avarenity

Avarielle. 26. Female. Singaporean Chinese

Amateur astronomer / sidewalk astronomer ; space exploration fan ; addicted to Skyrim ; loves Copic markers ; obsessed with Monster Hunter ; loves photography

Diagnosed with Keratoconus in August 2012. It rarely bothers me. Except for times when I feel like complaining about it.

^ standing on train tracks like a boss

Avarielle. 25. Singaporean. Female.

(Avarielle's not my real name but it's the name I go by online and most places. Most people mangle my real name anyway and I don't like having my real name splashed all around the Internet. Actually my full real name is somewhere on my blog, but yeah. You'll need to hunt a little to find it.)

Lives in Singapore, which is obviously a country on its own and not a part of China or any other country. It is all city, no real countryside. If there was a countryside, I would be there, looking up at the night sky with my telescope.

No longer a professional slacker. Since I now have a job.

Attached. In case you're wondering. The boyfriend's an awesome guy who loves astronomy, Monster Hunter, and doing all sorts of DIY/modifications to stuff.

Lives with the parents and younger sister. It's normal to stay with the family even at this age in Singapore. Housing is just so expensive.

Shares the house with two dogs and four terrapins (turtles). The dogs are Casper, the Chocolate Labrador and Peanut, the Hungarian Vizsla. And countless bugs, house lizards and creatures like that.

Mildy allergic to dust, furs, things like that. Asthmatic but it only flares up when I get a flu, which hardly happens.

Don't do typical girl things like shopping. I shop for tech stuff like games, tech products. Or books. Or craft stuff. Or stationery. My dream tech toy is a Wacom Cintiq 12wx. I care more about what games are coming out and don't even know what is the latest season of bags.

Don't wear much jewelry. Just necklaces. Current necklace choice is a pendent with coal from the Titanic, and a necklace with the Skyrim logo made from acrylic. Let my earholes close up years ago and never re-pierced them so don't wear any more earrings. Don't really wear rings but ring size is a 5, for those for want/need to know.

Don't do the whole religion thing but respect everyone's choice in it. That said, I'm fascinated by Paganism, especially Wicca and Kemetic Orthodoxy. If those are your beliefs and you are willing to share, I'm always glad to hear about them. So interesting! I use my Tarot cards as a way to sort things out. No, I don't believe that they can tell the future, to me, they are a way for me to view a situation from a different perspective.

Maritime History - especially 20th century ocean liners ; the Cunard Line ; the Titanic disaster

Science - Particle Physics ; Astronomy ; Space Exploration ; NASA

If you're curious, my obsessions in particle physics are the general science & theory of it, the particle accelerators namely the Large Hadron Collider and the Tevatron. (I nearly cried while watching the shut down of the Tevatron on live streaming.)

My space exploration obsessions are the Mars rovers and the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn.

I'm also into amateur astronomy and some nights, if the sky is clear, I'll be out on the balcony with my telescope. I do sidewalk astronomy as well - as often as I can! Occasionally, around the time of the new moon, I disappear for a few days since I go overseas to a dark site to star gaze.

pssst. Fellow Singaporean swap-botters, if you run into a bunch of friends having their telescopes out and letting the public take a look, I might just be there.

Art / Crafting / Creativity - Drawing ; Writing ; Photography ; my Nikon D40 is my love

Gaming - Pokemon ; The Elder Scrolls Series ; Magic the Gathering ; Monster Hunter

(Feel free to ask me for my PSN name / Wii code / XboxLive name / 3DS number)

Animals - dogs ; frogs ; horses ; turtles

Foods - cookies ; cakes ; teas ; Japanese cuisine ; Chinese Cuisine ; food in a glass jar. I can't and don't cook. I can barely bake. But I love food all the same.

Misc - Steampunk ; NaNoWriMo ; reading ; ball-jointed dolls ; cosplay ; currently attempting to play the ukulele ; gashapon machines/capsule toys ; mobile phone charms

MAINLY I DON'T WATCH TV. My TV exists as a screen for my gaming devices

I also watch A LOT of NASA TV, especially if there is a space craft launch

Movies - The Lake House ; The Nightmare before Christmas ; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ; Beauty and the Beast ; The Lion King ; Cinema Paradiso ; Breathless ; It's a Wonderful Life ; Spirited Away ; Ghosts of the Abyss ; Stargate ; The Namesake

(my obsession with classic Hollywood movies and European movies is due to a couple of film theory classes I took in school)

Music - Les Horribles Cernettes ; Inkubus Sukkubus ; Abney Park ; Vernian Process ; Mike Oldfield ; Dragonforce ; Sabaton ; Nightwish ; Enya ; Runrig ; Great Big Sea ; Symphony of Science ; movie soundtracks ; game soundtracks ; and more!

Books - Dream of the Red Chamber/Hong Lou Meng. Fairy/Folk Tales - in their original form & not the Disney versions. A lot of physics and astronomy books. If a book is about particle physics, astronomy, stargazing, or maritime history, I'll enjoy it. I also read books that are based on the games I play so I've read the Hellgate London novels, the Myst novels and the Elder Scrolls novels.

(I apparently don't read a lot nowadays)

ATCs ; Inchies ; etc - anything that I can draw with Copic markers

I used to do more crafting, then work took away most of that time. Astronomy outreach also ate my life.

ALL THINGS I LOVE:
shabby chic ; mason jars ; interior design ; the Google Android mascot ; rainbow coloured hair ; Tarot cards ; blank notebooks ; cute things ; wisteria flowers ; Japanese gardens ; bonsai ; bento/art of packing bento ; Apple products ; art supplies ; museums ; especially maritime museums ; indie bookstores ; vintage cameras ; artists districts/communities ; product design ; glow in the dark - especially glow in the dark spacey stuff ; and possibly more.

Kawaii ; San-X ; Nyan Nyan Nyanko ; Kutusushita Nyanko ; Kapibara-san ; Kamio ; Sentimental Circus ; if it has a frog on it, I will love it. Or if it is fairytale-themed.

brands: tokidoki ; smiggle ; artbox ; jetoy ; etc

I swear, we have a couple of Daiso stores around here and I CANNOT walk in without getting something. It does not help that I'm obsessed with their lettersets and their bento box stuff.

Places ; Harbin, China ; Venice, Italy ; Southampton, UK ; secretly wishing to visit CERN in Switzerland.

Favourite colours
red ; blue ; pink ; silver ; black ; or just the entire spectrum of colours. If it is colourful, I love it.

AM AMUSED BY
- platform wars. especially the Mac/PC wars. used to get caught up in it, now I just stand by the sidelines and watch and get free entertainment.
- animals doing silly things. Like this goose that stood in front of a door and threaten to bite anyone who passed through. (feel free to ask me about that goose, saw it on tumblr)

THINGS I DON'T CARE FOR
- The Hunger Games, Twilight, the last few Harry Potter books
- guys who act like jerks to girls in typically male-orientated hobbies like gaming, tech, etc
- hot humid days which is all the time in Singapore
- flakers
- non-raters
- drama. leave me out of it, thanks. No, I really don't care who talked bad about who, or who offended who. I'm here to swap and that's all I care.
- Hello Kitty. Just about the only kawaii I'm not fond of.

• things that look like weapons like toy guns, toy swords. etc
• Food that can melt like chocolates, candy, stuff like that. The weather here is really hot all year round and I don't want stuff to melt in the mail.
• Friendship books. Can't figure out how they work and they're just not my thing, I guess.
• anything smelling of smoke. I just don't want my asthma to trigger off again. If you think your swap is coming to me smelling of smoke, let me know so I can air it out.
• items of a religious nature. Bible verses. Stuff like that. Religion is a personal thing. I have mine, you have yours. I'd appreciate if we kept it at it.
• items with sexual connotations - it just makes me feel uncomfortable.
• anything racist/homophobic/sexist
• anything related to ghosts, hauntings, general stuff that would be considered scary.

• teas. I can get most types of Chinese teas over here. Unless they're some region-specific ones that can only be found in a certain part of China.
• ATCs. I do mainly hand drawn ATCs but I might dabble in collage if I have the time.
• postcards.
• some Kawaii brands/character items. Let me know what characters/brands you like & I'll see what I can find.
• Letters / postcards
• Photos
• stickers
• bento gear
• almost anything from that scary, dangerous to my wallet, place called Daiso.

(or what I would love to see in my mail/email inbox)

• postcards. hand drawn, store bought, touristy! I don't care. I love them all. I especially love touristy postcards. If you have interesting looking adcards, I'd love to see them as well.
• ATCs. any styles. I'm still building my collection.
• postage stamps. I collect them. Or I'll pass them to a close friend who also collects stamps.
• badges / pins. Another thing I collect.
• letters. even a short one page letter would make my day.
• teas - if you can send them. I love all sorts of Chinese teas, English Breakfast, Earl Grey and Chai. Heck, send me your favourite tea and who knows? I might love it as well.
• art supplies. ATC blanks. glitter pens. sharpies. pretty papers. even just names of stuff to get like brand and product names would be great.
• or just about anything relating to my obsessions/loves.
• anything glow in the dark, especially spacey stuff.
• stickers. any sorts except religious/reward stickers, wouldn't know what to do with them.

DREAM WISH LIST
(aka I'm just writing this for fun, you don't need to get me anything from this list)
- anything NASA related. (seriously, if you send me something related to the Cassini-Huygens mission & I will love you forever and give you 83638 million hearts.)
- Magic the Gathering cards
- Google Android items
- those white Apple decals that come with Apple products. I randomly have a stash of them inside the box my MacBook Pro came in.
- mason jars/glass jars. even tiny ones will make me happy.

ALLERGY WARNINGS!

I have two dogs who have free run of the house. However, they are not allowed into my bedroom, where I craft and keep my stuff, so I believe that there is little chance of dog fur coming in contact with what I send out. Still I will do my very best to ensure that no doggie stuff will end up in what I send out.

Also, my sister smokes on occasion, but not in my room. However I believe that smoke smells can linger around so there might be a slight chance that smells might get on to what I swap out.

PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH
I understand that life can get crazy at times and Swap-bot is the last thing on our minds. If you ever need to send late, please let me know in advance. I won't rate down if I know what's going on.

To those who are receiving from me, mail generally takes about 8 - 10 days to travel from Singapore to places like the US and Europe. Feel free to drop me a message anytime if you're wondering where your stuff is.

If the swap goes truly missing, let me know, and I'll arrange for a re-send. After I go flip a few tables at the post office.

If I am ever in a situation where I am unable to complete my swaps due to circumstances, I will send you a message as soon as possible. Or I will get someone to do it for me.

RATING!
I rate as soon as I get the swap. If not, I try my very best to rate within 24 hours. If I'm away/busy/otherwise occupied, I will mention it on my "swap status" section at the top. I aim to rate all swaps received while I'm away within 24 hours of me arriving home.

'SENT' STATUS
I mark swaps as sent as soon as I drop them off at the post office/post box. Singapore Post does not send mail out on weekends, although some post offices are open for mailing, etc. So the postmark might be a couple of days later than the sent date here on Swap-Bot.

MY LOVELY ANGELS
@yannak - angeled me for 'The Appreciation Swap #2'

Other ways to contact me:

Twitter: @avarenity
email: token.ringbearer@gmail.com