I studied biology at Stanford, graduated, and put none of my knowledge to good use when I became an Army Ranger. I was stationed in Hawai'i for 5 years, loved it, left the military and moved to Thailand. I had a variety of jobs there, none of which involved the CIA, trust me, I promise, and have just moved back to the states after 12 years (!) and am about to start looking for a new job in either DC or NYC. UN Secretary General, perhaps. I used self-check outs for the first time yesterday. Blew my mind.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I couch surfed with some friends (using their accounts) once and found it to be a lovely experience. I'd love to return the favor as soon as I get my own place (because as of this writing I just moved from Thailand back to the states after 12 years and haven't got my own place. I do have a couch though. Gotta get me a place to put it.)

Interests

I love any kind of sport not involving points or balls. So rock-climbing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, surfing, snowboarding (I suck though), scuba, etc.

I'm also big into dancing, including salsa, swing, waltz (I know 10 flavors of waltz!), Argentine Tango, which deserves capital letters, foxtrot, etc. Don't ask me to breakdance. I might break something.

• writing
• dancing
• tango
• waltz
• surfing
• scuba diving
• snowboarding
• sports
• rock climbing
• jiu jitsu
• biology
• chemistry
• mathematics

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: I kind of lost track of the music scene when some butthead broke into my car once and stole all my CDs. That was 12 years ago though so maybe I should see what's happening now...

Movies: Delicatessen, City of Lost Children, Dark City, Brazil, Snowpiercer, Inception, more to be added later.

Books: Too many to list! OK fine. Some of my favorites are 1984, People's history of the United States, The Art of War, Nonzero, A brief History of Time, Born to Run, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies, The Black Swan, Fooled by Randomness, Antifragile, The Selfish Gene, anything by Terry Pratchet, Charles Dickens, Neal Stephenson, Mark Twain, Nabokov, Kafka, Kurt Vonnegut, Jane Auston, Iain M. Banks but not Iain Banks, L. Frank Baum, Chuck Palahniuk (actually he's hit or miss), Dave Eggers, you get the idea. I like books.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I stayed at a friend's place in NYC once. I left to go home and realized that I had her spare cell phone in my pocket and no way to get into her building. She lived on the 4th floor. It was one of these old buildings with ornate carvings everywhere. I had my climbing gear with me so I put on some shoes, chalked up, and climbed up to her window and left her phone on the outside of her kitchen window. I had quite an audience waiting for me on the sidewalk when I got down, haha.

Teach, Learn, Share

OK, OK, so I have this theory about memory and life: I believe that the brain sort of automatically scrubs out repetitive experiences in a kind of memory compression program. For example, if you've walked the same route to work 100 times, you will not be able to remember the 17th time, but of course you will never forget the route. There are probably entire weeks of your life during which you just went to work and did normal things that you always do, even if they're fun activities, which you have forgotten. And if you've forgotten that whole week it may as well have never happened.
So the more repetition in your life, the fewer memories you'll have. And I think when you look back on your life, you value the memories the most. So I think it's important to try new things and meet new people constantly, which basically feels the same as if you're extending your life. To this end, I try to attempt a new activity every month. Next month is harmonica. That one's for you, Grandpa.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can teach a lot of things:
Biology
Chemistry
Math
Almost any kind of social dancing

I will also share any candy or cookies I may have in my possession.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Cambodia, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Slovakia, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Philippines, Thailand, United States