Hello, planet earth.
I'll try to keep this from being tl;dr.
Email flows all too naturally in just one direction, and tends to feel plastic / impersonal. The beauty of the Internet is how it can create meaningful dialogue if used correctly and with tact. Making the Internet a more warm, welcoming place can only help electronically-connected mankind.
With that said, let's connect and create that dialogue (or at least try). I'll propose three (almost) universally-enjoyed topics:
1) Exploration. I'm from the States but travel / live abroad 100% of my days. I'd love to hear about your excursions, and places that I miss as I conduct mine. I post shots from my iPhone on an Instagram account: @N_AMERICAN_SCUM (no fancy camera - this helps keep it about the experience, not the photo)
A few places I've visited over the past year where the sense of adventure felt especially real:
-Mount Kinabalu, Borneo
-Jungles of Amazonas, Brazil
-Mount Kenya
-Cradle Mountain, Tasmania
2) Auditory pleasures. Sometimes music feels like the end all / be all to me. It comforts, it mends, it inspires, it makes nearly every situation better.
I write this while listening to one of my favorite albums ever: Nord by Year of No Light. Ben Frost's A U R O R A may be my favorite album thus far in 2014. I'm pretty excited about The Underachievers LP coming out next week, and Run the Jewels 2 whenever that happens to drop.
Let's talk about music on Spotify: kpa_kpa_kpa
3) The saccharification of starch and the fermentation of the resulting sugar (thanks Wikipedia!). I spend far too much time seeking out the beer innovations and successes of various cultures around the world. Let's discuss - Untappd: @N_American_Scum
A few of my beer happy places:
-Jester King - Austin, Texas
-Mikkeller Bar - København, Denmark
-TØRST - Brooklyn, New York
-Moon Dog Brewing - Melbourne, Australia
That's all. Looking forward to meeting all of you; electronically, in real life, or otherwise.
KPA
[email protected]
Riding on a bus through NSW, Australia
P.S. - "N_American_Scum" = North American Scum, a song by LCD Soundsystem. The NYC farewell show at MSG in 2011 was the most beautiful performance I have ever seen on a stage. James Murphy, if you're out there, thank you.
I don't actually imply that I am scum from North America. The lyrics are hilarious, and ring true to me as I exist outside the USofA borders.
P.S. #2 - Capsaicin is the spice of life.
P.S. #3 - Your debits must always equal your credits.
P.S. #4 - Smile, or don't.