PDXyogini

January 2012 - Update

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I'm a little behind on a few ratings. My project load at work has been crazy, the holidays have been very busy, I'm putting on a fantastic community event February 9th, and I "celebrated" the new year with a very nasty cold. My apologies if you're waiting on me, I'll be caught up soon.

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First and foremost, please do let me know if a swap didn't arrive. I'm very sad when pieces become lost along the way, but I've experienced mail I've sent not arriving on more than one occasion. I even try sending my swaps directly from post offices in hopes that it cuts down on lost swaps, but even then sometimes things become lost along the way.

It happens. sigh

If it happens to you, I'll understand and give you time to send something new. If it happens to me, please do likewise and give me time to craft something brand new to resend. That time is important since all of my artwork is done in layers and cannot just be thrown together quickly. It would be unfair to you and not in keeping with my way of doing things to send you something, resend or first-send, that is poorly crafted.

That said, about me! I'm a Renaissance geek (think computers not faires), data monger, yoga nrrd, zen, vegan, queer, writer, yoga teacher living in Portland, Oregon!

I practice Zen Buddhism and Hatha yoga, I garden (organic veggies & flowers), hike, cook awesome vegan food, knit, and make art (collage, drawing, watercolor, sculpture)

I am interested in...

The Boundless Mind and Heart, joy & bliss regardless of the comfort of the body, ease in effort, precision of alignment in both body & ethics, the expression of the essential self, finding my voice, seeing the Big Picture, knowing connections, teaching, vegan donuts, more productive food gardens, learning to knit socks...

How to be at peace in my world. Being an advocate for more loving-kindness in the world. Seeing others as one.

Food -- the state of the food "culture" in the west and what we can do to wake people up to how unhealthy it is. Food -- how to make kick-ass cupcakes, Indian dals, Thai curries, and anything else that catches my interest.

This list could go on and on! Peter Gabriel, Deep Dive Corp., Ani diFranco, Sounds from the Ground, Son Volt, Banco de Gaia, The Clash/Joe Strummer, Leonard Cohen, Thievery Corporation, Me'shell Ndegéocello, Sphongle, REM, OTT, Sheila Chandra, 1 Giant Leap, Faithless/Maxi Jazz, Feli Kuti, Femi Kuti, Joan Osborne, Younger Brother, Goldfrapp, U2, Billy Bragg, The Crystal Method, Manu Chao, Thelonious Monk, Imogene Heap, Manu Katche, Miles Davis, Johhny Clegg (Savuka & Juluka), Steve Earle, Dreadzone, Bhakta, Kid Loco, Gigi, Amy Ray, Cowboy Junkies, Jay Farrar, Son Volt, M. Ward, Talking Heads, etc.

'Earth' (David Brin), 'Player of Games' (Iain Banks), 'The Dispossessed' & 'The Lathe of Heaven' (Ursula K. LeGuin), 'Good Omens' (Neil Gaimen with Terry Pratchett), 'The Little Prince' (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry), I have several collections of Grimm's stories. I am a big fan of the following fiction authors: Ursula K. LeGuin, Iain Banks, Neil Gaimen, and William Gibson. I also read a lot of books on Zen, Buddhism, yoga & other Vedic stuff, nutrition, food-related industry & politics (frightening stuff), and just about anything that catches my interest.

'Until the End of the World', 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', 'Chocolat', 'Far Away So Close', 'Million Dollar Hotel', 'Smoke Signals' (also enjoy Sherman Alexi's books), 'The Magic Christian', 'Casablanca', Python movies, '1 Giant Leap', 'Baraka', '1 Giant Leap - What About Me?'

Likes: Unusual paper & emphera; Interesting rocks; Boddhisattvas & Buddhas; Daruma Dolls, Ganesh, Saraswati & Vishnu images; Yoga images & materials; Zen writing, images & brush work; vegan recipes; Beads; wax seals; animal images (particularly Owls, Herons, Bats, Turtles, Octopus, Otters and cats); Mushroom images; Kinder Egg type & other small toys; Totoro!; Tree/Leaf and flower related items/images, Nature/natural world imagery in general; Photography; boxes; maps.

Food likes: Please send vegan food items and recipes. I adore dark chocolate, and vegan "gummy" type candies. Interesting vegan products.

I have some areas of Kawaii I like a lot: Buddha Buddha Life figures, food w/faces (particularly tofu, I have yet to see Hannari Tofu in person, but I think I'd love it), cartoon cats/tigers, cherry blossoms and the like. Oh, and the area of Kawaii/Goth cross over kind of cracks me up.

Handmade? Sure! I also send handmade things that are as well-crafted as possible.

Recycled? Yes! I am happy to exchange and swap recycled items of good quality.

Private Swaps? Just send me a message to discuss!

Dislikes (the much shorter list): Animal products (I'm Vegan - yes, this includes gelatin in nearly all "gummi" candies), marmite, or mushrooms to eat (strangely enough, I like images of them). Anne Geddes, Disney stuff, "Country" (either in the country/western meaning or the floral/cutesy stuff way), or Precious Moments -- just not my thing. Generally I'm not a cutesy, girly kind of person, so anything pink (or other pastels, but I am particularly not a fan of much pink) is just not going to be appreciated by me. I'm also not real big on overly precious, painfully cute images of children or animals.

I've only experienced someone flaking on a swap a few times, for which I'm very grateful. In a few cases people have stepped up to be an Angel and sent me something when this has happened. I'd like to honor these people here. I think the spirit of generosity is something very important to all humanity and it is a delight to see it flourish here on Swap-Bot.

Koolveg - Thanks again for the cute postcard you sent for the '090909 Postcard Swap'

17Papergoddess - Your package for the 'Small Package Swap' was indeed a wonderful surprise!

craftgasm - Thank you for stepping in to send a postcard from the New Year's Eve Postcard Extravaganza

geekgirl33 - Oh, my wonderful college roomie, what a marvelous surprise to have you angel the 'Celebrating Towel Day' swap for me! Everything you sent was so delightful :)

I have a lot of mixed feelings about identifying people who haven't sent a swap, which is why I so clearly identify angels. However, for the sake of helping others not feel like they're the only ones who have experienced it, here's a list of people I'm still waiting for swaps on. If there is a Swaps shown in italics have had someone be an angel for.

Patty O'Callaghan (patty19) for PC - World Neighbors

Carol Sorensen (duplessis3) for 090909 Postcard Swap

Judith Whitfield (seymourgranny) for Small Package Swap

Cornelia Dijkstra (cornelia1965) for Autumn Pumpkins ATC

Claudia Kirkland (Mesmereyes - account deleted) for Sender's Choice Postcard Swap #5

Katrina Benitez (mykateyes77) for NEW YEARS EVE Postcard Extravaganza

Jackie Bell (BooksNBears) for NEW YEARS EVE Postcard Extravaganza (extra sad since she was the coordinator for this swap)

Michelle Merton (mesmerism00) for the Celebrating Towel Day Swap

Stella Elliott (EllaElla) for the cranes swap

I pledge to rate! More than anything, ratings inform me that something I've mailed out arrived. If someone doesn't rate, I have no way of knowing if something happened to the item I sent. Please rate!

I'm still waiting for ratings for people for the following swaps:

natalich for PC World Neighbors

terralily for 090909 Postcard Swap

CuteasaButton87 for Socks Swap and Surprise (Thanks so much to the swap coordinator, tj, for the comment to my profile about this one)

littleangel for Autumn Surprise Swap

delavia for Banned Books Postcard Swap

selfcallednowhere for Nerdcore!!! 250 Ct. Matchbox (such a bummer because I put considerable effort into this swap. You can view it at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chimehouse/sets/72157623109402648/)

Babalina58 for New Years Eve Postcard Extravaganza (account deleted)

karli for New Years Eve Postcard Extravaganza

Naoya for Favorite Theme ATC

Jindanasan for Theme Ingredient Recipe Exchange - Grains

dianabanana for Soup is for dinner!!!!

CandyStar for 100 Geeky Questions

cgenna for Winged Things ATC