I'm back after a lot of real-life turmoil. I'll check if I owe you something and contact you. Thanks for your patience!

Marina

I love to update my profile. A lot. Last update: September, 15th, 2010

I'm 33 and born and raised here in Argentina.

I'm a mom with an irrational love for tiny pieces of paper and fabric. It means I make collages and little thingies whenever I get some free time.

I'm now a Java developer for a big mobile-devices videogames' house. It means I'm a programmer who gets to play games on strange prototypes and phones I could never pay for.

I'm an wannabe illustrator. It means I'm trying to get better.

I'm an writer apprentice. It means I read read read and love it and then write write write and hate it.

I'm an spiritual person, but not religious. It means I believe there is "something else" but I don't think I need someone from a big brick building to tell me how to keep in contact with it and with humanity. I play by the Golden rule ("Do Unto Others...") and I like the idea of Karma.

Because of some changes in my life I became a bit of a procrastinator and have had a memory as a sieve for a few weeks. I must confess I'm sending stuff last minute or get dates confused. But don't worry: I'll send it, and if I get late I'll let you know.

Anything by Tolkien. Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. Stephen King, The Dark Tower series being the ones I like the best. Liliana Bodoc's sagas (she's a local writer; if you read Spanish and like fantasy, try and get her books).

Laterly I'm getting into The Wheel of Time, impulsed by a friend that can only be defined as a ta'veren.

Anything by Roald Dahl and Michael Ende. Good children's literature in general.

Very very short stories.

Argentina's snail mail is even "snailer" than the usual, so keep in mind that this is not Third World but we're close, LOL.

A good idea to be sure things reach me is to put a nice "Printed Paper - Papel Impreso" or "Material para uso cultural/educativo" ("For educative/cultural purposes") on the envelope if it's too big to look like a regular letter.

If it's a box, a "Gift" sign could be too enticing for the poorly paid postal employees, so you could use a "Samples - No monetary value" instead if it's available.

Lost Mail

Flaked

• "Steampunk ATC" by @maddisonhaylie (I suspect this one was an unintentional flakage. She was a newbie --as I was then-- and seems like she got lost with the system.)
• "All Things Mini Swap" by @Minou89 (She's gone from Swap-bot)

Didn't Arrive

I named the list like this because I'm almost sure I wasn't flaked on. I'm willing to think well of people and I could guess the mail monster that we call Correo Argentino ate the parcels and envies.

None here.

These are swaps I waited so much until I accepted they were not coming that when I checked my sending partners they were not on Swap-bot any more. I don't mark them as "flakes" because... well... I can't be sure.

• "Aquarium ATC Swap" by @casswell
• "Inchies: Beginner or Not" by @swtbrandy (the swap was a few months before she started to flake)
• "ATCs in honor of Charles Bukowski (#2)" by @Panchromatica (he doesn't swap here anymore,but his other parter got the ATC)

Others are from swappers that are still around; I contacted them to let them know what's going on but I'm writing this list so hosts don't think I'm a non-rater.

• "Newbies first swap - profile surprise" by @Hadarling (it was sent when I was moving out of the home I shared with my ex; may be that's why it got lost. She contacted me by e-mail and says she was sending again. Not sure if she really did it.)

There are others that didn't arrive yet but they're still on the six weeks allowance, LOL.

Not rated yet

Things I've sent and didn't got rated yet.

These were sent to people that seems not to be swapping here any more.

• "ATC: This is your country - I think." sent to @Biffface (she flaked on this swap)
• "Try Something New-- GIVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT :D" sent to @preetisundaram (She's apparently gone with 11 ones... oh well)
• "Oh, you beautiful doll!", sent to @KatieCat1023

Things that are taking to much but I'm still hoping they reach destination.

None here

Things I think I'll have to re-send:

• Crafting Queens: CQ Have a Heart (ornament) - International (sent twice to @yomousey
• Good News from newspapers (sent to @mercmom41 sent again but as it wasn't rated, I'll contact her again)

Re-sent None here yet.

As an Argentina native, English is not my primary language. The last lesson I took was around five years ago, so please forgive me if my spelling and grammar are a bit of a disaster or if I misuse your idioms. I'd like to get corrected, if you have the time and will.

I like so many things! And some are so different you wouldn't believe someone can like both. From Black Sabbath to Goldfrapp, from Manowar to The Polyphonic Spree, from Metallica to Jairo (local singer), from Joan Manuel Serrat (a songwriter from Spain) to The Chieftains. And even some classical... I've recently discovered Glenn Gould playing The Goldberg variations and I fell in love.

I like to sew small things and create small collages. I like to make miniatures with wire an clay and animate them with stop-motion techniques. I love anything small. I also like to make baby toys and other items for my toddler. You can see anything small is in my loved stuff list.

Not exactly a craft, but related to them: I love colour swatches and Pantone-like guides. A lot. I could stay hours and hours just reading the names of the colours and comparing those little chips of colour. I love paint-shops, LOL.

I love J. R. R. Tolkien work. I'm even a member of the local Tolkien Society. I love cosplaying as generic people of the Middle Earth or not so known characters like Queen Berúthiel or Crisofilax the dragon. Last WIP: Morwen of Lossarnach, with my little boy going as "Prince" Théoden :)

As I said in the "About" section, I'm not religious. But I don't dislike religious items from any religion, as much as it's a form of art and not propaganda.

My mom is a very devote Catholic, specially devoted of the Virgin Mary. I would love to get any images/versions of her; it will be a great gift for my mom.

I have a strong allergy to many green vegetables, including common tea (Camellia sinensis). So I'd rather get herbal tea ;)

But I don't care if you include some common tea in a swap, because I will serve it as a treat to my tea-loving friends.

I don't like lemon on my candy, and I completely hate the taste of grapefruit.

I don't like gum. I had braces all over my teenage days and I just can't get used to it, LOL.

I don't like garlic.

I dislike reggaeton a lot and I don't like most of its related kinds of music.

I don't really like Twilight saga. I've read it all and seen the movies... and even when I aknowledge it's a fast, alluring read... I hate the "role-model" it presents to youg girls.

I'm not really into neon colors, but some accents of them are OK.

My favourite colours are of the family of dark purples and bright reds.

I don't have my ears pierced, so common earrings are a bit useless. I do like clip-ons, and ear-huggers and all those kinds of unusual earrings for weird people like me without any piercing, LOL.

I love handmade things! Well, I'm here, isn't it? When I had a more earning job and had fewer expenses, I spent a lot of time and money on craft fairs, indie book stores, artie clothes markets, artisan booths at parks and the like.

If you want to have an idea about what I could like... just visit a geeky stuff shop like ThinkGeek or similar sites. I'm not telling you that I want something from those shops, I'm giving it as a reference so you can craft your way through geekyness on profile-related swaps, LOL.

I keep adding stuff because I read other people's profiles and think mine is so unspecific for profile surprises or profile based ATCs and Inchies! Sometimes it makes me feel that I should keep myself out of those swaps even when they're the ones I like the most.

But that's pretty much all by now.

I have a very fast-moving 2-years-old son. It seems like he can't stop talking, LOL.

He loves numbers and letters and shapes and colors and any new thing to learn.

He likes to play on his computer (yeap, little geek already has one of his own) a lot. He can do whatever he wants. He even enters his password to turn it on!

He has an Ubuntu box. He plays Gamine, GCompris, Grabouille, PySyCache (open source games and educative stuff for kids) and browses the net using Kido'z. He also uses my notebook if he can grab it (ouch) and loves to play with me on Zapapa Games on Facebook.

His current "love" is anything with cars, trains, or any other brooommmmmmmm sounding, fast moving vehicle on it. But, you know, it changes every day, LOL.

I'm living with my parents after I broke with my little boy's dad. I expend most of my week-days commuting or at work.

I had to left my lady cat at my ex's house. She had her territory there and my parents have a crazy little black cat called Bruma and a dog that wouldn't be nice to her. I miss her.

My mom is a gardener by nature. She has the wildest garden you can imagine, and she's able to take a seemingly dead plant and make it bloom in no time. She also collects outdoor orchids! She buys them when they look like ugly grass and patiently grows them until they show what they are. Some have such a small flowers you need a magnifying glass to find them!

As a natural as is my mom to gardening, it is to handy-crafty-techie stuff my dad. He can fix almost ANYTHING. Really! His car, my brothers', any home appliance, a radio set, whatever. And if he can't fix it, he knows exactly what is wrong, so he can't be fooled by experts.

My little brother is 26. He still lives with my parents because he's saving for a home of his own. He's a gamer, a bit less of a geek than I am, but he's a huge one anyway. He's in College going after a degree on System Analysis. His fiancee is a Lawyer and they often are here watching old House, M.D. or Lost episodes or playing Wii.

My older brother is 36 and crazy about river fishes (he even swaps eggs by mail!) and vintage Volkwagen cars and trucks. He and his wife are both Computer Engineers. They have a son who's two months younger than my little boy, and a lovely baby girl!

My sister is 23 and an artist. A good one (follow her link on top of my profile). She's also a secretary\assistant\receptionist\event planner for a big HR company. She lives now with her husband on a nearby city.