CURRENT MISSION

Climb a mountain in 2014

ABOUT ME

24-years-old. Friendly, generally quiet, creative, thrill-seeking. Love animals.

PHILOSOPHY

"Wei wu wei." Action without action. The three great treasures: patience, simplicity, and compassion.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Currently not able to host. Hope to be able to do so in the near future.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None professional, entirely amateur. When I was in High School, I used to bounce around couches a bit on weekends, and when I was in college, I spent quite a number of nights on other's couches in the city. However, I have excellent recommendations from previous roommates with whom I shared space.

Interests

Bit of a bookworm. I purchased a copy of the Tao of Pooh when I was sixteen from the Harvard Book Coop in Harvard Square. This sparked an interest in Taoist philosophy, and eventually led to my study of philosophy in college. I'm really passionate about physical fitness right now. My one-year plan is to climb a mountain in 2014.

I also have a blog! Check it out: http://chicagobard.blogspot.com/. It's still pretty new, my third post is tomorrow. I try to post every Wednesday. And no, the puppies are not coming with me.

• animals
• books
• fitness
• blogging
• music
• guitar
• camping
• track and field
• medicine

Music, Movies, and Books

I don't like writing list, so I won't be too specific. I like anything that's really dark, whether it's comedy, horror, or other. I like anything that take me beyond my comfort zone, that challenges me to think harder about the answers to my questions.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I witnessed Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Park. I know that the Occupy movement spread across the country in 2011 and early 2012, but OWS Zuccotti was highly symbolic. Unfortunately, I did not witness the eviction, although I wish I had. That was also my first urban camping experience, and honestly, there was room for improvement.

Teach, Learn, Share

I self-taught myself acoustic guitar. I can't give formal lessons until I learn a little more myself, but here's some basic pointers that'll help get you started:

When holding the neck of the guitar, you want to use the pressure of your thumb to hold down a chord, regardless of what that chord is. Then, strum slowly. Listen to each string, and hear which ones are muted. Adjust your fingers, only the pads should touch the strings, and make sure that no part of any one finger is touching the string behind or in front of it. Continue to adjust until every string sings. Now, play a G chord. Now, a D chord. Now, an Em chord. And now a C. Do this until you get the transitions between each chord is easy. Start with open chords, you can look these up online. Get them down pat.

Now play the following:
G D Em C
G D C C

Congratulations, you've just begun learning how to play "Wagon Wheel" by Old Crow Medicine Show. Now listen to the song and practice until you've got the sound just right. Work in some up-strums, and try to get the rhythm and patterns right. Try to use your ear to isolate the guitar from the rest of the track, and try to match that. I like to use flourishes of my own to make the song more kinetic with just the one instrument, but I'm not a professional musician, just a hobbyist. However, I hope this helps as a start.