Rich Blackmon's Photo

Unverified Profile

  • Payment not verified
  • Phone not verified
  • Government ID not verified

Maybe Accepting Guests

  • Last login 3 months ago

Join Couchsurfing to see Rich’s full profile.

Overview

  • 51 references 35 Confirmed & Positive
  • Fluent in English, German; learning Dutch, Greek (modern), Russian, Spanish
  • 44, Male
  • Member since 2004
  • Emergency Medicine PA
  • By travelling of course!, I went to uni also but didn't l...
  • No hometown listed
  • Profile 100% complete

About Me

CURRENT MISSION

I'm in the process of answering this question...for now just to live life to the fullest.

ABOUT ME

Well lets meet n find out... I would describe myself as chill n laid-back, though I can fit into just about any scene. I just recently finished grad school at Stanford, which I had quit my previous career to go back to as a non-traditional student. I'm freshly moved to Berkeley to start work and enjoying exploring the East Bay

PHILOSOPHY

Don't really have a concrete one...but respect and sincerity are both important attributes to me...and don't be stupid!
I think of intellegence as mesured not by your body of "knowledge" but more as an attitude.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Been involved since the early days as a host and surfer. Now I'm looking to develop our local CS community more. Always a willing host and love the chance to meet new people and even make lifelong friends.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have been couch surfing informally for years, both traveling to see my friends far away and providing the couch. I've been involved in this project and an active advocate since it's early days. In fact I met some of my best friend's by crashing on their couches.

Interests

TRAVEL, TRAVEL, TRAVEL, phototgraphy, diving, sking, backpacking, climbing, biking,anything outdoors related, music, reading, meeting lots of intresting people! I like food, both the preparation and eating thereof. I have an addiction to hot peppers and other spicy things. I like the endorphins!! incongruity and asymmetry I love saunas preferably with snow or a frozen lake to jump in afterword. I have serious ADD and I like it just fine,I’m always on about something, some interest or hobby, then drift to another one.

at the moment a new job pretty much eats me

  • dining
  • cooking
  • reading
  • traveling
  • music
  • outdoor activities
  • cycling
  • backpacking
  • surfing
  • scuba diving
  • rock climbing
  • teaching

Music, Movies, and Books

Eclectic: , Jeryy Garcia Band (and especially when Jimmy and Sam Grisman play together), Bjork, Toro y Moi, Portishead, Ben Harper, XX, Cake, Bach, Mozart, Wieniawski, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, MMJ, Radiohead, Willie Nelson, Adele, Miles Davis, Mingus,, Air, Groove Armada, Modest Mouse, The Who, Peter Frampton, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, Bob Dylan, Keller WIlliams, Jamiroquai, Heather Nova, Blues in general, Beastie Boys, Crowded House, Blind Melon, Beach House, Jeff Buckley, Beirut, chillwave , Bob Marley, Edith Piaf, Bela Fleck, Heather Nova, Bon Iver, Ray Lamontaigne, Bright Eyes, William Fitzsimmons, Damian Rice, most other bluegrass, not much hip-hop (unless it's remixed) much much much more

movies:Kill Bill, Rounders, Godfather, Tape, Whale Rider, LOTR, Donnie Darko, Cinema Paradiso, Blow, Scarface, Yu Mama Tambien, Dead Poet's Society, Butterfly Effect, Super Size Me, Life Is Beutiful, Snatch, El Mariachi, Boondock Saints, Hackers, Fight Club, Goodfellas, Suicide Kings, City of God, The Dream ers, Full Metal Jacket, Chumscrubber, One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, Dr. Strangelove, Rivers & Tides, Lil Miss Sunshine, Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei, Last Waltz
books:
I used to read alot, but I haven't made much time lately, but: Catcher and the Rye, Tom Robbins, The World According to Garp, Günter Grass, David Sedaris, Edgar Allen Poe, Walden Pond, A Confederacy of Dunces, Ayn Rand, Nikos Kazantzakis, Albert Camus, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, One Hundred Years of Solitude And other Gabriel Garcia Marquez, A Thousand and One Nights, A Brief History of Time, Anelects, Great Expectations, Leaves of Grass, Midnight's Children, Guns, Germs, and Steel, The Dali Lama's stuff, Kafka,---Really more often than fiction you'll find me reading long geeky history type things and other nonfiction. I like books on really arcane, specific topics like the history of salt, ice, or everything about tea. ATLASES!!! (seriously I can stare @ maps for hours)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

delivered a baby

Teach, Learn, Share

I used to be a professional photographer and I'm a pretty decent cook (including traditional southern American cuisine, but also Greek and Thai) I am always down for language learning exchange and used to be an English teacher abroad.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Germany, Greece, United States

Old School Badges

  • 8 Vouches

Join Couchsurfing to see Rich’s full profile.

My Groups