CURRENT MISSION

Passion, Creativity, Integrity. "To live and to create, even in the very midst of the desert"- Camus.

ABOUT ME

I should have been born in an old blues bar, out of the womb and into the fire. With a face like Beckett and a voice like Waits, prowling through Mexico with a six-string guitar.

I write, I read, I'm intellectually arrogant and pretty intolerant of intolerance, idiocy, and inanity.

I want to live caught up in the moment for the moment; embrace coincidence as a brother.

I'm a writer. Copywriting pays the physical bills, creative writing pays the spiritual ones.

PHILOSOPHY

I'm not religious myself, but one of my favourite quotes comes from the AA prayer book:

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference"

...

I believe in living for the experience. Living for now, not for what this can mean later. I believe in conducting myself in a manner I am proud of. Trying to be kind to others, to be thoughtful, empathetic. But within that, to remember that we are fundamentally alone. To be self-reliant, self-confident. I believe life is too short to live in fear. I believe in pushing boundaries, going outside of my comfort zone, expanding my horizons and never staying still for the sake of it.
...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm living in a small flat with the boyfriend at the moment with almost no room for the two of us, let alone another. Sayin' that - if you're desperate do get in touch, sometimes we can swing it.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Only ever good: met some pretty awesome CSers in Thailand and go to meetings now and then, depending on where I am. Met the boyfriend through CS too, big fan.

Interests

I like solitude and company.

I can get pretty overwhelmed thinking about the overarching meaninglessness of the universe, although I spend the other half of my time awestruck by how meaningful and awesome it all is.

I like thinking about things. Pretty deep man, whoa. I particularly like going on to talk about those things, and I most enjoy people who can formulate a coherent and interesting argument that they don't take too seriously.

Bring me literature and chaos, the intoxicating chemistry of ethereality and immediacy only words can offer.

I paint and write. I'm a 'creative-type', y'know.

I still believe in faeries. Sort of. In the suspended non-belief sort of way.

Exploration, both self- and external-. I want to know myself and the universe and analyse everything.

Passion; laughter; freedom; intimacy; tranquillity and chaos. The world is what we make it. End on a pretentious note, there you have it.

• writing
• books
• literature
• poetry
• singing
• dancing
• cooking
• reading
• painting
• guitar
• blues
• chemistry

Music, Movies, and Books

Films:
Into the Wild
American Beauty
Trainspotting
The Dreamers
Goodbye Lenin
Pan's Labyrinthe

Music:
I appreciate poignant and well-written lyrics. I love Waits. I love blues, and country and jazz. I love Into the Mystic by Morrison.

Reading:
A few token favourites-
Call of the Wild
On the Road
The Catcher in the Rye
Lord of the Flies
The Prophet
The Outsider
Heart of Darkness
Lord Jim
Most Beckett
The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Poetry:
T.S Eliot, particularly the Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock
Ginsberg
Thom Gunn
Wallace Stevens, particularly The Idea of Order at Key West

I also really like literary theory. Not all this militant giving-feminism-a-bad-name-man-hating-BS (although, woo woman's rights, full supporter) but intellectually dense stuff that kinda hurts your brain to read and makes you feel cleverer afterwards. I like things that make you feel like you do after you try and imagine infinity. Like, Lacan, Derrida, post-modernist theory. Etc, etc.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

In Northern Thailand, lying on a bamboo bridge watching the sun come up while tripping absolute balls as the water trickled past in pentagons. Pretty high up there as far as awe-inspiring experiences go.

Teach, Learn, Share

I speak conversational Spanish, so can help with that. Although grammar isn't really my thing, but I'll happily chat away with anyone (also I massively need to practice: feel like I'm losing a little bit more every day.. hola, hola, what?! Fuck)

More of a sharing thing than a teaching thing, but I'll debate/discuss anything with interest. I love discussion and I love thinking. I think you can learn something from intelligent conversations with any type of person.

Learning: well, particularly the above. I like finding out what other people are passionate/excited/have strong opinions about. Widen the worldview.

I'm keen to practice my Spanish more, preferably with someone very patient.

I want to learn everything. I know that sounds like a massive overexaggeration but really it's not. If I could learn everything I definitely would, but sitting and reading about stuff only holds my interest for so long. My grand life plan is to know a reasonable amount about as much as possible; osmosis of knowledge. Contributors to the wisdom-well always wanted...

Also I want to learn to dance, but I have very little natural rhythm. I flail. Teach me?

What I Can Share with Hosts

Writing
Copywriting
Poetry
Great books (I inherited a library full from my grandfather that I've been steadily adding to)
Cooking
Debate

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Canada, Cuba, Ecuador, France, India, Italy, Laos, Portugal, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Spain, United Kingdom