CURRENT MISSION

Assuming that I will live for a finite amount of time, I want to experience as much of life as possible. As a physicist and an observer of many eastern philosophies, I live every day to learn more about the world physically and spiritually.

ABOUT ME

Updated as of August 4th 2014:
I have graduated with a B.S. from UCSB Physics. I am applying to various graduate programs in fall 2014. Now I am living in Camarillo, CA with my parents studying for the GRE while surfing and climbing as much as possible. I am traveling Europe with my girlfriend Becca Best from Aug 22 - Oct 19 and would love to meet any Europeans!

The following was written in Summer 2012:
If I was going to try and describe myself to someone I had never met I would start by listing my core beliefs (which I will try to keep brief). I feel like these are slightly (to extremely) different for every person and influence person-to-person compatibility greatly. If I were to argue that any of my beliefs were "correct" I would say that the most important are my love of honesty and my appreciation of humility.

Because these words mean different things to everyone, I will explain my personal connotations. When I speak of my love for honesty I am referring to my belief that most conflicts can be settled by always speaking your mind and harboring the will to discuss, relate, and grow. By being honest with both ourself and everyone around you can avoid miscommunication (which I feel is the cause of most conflicts between people).

When I speak of my appreciation for humility I am referring to quite a few lessons-learned inside my own head. Let me start by saying that I am aware of my limitations to the extent which I am capable. I strive to keep in mind: all my views are biased. There are two sides to ever story. This goes hand-in-hand with self honesty but I think it goes farther than that. By trying (<- key word) to observe my life from an outside perspective, I can see some of my flaws and have the ability to work on them.

Every day I try to go to sleep a better person than when I woke up because the I feel like capacity for improvement is a gift.

My outlook on life brings births love for what I could call tasteful struggle. By challenging myself in all aspects of my life, I feel satisfied with my time spent on earth and wake up happier every single day. I have already mentioned one manifestation of this belief but I will go on to list some more. I love learning in many respects because it pushes me to my limits. I love physics because it allows to push my mind to comprehend as much of the world as possible. I love rock climbing and surfing because it demands subtle control of my body. I love my friends because they question my beliefs. I love meeting new people because because they are natural teachers. I love backpacking because I love the solitude as well as the beauty in simplistic living. All of these things offer the reward of experience and wisdom in exchange for a miniscule amount of suffering and I love them all so much.

I hope that this has given a little insight to who I am and I will stop writing before this becomes an autobiography. I can't wait to share life with you future friends,

Love, Harrison

PHILOSOPHY

I kind of went into this in my "All About You" section. I guess that says something about me in itself. If I had to some up my philosophy I would say to read the Tao Te Ching (I have read maybe 20 lines of the Tao Te Ching).

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Update as of Aug 14, 2014: I have no excuse for not hosting while I lived in Santa Barbara, now I live with my parents and they are not so friendly to "strangers".

Written Summer 2013

Once I move into my home permanently Santa Barbara I would love to host surfers. I am afraid that I will be traveling until August.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I am new to the world of couch surfing but hope to share experiences with many of you in the near future.

Interests

Learning, loving, and living, (but more specifically) surfing, rock climbing, backpacking, swimming/running, meditating, discussing...

• writing
• beauty
• running
• traveling
• backpacking
• surfing
• rock climbing
• swimming
• physics

Music, Movies, and Books

I am mostly interested in books that teach and books that question (or books that make you go, "OH SH#T". The same goes for movies but I do admit that I like some summer blockbusters. Music is a magical thing and I love diversity. Any genre has something to appreciate and I love sharing music with others because there is so much that goes unheard.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I would claim that the most amazing thing I have done in my life is manage to get A's in my upper division physics classes and still surf or rock climb every day. Improving all three of these skills simultaneously costed some sleep, but it was definitely worth it.

Countries I’ve Visited

New Zealand, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States