Month of Letters Redux: Day 18

Well, after a long while of getting normal profiles, I finally pulled up someone who was pretending to be a cat. I like cats (and I even live with one), but I’m not sure what the point of this is. I mean, sure, they want to be cute and funny but I guess I’m not in the mood for it right now. So I chose a postcard with a cat on it and wrote it like I was writing to a person although it’s sort of vague so if you want to interpret it as if I wrote it to a cat, I suppose you could. It’s going to Singapore. The second postcard depicts a scene from the development of Big Hero 6 and it’s going to a Disney fan in Germany. And the third is a bit of a tourist card going to someone in India who’s trying to collect a postcard from every country in the world. I always get the sense that phrases like this are code for people who only want to collect rare countries. I’m sure they probably won’t care about this postcard because American postcards are actually quite common.

Month of Letters Redux: Day 17

The recipient of the first postcard seemed pretty adamant on their preferences for getting postcards that were made in the location from where they were sent (which honestly, I feel is a bit too stringent because there are areas in the world where printing and/or making postcards is impossible). I’m pretty lucky in that one of the publishers that put out postcards, Chronicle Books, is headquartered in San Francisco. Anyways, this first postcard is a moody black and white photograph of the famous Roxie Theater in the Mission District. It’s going to Finland. The second and third postcards are from the most recent National Parks postcard box. The one with Grand Teton is going to a motorcycle enthusiast in Luxembourg and the one with Glacier Bay is going to a nature lover in Germany.

Month of Letters Redux: Day 16

A lot of my dreams have mazes and labyrinths as motifs so I got to write about it on the first postcard for today which is going to a dream researcher in the Netherlands. The postcard itself is a NASA photograph of Mercury since the recipient likes space postcards. The second postcard is a vintage Valentine’s Day postcard although I find it kind of funny because of the implication that the husband is cheating on his spouse with late nights at the office. It’s going to Indonesia since the recipient likes holiday postcards–hopefully it won’t run afoul of the censors since that country is known for being conservative. And the third postcard is another vintage Valentine’s Day postcard to someone in Taiwan who is collecting couple postcards.

Month of Letters Redux: Day 15

The first postcard comes from a postcard book on Lands End, one of my favorite places in San Francisco. It’s going to an elementary school class in Newfoundland doing a postcard project. The second is for a “space and solar system tag” that is going to French Guiana. It’s part of a postcard box called “Earth and Space” which I got a while back when I saw it on sale. (I typically keep my eye on postcard boxes that I do not have and get them when I see them on sale–this is how I’ve accumulated a large and varied stash that makes it easier to match people’s preferences.) And the third is another Harry Potter postcard for someone who is a fan of that series. The postcard seems a little fuzzy because it’s actually holographic and that doesn’t translate well when scanned. It’s going to Germany.

Month of Letters Redux: Day 14

I don’t know why lighthouses is such a popular collection topic. No one ever asks to collect postcards of caves even though caves are pretty cool. Anyways, the first one is to someone in Germany who likes lighthouses. I’ve never been to that lighthouse, let alone Maine–I had obtained the postcard at a rummage sale knowing that I’d be sending it to one of the numerous lighthouse fanatics in the world eventually. The second is to someone in China who likes travel posters, so I chose some poster art of San Francisco. And the third is being sent to someone in Croatia for a “science tag”. This postcard of a French diagram of a flower is part of a collection called “The Art of Instruction” which was probably one of the first postcard boxes I’ve owned but rarely sent out because it’s not a popular topic.

Month of Letters Redux: Day 13

Good luck trying to find a copy of the “100 Dogs” postcard box, because I think it’s out of print. I was very lucky to find a copy for around five bucks a while back. The first postcard is from that set and it’s going to a kid in Oregon so I kind of went crazy on the stickers. (The bacon sticker is hiding my screw-up trying to write the address.) The second postcard is from a collection of Mark Mothersbaugh postcards and it’s going to someone in Minnesota who likes weird postcards. Apparently Mothersbaugh is also the same guy who composes music for films and TV shows. And the third postcard is going to someone in Germany who likes fairy tales. In my message to them, I asked if they had a favorite fairy tale. Let’s see if they respond.

Month of Letters Redux: Day 12

The first item today is a folded birthday card instead of a postcard. It’s going to someone in Minnesota who likes animals, particularly sloths. Unfortunately I don’t have any sloth cards, so hopefully a couple of stickers will do. The second is a Monet postcard for a “boat tag” going to Germany. And the third is an old tourist postcard of Nashville going to someone in Connecticut–I think the point of the exchange was to send postcards that were still useable but not in brand spanking new condition.

Month of Letters Redux: Day 11

The first postcard is a painting by William Merritt Chase called “Morning at Breakwater, Shinnecock” and it’s going to someone in Portugal. It’s for a creative writing tag where you write something based on a prompt that the recipient gives you. For this one, it’s “clouds”, so I wrote about a fictional city in the clouds that’s facing a catastrophe–the magic that’s keeping it afloat is failing. The second postcard is going to a Disney fan in Germany. With all the reimagining of villains, I’m not sure Scar can be redeemed unless there’s a side to Mufasa that we don’t know about. And the third postcard is going to someone in Massachusetts who enjoys mountains and nature. So I figured Yosemite would be the archetype of that.

Month of Letters Redux: Day 10

When I first encountered tokidoki, I was actually surprised that this was only Japanese-inspired but was actually drawn by an Italian. Italians are more well known for their sophisticated sense of style rather than the cute, but who knows. Maybe things are getting mixed up. Anyways, this one is for a “sticker tag” going to Canada–I basically turned the backside of it into a sticker bomb. The second postcard is going to someone in Massachusetts who wants senders to send them postcards that are unique to their hometown. I actually don’t really consider anywhere my hometown because I’ve moved around a lot as a kid so I just went with the general vicinity of where I live now. I chose a card about Lands End because, well, Lands End is cool and it’s not one of the first things people think about when someone says “San Francisco” even though I think the place is pretty iconic. And the third postcard is going to an anime fan in Russia. I honestly couldn’t tell you which anime this is from–it’s just from a batch I got on sale (as usual).

Month of Letters Redux: Day 9

Fairy postcards are apparently extremely popular with a certain segment of the postcard collector community. So when I saw a book of fairy postcards on sale, I bought it, figuring I’d be sending them sooner or later. One of those postcards is going out today to someone in New Jersey who likes magical creatures. The second postcard is part of an “owl tag” where every sends owl postcards (owls are also very popular with certain collectors). I’m honestly running out of owl postcards–I think I might have only one or two left. Anyways, this one is a picture of the the Blakiston’s fish owl which is the largest species of owl found in Asia. This one is going to someone in Taiwan. And the last postcard is going to someone in Belarus who likes photos of people. Hopefully this one from the 1970s isn’t too out of date.