CURRENT MISSION

on a wild goose chase

ABOUT ME

I'm not the best judge of myself. Some say I'm hardworking and always doing something, I see the side that is procrastinating most of the time. Some say I'm friendly with others, but then I can sometimes stay indoors for days trying to avoid people. Some say I'm outgoing, but I only go to parties where I know at least a few people and have a good reason to go (eg. really feel like dancing) which means not too many. Some say I'm tolerant, but my tolerance ends with intolerant and annoying people.

I guess it's like that with everybody, so I managed to fill my description without actually saying anything about myself. Hopefully rest of the profile and some photos make up for it.

PHILOSOPHY

If you have a friend on whom you think
you can rely - You are a lucky man!
If you've found the reason to live on and
not to die - You are a lucky man!
Preachers and poets and scholars don't know it,
Temples and statues and steeples won't show it,
If you've got the secret just try not to blow
it - Stay a lucky man!
If you've found the meaning of the truth
in this old world- You are a lucky man!
If knowledge hangs around your neck like
pearls instead of chains - You are a lucky man!
Takers and fakers and talkers won't tell you.
Teachers and preachers will just buy and sell you.
When no one can tempt you with heaven or hell-
You'll be a lucky man!

Alan Price - "O Lucky Man"

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Most of the time I host people, since I don't have time to travel around right now. Try to help others as much as I can. Even if I can't always show around the town, then I try to find the time to take you out for a beer and give tips of what to see and what's going on in the town (concerts, happenings etc).

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Once I hitchhiked to Prague in spring 2003. I ended up 200 km out side of Warsawa and it was 2am and quite chilly. It was a highway junction in the middle of nowhere, but there was a small cottage near by. Though the there was no light in the window and it seemed really small and old in the dark, I decided that it was worth a try - I knocked on the door and a young local dude opened it. I tried english and russian, he german and polish. Tough we had no common languge (except signs) I got a night over and a warm breakfast. So I know what it means to be greeted by a nice warm cup of tea, even if you are a complete stranger - heart (and feet) warming.

Interests

cities, city-life, urbanistics, urban planning, psychology, cultural studies, semiotics, table-tennis, biking, hiking, hitchhiking.

To know and to understand.

• culture
• architecture
• make up
• concerts
• festivals
• dancing
• environment
• cooking
• breakfast
• beer
• partying
• chess
• traveling
• music
• cycling
• hiking
• tennis
• anthropology
• cultural studies
• geography
• psychology
• hitchhiking

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies - "Ghost in the Shell" (series and movies. All of it), "Happiness", "Me and you and everyone we know", "Swingers", "A night on earth", "Kitchen stories", "Turtles can fly", "3-iron", "Donnie Darko", "City of the Lost Children", "Paprika" and some local ones ("Sügisball") etc. Lately I have fallen in love with "Daria" series (ps. if you like it then don't watch "Is it college yet?"). I also discoverd a new movie genre for myself - portraits of the clueless and naive. For example "Being there" (1979), "O Lucky Man!" (1973) and "The Adventurer" (1983) (estonian movie titled originally "Nipernaadi"). Besides the main charachter they are all sort of a grey (not totally black) comedies.

Music - lot's of good Estonian and some Finnish bands that I won't mention because most of you don't know them anyway. Dresden Dolls, A Perfect Circle, Architecture in Helsinki, Tricky, Avalanches, Tlon, Neoangin, Mindless Self Indulgence, Ladytron, Nine Inch Nails, Kino, Zemfira, Jeffrey Lewis, Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, Explosions in the Sky, etc .. it just as well could end here. Otherwise the list goes on and on and on and .. More recently I have started listening Ariel Pink, Japanther, TV on Radio, Lightning Bolt and others like those. Update - new waves of neat folk are washing the beach of HipMusic. This time it's Thao with the Get Down Stay Down: http://www.myspace.com/thaomusic

Books - Mostly I have read only books related to my studies and I don't want to bore you with that. J. Winterson "Lighthousekeeping", A.A. Milne "Winnie the Pooh", J. Fowles "The Magus", A. Camus "A Happy Death", C. de Lint "Someplace To Be Flying", W.S. Maugham "The Razor's Edge", W.Benjamin "One-way street",K. Ooe "The Silent Cry" etc.

All of these are not things that I consider THE BEST. There is no such thing. Just the bands or books or movies I have seen lately or more often, that hold a special place in me. Even they may come and go.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

hitchhiked around Scotland, hitchhiked to Prague from Tallinn without a map (first experience outside Estonia), getting lost in Helsinki, climbed the highest point of Poland, graduated bachelor degree (still not sure how I pulled that one off), been to a folk-music festival without listening to a single concert, founded an NGO (still active), searched for someone in a cemetery with a candle (that was really spooky),

Teach, Learn, Share

I have studied psychology, human geography and currently taking up culture theory. Call me hectic or eclectic, but I have found my field of inquiry in something I think is named phenomenological environmental psychology. I live in the same apartment where we have a project going on. Urban Laboratory - a group of people interested in urban issues have gathered in Tallinn to discuss theoretical perspectives and to address problems in the city space by direct action. Most of our meetings are in estonian, but if we have guests who are interest discussion, then it would be no problem for us to talk in english. Right now there are less than 5 of us, but hopefully we will grow in time. And anyways - it's the quality not the quantity that's important!

Some topics I'm interested in and always willing to debate around - cyborgs (man-machine relations), detachment from the environment (alienation), vernacular architecture, anthropology done at home, philosophy and semiotics of space/place (genius loci, social production of space etc.), social change and activism etc.

I can make shelves out of random wood and supplies from hardware store, mend a bike (since it's winter soon I haven't fixed mine yet), use duck-tape for all sorts of repairs, cook (just pasta and dumplings), fold roses from napkins, sew back buttons (but I don't have string nor needle yet), dance (in my own wierd way), play chess and so on.

Countries I’ve Visited

Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Slovakia, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Estonia

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