Still figuring it all out. I'll let you know when I do :)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

If you got a couchsurfing request from me, you might be a little surprised that someone from the area is looking to couch surf here.

Actually, wait, scratch that. First you're probably surprised that I'm from here. But I am! Really and truly, born and raised. We actually make up about 25% of the population.

But for someone from Los Angeles, I surprisingly don't know the area that well.
Most of my friends don't live in this country, much less this state or city. It's partially a symptom of doing a lot of stuff in tech and regularly working with people around the world. It's partially a symptom of choosing to let go of my past and start my life completely over (I recently split from abusive family).

I didn't even realise how much of LA I'd never experienced until I hosted last year (not through CS.com, just people I literally met wandering about the city) and had people living with me who wanted to do all the cool touristy things that I'd never done as a local. Sure, lots of the things were well, touristy, but I got to go out and explore the city in a way I never had. And I met awesome people and had amazing experiences.

When a recent move fell through at the last minute, leaving my in LA without a place to live or a full-time job, I decided the thing to do was to not freak out about the weird and precarious position my life is in but to instead embrace it.

So my plan is to live like a tourist in a place I've known my whole life. Try out different areas, get to know people, and have amazing adventures. I've long loved the couch surfing community: the spirit of adventure, trust and friendship. I'm hoping that you'll welcome this somewhat clueless local.

Interests

how to use and design technology to facilitate communities, organisation, and self awareness

time travel - especially bootstrap paradoxes

Intersectionality (especially with regards to feminism)

science fiction (and fantasy)

art - especially photography

Swimming. I LOVE swimming. Both in a pool and in an ocean. Though, it's harder to goof off and play in the ocean. Also, most people who come with me to swim in the ocean chicken out when they realise it's cold.

Exploring. Having adventures. Meeting amazing people and learning.

I want to start hiking and maybe camping. I only went camping once as a kid, but I loved it incredibly.

Cooking, baking, gardening.

Museums. I probably shouldn't do museums with anyone else though. I'm that terribly annoying person that takes 8 times longer than everyone else. As a kid, my family would just abandon me in an exhibit and come back a little before closing.

• fish
• arts
• singing
• design
• interior design
• graphic design
• photography
• make up
• womens rights
• cooking
• coffee
• baking
• gardening
• technology
• traveling
• billiards
• painting
• fishing
• hiking
• camping
• surfing
• swimming
• business
• science
• hitchhiking

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: I've recently been on a feminist sci-fi binge. Reading a lot of Margaret Atwood, Octavia Butler, Kathleen Goonan, Ursula Le Guin, Nancy Kress.

Series that I'm currently in the middle of:
* The Beggars Trilogy by Nancy Kress
* The MaddAddam Trilogy by Margaret Atwood
* The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede
* The Fairyland Series by Catherynne M. Valente
* The Hitchhiker's Series by Douglas Adams

And then everything else I'm currently reading is non-fiction.

Movies: This is difficult because my tastes are really diverse. I'm trying to keep the list to less popular stuff that made a big impact on me. The Forgiveness of Blood, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Die Stille vor Bach, Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, The Prestige, To Have and To Have Not, Double Indemnity, Meet John Doe, Felix & Meira, Stranger Than Fiction, The Iron Giant

Oh, also, The Core is the number one best awful scifi movie ever. It's like an explosion of tropes and great actors. Warning, if The Core is on, I'm watching it and quoting it and laughing my arse off!

Music: bluegrass, folk, rock, spirituals, alternative, pop, musical theatre (mostly just because it's so much fun to sing)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Oh I don't know. I've never really traveled or done any of the typical adventurous things. But I've still managed to have some pretty amazing experiences. Late night adventures with strangers, hitchhiking in Los Angeles and all sorts of stuff.

Recently I had a house sitting gig where I had to keep fish from drowning (no, not a joke), and before that a lodging situation where I first ran away from and then massacred bees.

My life is strange...

Teach, Learn, Share

Most of my skills are fairly academic. Research assistant, editor -- that sort of stuff. Few people really care about this, except for the few friends that are as nerdy as I am and like to take me to coffee regularly so that I can debate their thesis with them. Graduate students love me. :)

The things most friends come to me for are tech and design. Yes, I'm good at tech support stuff and I'm even nice when I teach people how computer stuff works. And I've done a million and a half design related things. Graphic design, website design, interior design, set decoration, photography, face paint .... everything really.

Oh also, I'm awesome at organising, planning and marketing. I do a lot of small business consulting too.

Basically I've spent my entire life doing work for academics and businesses and babysitting and just about all of my skills lie there. The two have a surprising amount of overlap actually....

What I Can Share with Hosts

My incredibly nerdy and geeky self? An awesome singing voice?

I can cook and bake too, taught myself how the past couple years. I love getting a chance to bake for people (especially if I get to bake with them). It's much harder to bake for yourself. You end up with a kitchen full of muffins...and that can be a problem.