prefer meeting and chatting with people.