noirist

H e l l o! ^___~

My name is Sarah. I'm 25 and live in sunny Bournemouth, UK with my boyfriend David and our Pug Montolio.

I have recently come back to Swapbot after an absence and I am hoping to make some new pen-pals and take part in interesting and fun swaps. I really enjoy learning about peoples' lives in other countries, our differences and similarities. I guess I am just kind of a nosy person. :] I especially enjoy learning about other countries folklore and superstitions, national dishes and cultural holidays.

I work part time as a care assistant in a care home for the elderly with Dementia. I like my job and enjoy having a lot more free time to spend by: reading books and zines, drawing (traditional and CG), playing computer games, listening to music and walking along the sea side with Monty, going to my local charity shops and looking for bargains, to list a few.

I'd say that for somebody who has suffered from an eating disorder, depression and anxiety, I'm a pretty happy person! XD Perhaps that's a bit too "heavy", but I thought I would put this here right away because it seems it can make other people uncomfortable to learn about it later. I once had a pen-pal stop writing to me after she found out about these things in my letter to her. It was sad. However I am not ashamed by these things and can talk about them freely if people are interested to know, or would like advice as I feel I have come a long way in combating them. :)

Some tidbits about me:

• I'm half English/half Filipino on my mum's side. Born and raised here in the UK though, so I consider myself English through and through (PG Tips runs through my veins!)
• I'm an only child and a tad odd, but in a good way!
• I absolutely love nature and being outside. I wish I knew more about wildlife to be able to identify insects and flowers.
• I enjoy looking at FRUiTS fashion and street style pictures, although I am not terribly into fashion myself.
• I wish I had the skills and the patience (and the money!) to be more crafty. For instance, I would love to learn to make my own bags. I am also interested to know about: crochet, zine-making, Dotee dolls, paper marbelling.

If there is anything you would like to know about me, you could ask me. I love talking to people and making online friends and pen-pals. :)

Below is a photo of myself, David and our Monty.

• Stationery: envelopes, writing paper, decotape, blank notecards, postcards, stickers, little stamps etc.
• Colours: warm bright green, orange, purple and lilac, cobalt blue, baby blue, canary yellow, all colours in pastels, black.
• The fortunes from fortune cookies.
• Anything at all to do with Tove Jansson and the Moomins ♥♥♥ (Except the books, I have them.)
• Biscuits, sweets, snacks and instant drinks from your country.
• Fabric with interesting patterns, cute buttons, ribbons.
• Patterned/themed items showing: stars, cats, Maneki Neko, leaves, trees, Pugs, apples, pumpkins, dinosaurs, bats, anything spooky!
• A book on folklore, traditions or mythology from your country (used books are cool!)
• Flavours: sour apple, chocolate, raspberry, coconut, mint, blueberry, milk, lemon.
• Scents: the above, plus orange, dewberry, vanilla and cinnamon.
• A mix CD with tracklisting & booklet telling me why you like that song/where you first heard it/any memories attached to it. That'd be cool. :)
• A written secret!
• Your perzine/comix/travel/cookery/feminism/art zine.
• Any thing at all to do with horror/spooky/weird/urban legend stuff! >:D
• Most of all: a nice letter from you. :)

I must be honest, I am not overly fond of:

• Neon colours or bright 'Barbie' pink.
• Disney princesses.
• Jewelery (but I do like handmade/friendship bracelets!)
• Make up & nail polish (I only wear nail polish - rarely.)
• Black licorice, coffee flavour, or 'jelly' type sweets.
• Peanuts and brazil nuts. I am not allergic and I do really like nuts, just not those ones.
• Souveniers from your country (apart from postcards.) The reason for this is that I prefer to buy my own souveniers myself when I visit someplace. Is that odd?
• Items of an sexual nature or theme, or religion. (I am interested in learning about your faith, but I am Agnostic myself. Please respect that and don't try to push your views onto me. Thank you.)
• Items made from leather.

In my book collection you will find books by the following authors:

• Tove Jansson
• Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
• P.G. Wodehouse
• Agatha Christie
• David Sedaris
• Ngaio Marsh
• Carl Hiaasen
• Koji Suzuki
• Natsuo Kirino
• R. A. Salvatore
• Numerous horror anthologies with authors such as Edgar Allen Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce etc.)

My favourite book ever is the childrens book Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson.

I also really love Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome.

Out by Natsuo Kirino.

The Relic by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child.

Many of the Jeeves & Wooster stories by P.G. Wodehouse.

Many old horror stories, by various authors. I'd say that horror is my favourite genre out of all of them. I also seem to prefer and have quite a lot of books with strong female characters.

My two fave bands are 16 Horsepower (or “Sixteen Horsepower” - it sometimes changes) and The Flaming Lips.

My fave female artists are Aimee Mann and Robyn.

My fave male artist is Patrick Wolf.

I also love Amy Winehouse, Rufus Wainwright, Gorillaz, 2NE1, Katy B, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Nelly Furtado, Laura Marling, Andrew Bird, Iggy Azalea, Augie Marsh, Lady Gaga, CocoRosie, Grimes, The Arcade Fire, Goldfrapp, Coldplay, Hot Chip, Lykki Li, Aesop Rock, Kosheen and La Roux...

I also greatly enjoy film scores and in particular, horror film scores. I also really like “dark” music in the form of ambient/soundscape/electronica, by various artists and bands.

Jurassic Park (from ever since I was a child!) XD

Instant Swamp

Kamikaze Girls

I seem to enjoy practically everything that Third Window Films release, and own a few of their titles on DVD. They put out quality, quirky Asian films.

I don’t watch that much TV and tend to enjoy series long after they have been on, the hype has died down and they are available already on DVD. I'm just slow that way! The following are in no particular order of favouritism.

• Sherlock
• Poirot
• Strangers With Candy
• The League of Gentlemen
• Psychoville
• The Golden Girls
• The X-Files
• Red Dwarf
• South Park
• Michael Palins travel series
• Game of Thrones
• The Heart, She Holler

I also like nature documentaries such as The Blue Planet and Walking With Dinosaurs.

I collect urban vinyl, or “art vinyl” (whichever you like to call it) figures and own a small collection. I like and wish to further collect figures by the artists: Thomas Han, Buff Monster, Amanda Visell, Gary Baseman, Kronk and Tim Biskup. I tend to be drawn more to the colourful and weird, rather than what’s most collectible.

I like going to second hand shops and adding to my book collection. In particular I prefer to read and collect these genres: children’s fictional series, children’s illustrated books, vintage horror, vintage murder mysteries, humour, some manga and graphic novels, art books, horror film books.

I have a little collection of semi-precious stones and ordinary stones I’ve found that are very round and smooth. I like the way they look and feel. :) I also like trying to find fossils but have found only 2 myself, so far.

Copic Markers! These are rather expensive and so, so far I only have the Skin Tone collection and the red hues R17, R46 and R59. I plan on buying more because they are such fun to colour with, and blend nicely.

Questionable Swappers:

mrsgardengal
heypotatoe

These two users were assigned to send to me for the 'Sort of Quick Newbie Swap XX.' I have given both these users a rating of 1 because I havent recieved anything from them.
mrsgardengal never replied to my PMs and heypotatoe said she was sending, but she never did. :(

Angels:

Seeing as I made a 'Questionable Swappers' box, I thought I would make an Angel one too. Hopefully, I won't need to put any more names in either of these boxes though, because I don't intend to be flaked!

kismet
stitchinwitch

Both these users generously sent to me angel packages, after I had been flaked in the newbie swap, mentioned above. I love the things they sent me & I really appreciate the time they took in buying/collecting the items and sending to me.

Thank you both very much! :)