Looking for new penpals

[ameliaingarden.livejournal.com]

Name: You can call me Amelia here, real name available when letter-writing.

Age: 32

Location: Helsinki, Finland

How do you identify?: I used to identify as bisexual, but I've started suspecting I swing rather more to the lesbian end of the spectrum than I've realised, though it can be hard to say just how much more. Female, born so and identifying as such. I'm still more likely to say "girl" than "woman" about myself.

Interests/hobbies: There are ever so many! I love to read, and I adore writing, especially creative writing (mainly prose with occasional dabs at poetry and dreams about writing plays and musicals) but also any other form of putting thoughts and feelings into words. I find the world a terribly interesting place, and am fascinated by a huge amount of things, with a particular interest in history, sciences, and just observing the world and people and thinking about life. I'm quite into languages and travelling. I also love spending time out in the nature, though as I live in the city that most often means parks and small-ish bits of forest. I adore theatre and have been known to travel to other countries to see a particular musical production. I'm a tea addict. I love crocheting, though lately it's often been limited to looking at pretty patterns or starting things I don't finish. I'm also interested in environmental issues, feminism and queer issues. I love animals, but don't have any of my own at the moment.

Favourite books: There are a ton, but some favourites include books by L.M. Montgomery (especially the Emily books), Jane Austen, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Sarah Waters, Terry Pratchett, Gail Carriger, the Harry Potter books, The Count of Monte Cristo, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, the Mary Poppins books, The Secret Garden, the Moomin books (am also starting to read Tove Jansson's works for adults)... I'm probably forgetting many. For a long time I mainly read older lit (especially 19th and very early 20th century), historical novels and fantasy, but lately I've been expanding more to modern literature as well, and I'm looking for new favourites. At the moment I seem to enjoy many kinds of things and can be reading Mansfield Park, Dykes to Watch Out For and some Finnish YA fantasy all in the same day. I also love poetry, and some of my favourites include Christina Rossetti, Emily Dickinson, T.S. Eliot, and some Finnish poets, especially Katri Vala, Kirsi Kunnas and Kaarlo Sarkia.

Favourite films: Frozen, Amélie, Dead Poets Society, F*cking Åmål (also called Show Me Love). I don't watch a lot of films, but these come to my mind first. I also like watching TV series, though I can only handle one or two at a time since I don't like spending that much time watching things on screens. At the moment I love BBC's Sherlock and have just gotten into Dr Who.

Favourite music: My music taste is mostly terribly untrendy and I'm mainly into classical music and musicals. I also enjoy Hayley Westenra, some film soundtracks, Josh Groban and Vienna Teng. My favourite musicals are especially European fare like Elisabeth, Mozart! and Tanz der Vampire, but I also enjoy watching plenty of other things. Spring Awakening, Les Misérables and Disney musicals might count among the musicals English-speakers also know.

What would you like to send/receive?: Mainly letters, though if we have shared interests, be it tea or poetry or whatever, we can sure also send things connected to them from time to time. Also, I've only started using LJ again, so if someone doesn't want new penpals but does want to become LJ friends, that's very welcome if we have some things in common!

Who would you like to send and receive mail from?: Anyone with some similar interests, especially other bi/lesbian girls/women. Oh, and hopefully someone who's not going to be worked up if I take a while to answer. I'm only getting back to having more than one pen friend, and I don't yet know how it will go, what with having to work and all, so though I want to write letters, I don't want to feel really stressed about it. I'm kind of rambly and more likely to take some time writing a long letter than dash up a short one quickly.

What countries would you like to receive mail from and send to?: Particularly Europe, but anywhere is fine. As a bonus, I'd love a chance to keep up my French and German through letter-writing.

Anything that you would particularly NOT like to receive?: (eg. "food/candy with nuts") Nothing in particular, though if you want to send tea, it's best we have first talked about what I mean by good tea. ;-)

What would be in your dream letter or package?: Just a nice fat letter filled with thoughts, life things and whatever else you want to talk about! I do love it if there's some discussion about things like books, theatre etc. in letters.

Anything else you'd like to add?: Contact either by commenting here or e-mailing amelia.in.garden AT gmail.com. And even if you come across this ad much later and feel like we should get to know each other, feel free to contact me - I'll let you know if I can't take any more penpals at the moment.