CURRENT MISSION

To settle in Berlin and keep on the beam creatively

ABOUT ME

I'm a 28-year-old gentleman from the Blue Mountains and Sydney Australia. I've been travelling in Southeast Asia for most of this year, and all roads lead to Berlin where I plan to live starting incredibly soon! I have dual citizenship with the UK, and I've just landed in Europe for the first time (Italy and Croatia), so it feels like the world is opening up... I'm a pretty relaxed and easygoing person, friendly and respectful of whatever boundaries people have going on. I have quite a few friends and buddies spread around Australia and the places I've visited. I'm an audiovisual artist, a musician, a qualified English teacher and an occasional tutor at art school. I've done some odd and interesting things in this life - I've ridden a bicycle for 1000km through rural Laos by myself; I've danced on stage dressed as an eight foot dog with the Flaming Lips in front of 6000 people; I've played in a band with Damo Suzuki; I've played (on the small stage) at the Big Day Out, Australia's largest music festival, which put me on the same bill as Iggy Pop and Franz Ferdinand; I once told a sea captain "Well Captain Dave, you'll just have to choose between Irene and the sea" ... But life isn't always quite so dramatic. I have a daily meditation practice and make sure to do some writing every day. I've graduated to tea-totaling, though I don't expect others to my lead of course. I love meeting new people, having fresh experiences and getting a sense of other peoples' story. And I love to play a bit of basketball now and then.

PHILOSOPHY

Keep goals lofty and passions high. Put in the footwork but let go of the results. Cultivate awareness and spontaneity. Take time out to observe things without naming them. Try to give people the benefit of the doubt. Continue to uncover my deepest purpose and follow it to the end. Take time out to help other people and don't take myself so damn seriously! Like the Buddha man says: Be a light unto yourself. (Don't take my word for it ;)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Well, having joined recently, my participation so far has been donating, getting verified (waiting on a postcard), and trying to be as clear and honest as possible on this profile. In time when I'm settled I'll happily put my couch up here. I've heard rave reviews from family and friends, so as I learn more about the service, I'll do what I can to contribute!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My favourite way of travelling is when I have a connection with someone at my destination. I just spent most of a month staying in a (recently met) friend's spare room in central Bangkok, contributing time and some dollars money to keeping the house happy. It was a great experience. Just before that, a friend of a good friend of mine made my experience in Cambodia all the more personal and rewarding. Right now I'm staying in a small town in Tisno, Croatia, in a house with nine young people in it! It's great fun, completely different to the last place, and it's all about sharing experience, mutual respect and clear communication. In the past I've stayed on friends' couches and spare beds many a time. It's almost always a nicer atmosphere than most guest houses and hotels.

Interests

Oh so much. Traveling, making music, meditation, seeing people make measurable progress in whatever they're passionate about, cruising art galleries, reading, writing (fiction and non), visual arts, electronic arts, entrepreneurship, getting to the bottom of things, philosophy (lite and heavy), George Carlin, doom metal, Hank Williams, basketball, tech gadgets, , speaking in public (sometimes), vintage sound gear, finding the most atmospheric local cafe, occasional gaming, mango pancakes, helping people get where they want to be, sound theory, anachoic chambers, pushbikes, motorbikes, reading out short fiction, having 'a-ha' moments of understanding and realisation, understanding how systems work, focusing on the breath.

• dogs
• arts
• writing
• festivals
• meditation
• technology
• reading
• traveling
• music
• basketball
• teaching
• entrepreneurship
• visual arts
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Ahh too many. A few here.
Music: I love my music. So here's a few. Smog, Bob Dylan, Grandmaster Flash, Hank Wiliams, Outkast, Sleep, Rolling Stones, Sun O))), Tim Hecker, Loscil, Neutral Milk Hotel, Lindstrom, The Triffids, The Meters, Tom Waits, Microphones, The Dirty Three, Yagya, Prince, Okkervil River, Manitas de Plata, Ali Farka Toure, Toumani Diabate, Flaming Lips, Can, Kraftwerk, Grouper, Fleet Foxes, Jay-Z, Sam'n'Dave, Velvet Underground, GYBE!, Radiohead, Stereolab, Sonic Youth, Pixies, Pavement, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Broken Social Scene, Feist, Faust, Augie March, Nimrod Workman, Monks, James Holden, Gas, Biosphere, Murcof, Thomas Koner, Om, Arthur Russell, My Bloody Valentine, Talk Talk, the Knife, Liars, Midlake, Mogwai, Songs Ohia, Will Oldham, The Clean, Bailterspace, Necks, James Blackshaw, Polmo Polpo, Mingus, Davis, Coltrane, Gnarls Barkley, Gui Boratto, Deerhunter, Circulatory System
TV: The Wire
Movies: Pan's Labyrinth, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, more to come
Books: Catch 22, The Stranger, more to come

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Probably when I rented a pushbike and rode 1000km through Laos by myself with a few supplies. And I'm not even a 'lycra' cyclist. Was an incredibly rewarding experience.

Teach, Learn, Share

Sound theory. English teaching. Tech. More coming.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, Croatia, Italy, Laos, Thailand

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Croatia

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