CURRENT MISSION

To move back to Newry

ABOUT ME

I am 29 years old and recently married to my girlfriend of 11 years who I obviously met in school. She is 30 (older woman) and we are a normal sort of couple who enjoy getting the most out of life we can. I am trying really hard at the moment (without much success) to finish a PhD in Tourism of all things, so maybe by the time you come visit there will in fact be a doctor in the house, although useless in almost every sense of the word unless you want to know how many people visited the giants causeway last year... and you would probably have better luck figuring that out yourself, gooogle it! Helen (my wife) is also in the research field, but dont let that put you off we are not as boring as we sound. We love to travel and have done quite a bit, most of Europe, east coast of the USA, Mexico(well Cancun if that counts) but we want to do more

PHILOSOPHY

My philosophy is do what I have to, to get what I want. I am not overly fussed on work, it doesn't dominate my life but in order to get nice things and go to interesting places you need money. Being a hippy, kind of easy going person is fine in theory but really when it gets down to it, having money is better than not having it. I know you dont need big cars, big house and all expensive nic nacs but hey they are nice, better to have them than not have them. I simply want to work as little as possible and enjoy life as much as I can, it is short, shorter for me than most probably judging by those chest pains I have been having recently ;)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I recently hosted my first guests from CS and it was a cool experience and am open to many more who wish to stay. When I finish college, hopefully this year I want to take off for a while, not sure where but it will be somewhere I have never been and I believe meeting with, although not necessarily staying with other CSers will help me to maximise the experiences. I read and write so much about authentic tourism and I want to experience it so I hope that being a good host to people who want to spend some time in Belfast will mean that someone might return the favour for me wherever I may go...

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Have had two people staying, very nice experience I mean I wasn't doing anything else and the opportunity to sit and chat to two strangers(not any more) was cool, better than sitting glued to the TV. Other than that and completely unrelated to CS I did spend 2. years in the USA between 1999 and 2001. During this time I worked mainly in New York and lived with a lot of friends and some strangers, anywhere from 2 to 10 at 1 time depending on who was about. It was a great experience, sometimes hectic, dirty, but always great craic. Made a lot of friends and had a ball

Interests

Together we enjoy going out for food, nice food, especially quality locally produced food although ashamed as I am to admit it chillis has become a firm favourite... you cant beat those wings and yes I have been to Hooters. We also love going to the pub, not clubs though, well and truly passed that stage of my life! I do like live music and not too bothered if its loud just no f*@^ing rave music. The Odyssey is a great venue and gets all the best bands, seen coldplay and oasis there just recently... class!!!Me personaly, well I enjoy sport especially rugby, soccer, golf, darts, poker(its on sky sports so it is a sport), and i will watch anything else except and please take note CRICKET... I HATE IT!!! I do also love american sports, baseball and football especially but also hockey and basketball. Helen has recently discovered she like srugby after we went to the world cup, i think its more to do with the partying and drinking that goes with attending a match but it is another thing we enjoy doing together. Other interests include PS3 (addicted), playing poker, hanging out with friends, cooking, eating etc etc. I would love to write loads more, like i paint, read etc. I can paint, in fact i am quite good but there are only so many hours in the day and while you try to build a life I guess you have to put some things on the back burner and to be honest I dont enjoy reading!

• dining
• cooking
• partying
• drinking
• clubbing
• pub crawls
• reading
• tv
• traveling
• cars
• painting
• magic
• darts
• poker
• music
• live music
• sports
• baseball
• basketball
• cricket
• soccer
• hockey
• rugby
• golf
• world cup
• medicine
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

I have read some good books but I only ever read to fill in time not because i enjoy it. Reading is over rated! I do it all day in work so the thought of sitting down to a book is not that appealing, I did read 4 books on my last holiday(honeymoon) but that is more a reflexion of the lack of things to do rather than my love of reading.

I have to say I do love watching TV and movies. Sopranos is my favourite ever TV show, and my taste is mainly for American dramas... like oz, the wire, the shield, not that CBS network bullshit like CSI etc etc and also American sitcoms. My favourite is seinfeld and I recently got into 30 rock which is also excellent. Others that I really love are arrested development, the king of queens and family guy if it counts, from the UK there have been some notable sitcoms like the office, extras, phoenix nights is a particular favourite and them less known ones like early doors and pulling are good also but the UK has some really bad ones which actually offend me like my family...need i say more!

Lost was good but isn't anymore, heroes passes an hour or 35 minutes not countting adds and 24 is I have to say addictive and unpredictable which is rare! As for movies my taste is diverse and sometimes unusual although my top 50 will have most of the most common titles like the godfather etc, Dog Soldiers, the greatest ever werewolf movie is definitely one of my favourites, 3rd best Brit Flick of all time!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Well I got married to the girl of my dreams in October 2008 having been together for 11 years... magic!

I watched an electrical storm from the roof of one of the world trade centre towers just a week before they were attacked and that is something which will stay with me for a long time.

I watched Ireland win the GRAND SLAM for the first time in 61 years and honestly have never felt so happy (sad I know)

Teach, Learn, Share

I like to cook and am getting better all the time. I would love to learn more about other cooking styles particualrly asian adn creole(went to a creole restaurant in Dublin of all places and it was amazing!!! 5 STARS and reasonably proced for Dublin)

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Belgium, Cabo Verde, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United Kingdom, United States

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