CURRENT MISSION

I follow beauty -- and my instincts -- wherever they may lead. I will find the points of light and connect the dots.

ABOUT ME

I am mutable. Ever shifting like the waves crashing on the shores. I have lived so many lives already that when I think back on them it is difficult to remember that that was me. I am a walking dichotomy and "normal" is a word I run from in terror. I spend much of my energy trying to do all the things I am afraid of -- perhaps because the thing I am most afraid of is coming to the end of all things and feeling dissatisfied with how I have used my time.

PHILOSOPHY

I think that communication and interaction with excellent humans is perhaps the thing which i live for -- the thing which sustains me -- the thing which drives me through difficult times because i know that it will be there in the future waiting for me -- that next amazing conversation -- that next sharing of souls with like minded journeyers. I live my life like a D&D game, gaining experience points, languages, and skills along the way -- all meant to be things to help me along my journey. And the journey itself is like a giant art project that has no end - a painting or collage that extends across a living canvas out and out and into forever....

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

A good percent of my closest friends are now couch surfers. I talk about it all the time and am constantly introducing the idea to new people. I use it whenever I travel to places where I don't already have friends that I am dying to see. I am definitely a missionary on the subject and continuously getting new people to join who have never heard about it. My latest specialty is converting burners unaware of the project into couchburners, as the communities definitely overlap!! :c)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I spent time with the couch surfing collective in New Zealand and surfed with other members in Thailand. While I was in Istanbul I stayed with couch surfers and there was a gathering of the Greek - Turkish Friends group and there were more than a hundred cs-ers from primarily Turkey and Greece - but there were at least 10 other countries represented. It was such fun!!! I have met some amazing friends and have not had any bad experiences.
I also camped at couch surfing camp at burning man 2008 & 2009 and attended several couch surfing events in san francisco. I have attended and organized several CS events in Tucson. I surfed all through Brasil and Peru - including Manaus & Pucallpa - in the middle of the Amazon jungle and I have surfed sailboats through the Caribbean. I've surfed China & spent time at both Home Base Collectives in SF. I've taken my Mom couchsurfing, and converted people to the idea in every country I've been to. Most of the people I know - and that is a lot of people - are either people I met through CS or people who met CS through me:)

Interests

I adore languages -- would learn them all if i had time. Traveling is what makes me happy. Writing is as necessary as breathing. Absorbing beauty in all its forms. Dancing is my passion. Dressing up in crazy costumes and wearing lots of glitter!!! Talking to interesting people until all hours of the night. Living in the midst of nature so big it is overpowering. Gardening is my meditation during which I commune with the earth and all of her lovely growing extremities. I worship the sun, the wind, and the sea - thus sailing ranks somewhere in the realm of ecstasy. I think I would also like to learn to fly.
Refrigerator magnet poetry. Turning the operation of a multimillion dollar company into a personal art project. Spinning poi is something I am fascinated by and slowly gaining ground. I am also an avid hooper and with a hoop I play my body like an instrument. I love stilting and aerial silks and pretty much anything that sounds like it ought to be part of a circus.

• birds
• arts
• writing
• books
• poetry
• beauty
• dancing
• running
• meditation
• walking
• flying
• gardening
• boating
• traveling
• painting
• fishing
• hiking
• camping
• surfing
• scuba diving
• sailing
• paragliding
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Ani DiFranco, Maroon 5, Rising Appalachia, Beats Antique, -- soulful poet singers who wail with passion and anything with a good heavy dance beat...Underworld, Lord of the Rings, Sliding Doors, Serenity, Beyond Borders, V for Vendetta, Six String Samurai, Smallville (the series -- total junkie), Moulin Rouge, Mamma Mia,Firefly (another series)so many so many....books -- omygod - LOTR (again); Neverwhere; The Stars, My Destination; A Stranger in a Strange Land, The Golden Compass (etc), Wheel of Time, Sabrael, Pillars of the Earth, The Blue Sword, Dragon Singer, Celestine Prophecy, anything by Tom Robbins Neil Gaiman or Patricia McKillip---these are the worlds I escape to...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hiking the Appalachian Trail was one of the most amazing things I ever did -- it was definitely a turning point in my life and i think that everything that i am and have become stems from that portion of my journey. Dropping everything in my life and moving to Tibet was thought to be a crazy thing to do by some -- but the result has changed me forever in so many positive ways. Seeing Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat, the Great Wall, the Tibetan Plateau, yaks in their natural habitat, the Vietnamese jungle at night with centipede percussionists, night birds on winds, crickets on strings and endless fireflies supplying the visual entertainment like a web of pulsing glowing mutating electricity...holding you in flux. Having 20 hummingbirds circling around my head...feeling their wings on my cheeks....there are so MANY amazing things in one's life. how could i choose ONE? And oh yeah - did i mention BURNING MAN?!?
Catching crocodiles with my hands while standing barefoot in the amazon river - paragliding over the jungles of brasil - finishing my first novel - going barefoot for 6 months straight - diving off a boat under full sail in 27,000ft of water - AYA!

Teach, Learn, Share

I have lived abroad in China/Northern Tibet for a number of years. I was involved in the travel industry there. I speak Chinese functionally well. I lived in Alaska for a number of years and was involved in the fishing industry. I spent 6 months crewing on a 50ft sailboat in the Caribbean and logged around 3000 nautical miles including a crossing from st martin to Martha's vineyard in Massachusetts during which we were often 600 miles offshore. I am a beginner scuba diver with my PADI open water diver certification. I am a massage therapist and reiki practitioner. I have owned several businesses and designed websites for them. I don't know what to say for what i want to learn. EVERYTHING!!!!

Countries I’ve Visited

Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Dominica, England, France, Germany, Guatemala, Iceland, Ireland, Laos, Luxembourg, Martinique, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Martin (French part), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Scotland, Sint Maarten (Dutch part), Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, Turks and Caicos Islands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands, British, Virgin Islands, U.S., Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Guatemala, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten (Dutch part), United States

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