CURRENT MISSION

Make life-long friends. Challenge enemies. Tread dangerous waters. Live vicariously through whatever means provided (or scavanged). Love everyday...somehow, someway.

ABOUT ME

Patrick's 2 cents: I am a carefree, relatively average guy. I'm into music, art, sports, really anything. I'm up for any new experience and am working to create them for myself, hopefully to be shared with people I meet.

Shin-ji's bit: Some have said I'm a Renaissance woman (unheard of back then, of course) since I have an interest, desire and plan to learn anything and everything. Some of my 86 life goals include: become proficient in 5 languages, learn every single instrument known to man (so far, I have about 7), learn to "whittle some wood", make silver jewelry, volunteer 1000 hours at an animal shelter, finish making my mosaic boom box clock, and spend a week at the Louvre really looking at art other than the Mona Lisa (nothing against Leo, really. I love the guy!). I love realism and surrealism. I'm a science geek and art lover. I'm a hodge-podge of too much ambition, too little time, impatience, and lunacy.

PHILOSOPHY

Patrick: I try and treat others the way I would want to be treated. Life isn't fair but that doesn't mean you can't help your neighbor.

Shin-ji: Try everything once.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Patrick: Right now I don't have much to offer. I joined because I am making a cross-country trip and would prefer to not stay in hotels. If I have a good experience I plan on giving back what I can.

Shin-ji: Pretty much same as above. We are traveling from PA to NM for a pharmacy rotation on an Indian reservation (awesome, I know). I would just rather meet new people, form bonds and really dive into the road-tripping experience without being a reckless vagabond. I believe less than 1% of the homeless population in America are Asians, and I told my parents I wouldn't be part of that statistic, even temporarily. One day when I have a place of my own, I WILL GIVE BACK!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Shin-ji: None so far! But I am so excited for it, I sometimes daydream about it... Who will I meet? What things will I learn? How will I experience every day things today?

Interests

Shin-ji: What AREN'T I interested in? I honestly just enjoy learning. At one point, it was possible to know everything (when much wasn't known), but not anymore. If I could just learn 10% of what is out there, I will be satisfied.

• animals
• arts
• design
• cooking
• wine
• red wine
• traveling
• painting
• music
• snowboarding
• sports
• boxing
• languages
• science
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Shin-ji: There are too many so how about just things that come to mind RIGHT NOW?

Music - Muse, Tegan & Sara, Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pixies, Radiohead, The Mars Volta, Liszt, Chopin, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Jet Lag Gemini, The Clash, The Decemberists, Rush, Buzzcocks, Interpol, Silversun Pickups, Ozzy Osbourne, Coheed & Cambria...

Movies - Oldboy, Little Miss Sunshine, Let the Right One In, Rear Window, Shaun of the Dead, Sound of Music, The Fall, Un Chien Andalou, Triplets of Belleville, In Bruges, Banlieu 13, Star Wars, Pixar movies and film noir in general...
(favorite directors: David Lynch, David Fincher, Roman Polanski, Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, Alfred Hitchcock and Christopher Nolan)

Books - Anything by Roald Dahl and David Sedaris, early Chuck Palahniuk books, poems of Charles Bukowski, Calvin & Hobbes, The Watsons go to Birmingham, Slaughterhouse-five, The Westing Game, American Psycho, The Geography of Bliss, Stiff, The Dante Club, A Year in La Merde... too many!

Artists - Gaugin, Van Gogh, Klimt (The Kiss and The Three Ages of Women are my favorites), Dali, Monet, Cezanne, Caravaggio, Roy Lichtenstein...

Teach, Learn, Share

Shin-ji: I want to learn anything you can teach me. Anything. How to skin a snake? How to cook the perfect scrambled eggs? How to tactfully bargain at flea markets? How to play the banjo? How to properly enjoy a bloody mary? Anything.

As for me, I can teach you some Korean, how to correctly use chopsticks, how to sew, design, paint, collograph, cross-stitch, play some instruments (or at least read music!), stain wood, prime and paint rooms, get red wine out of white shirts, teach you to snowboard, look over your medications and see if you're taking them correctly, etc. Just ask. Chances are, I've done it, read into doing it, know someone who's done it, or have no idea what you're talking about.

Countries I’ve Visited

Mexico, South Korea, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States