feverfawn

Welcome to my profile! I apologize for the likely excessive detail that follows; one thing you will probably notice about me is that I find it very hard to be brief LOL!

The previous update regarding mail speed/efficiency stills applies so I'll leave it up.

9/20/24: Just a heads up to anyone that may be wondering - mail within the US (both outgoing and receiving) has been erratic for me. Sometimes it's less than a week and others will take weeks to over a month sometimes to travel within the US. No clue why it's like this and it seems pretty random, but luckily nothing has actually been lost yet and I expect everything to arrive eventually. I won't be inquiring about swaps until a month minimum has passed. If you're waiting on a swap from me to arrive I'm hoping you will be patient and give it up to a month as well, but please message if concerned and I can share photos of the swap with you and work on a resend. Thank you for your patience! :)

Some general stuff about me ~

Hello I'm Jess! I'm in my early 30s, work in a library, child-free, and live with my boyfriend and our cat named Kitten - sweetest in the world! I never thought I'd have a cat before we took her in a few years ago as I used to be so allergic, but over time I have adjusted and it rarely bothers me anymore. I grew up with and still like dogs, but she has officially made me a cat person!

Paying up on the cat tax! 🙀👇

I prefer mountains to the beach and my dream is to someday visit a desert as I have never seen such landscape in person. I appreciate solitude, quiet thoughts, and like to find beauty in strange or small things as well as the vastness of outer space and deep unexplored ocean. I am fascinated by the mysteries of life; the unknown and unseen, the past and the future. I have a tendency to collect (big fan of thrifting and used book stores!) and prefer a colorful maximalist style over minimalism. Not a fan of toxic positivity, however I try my best to focus on the good I can find and moving forward as opposed to ruminating on what I can't control or change whenever possible. It's not easy, but it is what gets me to the next day! :)

Some things I enjoy include: books - reading + collecting, collage, drawing/sketching, journaling, writing & poetry, jigsaw puzzles, meditation, all things related to dreams & altered states of consciousness, aliens!!!, conspiracy theories, thrifting, lifetime movies & various reality TV shows (I tend to enjoy things that could be described as "so bad they are actually good"), ambient music, indie perfume (my collection is getting a bit uhh...ridiculous 😅), and of course snail mail and mail art!

If you're into astrology- I am a Scorpio Sun, Capricorn Moon, Scorpio Rising, and have a 12th house stellium. My chart is heavily dominated by water and plutonian influence. I'm also a metal goat in the Chinese zodiac.🐐

I'm not religious, but do consider myself to be spiritual; purposely leaving it vague as I don't define it any specific way though I like the term "oneironaut." I'm very interested in altered states of consciousness, particularly astral projection and dreams or lucid dreaming, as well as the in between states of sleep - hypnagogia and sleep paralysis - all of which are spiritual experiences to me. If you happen to be similarly interested and are paired with me for a swap, feel free to share your own dreams and related experiences as I love to hear and talk about them! (To be clear, I won't make a point of talking about this unless it's relevant to a swap, something we seem to have in common, or if directly asked. I have no intentions to make anyone uncomfortable nor issues with those of different beliefs and am happy to swap with anyone who has mutual respect for others.)

❗❗❗ATTN swappers:

I don't trust my apartment's collective outgoing mail slot so I take all my mail directly to the post office and mark sent after I've dropped it off inside. In order to minimize the number of trips I have to make, I will go about once a week and may be sending closer to deadlines than I used to. Swaps are likely to be completed/dated prior to the day I am actually able to send as I try to send as many as I can at one time. I will always plan accordingly and make sure things get sent on time!

Please message if you have not received a swap from me after a reasonable amount of time. I always send my swaps, but we all know how the mail is these days and even within the US things can easily get lost or take a long time arrive. I'm noticing delays up to 4 weeks or more, with international mail often arriving sooner! If a swap does not show up or something else is wrong with it I'm happy to resend if given the opportunity. I take photos of all my swaps so I can email the images to you as well.

I always rate and try to do so the same day I receive; sometimes it may take me a few days, but chances are if I have not rated I have not yet received. I don't mind if you want to check in with me about ratings. I'll always message before rating if I haven't received a swap and would appreciate the same courtesy.

If you know you'll be late sending a swap (whether it's to me or in any swaps I am hosting) please give me a heads up! I know sometimes life happens and if you communicate, let me know ahead of time/as soon as possible, I will try to work with you. I will also do the same on my end and communicate about any delays should they occur.

For any swaps I'm hosting I will always angel if you're flaked on after you've attempted communication with your partner and also rated appropriately ~ please contact me about any issues in my hosted swaps so I can help!

Swaps I Enjoy: Simple flat mail such as postcards, one-off letters or penpal swaps (I don't have time to keep up regular correspondence by letters, but postcard penpals would be welcome!) - international and domestic - with topics/questions/or stream-of-consciousness. I also enjoy mail art including: ATCs, handmade postcards and bookmarks, collage, decorated envelopes, and drawings or sketches.

I'd love to do private swaps with either US or international users for flat-mail and mail art, and profile based small package or wishlist item swaps (US only due to costs) with established users that have common interests. Feel free to PM about a private swap if interested in anything on my profile or even just to chat!

If you live in the Southwest (esp. New Mexico!) I would love to do a private written postcard swap with you or even be ongoing postcard penpals - please message if interested!

Topics to Write About: (if you need ideas for letter writing swaps or something to write on a postcard here's some suggestions!) Tell me about a dream or a weird/unexplainable/paranormal experience you had, your favorite poem (write it out and include the title/author if you can) or a poem you wrote, the top place you'd most like to visit in the world or favorite place you've been and why, tell me about something you collect - why you collect it, how long you've been collecting and your favorite piece in the collection, something that really fascinates you and why, an interesting thing you recently learned about, tell me about a typical day in your life and contrast it with a very untypical day you had, talk to me about anything we have in common based on my profile or go for stream-of-consciousness writing and just say whatever comes to your mind!

General Wishlist: (things that would definitely make me happy to receive!) Weirdo handmade art, dada or blackout poetry, haiku or other poetry written by you, handmade or found bookmarks, stickers or washi samples relevant to my likes, your leftover or incomplete alphabet sticker sheets, photographs/polaroids with strange or dreamy vibes, origami or other unique paper, foreign postage stamps - souvenir sheets - or banknotes for my collection (see below), any used/unused space related US postage stamps, pressed pennies, interesting ephemera or collage fodder, written accounts of your unexplainable experiences and interesting dreams, blank profile-based postcards, unique or touristy fridge magnets, anything related to Ancient Egypt (especially Anubis) and other ancient civilizations, magazine or printed articles about aliens/UFOs conspiracy theories or other fringe topics.

Favorite Things

♥️ Ultimate favorite - those who read profiles and try their best to create/send something thoughtful and intentional - I really appreciate your effort! ♥️

Colors: I LOVE green in any shade - my absolute favorite color. I also like cool blues and purples (especially green/blue/purple together,) golden yellows, deep reds, black (& white together,) and rainbows or vibrant color schemes. Holographic and glow-in-the-dark are not exactly colors, but I love that sort of thing.

Animals: I love animals in general so any animals are welcome, but my top favorites are loons and all ducks (birds in general are neat!) bears especially brown/grizzly and panda, wild cats, wolves, and any ocean creatures. My favorite insects are mantises, any kind!

Postcards:
Tourist - I especially enjoy cards (from anywhere) with scenic landscapes, mountains, deserts, ocean views, flora & fauna, and those that depict weather, lightning, tornadoes etc, sunsets, aurora borealis, rainbows and things like that. I'd also be happy to receive cards that depict local culture, significant places from your location, and cards from your local museums zoos or aquariums. Some specific places I particularly like are Southwestern US, the Blue Ridge Mountains, Alaska and Japan.

Non-tourist - Art themed especially Japanese woodblock prints, any sort of art from other countries in Asia, Hieronymus Bosch, William Blake, Medieval art, surrealist works, folk and outsider art. I also like realistic and illustrated animals or insects, aliens & UFOs, Ancient Egypt, outer space, weird/strange/unusual however you interpret that, mythology or folklore, lenticular/3D, foiled, or anything else related to my profile.

Zazzle/professionally-printed are always welcome and I also love handmade cards!

I mainly join written/stamped postcard swaps and therefore enjoy having a personal message written vs something bland like "happy swapping." I have grown to enjoy decorating the postcards I send out and also love to receive cards that have been decorated with washi, stickers, stamped images and drawings etc, and really like the character of one that has traveled naked through the mail (if you are worried about damage to a handmade PC feel free to send in a sleeve or envelope!)

Postage Stamps/Banknotes/Coins: I have a few albums and love to collect postage stamps, banknotes and special coins.

For stamps I collect the topics of outer space, ducks (& other birds,) bears, wild cats, oceans/ocean creatures, mushrooms and other flora, and any stamps from Japan and Mongolia. I enjoy CTOs, souvenir sheets, and the occasional FDC in addition to used stamps. I tend to prefer stamps of foreign countries, but I am specifically looking for any and all space related US stamps like those from Sun Science, Views of our Planets, Hubble Telescope etc and would love to see them used on swap envelopes or trade for your extras, on or off paper used or not.

For banknotes and coins, I am mainly interested in those that are colorful or have images of animals. Any country currency, circulated or uncirculated. I also like souvenir coins such as pressed pennies and commerative things.

Tea/Coffee etc: For tea I'm open to most anything, caffeinated or decaf and herbals. I would love to try barley tea and your favorite flavors! My favorites are any kind of herbal, flavored green and white teas, genmaicha, and earl grey. I'm not fond of "diet" teas or artificial sweeteners. For coffee, any kind is welcome though I don't have a keurig and can't use the pods. I prefer not to receive any food items other than hard candy. Preferably all in individually sealed bags please!

Music: in no particular order... Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Iron & Wine, Emma Ruth Rundle, Queen Adreena/Ruby Throat/Katie Jane Garside, Sun Kil Moon, Red House Painters, Modest Mouse, José González, Have a Nice Life, Steve Roach, Brian Eno, and Boards of Canada. Love 90s (and early 00s) alt/rock in general, and all sorts of ambient music, new age etc.

Books/Authors: Philip K. Dick, Robert Monroe, C.G. Jung, Terence McKenna, Alan Watts, Shirley Jackson, Ursula K LeGuin. I'm a fan of (older) science fiction, new age/occult/esoteric weirdness, and interesting non-fiction on all sorts of topics. Love art and coffee table type of books also. I use my goodreads to keep a list of books I'm interested in as well as a shelf of books I physically own so that will give an idea of what I'm into if you're curious!

Video Games: Animal Crossing (my favorite villager is Curt; I like all the bear and dog villagers especially) The Sims 3, Pokemon Legends Arceus (also played red/blue back in the day - my favorite is Psyduck followed by Abra + all evolutions and Gengar) Fallout 3/New Vegas, Rune Factory 4, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Sim City, Slime Rancher, Terraria. I also like time management cooking, word, match 3 and puzzle games to zone out to while I have the TV on in the background. Right now I'm playing Dave the Diver and really looking forward to the new Fantasy Life coming out...whenever (release was delayed again ugh!) If you want to be friends on Switch let me know!

ABC list of likes!

A - aliens, altered states of consciousness, ambient music, animals, Anubis, aquariums, the arctic, astral projection, astrology, astronomy, aurora borealis

B - badtz-maru, banknotes, bears, bibliomancy, bioluminescent creatures, birds, black widow spiders, bookmarks

C - capricorn, cats (wild cats especially!), caves/caverns, coffee, coins, collage, conspiracy theories, crop circles, cryptids, cultures of all kinds, cults, Curt the Bear (Animal Crossing)

D - deep sea, deserts, documentaries, drawing, dreams/dreaming, ducks

E - eclipses, Ancient Egypt, ephemera, esoterica, ESP (extrasensory perception)

F - folklore, forests/woodlands, fossils, fractals, fridge magnets, frogs, fun facts, fungi

G - Garfield, ginkgo leaves, glow-in-the-dark things, goats/rams, green

H - haiku, handmade art, handmade envelopes, herbs, Hieronymus Bosch, history (particularly about ancient civilizations), holographic things, horror, hypnagogia

I - illuminated manuscripts, insects

J - jellycats, jigsaw puzzles, journaling, Jupiter

K - kawaii, kelp forests, keroppi, keychains, kimono patterns

L - landscapes, letters, lifetime movies, lilies & lily-of-the-valley, liminal spaces, loons, lotus, lucid dreaming

M - magazines + articles/clippings (from vintage such as Fate, UFO, Omni, Search etc - also current publications like Fortean Times, Sedona Journal of Emergence, Nexus, Hi-Fructose), mail art, maximalism, meditation, memo sheets, The Middle Ages (medieval art & marginalia), mixed media, moths, mountains, Mt. Fuji, mugwort, mushrooms, mythology

N - nature, The Nazca Lines, near death experiences (NDEs), new age topics

O - occultism, oceans and ocean creatures, Otagiri, ourosboros, outer space, outsider art

P - pandas, paper (origami, chiyogami, yuzen, mulberry, handmade etc), paranormal, Philip K Dick, photographs & polaroids, playing cards, Pluto, podcasts, poems/poetry, postage stamps (any country, used or unused, CTOs or souvenir sheets etc), postcards, praying mantis, pressed pennies, psychedelic themes, psychic phenomena, psyduck, pyramids

Q - quetzals

R - radios & old radio shows, reading, reality TV, reptiles, Robert Monroe, rubber stamps (unmounted or cling foam), ruins

S - science fiction, scorpio, scorpions, sleep paralysis, snow leopards, Southwestern US, stationery, stickers, Stonehenge, stream-of-consciousness, sun/sunsets, surrealism

T - tarot, tea, thrifted items, tigers, tornadoes, trees, tropical fish, The Twilight Zone

U - UFOs, Ukiyo-e (woodblock prints), Unsolved Mysteries, used books

V - venus flytraps & other carnivorous plants, video games, volcanoes

W - washi tape, waterfowl, weather phenomena, weird or otherwise strange things (seriously if it's weird I probably like it lol!), wolves

X - The X-files

Y - Yōkai (Japanese folklore)

Z - zener cards, zines, zodiac

Dislikes :( :( :(

• loose glitter on anything
• any kind of holiday themes (even when in season - I just don't care for holidays; the exception being if you are not from the US and it's a holiday unique to your country or culture)
• religious messages, bible verses or quotes etc, or anything with the intention to convert or assert one belief over another (I don't mind religious imagery from any religion if it's particularly beautiful or historically interesting - please use good judgement here and not take that as an excuse to send me overtly religious material)
• patriotism or political themes/messages
• harry potter, star wars, marvel, pixar, disney, anime or similar (not into fandoms; the only anime I like is Serial Experiments Lain!)
• children's items or crafts, teacher/reward or kiddie character stickers
• irrelevant extras/destash (please try not to send random things that are not profile-based just for the sake of sending extras - I appreciate the thought, but I have minimal storage and hate to have to throw out things I won't end up using. I'm not stingy with hearts and don't require extras to give them; a swap put together with care is enough for me!)

I don't necessarily expect this to be an issue, but I want to mention it just in case - I would very much appreciate not being sent materials, letters, or postcards with mentions of dieting or weight-loss, calories/nutrition, or any sort of body dissatisfaction or even body positivity. Thank you for respecting this!