CURRENT MISSION
I quit my job and am driving a big circle around the perimeter of the country, starting in Maine and heading West. I'm trying to do something useful at each stop. So far I've helped friends move in New York and Toronto, cleaned an artist's workshop/basement in Chicago, painted an apartment in Seattle and have had some great conversations and interviews with folks in places ranging from Detroit, Michigan to Porcupine, South Dakota. Let me know if you have some junk that needs cleaning, or if you have a story you've always wanted to tell but never had a person to tell it to or time to write it down.

ABOUT ME

I like to ask a lot of questions and walk around and stare at people and places. I'd say I'm pretty calm and quiet as a default but I have my moments of exuberance. It really all depends on who I'm with.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

So far I've visited and helped out people that I have some personal connection to, even if sometimes it's a friend of a friend. However, I also want to meet and help out a few total strangers. I thought I could do that by just enthusiastically approaching people on the street, but it turns out that's terrifying and creepy, for me, mostly. So I'm here because I want to help strangers complete tedious tasks that they otherwise wouldn't do if there wasn't some Indian dude crashing on their couch and pestering them to do it.

Interests

Writing, reading, fishing, traveling, exploring the less glamorous parts of America.

• writing
• meditation
• reading
• hiking
• trail running
• animation
• natural medicine

Music, Movies, and Books

There's too many of all of those things. I'm reading a series of interviews done by Studs Terkel right now. I was reading a surprising amount of mid 20th century sci-fi like Phillip k. Dick and Gibson and Neil Stephenson as a kind of guilty pleasure. I mix it up pretty frequently though and I've recently enjoyed books by Elena Ferrante, Natsuo Kirino and Coates.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I love to talk and more importantly to listen and learn to just about anything. Lets share some conversation. But getting down to the brass tacks, I want to do something useful at each stop, so what I can share is my smattering of half-formed skillsets: amateur furniture mover, amateur auto mechanic, amateur house painter etc. etc. In this case "amateur" means everything from "I'm semi-competent at this" to "I've done this a handful of times in my life and am terrible at it"

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, United States