shmoo

I love getting stuff in the mail, and lament when all that comes in are ads and bills. So swaps are ideal.

My favorite school subjects really were the three Rs: reading, writing, and arithmetic. As a child I dreamed of a career in cryptography (codes) so I could combine the love of language and math. I didn't do anything about it, though. :)

Now I have a part time office job that pays the bills, and I work on my photography and writing.

I love to play, whether out in the park, hiking a mountain trail, or sitting around a table with friends and cards.

I enjoy cooking, but don't tend to do so unless I have a few people to cook for. I've managed to come up with several recipes that I've been quite happy with. I'm vegetarian, so finding new vegetarian recipes is great.

I love nature. Mountains, especially. I've nearly always lived near mountains, and use them to recharge. Trees, flowers, ferns, rivers, lakes, dirt trails, golden-green meadows, hawks, eagles, mountain bluebirds, rabbits, deer, elk, moose, and so much more are all near my home. I wouldn't want it any other way. Gotta' have my mountains. :)

Every year my roommates and I host a pirate party for Talk Like a Pirate Day. It's a lot of fun.

Blues and greens - all shades - are definitely my favorite colors.

Until recently, my bedroom was decorated in various shades of blue. Last year I was given an Irish-thememd quilt, so I'm slowly changing my room to reflect the greens in it. It's full of different shades of green, though, so it's easy. :)

There aren't any colors I don't like. My living room sports a mix of blue, green, red, and yellow. Color is good.

Cats. My roommate has a cat that is obviously part flame-point Siamese: white fur, blue eyes, red ears.

I especially like sleek cats: panthers, tigers, etc.

I don't tend to get into fantasy and mythological creatures, except in short stories, but most any other animal will catch my attention.

Chocolate is a very good thing. I'm not terribly keen on white chocolate, and my favorite is certainly milk chocolate, but any type of chocolate is good. Plain. With nuts. With fruit. As long as it's in my mouth, it's good.

Tea - I like good black teas, and love to be introduced to new ones. I also like fruity teas and mint teas. I love chai, but it's hard finding a good one. I'm always on the lookout, though.

Ginger. I love candied ginger, ginger candy, ginger in my food... ginger.

Spices - I like to cook, so I love finding new spices. Heat is great, but not as important as flavor.

I used to collect everything. Well, nearly everything. I've managed to trim that down, but I still have a hard time passing up so many little things I see. And, while not truly a collection, I love original art.

I think I have four main collections, now:

1) pens: interesting pens that I can write with

2) hand fans: folding or otherwise, with interesting images, designs, or fabrics; must be usable

3)recipes: vegetarian, from all over the world; if there's a history behind the recipe, so much the better

4)games: I like to play games, and it's fun to be taught new games

I got my first camera when I was 3 or 4, and have been taking photos ever since. These days I tend to use a digital camera, though. I take lots of photos of flowers, and lots of landscapes. I also love taking pictures when I travel. When I find an interesting texture (moss on a tree, the pattern on a chair), I'll often photograph that, too.

I love to write. For ease of editing, I tend to write on my laptop, but there's nothing better than the feel and scent of ink across paper. I love blank books, interesting paper, and unusual pens.

Is weaving stories an art? I'm a storyteller, so I love finding short stories. Since I tell to kids and to adults, any good short story may find it's way into my repertoire.

I'm just learning to knit. I've completed one scarf - a disaster. I'm in the midst of knitting my second scarf, and, happily, I did learn from the mistakes I made on the first one. This one's coming along much better.

Although I only do it at holidays, I enjoy making cards from linoleum block prints. Finding special paper to print to is great.

I enjoy stamping, but still need to add a lot of animals and just about every holiday to my stamp collection. Plus anything else that looks interesting.

I'm always interested in learning new crafts.

I like well-crafted stories of any kind, but especially those that teach me something.

I'm a storyteller, so one of my favorite types of books are books of short stories, especially traditional stories, myths, legends from all over the world.

Novels and non-fiction in accurate historical settings are great. I like science and math, English and history. I love learning about aspects of the world, local or far, with which I'm unfamiliar (almost everything).

I'm very eclectic. I like all sorts of classical music. I like folk and folk rock, blues and blue grass. I like classic rock, lollypop rock, and modern rock. Motown and classic jazz.

I'm not terribly keen on most rap or modern R&B, nor do I tend to care for trance, synth, techno, or new age. Just about everything else, though.

My two favorite movies are Sabrina (1954), and Dangerous Beauty.

I like documentaries, shorts, animation, drama, comedy, romance, adventure, suspense, thriller... pretty much anything except porn and horror.

Again - eclectic tastes here. *Quantum Leap * Night Court * Taxi * Cheers * Dead Like Me * Carnivale * Dharma & Greg * History's Mysteries * The IT Crowd * Black Adder * The Mighty Boosh * Monty Python's Flying Circus * Biography * Myths and Legends * Lost * House MD

...and many more...