CURRENT MISSION

Finding a mission worth pursuing

PHILOSOPHY

Frankly, I'm still working on this one. As a general principle I think if EVERYONE (including myself) chilled out by about 20%, the world would improve by about 45%, which is a pretty good return-on-investment.

I believe less and less in the pragmatic value of violence as a long-term problem solver, but I'm not quite a pacifist yet.

I'm not personally religious, but I care about a lot of deeply religious people. I do, however, have some frustrations with religious convictions that require one to sacrifice his/her intellectual integrity. But I could be really wrong on this one.

Seems like the tricky thing about life is being able to engage with other people and their ideas, and at the same time use that input to make something distinctly your own.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Still feeling this one out. I'd like to start using the CS network regularly, if the financial/personal opportunities present themselves. Definitely a rookie at this point, but very open to hosting or getting together to chat, or even just sharing whatever meagre information I can about where/how I live, if it'll help someone out.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I took a trip to Indiana with a friend to watch his wife run a marathon, and (on rather short-notice) we decided to couch-surf our way there and back. Had an astonishingly refreshing time and...I'm hooked. I don't want to be TOO dramatic, but it seems like CouchSurfing offers a sort of transforming generosity that's not super common, and I'm excited to maybe reciprocate that a bit.

Interests

Languages

History, and particularly 11th century Latin Christianity and/or Ancient Rome.

The kinds of stories human beings tell, and the reasons we tell them.

• marathon
• running
• hiking
• christian
• history
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Too many for here. For starters,
Movies: Flame and Citron, Inglourius Basterds, Up in the Air, Paris, Je t'aime, blah blah blah :)
Music: The Avett Brothers, The Low Anthem, K'Naan, Counting Crows, Lady GaGa, Jimmy Eat World, Cake, Blind Pilot, Alexi Murdoch, etc.
Books: Watership Down, several comic books, Moby Dick, The Song of Fire and Ice, The Loom of Language, Generation Kill

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hmmm. I scrambled up Mount Snowdon in Wales a few years back with a good friend without any safety gear; it was about half climb and half hike, and it was 100% awesome. I'll try to throw up some summit pics on my profile.

Teach, Learn, Share

I love languages. I love to talk about them. If you want to learn Latin, I'm happy to teach you. If you want to speak French, I'd love that (though my conversational French is pry not so good). If you know about/speak ANY other language, I DEMAND that you talk with me about it :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States