Why People Should Care About Couchsurfing

Some of you may have heard of the term couchsurfing or couchsurfer. Yes I know there is that idea of a guy sitting in his boxers on your couch eating your cereal, smoking your weed, and controlling the remote to the television set. But, there are a whole new breed of couchsurfers out there and some of them just maybe guru's in disguise or at least a very intersting character that you can bring to social events as a grown-ups version of show and tell. Remember the days of show and tell. Well those are still some of the more interesting moments that I remember from early elementary school. Of course being that I am a couchsurfer it may seem that I have an alternative motive in writing this entry. It is true that I may in fact hope to be sleeping on your couch/futon/floor and in the cases of certain women their bed (and it is not always sexual by the way). But the truth of the matter is I currently have more couches then I could possibely surf in one lifetime. I am writing this to help other people have access to more couches to surf on. I also want to help people get over their fear of strangers. The idea that every stranger is a thief, rapist, killer, or socially akward to the point of feeling extremely uncomfortable within a one mile radius of them is not true. It is not even a majority of the world's population that fits into any of these categories much less somebody who would have the gall to ask to crash on your couch. Perhaps none of this has sold you on the idea yet, but it will also make your life more interesting and boredom appears to be an epedemic reaching unprecedented proportions these days. For instance my sophomore year of college at the university of Michigan (that's right I like Fred Flinstone have been to college and graduated) I took a homeless man off the street and let him sleep on my floor and told everyone that he was my Uncle Danny. Yes there were some supiscions about this man being my uncle because he was black and because people have vague memories of him asking them for change, but they could not be certain of this fact luckily. I guess there are some benefits of being invisible to the vast majority of people. Needless to say his stay made my life alot more interesting and I felt more like an actual person then I had in quite sometime. Also my roommate waited 5 days before he said, "Uncle Danny's not really your uncle". That was priceless and I laughed harder then I had all year. My other couchsurfer was after I had just finished my senior year of college and befriended a character named James Tatum. He gave me glimpses of the nomad I was soon to become and the crazy romantic I had always been. I had never met a man who could totally submermge himself with a woman (Of course there was usually a new one every week). Yet I still got a chance to see who I would become as a couchsurfer and certain things that I would do differently. It is a valid point that being a couchsurfer and having couchsurfers stay is not for everyone. Some people make awful hosts and other make people make poor guests, but it is still something to consider if you think that your life or travels could use more zing. In addition to this most couchsurfers are lower impact on the environment so by housing them you are helping out the environment. I could go on this rant for a while, but I will conclude with the fact that three very important people in my life were couchsurfers Jesus, Moses, and Edward Norton's character in fight club. So if you want a revolution to happen faster help the nomads get around and open up your house or hit the road yourself. The next couch you buy may not make your life any better, but it might serve as place for a couchsurfer to rest their head.
sincerely the weird crazy couchsurfing nomad,
Te'DeVan