tsireldi

I'm a student of biology, currently working in a genetics lab. I really love insects! I love the outdoors and photography, traveling, reading, watching movies, languages, philosophy, math and science, dark humor...

I like anything to do with science. Real life is more amazing than anything they come up with on the sci-fi network. Think geek!

I love to try new things. I'll try anything! Even weird and unusual flavors. I'm interested in trying any food that isn't available in the US. (If you live in any other country and would like to try American candy/snacks, PM me! I'd love to swap with you!)

I'm not all that crafty but I like to learn new crafts and techniques. I also draw and paint, and especially like colored pencils and oils. (I tried watercolor and discovered it's much harder!) I'm also a beginner at crochet. I make weird vaguely-animal-like stuffed shapes, but they are in no way ready to be seen by others... :)

Looking through Swap-bot, I'm discovering so many types of crafts that sound like so much fun (matchboxes, whimsy jars, amigurumi, bottlecaps, stuffies. Little things!), maybe I'll try them one day. I tend to accumulate too many knick knacks as it is, so I'm a little worried swap bot will exacerbate that :) I love Edward Gorey. Also Escher. And Tim Burton. Graphics-style drawing and design are awesome, I admire people who can do it. Other styles I enjoy include art deco and Japanese designs. I like colors that are dark and saturated (think ultramarine, purple, dark orange, dark green, teal). Not a fan of pastels.

I like things made out of paper and paper crafts like origami. I've rediscovered collage and hope to get better at it. I must say though, the commercialized style of scrapbooking--where you just buy some pre-made embellishments and stick them on pre-printed paper--is not very appealing to me. I appreciate recycling and finding creative uses for things that would normally get thrown out.

I LOVE coffee- or mocha-flavored anything. Lemon too. I love salty things, even salty chocolate! Love things with creamy fillings, crunchy outsides, or any combination of one thing on the outside and something else inside... There are very few foods/flavors I don't like: cherry- or mint-flavored things (they remind me of medicine...), gummy candy, licorice, coconut flake. That's about it! I love everything else :)

I don't like typically 'girly', pink things, but I do have a soft spot for cute little things and miniature things. I collect all sorts of weird things. Most of all I like international stamps and postcards (nice stamps are always appreciated!) and foreign money, but less normal collections include odd plastic spoons and stirrers, interesting or unusual sugar packets, empty plastic phone cards (international ones often have cool designs), interesting transportation tickets, little embroidered fabric animals (the kind on shirts), round napkins, small metal bells, old keys, small boxes ...like I said, all kinds of weird little things (I know, I know, some people would call it junk...but I treasure it! :).

Without intending to, I ended up collecting turtle figurines from different materials. I have stone, shell, cork, clay. Missing glass, wood, paper, ...?

Dragonflies and ladybugs are beautiful subjects. And butterflies, of course. I collect dragonfly and butterfly-shaped things (pins, magnets, toys, crafts, stickers etc), either realistic or stylized. But all insects are beautiful. Yes, even cockroaches. Don't say eww! :) Anything insect-related is sure to make me happy! I also like toy or cartoon hedgehogs, and toy moose, there's something endearing about the looks of these animals... I love cute/creepy things, little misfit creatures and sad aliens, handmade things and drawings, unique and unusual items from your country or region. I would so love a handmade stuffy! I'm no good at sewing... All in all, I just really like weird things!

Since I'm always writing down notes and lists everywhere, I could always use nice little notebooks and notepads. Blank notecards and any other paper items would be lovely as well.

*Nothing religious or holiday themed, please!

Oh, where do I begin... Sitting down with a captivating book is probably my favorite thing in the world. I tend to like fiction with unusual plot or twisted style... I also read a lot of non fiction--science, philosophy, psychology, language etc. It's a bit hard to describe my taste in general terms, I like lots of things...a book has to have that indescribable special something to really get to me. Easier to list my faves, so make of this list what you will! :)

Fiction:

Sophie's World. Harry Potter. House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. All the Sherlock Holmes series. Everything by Etgar Keret. Most things by Gerald Durrell. Anything by Paul Auster, Tim O'brien, Haruki Murakami. The Life of Insects by Victon Pelevin (It is fiction, and nor really about insects, but absolutely brilliant). The History of Love by Nicole Krauss .

Non-fiction:

Godel, Escher, Bach. In Search for the Edge of Time / John Gribbin. The Math Gene / Keith Devlin. An Anthropologist on Mars / Oliver Sacks. Lost in Translation / Eva Hoffman. The Hot Blooded Dinosaurs / Adrian J. Desmond. The Fractal Geometry of Nature / Benoit Mandelbrot (Gotta be a classic, to have a fractal named after you!). Anything by Steven Pinker (How the Mind Works; Language Instinct) .

I am sure to love anything with images of their work!

• Escher
• Dali
• Klimt
• Gaudi (The architect. He definitely qualifies as an artist in my book!)
• Edward Gorey .

Back to the Future, Memento, Howl’s Moving Castle, The Matrix, Fight Club, 12 Monkeys, The Fifth Element, Forrest Gump, Donnie Darko, Life is Beautiful, Amelie

I love all kinds of music, it's hard to name specifics. Also I'm not so familiar with recent pop, so my list may sound a little out-dated. :P Many recent songs that I've heard and like but have no idea who it is!

Here are some I can think of: Beatles (obvious one!), Queen, Leonard Cohen, Vladimir Vysotsky, Brazilian and Latin rhythms, some jazz, gypsy punk, international, rock n roll.. almost anything really, but mostly I like specific songs rather than singers or genres...But I usually just listen to whatever the local independent radio station plays, and love it (recent discoveries: Mika, Feist). I love the Eurovision song contest! I particularly enjoy listening to beautiful songs in languages I don't understand :)

Don't watch much lately, but really love: Lost, Monk, House, Dexter (hmm...is it something about one-word names that attracts me? :P), and to spoil the pattern, Pushing Daisies. Oh, and of course Food Network! I could watch Unwrapped all day long... ~.~

• Wide (2" wide or more) paper ribbon in jewel or dark tones
• Knitting yarn odds and ends, especially in neutral, earthy colors (tan, brown, gray, black, white)--I just need small amounts of these, I'd be happy to get your leftovers!
• plastic eyes (not the googly kind, but the realistic looking ones. I've been to every sewing and craft store in the area and they don't have them! I would be forever grateful!)
• glossy magazine or book pictures of reptiles, insects, birds and other animals. Large and scary ones are especially welcome.