Wine in the afternoon

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I mentioned Postcrossing on Things I Love Thursday and #FollowFriday, and I thought it deserved its own article. Postcrossing is an online-based community for postcard lovers. The main point is to exchange postcards with random people from all over the world. After you register, you’re given a random address where you should send your postcard. You can write anything you want on the card, and post it. Once it gets to your destination, you’ll be notified, and you’ll be next in line to receive a postcard from a completely different sender. I find the idea incredible, and I registered about a month ago. So far, I’ve sent 7 postcards (to places like China, the USA and Poland), and received 2: one from Japan and one from Finland.

Here are some tips on how to be a good postcrosser:

• Be creative: People sometimes state their postcard preferences on their profile, and it’s nice to stick to that, since they’ll probably be pleased. If they don’t – and I recommend you don’t, unless you do have a specific preference (my profile says I like hand-made postcards, but that’s all) -, try to do something creative. Buy a vintage and unique card, draw or paint a card, make your own card with collages, take a cute photo, draw on it with a sharpie and use it as a postcard.
• Write a cute note: There’s no specific instructions on what to write on your card, but the point is to write something that will make the reader smile. Write a quote, a poem, a book recommendation, a story about the postcard, something good that happened to you today, anything you want to share. It’s also a good idea to teach the person a couple of words in your language (if you don’t speak the same language, obviously). It could be simple things – such as hello and goodbye – or words with beautiful meanings or that sound funny.
• Don’t be late: Try to mail your postcard as soon as you get the address. I mean, think it over first, find a postcard, write it carefully, and then send it, but don’t leave them hanging around your house because you’re too lazy to go to the post office (I do this a lot, and I always feel guilty).
• Buy stamps: To avoid procrastination, buy a big set of stamps so that you can just send them instantly. It avoids the detour to go to the post office, since you can just put them in a mailbox on your way to work.
• Register: When you receive a postcard, you’re supposed to register it, so that the sender can be next in line to get a card. Make an effort to register them right away.
• Remember: Write the code you’re given, otherwise the person who gets it won’t be able to register your card. Also, put a date on the ones you send.
• Safety: For safety reasons, I don’t accept cards from my own country. I’m just too damn scared that a creepy old dude from another state is gonna knock on my door if I allow people to have my address. But it’s your call – if you’re not as paranoid as I am, do accept cards from your country. Specially if you live in a large country (like me), where you could get cards from cities you’ve never even heard of.

Now go on, register. Maybe someday you’ll get a card from me! Happy postcrossing.

Miss Sofia

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• Subculture of One is the home of Rachel Nabors, a girl who writes autobiographic-ish comics about a rocker girl and her black cat.
• For economy enthusiasts around the globe, the Fed Chairman Game is quite fun.
• Bleudame sells a wide range of cool sunglasses for about US$10,00.
• The Cryptic Canvas is really fun for movie buffs out there.
• David Bowie is very disappointed in you. Tsc, tsc.
• I’m writing an article about Postcrossing. I’ll publish it tomorrow but, in the meantime, go on and register.
• Bookcrossing is all about litterature and serendipity. There’s an article on it coming soon.
• How hetero is your twitter?
• Jude Law + Lady Gaga = ROFL
• JamLegend is a fun game, specially for those of us who don’t have access to Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Plus, it features independent artists, which I totally support.

Any recommendations?

Miss Sofia

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Sometimes I’m feeling bored and demotivated. Luckily, the internet always provides me endless sources of small joy and motivation, such as Weheartit, Tumblr and iCing. Today I’m gonna talk about a tumblelog I just recently discovered: 2009. It contains simple instructions of things to do everyday. Some examples:

• Take a photograph of your entire body under a rug. Upload the photograph to the internet with the tag: juujtq2. When you search the internet for this tag (like on Flickr), you will find people hiding under rugs.
• Find a nice looking glass bottle. Use this to make a modern day message in a bottle. Write the letter on a nice piece of paper. Make your handwriting look nice. The reason for all this niceness is that this can easily look just like litter. Write a letter to anyone about anything. Now take your message in a bottle and put it afloat in a public fountain.
• Try to go to sleep with your eyes open.
• For a week or so switch one of your house plants with one of your friend’s house plants. Consider this a vacation for the house plants.
• Make a flyer that advertises yourself as a walking partner. Put the flyers up in your city. Go on walks with the people who contact you. On the flier, do not overthink the text. Make it look like a street flyer with to the point sentences. Cheesy writing is good.
• Sleep

Please, check it out. And try to do the stuff he says, everything seems so incredible!

Miss Sofia