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alexifer

alexifer
Date Joined: June 24, 2007
Last Online: June 23, 2008
Birthday: September 11, 1984
Country: Australia
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About Me

I'm a twenty-three year old Australian, currently living in Sydney. I've just finished a Bachelor of Arts (Languages) at the University of Sydney, studying Chinese, and I'm hoping to move to Shanghai after saving up some money here in Australia first. Things are always unclear after finishing any era of your life, but I know that the next five years will be a fun and eventful period of my life.

I've spent some time in many different places in the world - I was born and grew up in Adelaide, South Australia, and then moved to Boston, Massachusetts for seven years. I've also lived in Xi'an, China for a total of ten months, though seven years apart. I've traveled to many different places within the three countries I've lived, and also a little bit around Europe (England, Ireland, Holland, and France).

I've been writing ever since I was little, but it has always been and, I feel, is destined to remain merely a hobby. I tend to write about characters, rather than plot lines, so anything with a story that has to go longer than a few pages tends to trip me up - I will never be a novelist. I've also never been a big reader, either, though I've soaked up everything by Douglas Adams, Nick Hornby, David Sedaris, and Bill Bryson. I like my wit just a little bit dry and more than a little bit sarcastic, and I think that humor is the most important ingredient in life.

My passion, though, is the study of China. History and language, mainly, though I'm trying to get better about reading current affairs. I don't fancy myself a scholar, by any means, but I've been interested in China's social history for a long time, and I hope to eventually find my way into a job which works with the changing elements of Chinese society. They are tricky waters to navigate, but I'm not phased by any means.

I'm also a big music fan, though my collection is woeful. I like music from all over the spectrum - you'll even find the occasional rap or heavy metal song in those I have loved throughout my life. I've been compiling my Five Desert Island Albums list for a while, but have finally decided on them: The Strokes "Is This It", Ben Kweller "On My Way", The Big Chill soundtrack, Garden State soundtrack, and Sigur Ros "()". There is some contention as to whether soundtracks are allowed, but I hope so. My desert island list is also different from my Greatest Albums of All Time list, which definitely doesn't include soundtracks. My favorite bands are too many to be counted, but in addition to the three desert island bands, I'm also a big fan of The Fratellis, Willy Mason, Joel Plaskett, The Shins, Modest Mouse, Patrick Wolf, Maxïmo Park, and The Mountain Goats. I'm not really kidding when I say it pains me to truncate my favorite bands list that much.

I'm not a very arts-and-crafty person, though I've always wanted to be. My sister (who introduced me to Swap-Bot) is the artist of the family, even though she might not tell you that for herself. I haven't done much visual arts things in the last, say, ten years, but it's something I've wanted to get back into. I feel like it would be a good outlet, outside of words, which are often pretty inferior, and other people's music.

Favorite Television

My favorite shows at the moment don't even play on Australian television, and I am very lucky my parents download them all for me. Here are my top five current favorites:

  1. Doctor Who
  2. Battlestar Galactica
  3. Survivor
  4. House, MD
  5. Psyche

Top five all-time favorites:

  1. Jeeves & Wooster
  2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  3. Firefly
  4. The Apprentice (though currently, the UK series has been awesome)
  5. Growing Pains

Favorite Movies

Top five of 2006:

  1. The Departed
  2. Children of Men
  3. V for Vendetta
  4. A World Without Thieves (天下无贼)
  5. Little Miss Sunshine

Top five recent favorites:

  1. Donnie Darko
  2. Garden State
  3. Galaxy Quest
  4. Pirates of the Carribbean
  5. Nightmare Before Christmas

Top five childhood favorites:

  1. The Labyrinth
  2. The Neverending Story
  3. Pirates of Penzance
  4. Strictly Ballroom
  5. Much Ado About Nothing

Favorite Books

Top five books NOT by Nick Hornby, Bill Bryson, David Sedaris, or Douglas Adams:

  1. Harry Potter series, JK Rowling
  2. Moab is My Washpot, Stephen Fry
  3. Watching The Tree, Adeline Yen Mah
  4. A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
  5. Feel: Robbie Williams, Chris Heath

Favorite Music

And here is a crazy list of all those bands I felt bad about cutting. :(

Gotye, Whitley, Cold War Kids, The Kooks, Gabriel Rios, The Decemberists, Barenaked Ladies, Mika, Teitur, Travis, The Killers, Björk, Dispatch, Ben Folds, Elliott Smith, Robbie Williams, The Vasco Era, Albert Hammond Jr., Sufjan Stevens, Joanna Newsom, Nick Cave, Ben Lee, Smog, New Radicals, Panic! At The Disco, We Are Scientists, Bloc Party, The Redwalls, Of Montreal, Supergrass, Third Eye Blind, Bob Evans, Devendra Banhart, Damien Rice, Howie Day, I Am Kloot, The Ramones, Evermore, Josh Rouse, Jay Chou, Richie Ren, Jack Johnson, Badly Drawn Boy, José González, Interpol, Matchbox Twenty, The Postal Service, T. Rex, Hanson, Sparklehorse, Clem Snide, Coldplay, Counting Crows, Justin Timberlake, Wons Phreely, Beck, Eve 6

Ratings

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Comment: Thanks for the cool Sydney postcard! It sounds awesome.
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Comment: Thank you for the postcard.
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Comment: Thanks for the beautiful Sydney postcard! My grandkids and I had a great discussion about Austrailia when they saw the different views of Sydney. They also enjoyed the wombat stamp!
mightyhealthy rated for A Musical Scavenger Hunt on Sep 17, 2007
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Comment: Thank you very much for your wonderful mix! I got your email too, Thanks!
ScarlettNicole rated for A Musical Scavenger Hunt on Sep 8, 2007
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Comment: Thanks! I love your taste in music. It's perfect! And also thanks for the explanations..very cool.
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Comment: Thanks for the cd - almost all of these artists are new to me which is GREAT :D
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Comment: Thank you for the next 6 (need-not-to-think meals!) Oh and by the way, we've got lots of ways to cook meat and these portuguese way meat it's new to me!! LOL, Lots of fun! Maybe i discover here some kind of australian sauce that you've never tasted before!!! :-))) Thank you again! Best Leila
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Comment: Thanks
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Comment: thanks a lot...
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Comment: I really enjoyed your email and pictures! Thank you very much :)
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Comment: Thanks!
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Comment: Nice card and note. Thanks!
Blurg rated for Lots of Postcards #4 - International on Aug 2, 2007
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Comment: Thanks for the postcard!
user9510 rated for A CD of Many Colors on Jul 29, 2007
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Rating Overview

Overall Hearts Stars Hosted
5.0000 9 0 0
Completed Fives Threes Ones
11 26 0 0
Type 1 Type 2 Type 3 Uncategorized
0 0 0 11
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Comments

hg on Aug 19, 2007:

I´m sooo glad you like the cd I sent you! I love making mix cds for the people in my life but I never make them for strangers. I must say it was quite the challenge and I´m really glad you enjoyed it! :o) thanks again!

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