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Hobbies and Interests

There's more to me than software development! Here are a few of my main hobbies and interests.

Pin badge collecting

I don't know when it started but I seem to have collected quite a lot of pin badges of different shapes, sizes and styles. If you've ever spotted me in the wild, or at the office, you may have noticed a collection on my bag. Sometimes I put some on my jackets and lanyards as well! I mainly collect alternative/goth/spooky pins, anime related pins and LGBT+ Pride pins.

a small banner with pins on it
Here's a small part of my collection on display
a red bag full of pin badges
Here's a bag I use out and about with a protective covering for my badges and keyrings.
a full body photo of me with my red bag
I use it as my main handbag but I also have pins on a backpack I use to carry my laptop to the office.

As well as badges, my collection has expanded to include keyrings and stickers. I just love how expressive all these items are!

a close up of the red bag showing off two keyrings
My latest keyring was this train station one I got as a freebie when volunteering with TfW!

The sheep keyring was a gift from my friend when he visited north Wales so added my newest keychain next to it, to show some Welsh pride along side my other aspects.

Alternative Fashion

As a rebellious teenager in the early 2000s I decided I wanted to wear skulls on my clothes and I've been a fan of alternative fashion ever since. As the name suggests, "alternative" is anything alternative to the normal, "high street" fashion trends. It's the people you see who always seem to stand out from the crowd, or form their own crowds. Goth is the main one I like to wear but anything grunge, punk, metal or spooky also forms part my large wardrobe of clothes. My friend gifted me a pin that says "Spooky for life, not just for halloween" and that sums me up quite nicely!

Shelley in an all black gothic outfit
Here's an example of a more traditional Goth alternative look, with the attitude to match.
Shelley in a more colourful outfit with a spooky pokemon t-shirt
Lately I've decided to be a bit more colourful with my style but still featuring black and spooky designs.

I don't go to the office very often due to my Anxiety but when I have gone in you've probably spotted me in this purple hoodie and spooky pokemon t-shirt as these are my current favourites!

Watching Anime

My first ever anime I enjoyed watching was Yu-Gi-Oh! Which was shown as a cartoon during my childhood. In 2020, I discovered the anime channel on Amazon Prime Video and from then on I haven't stopped watching all kinds of anime. I currently pay a subscription to Crunchyroll to keep up with my favourite shows. I'm really bad at keeping up though, I just watch whenever I feel like escaping from the mundane! "Super hero" or "Supernatural" type shows are my usual favourites but...

If you're brave enough, you can view a list I made of pretty much every single anime I have ever watched on the MyAnimeList website here (opens in new tab). It's listed by rank, so you'll see the shows I consider a masterpiece first.