KaliOya

Greetings, I enjoy creating snail mail, happy mail, mail art, making envelopes, handmade crafts such ATCs and Decos to name a few. In general I normally decorate my envelopes and write medium to long letters and enjoy creating well thought out happy mail. But I am very okay with receiving any type of snail mail. I also like telling personal stories in my letters (in hopefully an entertaining manner). I like receiving postcards from all over the world. I have been crafting since I was a little girl. But I still consider myself an amateur crafter. I enjoy learning new things and having new experiences. I also enjoy music playlists, books to be read lists, currently watching on tv lists, best movies lists and collecting food and drink recipes. I enjoy cooking and hosting dinner parties and cocktail parties. Enjoy sewing clothes and quilts. Have been wanting to learn to knit socks. I am into tabletop games: board games, RPGs, card games, video games etc. I am a comic book/manga lady. Some comics/manga that I really enjoy: Wonder Woman, Dragon Ball, Fables, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Squirrel Girl, Lady Snowblood. I enjoy photography and I consider myself an amateur. I enjoy both color and black and white and like instant photography like Polaroid. I enjoy being in nature and nature based activities such as swimming in the ocean and lakes, camping, backpacking, rock climbing, park exploration, letterboxing, scavenger hunts. I enjoy the following sports: baseball (Go Atlanta Braves!!!), hockey, rugby (I like Fiji and New Zealand), jai-alai, UFC and water polo. I currently am learning how to keep a planted freshwater aquarium. I am starting it out with a few plants, snails and shrimp. I am into cryptozoology and like reading articles, books about them and podcast/youtube videos on the topic. I enjoy puzzles: such as logic, math, jigsaw and cryptograms. I also like doing extreme dot to dots (the kind that have at least 400 dots). I also enjoy studying maps, both old and new, fiction and non-fiction.

I am not a fan of real domestic cats. I say real domestic to mean the living animal that people keep as pets. I just have never liked them very much. I am okay with fictional cats and big cats (lions, panthers etc). Such as the cats from the musical Cats. I actually really like them. As well as the Thunder Cats (I like both versions 1985 and 2011). So, real pet cats NO, animated and fictional cats YES, big cats yes:)

I am a little reluctant to put something on this list: #1-I truly like most things, so unless it is stated on my "Dislikes" I would enjoy it. #2-I do not want to stifle anyone's creative process in producing their swap. I also want my swap partner to have fun creating. So the list below is only some things that I like slightly more than other things. If you gave me something not on this list I would be just as happy! #3-I like variety and would hate to only receive things on this list :)

That being said below is a list of things I enjoy a little more than average:
* hedgehogs.
* bison/buffalo.
* comic books.
* manga and anime.
* boardgames.
* narwhals.
* beetles and scarabs.
* skulls (real, cartoon and Dia de los Muertos)
* All Saints Day and Dia de los Muertos Celebrations.
* matadoras/toreras.
* tribal, ethnic and cultural art.
* things written in Sanskrit, Arabic, Hebrew, Kanji, Kana, Mayan, Egyptian (basically languages not using the Latin Alphabet)
* frogs.
* turtles.
* honey bees, bumble bees, asian giant hornets and yellow jackets.
* enjoy journaling.
* pen palling.
* letter writing.
* hand fans especially ones that are decorated (the accordion folding type made of silk, lace, wood or paper or fans that do not fold and are woven out of bamboo, palm fronds or grasses)
* handkerchiefs
* dark humor
* macabre art
* mythology from around the world
* goddesses from around the world
* tombstone rubbings

I am not a fan of the romance genre. While I will read from almost any genre the following I tend to read more often: thrillers, suspense, mystery, paranormal, fantasy, alternative history and science fiction. I also like to read "How To" books.

I love listening to almost all types of music. I have an eclectic music collection and I enjoy discoverying new genres of music to listen to or new artists. I think it is so fun and cool to discover a new genre, band or vocalist that I have never heard of before. I like country, rap, hip-hop, classical, jazz, blues, bluegrass, metal, punk, ska and the list just goes on. I like knowing other peoples playlists, what they are currently into and their all time favorites. So I will put and example of music that I do not enjoy. There is a piano composition called 4:33 where the pianist plays nothing for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. I do not know what the composer was thinking but maybe they wanted people to react to the silence and the pianist not playing. I do not like this style of music. I have played various instruments since I was 5 years old. Piano, flute, oboe and cello are all instruments I learned to play in the past. Currently I am learning to play the viola and guitar. I hope with the viola is to have a classical training and then branch into learning how to fiddle the viola.

I am really into drinking tea. I enjoy all types of tea, black, green, herbal, fruit, flower, fermented, white, red, yellow, chai, matcha and this list could go on and on! I like both hot and iced tea. When I purchase tea it does not matter to me if the tea is in bags or loose or compressed. I enjoy finding a tea that I normally cannot get such as one I find on my travels to different places or a blend from a local tea shop. I enjoy cider both hot and cold and sweet and hard. I especially enjoy ciders produced by local small businesses. Another drink I enjoy is ginger beer. So much better than ginger ale! I love carbonated water both with and without flavors. I love finding a new flavored carbonated water! I am not a fan of straight coffee but like coffee flavored drinks like frappes and lattes and macchiatos that are mainly not coffee:)

Below is a list of things that I use in my everyday life to create snail mail, happy mail, mail art, journals and crafts.
* washi tape.
* stationery paper with fun, beautiful, or unique graphics (in general I usually like unlined paper and 8.5 by 11 inches (A4)
* pages from travel, outdoors, fashion magazines.
* pages from comic books and manga or the funny pages from the newspaper, children's books, sheet music,
* photographs (of pretty much any and all things both color and black and white)
* seed packets.
* dried leaves and flowers.
* stickers.
* markers for coloring and hand lettering, pencils (both wood and mechanical .7 or .9 lead), colored pencils.
* envelopes of all sizes and colors both decorated and plain.
* used postage stamps.
* old fashion keys.
* maps.
* domino pieces
* bottle caps (particularly the metal ones from glass soda and beer bottles)
* playing cards with either unique fronts or backs

Genres that I especially am in to:
* horror, while slasher films are okay what really makes me happy are psychological horror films, dark and creepy in your head type of stuff
* mystery
* science fiction
* fantasy
* foreign films
* black and white films
* silent films

Here are a few that I watch/listen to. I would love for you to leave suggestions in the comments section of my page:)
* DrabbleCast (podcast)
* Adventure ZONE (podcast)
* ToastyGames (YouTube)
* AJ Pickett-Monster Ecology (YouTube)
* Ant Lab Games (YouTube)
* The Dice Tower (YouTube)
* LARPs: The Series (YouTube)
* Cooking with Dog (YouTube)
* The Domestic Geek (YouTube)
* Crime Junkie (podcast)