CURRENT MISSION

to learn and feel everything

ABOUT ME

Stagnation kills me. I am often conflicted between choosing breadth or depth; can't have both, but usually go for depth. I sing. I dance. I can do the worm, but only bust it out during dance contests as a finale/game ender/crowd pleaser. I can make things and fix things. I like to read, to think, to discuss and converse with wild-eyed folks deep into the night. I make fun of everything I see on TV. Sometimes I listen to terrible music on purpose because it's often more interesting than being serious. I am serious. I pay attention. I like the way I cook. I think I am good at it and other people agree. I try to climb everything I see, especially rocks. I am highly passionate about rock climbing at this time. I need fear, challenge, success, fulfillment, excitement. I am more alive on rock than anywhere else, and consequentially make up my own words to describe what I feel. I am a teacher and have a very strong belief in human potential. I am also in the process of becoming a "bird guy" since I find and save roughly three times as many injured birds a year as the average man or woman (about 10 in 2010, the average person saving only 3.3, look it up).

I find interesting things and people everywhere I go and I'm never bored. I have a thousand ambitions and persue them constantly: get a Master's degree in curriculum development; find long-lost relatives in Europe; build a cabin and live in the mountains for a while with just a pile of books; improve my strength, agility, sense of direction and orientation, productivity, etc.; learn to speak Spanish; get lost in South America; learn to sail a boat; climb more mountains; drive a car around America; start coffee shop or restaurant; save the Burmese people and help them to attain a true democracy; and eventually I'd like to develop and run my own school.

I am excited and passionately in love with the world.

PHILOSOPHY

I believe that people have tremendous potential that they do not realize or are afraid to discover and use. I believe routine, complacency, apathy, or fear prevent many from this realization; thus I continually work to break down these mental states within myself and others.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I provide my couch to surfers in need. I keep you entertained and happy when I surf. I also insist that I cook you a meal or fix something of yours.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I had three nice traveling folks stay over at my place in Seattle.

Met a rad dude in Missoula, MT who hooked us up at his place.

An awesome girl in Salt Lake City let my friend and I stay on her floor.

I have stayed on many couches in Thailand and have offered the floor of my bungalow (when I had one) to numerous travelers.

Interests

Rock Climbing, Bouldering, Swimming, Dancing, Cooking, Reading, motorcycles, Playing with animals, Yelling at people from rooftops, learning everything, et cetera

• animals
• birds
• writing
• books
• singing
• make up
• dancing
• cooking
• coffee
• running
• flying
• motorcycles
• boating
• shopping
• reading
• tv
• traveling
• cars
• bouldering
• music
• sailing
• rock climbing
• swimming
• teaching
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Hero, Troy, Fight Club, Pulp Fiction, Sin City, Dust to Glory, Samurai Champloo

Music: Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, The Misfits, Ratatat, The Offspring, Old Crow Medicine Show

Authors: Jack Kerouac, George Orwell, Sherman Alexie, Charles Bukowski, Ayn Rand, Richard Bach, Lao Tzu, Confucius, Thich Nhat Hanh, Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, Malcom Gladwell, Ray Bradbury, William Golding, Ernest Hemingway, Robin Lee Graham, Slavomir Rawicz, Chuck Palahniuk, Jon Krakauer, Henri Charriere, Hunter S. Thompson

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

In Thailand one day, just before sunset, I pointed up and told my friend to look at some huge birds flying above a nearby cliff. He informed me that those were not birds, but giant fruit bats and that thousands of them lived in some cave on one of the islands a few miles out and they left every day before sunset to eat fruits at many of the mainland plantations.

I had to find this cave, and planned to sit just at it's mouth to watch the bats fly out en masse.

After talking to many of the Thai boatmen about the idea, I learned that there were an estimated 10,000 bats living in the trees of those islands, not in a cave. A particular snorkelling tour included dinner on one of the islands, so I signed up hoping to get a close view of the take off.

Snorkelling is cool, but I had never seen anything quite as strange and wild as flock of 10,000 giant bats flying over my head, most of which have a wingspan of 1 meter and some having a span of 1.5 meters. You feel like these things had the power to carry up the whole island or devour you and your friends in just a few seconds. There are a few occasions where I become so excited that I can't really say intelligible things to describe what I feel, usually just a bunch of "woah, oh my god,I can't... bwah it's... this is... wow," but this was one of those such occasions.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach: teach English, edit your writing and offer criticism, fix many things on cars and most things on motorcycles, rock climbing skills and safety

Learn: speak Spanish, countries and cultures you know about, your skills and passions

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Netherlands, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Israel, Spain, United States