CURRENT MISSION

Support people in living their best lives. Running a new life coaching business, helping people manage their ADHD and procrastination.

ABOUT ME

I also work with a non-profit I helped set up (Appropedia.org). This means supporting efforts to create sustainable lives and a sustainable world without poverty, through sharing solutions - sustainable technologies, designs and practices. These days I'm also involved in the Effective Altruism movement.

I swim in the ocean throughout the year and try to keep active, and I like finding friends who stretch me in new ways.

But I do look forward to another long, slow journey in coming years.

I'm a bit of a hippie and a lot of a nerd.

Please include the word "pumpkin" in your couch request so I know you've read my profile.

PHILOSOPHY

Do what you believe in. Grab hold of new experiences. Learn, question your beliefs, do something for others, life is now.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Hosting when I can.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

While I've had wonderful experiences with CouchSurfers, I've often been uncomfortable with the direction of CouchSurfing the organization. But really, it's all about the people, so I'm still here.

Owing to the new Terms of Use, I'm deleting most of my photos and just leaving some deliberately unclear ones - so you know what I look like, sort of, but CS can't use the image commercially or sell/license it.

---

Much of my couchsurfing has been outside of the CS site. In the 90s I had a share house near the middle of Sydney with an open house philosophy, and hosted people when they asked. In 2005-2006 I traveled for work in Australia, with a little couchsurfing, then couchsurfed with friends in Sydney. These were great experiences, with super-kind hosts, lots of good conversations & shared meals. I've stayed with local families Java - one in particular became a kind of adopted family (and just as dysfunctional as my own, but there was love there). In 2007-9 and 2013 I surfed with a series of wonderful people in SE Asia, Europe and the Americas and finally Melbourne.

Now I have a very couchsurfing-friendly place with a community spirit in Sydney.

Interests

What makes people tick, what makes the world tick. Why do we do what we don't want to do, and *how* do we do what matters to us?

Yoga, swimming. Cooking, making sangria. Always enjoy sharing a meal - maybe even cooking one, especially given a selection of herbs or spices.

• culture
• cooking
• breakfast
• vegetarian
• yoga
• technology
• traveling
• rock climbing
• swimming

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Middle-Eastern, German dance-metal, Rachmaninov, trip hop.

A Suitable Boy, the Time Traveler's Wife, Stasiland, The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns. Anything by Scott Alexander, Eliezer Yudkowsky or Greg Egan. Non-fiction, esp practical psychology and habit change, history and society.

The Godfather, Shawshank Redemption, anything of the Pixar variety. Have many movies to catch up on.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Climbing a volcano at sunrise, and eating breakfast cooked in a hole in the hot earth.

Teach, Learn, Share

Self-development, changing habits, communicating positively, learning things faster.

I've spent four years in Indonesia, mixing with locals, speaking the language and experiencing the culture.

The psychology and practice of personal change, appropriate technology, sustainability, cultural issues in development and methods of collaboration are some of my interests. Feel free to ask me.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Advice or ideas on anything I have experience with.

A hug (if you like hugs).

Happy to be a kitchen hand or to cook.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Czech Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Iceland, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Guatemala, Indonesia

• 

•