CURRENT MISSION

Chasing my tale

ABOUT ME

My passion is writing. My debut short story collection is being released in 2011. I'm a web developer to make ends meet. For years I've played South American guitar - classical as well as samba and bossa nova - and loved Garcia Marquez and Neruda. I've felt a pull to the continent, and at last I'm going! I also have a love for the German language, which unfortunately I get little chance to use, except passively via books and podcasts, since I hardly know any Germans! So after South America, it's Germany.

I'm always on the hunt for ideas and experiences to feed my writing, so my upcoming trip is a sort of fishing expedition too: chasing the tale of my novel, which I will be starting next year, after my collection comes out.

Used to work as a psychotherapist and a counsellor and spent five years working with offenders and their families in the Australian prison system.

I have an 11-year old son whom I will miss sorely on my travels...

PHILOSOPHY

I believe strongly in respect and integrity. I'm eternally curious and open and always want to keep learning. I believe in love, in awareness, in not giving in to fear, in hope and resilience. The spiritual interests me, but not the New Age variety whereby 'The Universe' seems to be your personal dial-up order service. I'm too much of a hedonist though to ever belong among the ascetics. The Epicurean philosophy seems a damn good one to me.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Well I'm new here. I'm in a share house and still need to convince my housemates of the wisdom of opening our house to couch surfers from time to time. Therefore I'm listed as a "coffee/drinks" person at the moment. I love the idea of jumping right into the culture I'm visiting by couch surfing.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None yet!

Interests

I mentioned writing and guitar. Other interests include swing dancing (just a beginner), chess, reading, meditation.

• culture
• writing
• books
• dancing
• swing dancing
• coffee
• meditation
• drinking
• chess
• reading
• podcasts
• guitar
• fishing
• surfing

Music, Movies, and Books

Where do I start? Too much, too many. But to give a flavour of the favoured:
Leonard Cohen
Tim Winton (Dirt Music, Breath)
Peter Carey (Bliss, Kelly Gang, Oscar and Lucinda)
Elegance of the Hedgehog
What is the What? (Dave Eggers)
Lost in Translation
Any film by Emir Kusturica
Coldplay
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Guitar works by Agustin Barrios
Pablo Neruda's poetry
Kings of Convenience
Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Sleeping out in the ruined temples of Hampi in India: the heat of the sun locked in the rocks keeping me warm while the moon rose over a landscape of endless boulders and the ruins of temples destroyed in the fifteenth century.

Teach, Learn, Share

Playing the guitar
Creative writing

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