CURRENT MISSION

add stamps to my passport, be an extra on bizarre foods, meet tons of people

ABOUT ME

half man, half amazing :)

born and raised in the pacific northwest to filipino parents, i've been meaning to get out and experience the world. i tried to get a start on this whole traveling thing while i was in college by applying to study abroad. fortunately, i was accepted to go for a term to sweden. couldn't have been easier, right?

turns out that i also applied to a prestigious engineering internship that looks absolutely gorgeous on a resume. and through some twist of fate, i got the internship as well. it really was a no-brainer at the time, and i took the internship. goodbye sweden, hello $$$.

now that i'm working full-time, it's been hard to find time to travel; started working as soon as i graduated in spring '07 and i've been on the grind ever since. i took my first real vacation just this past december, when i decided to volunteer some of my time in northern thailand with a hill tribe helping them with their everyday activities.

definitely one of the best experiences of my life, not just the volunteerism but also the extra time i took to explore the rest of thailand and due to the political crisis that was going on at the time, i also ended up spending a couple days in singapore due to the bangkok airport closure.

as far as the "standard description" goes, here's my self-interpretation: really nice (so my friends say), outgoing, patient, humorous, laid back, athletic, honest, social, risk-taker, experimental, extroverted, and impatient. yes i contradicted myself with that last one.

i am not as punctual as i would like to be, but i am working on it! i also prefer to do things spontaneously as opposed to a thorough planning, but i consider myself flexible enough to work both ways.

anyways, got a lot of places to see and people to meet, so if you have any questions, feel free to email me and i will always try my hardest to get back to you. always up for some convo, unless i'm actually at work *working*

PHILOSOPHY

be happy. things could be a lot worse. i have my friends and family, i'm employed and i'm alive.

live, laugh, love. pretty simple right?

"it’s only after you’ve lost everything, that you’re free to do anything"

preach brad, preach.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Whenever I travel, I always make it a point to try and engage the CouchSurfing the community if at all possible. Reaching out to locals to meet up, surfing, and also helping travelers and other CSers in my local community is always a something I look forward to doing.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Surfed in:
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Memphis, Tennessee
New York, New York
Melbourne, Australia
Christchurch, New Zealand
Antwerp, Belgium
Las Vegas, Nevada
Bozeman, Montana
Omaha, Nebraska

CS meetups in:
Portland, Oregon
Hilversum, Netherlands
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Boston, Massachusetts
Seattle, Washington
Prague, Czech Republic
Bangkok, Thailand
Omaha, Nebraska

can't think of anymore at the moment...

Surfed with:
2014/02:
Clara Kinney - Toronto, ON, Canada

Hung out with:
2014/02:
Shawn Jordan - Toronto, ON, Canada

Surfed with:
2014/05:
Javier Garcia - Omaha, NE, USA

Hung out with:
2014/05:
Kristi House - Omaha, NE, USA
Jamie Thomas - Omaha, NE, USA

Interests

5/20/13: i really, really want to do a tour through vietnam on a motorbike. if you or anyone you know have done this or have an interest in doing this, let me know! need some inspiration?

http://travel-drunk.com/2011/02/backpackers-guide-to-buying-a-motorcycle-in-vietnam/
http://www.travelfish.org/feature/94
http://offtrackplanet.com/magazine/articles/how-to-ride-a-motorcycle-across-south-east-asia
--

music (hip-hop junkie)
sneakers / streetwear
photography (amateur, what!)
video games
snowboarding
running
mountain biking
volunteering
minimalism (100 things challenge, which i'm currently failing miserably)
more hip-hop, more sneakers
jack bauer
hank moody
ari gold
clint eastwood in gran torino
collecting my receipts so i can balance my bank accounts (weirdo)
vinyl records
food!
basejumping and other extreme sports(although i haven't even skydived)
grammar and spelling
breaking stuff
pretending to know how to skateboard
fitted hats, fedoras
more to come...

• photography
• dining
• running
• clothing
• video games
• traveling
• minimalism
• stamps
• music
• cycling
• backpacking
• surfing
• snowboarding
• skateboarding
• sports
• swimming
• extreme sports
• engineering
• study abroad
• tourism
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

i think i went over this in my "interests" section. i love all kinds of movies but i can't remember too many i've seen recently. top of the head:

slumdog millionaire
gran torino
taken
let the right one in
funny games

having a brainfart. i will pretty much watch anything as long as it hasn't been deemed a piece of crap by a credible source. scratch that, i probably will still watch it.

as far as music goes, hip-hop is my love, mess with a little r&b as well. but i listen to a variety of other artists as well, right now in my playlist is adele, lykke li, lily allen, ryan leslie, and drake.

check this link out, it's my last.fm page:
http://www.last.fm/user/viperoni/library

i used to read a ton in elementary / junior high. sadly, my interest in reading has gone down, although i have added a couple photography books to my repertoire. for kicks, here's what i remember from the younger days:

goosebumps series (what you know about r.l. stine)
sideways stories from wayside school
my teacher is an alien (or something like that) and all of the sequels
the chocolate touch
scary stories to tell in the dark
where the sidewalk ends
where the wild things are

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I think one of the most hilarious traveling experiences had to be when I was traveling back to Australia from Christchurch, New Zealand... I had originally traveled to CC with my sister who was able to carry my extra luggage for me so I didn't have to pay a larger fee. Unfortunately, she left for Melbourne before I did so I didn't have her to help out on the way back.

So what'd I do instead of empty out my backpack and leave crap behind? I wore every single piece of clothing in my backpack. I first put on my one and only pair of jeans, then I put on all of my swimming trunks, boxers, and gym shorts over that. On top, I had a week's worth of t-shirts, a couple button-up shirts, and some hoodies.

I don't think I've ever had a more uncomfortable plane ride and security check before in my life.

Teach, Learn, Share

tbd

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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