deesides

Anglophile, bibliophile, cinephile. Is there a word for a Scotland fancier? Indie kid, illustrator, comic-botherer, bad comedian, recycler, your friendly neighborhood feminist, third-rate retromancer.

Shoe/sock size: European 39. Favourite colours: Red and light, greenish blues (turquoise, teal, you know). T-shirts in men's size S or ladyfit M.

I did decobooks, slams and the like in my teens but never moved on to scrapbooking or ATCs. I mostly write letters and send postcards. I draw and dribble with watercolours. Craft-wise I'm more Regretsy than Etsy. Don't worry, I won't join swaps that require knitting, crocheting or anything like that!

I love postcards! Most kinds, really, from ones you find in art galleries' shops (especially if it's one of the painting or artwork specific to your local museum) to cool free promotional ones. I don't mind old designs, tasteful artistic nudity or bad jokes. The more unusual the better! I'm not too big on Zazzle, but if it's all you have, I understand. I like my postcards naked, but if I'm partnered to you in simultaneous swaps, (this has happened) feel free to put multiple cards in an envelope if you want!

I like button badges, patches and posters, especially if they are related to my interests. I love magazines, I buy SFX every month and Empire almost as often.

I wrap gifts in recycled paper, re-use parcels whenever possible, prefer second hand to brand new. I use a canvas tote bag for my shopping, and they are always useful, but I prefer ones with short handles.

I don't really collect stamps. If it's a bigger parcel you're sending, feel free to let the post office slap that ugly sticker thingy on! On the other hand, Finland has cool stamps (most of them self-adhesive these days) and I like to pick interesting ones for your card or letter.

Not into videogames, except Disco Elysium and Firewatch. And the Horrible Goose one. ISO of certain G1 My Little Ponies, not for customing but replacing lost childhood toys.

Aside from owls, another favourite animal of mine (that's sadly not yet a fashionable mascot) is the humble walrus. I also like whales, seals and the like. Magpies and birds in general make me happy. My favourite dogs are corgis.

Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers, Elbow, Oasis, Blur, Fever Ray, Eugene McGuinness, Art Brut, Maxïmo Park, Kaiser Chiefs, Spector, Glasvegas, Eels, Kent, IWATSW, Klaxons, Hard-Fi, LCD Soundsystem, The Go! Team, Franz Ferdinand, Patti Smith, The National, Sigur Rós, Pet Shop Boys, film scores and soundtracks.

Withnail & I, Fight Club, Some Like it Hot, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, The Escapist, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, Secret of Kells, The Fall, Frances Ha, Maurice, Escape from New York, Top Secret, Blades of Glory, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Mad Max Fury Road, Pacific Rim, Star Trek: The One With The Whales & The Lensflare Reboot, The Force Awakens, Moonlight, God's Own Country

I completed the 52 Films By Women Challenge in 2017 and will attempt it in 2023 as well.

Life on Mars (do I even need to say "UK"? UK.), Doctor Who, old campy Torchwood, Misfits s1-3, Endeavour, The Mighty Boosh, Green Wing, Spaced, The Thick of It, Veep s1-4, Blackadder, My Life in Film, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Breaking Bad, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Silicon Valley, 30 Rock, Frasier, Oz, Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Stargåte SG1 s1-5, Boston Legal, Star Trek TOS & TAS & Discovery, True Detective s1, Gotham, Tuca and Bertie, Club de Cuervos, Heimebane, Gravity Falls, the dark and gritty Battlestar Galactica.

Helene Schjerfbeck, Ronald Searle, Quentin Blake, David Shrigley, Tom Gauld, Molly Crabapple, J.C. Leyendecker, Yayoi Kusama, vintage illustrations, medieval illuminations, street art, Kate Beaton, Phonogram, 1990s CLAMP, Trigun Maximum, Peanuts, Chew, MAD magazine, The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ & Amal, Shot & Chaser, Nimona, Ride or Die

(So many lists already! Let's make this quick!) I will read anything by John Avjide Lindqvist, Johanna Sinisalo, Gillian Flynn, Stina Jackson, Stephen Fry, Stephen King and Alan Bissett. I don't care for Harlequin-esque romances or bestsellers that were originally fanfiction but filed off the serial numbers and got published. There. If you want you can find my Bookmooch wishlist from my linked profile. (Bummer to read if you're not a member though)

• Single issues of Phonogram: Rue Britannia and The Singles Club
• Zines
• The Caravan Gallery postcards
• Movie postcards: Free ad cards, poster reproductions, portraits of film stars
• Soccer postcards or greeting cards. Any team, any country, touristy or humorous, new or vintage, if it's of the beautiful game it's good
• Magazines: Recent travel size issues of Total Film, any Little White Lies
• Light blue Col-erase pencils
• Pilot VBall Grip/V Ball Rollerball 0.5mm pens, black
• Ballpoint pens/biros in colours other than that basic blue
• Pentel Brush Pen ink cartridges
• Cassette tapes, unused or official releases
• Vintage carte de visite photographs, especially of dapper gentlemen or with interesting designs on the back
• Gillian Kyle designs
• Feelmax over the knee toe socks. They don't appear to make these anymore, which makes me sad
• Writing paper! I often run out of it, stationery sets tend to leave me with a stack of envelopes but no sheets.
• Irn Bru! Not the drink itself, I can get import cans, but related things like ephemera, stick candy and other tat
• Kendall mint cakes (plain or chocolate-covered), Giant Palma Violets and Love hearts. Milk chocolate, fair trade/organic is bonus.
• Sketchbooks or notebooks with blank pages. Seawhite of Brighton is a favourite brand, but cheap Moleskine-knockoffs can be used for quick masterplans and other bad ideas as well
• I don't know if there is Star Trek stationery but that would be amazing

For fellow Finnish swappers:

• Tom of Finland-postimerkit
• Julia Vuoren kuvitukset
• Pöllöheijastimet
• Suomen Luonnonsuojeluliiton söpöt eläinkortit

I don't smoke or own pets, and wish things you send wouldn't be smelly/hairy. No allergies though, just annoyances! So relax, a cat hair inside the envelope doesn't kill me, but hopefully your pet doesn't contribute too much to the swap.

I'm not very girly. I don't wear make-up. No piercings. I don't drink tea. Nor coffee. I'm not allergic but I don't really like nuts in things. I dislike white chocolate. I'm not religious, but like saints, icons and non-tacky angels.

I don't see myself participating in bigger swaps for toiletries or such as I like to buy my own, but I'll say just in case that I do love Lush. However I don't have a bath tub, I don't think anyone I know does! (It's all showers and saunas for us Finns.)

I dislike bobbleheads and Funko Pop figurines, and am not keen on Victoria Frances. I'd appreciate if you didn't send Hello Kitty, Spongebob, Me To You, Disney, Diddl, your usual suspects in cartoony-cutesy-kawaii fare. (No Family Guy either) The only popular culture vampire I tolerate is Proinsias Cassidy.

I'd rather not have a cluttered profile, so I delete comments with graphics. It's nice to be appreciated, say, for joining a swap, but I don't need a badge of participation.

I'm not really picky, though. My tastes can be a bit too eclectic, (I know that too well myself) but if I get something unwanted I'll find someone else I can give it to. However, I would never pass anything you made as my own creation. I'm here to have fun and enjoy sending and receiving mail in timely but friendly manner, not demanding senders to be able to read my mind to meet my most outrageous wishes!

If you are disappointed with what you receive, or haven't gotten anything on reasonable time, please PM me first! I too will send a private message before rating 3 or 1. I'd rather not get into any drama or female dog fights, I believe we are all adults on this site and should be able to resolve any issues with reasonable communication and common sense.

I would appreciate it if you wouldn't post my letters or art online, at least not without asking me first. After all, I am sending things personally to you in these times of over-sharing everything. If uploading photos of things you're sending, would you please be so kind and blur out my name as well as my address. I might post my drawings done for swaps on my art blog myself.

Ratings never received

I have been flaked on (also angeled by sweet people!) but do not care to make a list of those, just move on. However, ratings never gotten make me annoyed and paranoid in case the partners turn up years later and rate me down out of the blue.

I mark items sent once I've dropped them into the mailbox (the one closest to me is emptied mon-fri at 12.00/noon), but if it's Friday past collecting time it won't get a date stamp/cancel (dd/mm/yyyy, that's how we roll) until Monday. Mail dropped in my usual mailbox gets cancelled in a whole different town! In Finland there's no delivery nor collecting of mail during the weekend. I would never abuse this to my benefit, just a heads up. I don't obsess over cancellation dates if I get my swap in otherwise understandable time.

Finland belongs to the EU, so no need for the green customs sticker if your country is in it as well. But if you send anything bigger from a non-EU-country, please mark the item as a gift and its value low so I don't have to pay for it!