ABOUT ME

I've lived all over the world and visited over 20 countries, and in May 2016 I moved to New York City. I’m the kind of person who will try anything once and gets bored easily- this extends to careers as well (I’m on my 3rd career and already have several 4th careers in mind).

PHILOSOPHY

BYOA (Bring Your Own Awesome)- http://advancedriskology.com/bring-your-own-awesome/

"You can read everything there is in the world about a place, but there is no substitute for smelling it."
-Rolf Potts, "Vagabonding"

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
-Wayne Gretzky

"The 80/20 Rule" (http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2007/06/05/twenty-unique-ways-to-use-the-8020-rule-today/)

"The measure of mental health is the disposition to find good everywhere."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Develop a nostalgia for the future, not the past."
-Maxwell Maltz

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Surfed:

May 2010- @ Tokyo w/ Yas
March 2011- @ NYC w/ Neil
October 2011- @ Beijing w/ Yang Shi

Hosted:

October 2011-
Alies and Helga (Holland)
Shari and Aaron Kuczer (Canada)
Rui Rui (Xi'an, China)
Mischa (Xinjiang, China)

November 2011-
Joe (Scotland) and Daniel (Israel)
Elena (Guangzhou, China)
David (Germany)

December 2011-
Joey (Singapore)
Andrea and William (Italy)
Wu (Taiwan/USA)
Sam (USA)
Scott (Vancouver, BC)
Jonathan (Florida, USA)
Fadhilah and Liana (Singapore)
Stuart (Hunan, China)

Update: I stopped maintaining this list, since the reference list overlaps with it. To all my guests and hosts, thanks for being awesome people. :-)

Interests

Food trucks, making things with code, house music (Boiler Room especially), indie film, photography.

• photography
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• food trucks
• running
• blogging
• coding
• music
• surfing
• business

Music, Movies, and Books

Films- Tarantino, Nolan, Kubrick, Coen brothers, Mario Bava, Samuel Fuller, early Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson, Park Chan-Wook, Godard, Truffaut, Jon Waters, Almodovar, Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro. And I can't leave out Tommy Wiseau.

Books- Most psychology stuff (Maxwell Maltz, Robert Cialdini, etc), The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, A Confederacy of Dunces, Haruki Murakami.

Music- Richie Hawtin, Ricardo Villalobos, most music I see on BoilerRoom.tv, Tiga, Erol Alkan, Kavinsky, Sally Shapiro, Bag Raiders, Cut Copy, The Presets, Underworld, The Field, Twin Crystals, Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, My Bloody Valentine, Young Prisms, Joy Division, The Smiths, Morrissey, Badly Drawn Boy, Atlas Sound, Deerhunter, Sonic Youth, Daniel Johnston, Tenor Saw, King Tubby, Junior Murvin, John Holt, Willie Williams, Leadbelly, Blind Willie Johnson, Django Reinhardt

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Bangladesh, Feb. 2010- Went on a 5-day Exposure Visit with Grameen Bank, the pioneers of microlending and winners of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Met a woman in a poor rural village who started with literally nothing and is now able to put her 2 children through university and is running a successful small business.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm a largely self-taught professional web developer, and super-interested in startups.

I am learning to cook and will knock you on your ass with my "coq au vin" (a French dish made with chicken, wine, mushrooms and garlic).

What I Can Share with Hosts

I always like to make an exchange out of my surfing experiences, so it’s a win-win experience for everyone. I'm an amateur maker of food (and an experienced consumer of food), and it would be great to show you how to make one or two of my favorite dishes. Believe me when I say that these will be easy to prepare, since I’m an uncommonly lazy cook. Alternately, I’ve probably got a list of restaurants in your town that I want to check out, so we can go on a foodie scout-about together.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Fiji, France, Greece, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Monaco, Philippines, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Denmark, United States

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