Postcard Joy

Oh, joy! Been truly busy lately, but there are small, wonderful things that made me blissfully happy these days. Among pens, paper and inks, these firetruck postcards from postcrosser Milan of Czech Republic gave me a long needed woot!

The first firetruck card was sent to me through Posctcrossing. I then sent him a message to ask if there are more from his place and he said yes, indeed, there are four more. And he sent the four to me, complete with lovely bird stamps. I'm one lucky person to have so many kind friends who send postcards, buy inks, paper and donate pens -- all for friendship's sake.

Ah, joy! While buried in so many things right now -- some are good and some are not-so good -- I have a wide, sweet, content smile on my lips. For these small things are what make me feel that in my life, I really must have done something good. *Wink.*

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Postcard Fun/Joy

These postcards made my day today. Imagine my joy when I got these from our mailbox this morning? Thank you, Pirjo and Long.

The first postcard is a Kaj Stenvall reproduction of a 1993 piece titled, "Whose Move?". I've received a lot of postcards from Finland since I started Postcrossing, but I never did get the chance to receive any of these must-have cards. This is my first Kaj Stenvall, I hope to get more. *Wink.*


This second card is from Taiwan, and it is very, very special. I have always loved bridges, and I have always wished someone from the USA will send me a photo of the San Francisco Bridge. This one, after all, belongs to the holy grails of my postcard collection. It came in an envelope, and though that was an early disappointment, seeing the postcard took all of that away. Add to that the fact that this American postcard, printed in Korea, brought to Taiwan, and mailed from there to reach me here in RP is just so interesting.

Who says that small things cannot bring joy and happines into one's life? Fools. These small joys are enough to last me through the week rowing and paddling away in deadlines, presentations, proofs, and other bigger things that make life dreadful. *Wink.*

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Christmas Came Early

Last Friday (and all Fridays, that is) was a terrible day for me. I had to beat deadlines, read references for my new writing assignments, finish 14 country maps for a book I'm designing, and process the never-ending subscription requests for the mailing list I manage. I was also feeling very lethargic, something that's been frequently happening lately.

I went to the cafeteria for a needed caffeine boost when I happened to pass by the Mail Room. I got all the mails from our slot, and whoa, I immediately spotted two postcards for me: one from Germany and another from Finland. I scanned the envelopes, and realized there's a big one for me. Oh, boy. It is postmarked Rogaska Slatina and I knew where it came from. Oh. My. God.

I went inside the cafeteria and carefully opened the envelope. Inside is an Oxford Activebook notebook and beatiful postcards from Slovenia. The notebook was sent to me by Robert Reich, a kind and thoughtful fellow I met through postcrossing.com sometime in March. When I requested an address to send a postcard to, I randomly got his name and sent him a postcard. His message to me when he got the postcard said that he is a photographer and graphics designer in Slovenia. He also said he'd be glad to send me a notebook from his country. After exchanging several emails, I gave him my mailing address, and here is the notebook now, along with printed postcards showing his photographs.

ActiveBook in orange. It is so wanting of an orange companion. An orange Lamy Safari, maybe?

Great notebook! Now I'm thinking of what to use it for. But for now it's safe at home, among other notebooks I have received from kind friends. I cannot thank you enough for your kindness, Robert! Hugs to you!

When I went back to my office refreshed, excited, and ecstatic over my new notebook and postcards, a fellow fountain pen collector has just sent a message to our group about a shop she spotted in Parañaque selling Lamy pens. The group later agreed to do a Lamy pen meet on May 23rd, another Saturday, but which I cannot attend, for a more pressing reason. I sent a desperate message to the group for someone to please buy me any white pen. To my surprise, my friend emailed me and said she'll give me one storm-trooper pen because she got five of them and she'd be happy to give it to someone who's 'really into it'. Huwow!!! She sent it to our Makati Office and voila! the pen was delivered post haste to Los Baños in a matter of hours.

The box was inside a bigger box which I tore off as fast as I could.

Inside the Lamy box: pen, converter, a box of ink cartridges. The package also included a small notepad with cream colored paper that is ultra friendly to fountain pen writing!

My storm trooper pen. Another white pen in the throve. :) Finally. I have one. Courtesy of a kind friend who let go of it just so I could have one. I owe you one, May!

It's not everyday that I get gifts like this, but when I do, it feels like Christmas morning all over again. Now all I need is a cup of hot chocolate and a plate of suman, and I'm all set. *Wink.*

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Lights and Snow

Great! Today I got my first postcard from Finland with a photo of the Northern lights, more popularly known as Aurora borealis. It's beautiful and I'm ecstatic over today's postcards, because I also got one from China. *Wink.*

Here's the one from Finland:

And here's the one from China:

The sender said the postcard reads "The Winter Solstice: It means cold winter is coming." Postcrossing is truly enjoyable. I get postcards with beautiful stamps, I meet friends from all over the globe, and I get to use my fountain pens when I write to them. Cool!

To view my postcards, visit my postcard wall at Postcrossing.com, or click on this link: http://www.postcrossing.com/user/diarcher/gallery

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Postcrossing Madness

[26 February UPDATE]

My first postcard arrived in the mail today!

This postcard is from Torino, Italy and features one of the Royal Residences when Turin was still the capital city. I couldn't believe it when I saw this postcard. Truly, Postcrossing works!!!

[24 February]

My postcards have arrived! Hurray!!! I sent my first batch of five postcards last February 10 and as of today, three have already reached their recipients. I requested and sent to new recipients in Germany and the UK. Whew! I'm excited to receive my first postcards now that I've become eligible to get them, too. And oh, a friend came home from Jordan recently and brought me a bunch of postcards! Now I need an album for all these... *Wink.*

A screenshot of my Postcrossing page.

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Postcrossing

A friend from Fountain Pen Network - Philippines recently introduced me to my new passion: Postcrossing. Postcrossing is a project that allows anyone to exchange real postcards (not electronic) from anywhere in the world that can be reached by postal mail. As a start, one must register in their website, postcrossing.com. Once registered, a user can request for a maximum of five addresses (postcard recipients) from Postcrossing's member database. Each address has a unique code for identification later on. The user then mails the postcards. As soon as the recipients get the postcards, they will register the code in the system to signify that they have already received it. The new user then becomes eligible to receive his/her own postcards from other Postrossing members. Easy, right?

I never thought I'd spend more than a hundred pesos (~$2) in postcards. But because of this exciting project, B and I trooped to the nearest NBS last Saturday and picked a couple of postcards. I mailed my first batch of five this morning, and they're going to Belgium, Finland, Germany, Russia, and the USA. Oh, how exciting it is to send postcards to complete strangers from faraway countries, and later, to receive the ones sent to me by other members too.

The first batch of postcards I mailed today.

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