it's done through secret santa software (lol) because that is the only/best way to do such things at scale; so the way it works when you sign up is you get one person to write to first, and another person gets you...so two pen pals for one sign-up (more bang for your zero bucks)
the site says "you are giving a gift to" once you are matched but the gift is really just a letter....unless you want to send chocolates or cheeses or wildflower seeds or whatever other big gestures some people had made. but really a postcard is enough!
your address is totally private except to the person who gets you as a match; also you can "mark as sent" once you put something in the mail so your person knows to expect something regardless of the USPS being slowwwww at the moment
right now the default setting is that you could end up with someone international; if this is an issue for you, send me a DM and we can work it out. on the same note, if you get a domestic match and want an additional intl person, i can do that. DM me.
i'm running this thing on nights and weekends so i promise i'll get to all your messages! just may take me a day or two. meanwhile, check/post to the #penpalooza tag for stationary inspo, updates from others who have gotten letters etc. it's a little mail gang at this point.
if after 2 weeks or so you don't get a letter, shoot me a message - i'll try to give you an additional pairing so you can keep writing. thanks to everyone for getting into this very silly thing in a very dark time. i'm leaving the exchange open for the rest of the year.
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i don't want to tell you how to live but this is the perfect weather in which to begin the eight part pbs documentary about nyc
episodes 3 and 5 are the real bangers but lately i have a soft spot for episode one and the ways it digs into how terrible lord cornbury was at everything
i do love that he went in drag to his official portrait sitting
ok doing a flash perfume genie while this site still exists. here's how you play: tell me a specific memory or feeling you want to evoke (the more specific the more likely you will be to get a reply!). i'll find you a perfume sample to evoke it. ok go.
again just "woodsy" or "fresh" or "happy" isn't going to help me as much as specific places, photographs, scenes from movies or novels you wish you were in, time periods, vibes
need to take a break here but i'll be back if you drop your requests?
something a mentor of mine once told me that i will pass along: a great way to stay curious/stretch yourself into something new is to pick a new-to-you obsession every season -- can be a word, a genre, an actor, a color, a place -- and curate your own little festival around it
and suddenly you start to refract the world around that thing -- so if you pick, say, opera, or F1 racing, or emily dickinson, or diana ross, or ANYTHING + start reading books about it + listening to podcasts/albums + doing double-feature movie nites new patterns will emerge
and suddenly the world is bigger and more open to you than you imagined, because things you didn't even expect have resonance just because you are trying to shove them into your seasonal obsession; you start to see connections that weren't there before. anyways!
Had never seen Magnolia so watched it last night and a) it rules b) julianne moore’s best performance maybe???? c) pta was 29 when he made it….what have I done with my life
also melora walters should have an oscar and so should tom also when donnie said “I have a lot of love to give I just don’t know where to put it” I cried
learning that Aimee Mann lost the best song Oscar the year she wrote “Save Me” to a song from Tarzan ruined my day