SkaGirl

10/27/23: Unfortunately, Rusty, my 7 year old Maine Coon/Himalayan beautiful cat, has passed away. He went into congestive heart failure for a second time the morning of 10/23. I will never forget the cry he made when he asked me for help. That sound will live with me forever. I rushed him to the ER but they could not pull him out of heart failure and the decision was made to put him to sleep. This was my first experience with putting a pet of mine to sleep, and it was the saddest thing I will probably ever do. I can finally talk about it without crying (well, I can type about it without crying...if I have to speak the words out loud, I will burst into tears as I have proven several times this week). Swapping has actually been helping distract me this week (sense of normalcy, etc) but nothing about life is truly distracting right now. I miss my Rusty. I put this information into my profile just to update everyone on what has been going on (especially in light of the 10/15 update below) but please do not send messages of condolences. I cannot read those without crying. My heart feels completely broken.

10/15/2023: Things have been rather hectic around here and not in a good way. My younger cat, Rusty, went into congestive heart failure resulting in a 2 day stay in the vet ER. He then went back to the ER the following day because he was struggling to use the litter box (diagnosis there was explosive diarrhea due to heart meds). They took X-Rays and found something on his kidneys so BACK he went 2 days later for an ultrasound where they found a tumor on his kidney. I then ended up getting sick, probably from stress. While I managed to keep up on swaps (luckily, I usually send out when partners are assigned so it gave me a few days respite where I could focus on everything while sending swaps closer to the deadline but not late), I fell a bit behind on rating. I have just now caught up on rating so if I have not rated you, it means I have not received the swap yet.

As for Rusty, we are giving him a few days to build up his strength before figuring out how to tackle this kidney tumor situation. He is mostly back to normal but he has a bad heart so we have to approach the whole thing carefully. He has a cardiologist and a whole medical "team" that we are working with at the vet hospital. He's only 8 so if we can do something for him that is safe and will allow him to live happily then we are going to do it. He's the baby of the house, the "King of Cute" :)

Please, if you do not receive something after a reasonable amount of time, please let me know! I am always happy to do a re-send and it makes me sad to be rated down because of a problem that I didn't know existed. Thank you!

I'm a ska kid that refuses to grow up.

I love going to shows (in and out of state). Nothing makes me happier than being able to somehow incorporate a road trip and a ska show.

I play a lot of video games. I'm a huge Nintendo fan with my favorite video game franchise being Fire Emblem. I also love Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon.

I also have a PS5, a Steam account, and am an avid Pokemon Go player.

Currently binge watching: One Piece and Hunter x Hunter

Ska, Ska, Ska!!!

-Big D and the Kids Table
-Mighty Mighty Bosstones
-We Are The Union
-Catbite
-Pietasters
-Mustard Plug
-Less Than Jake
-Westbound Train
-Toasters
-New Found Glory
-Rancid
-The Interrupters
-NoFX
-Planet Smashers
-Brunt of It
-Stray Bullets
-Have Nots
-Kill Lincoln

The Warriors Series by Erin Hunter is my all time favorite book series. If you have not read it, you need to put it on your "must read" list!!!

I am also a big Harry Potter fan

Favorite authors include Jodi Picoult and Meg Cabot

I also really enjoy historical fiction, stories about anthropomorphic animals, true crime, anything on WW2/the Holocaust, and memoirs/autobiographical stories.

Kevin Smith is my favorite director and Clerks is my favorite View Askew movie.

I really enjoy Star Wars, Harry Potter, and the Hunger Games.

I am a huge fan of the MCU.

I watch a lot of television!!!

The Simpsons
Great North
Family Guy
Bob's Burgers
Riverdale
Handmaid's Tale
My Hero Academia
One Punch Man
Hunter x Hunter
One Piece
Demon Slayer
Last Man Standing
Black-ish/Grownish
Young Sheldon
United States of Al
Aggretsuko
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Goldbergs
Wonder Years
the Conners
Home Economics
Neighborhood
Bob Hearts Abishola
Bel Air
Friends Flash
Legends of Tomorrow
Batwoman
Supergirl
Clone Wars

Scrapbooking and bead weaving are the two biggies. I make my own greeting cards/Christmas cards.

I also dabble in other crafts...making wreaths, photo frames, etc.

Next on the list is learning how to crochet as well as learning how to make Terrariums (I saw some Pokemon ones at comic con last year and simply fell in love with them)

-Postcards
-Rubber duckies
-Lego minifigs
-POP! Funko
-Amiibos
-Enamel Pins

I sign up for a lot of postcard swaps so thought it might be a good idea to list some of my preferences:

-Map cards
-Recipe cards
-Anything weather related (specifically lightning and tornadoes)
-Stadium cards
-Handmade cards
-Water related (waterfalls, bridges over rivers, etc.)
-Revere Beach/Revere, MA vintage cards (this is a very specific item in my collection as I grew up in Revere and collect all old Revere postcards. I have 70+ right now that I have found at various antique malls, etc.)

I do not expect extra goodies in the swaps I receive but I know that some like to include them so I thought I would list some likes/preferences:

-Postcards are always welcome! See my postcard preferences above but really, I'm happy with any postcards that you want to send.

-Washi tape. I am obsessed with washi. I use it a lot when I make cards.

-I will always accept cardstock of any kind. Especially patterned cardstock. I make a lot on my Cricut and love to have a good supply of cardstock to choose from :)

-Anything Kawaii/anime related will be very well received. This includes stickers, stationary, etc. Just anything. Some current obsessions are Gudetama, Aggretsuko, Bananya, My Hero Academia, Hunter x Hunter, One Punch Man, One Piece, Demon Slayer...

-Enamel Pins are a new favorite of mine. If you can match a pin to my interest, I would for sure love it :)

-Address Labels! Someone sent me some recently and I never realized how nice it is to have this little convenience so I will never be sad about receiving address labels...

-These are items that are a little bigger but just in case I join a swap that requires a gift, etc. - I am always very happy with lego minifigures, amiibos, Funko POP figures, and cozy/fuzzy or cute socks. If you do plan to send a minifig, amiibo, or POP, please message me to make sure I don't already have it :)

I've been signing up for sock swaps when I see them so I thought I'd put some likes specific to socks: My size is 4-10 or 9-11 and I love anything except for toe socks. I am particularly fond of cozy/fuzzy socks but really, I love anything as long as it is cute. Ankle, knee high, crew...I love it all!

I'll add more to this list as I think of more. :)

-Religious items

-Tea samples. I don't drink tea :)

-Food. I don't sign up for food swaps and will not consume anything sent to me in the mail. I'm probably being weird about it lol but I will just toss it...it creeps me out...

-Beauty products. I barely ever wear makeup, I don't use lotion, I use Bath n Body works soap only so any other soap will get re-gifted, I don't wear perfume... Save the beauty products for someone who will truly appreciate them :)

I will add more as I think of it :)