formspring.me

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/ScrtSolstice

PICTURES!

All of the pictures on my blog were taken with a higher quality Canon camera,
if they are a bit weird looking being this small then please click on them and they will open in a window and you can zoom in or out as you please =)

Been Awhile

Well we have pushed our way up to postcard #29.. but not as far as posting.
So here is a mass post.

Postcard 18!


You will no doubt recognize this one as being from our Mystery Pal - whom I think I am closing in on. Another hint but this time a receipt, which narrows down our search area a little bit.

Postcard 19!


Number 19 is actually from a friend of my other half's named Jordan. He said he would take two and see where they led him and here it is so far. We can only imagine what number two will bring us =)

Postcard 20!




Postcard 21!



Postcard 22!


Postcard 23!



The four above me are all from my lovely friend Tate and his brothers =)
I think they may have just fought over them until they were covered in various colours and a big splash but who knows!

I trust that you can tell front from back. =)

And I will take pictures of the newly arrived and post them as soon as I can!
A big thanks to all who have participated so far, and if you want to then please send in more!

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

SERIOUSLY!
JUST
HAD
AN
EPIPHANY
OF
WHO
THE
MYSTERY
POSTCARD-ER
IS!

Another One....

So of course I had already altered the images so that the water mark was present....
Sorry Marla, I will definitely tune it down for the next batch.

I am hoping to post 60 billion cards... not really.
a) Id need to have that many sent in
b) that would be a lot of work.

On the flipside though I am being published again! Woohoo. In a Canadian Poetry anthology which is very cool I think.

Ok back into postcards.

Postcard number 17:

Back


Front


Aha, this postcard is pretty awesome. I know you can't tell very well but that black squiggly line is not drawn on but instead cut out. Which freaked me out when I saw it because I was very tired and I had no idea how it worked... which of course seems so obvious now.
I actually looked up this quote and read the interview/piece it was on... I encourage you to go read it.. if your into that sort of thing.. you can find it here: http://thesixohfour.com/2006/05/14/sherwin-tija/

Ok I need to post this, make apple cider, set up bones, post again, and got to work early so that I can photocopy everything I am sending out in the mail for scholarships.

=)

The day that is today and not tomorrow

So after a few days of being MIA, a death, and most recently a funeral, I have realized that I have not a) posted on here, or b) checked my post box in sometime.
So I am beating the evil that is procrastination and am typing this five seconds after I realized my absence. As for the post box... who knows if I will get to that today. There is so much to do!

And Im not kidding.

First meeting of brownies is tonight.

Which means meeting new parents, prospective brownies and giving off the best impression you ever could to ensure that they like you! I have heard from a fair few that I am an extremely lovable leader but never the less I need to make sure that the new batch loves me just as much.

So I went through the normal making yourself feel good routines: shower, fancy bath gel, cut nails, blow dried my hair

>.> EGADS
I never blow dry my hair for those that know me because it takes about an hour to two hours and it is quite a pain!

And am now sitting... ready for brownies... about 4 hours in advanced.
Still I need to pack up the van with all my glorious wonders.
Pick up the news letters.
Load more boxes into the van.
Cut some sheets.
Drive around.
Get to building early.
Switch out keys apparently.
Set up.. and by set up I mean take down the twenty tables they have set up.
And nervously wait hoping that they like us. =)

Oh! and Im having lunch with Alex at Three!
Almost there I dare say.

I suppose I will now go move the van and bring it closer to the house so I may pack it up with craft junk =) How I love craft junk.

Best Wishes! And I will update more postcards as soon as I can! Maybe tonight... although not likely.

-Amy

Further More

So we have cards 1-14 now up here and we still need pictures of the next ten.
Hey, who knows, maybe there will be ten more by the time I post all of these and have poems written, or maybe there will be ten on Friday when I go to check the mailbox.

So send away my friends, and until then here are the rest of the posse. As always, if there is only one side it is because the other had nothing written or drawn on it =)

Postcard #15
Here is the Front:

And Here is the back:


Postcard number fifteen comes from one of my fellow Staples employees, and good friend Christina. You can read her little jitter above and comment or you can read her jitter and be inspired to send your own, whatever works for you... maybe the second one. =)
Thanks Christina!

Postcard #16 is up next,
Here is the Front:


And here is the back:

Postcard number sixteen comes from an unknown source willing to help out! Woohoo unknown source you rock and thank-you for taking the time to send in a card. We have had anonymous cards sent in before but let me tell you that these cards are the best ones because I did not have to personally shake your hand and ask, they are handmade, and I did not have to harass you at work to send one in. So three cheers!

Id also like to set your focus to the front of the card, the opposite side the address is on.
If you look at the bottom of the card there are two.. perhaps... audio tapes.. that include masturbation in the title..... not sure how I feel about this particular poem yet... soon.

The Cards of Barry Alderidge

Barry Alderidge, one of the greatest youtubers from the UK and here he is sending me postcards for a little poetry craze. Pretty excellent if you are on my end, I hope he had a good time filling out cards because the ones he sent are definitely thought provoking. Despite being simple sentences these lines become wells of memories and concepts. All of this from a little collection of letters.
So here are the first few, the ones that have arrived as I am thinking that the post service may have lost a few of these little things I call cards.

Postcard 11


Postcard 12


Postcard 13


Postcard 14

Mounds of Cards!

Apparently the week I don't check my mail box is the week that I get dozens of cards!
Well not really dozens.
Just a dozen!

A dozen of cards sent in sometime in the week I was on holidays. Some are local and some are from out of the country and I will have an updated list probably after I calculate them all. So..

Oh we now have 24 cards... almost a quarter of my goal! Woohoo!
I now have:

• almost all of Tate/Venture Kids/Eli's cards! 5/8
• Barry! 4/10
• SaithJC 4/10

And Thats it... A bunch of random ones that were hand made, and a few people who have sent in one or two of their cards. Send them in! Send them all!

Here is postcard number 9




And Postcard number 10



Both are from the collection that was sent to Tennessee!


Hold onto your panties! Don't get the knickers in a knot

Because There will be TONS of posts at this point!
Woohoo, multi post.
Here we go!

-A

AUGUST!

So today I went to the post box,
as I realized that I did not check on my usual day,
which is of course yesterday,
Anyways,
So I went there today at my usual time of late at night...
thankfully Pharmasave is open 24 hours
so I can check my postbox and whatever time gives me jollies

anyways!
I got tons of cards in the mail today! I am talking like a plethora!

I got four cards from the wonderful Barry Alderidge, real name no gimicks!
(Hows it hanging people!)
And it looks like he had to add a bit of postage onto them.. thats odd!
Sorry Barry! I was told that that was enough!

I also got one from one of my local workies.
Thats Work and Buddies put together. =)
It is a copy of a postcard from Italy!

So stoked for these new ones,
and I also managed to hand out more postcards
about 20 or so, and I started a facebook group so
lots of them should be coming in soon!

Keep you posted =)

Post Card Three - Poem!

So I am catching up on all of my typing up!
Woohoo!

The third postcard to arrive was a little diddy from Canada somewhere.
As it is an anonymous handmade note.

The way it is shaped, my guess is that the individual wrote a letter on a loose leaf piece of paper and cut a square out, glued it on a spare piece of box that happened to represent how they felt, and mailed it my way. Which has a lot of thought put into it!

The gyst of what the postcard is saying is that the person doesn't want to move and wants to be around something to love them as much as possible. It also dictates what appears to be some sort of desired affair with a manager... at least that is what I got from it. Here's the postcard typed up:

"he really wants to come ou....
family but I dunno... I don....
move out. I don't think thats....
I need to be around my....
to love them the way I....
need to be the person I....
and should be. P.S. ....
on my manager at....
He has a wife. I wa....
I feel so badly but....
Who is looking to me....
telling me things tha....
be told by an older....
I like the special att....
I am so totally wer...."

See where I got all my ideas from? And the picture on the back is that of a person with their tongue to a frosted pole. So essentially they are stuck.
Bah. Starting to get tired, better type this up quick.

It is written in a Literary Ode similar to that of a Keats. Being that I have never been a very good titler... for the time being this one is called

Purple Slivers Green

Oh what a dilemma
stands before me in mourning
the consequences rise from the mud
which enhoused my conspiracy

Oh what a dilemma of heart
through the violence torn
full of love but bitterness
and yet it is done

I see light in conspiracy
with a hope but silent fear
A fading flower from anothe rblooms
stronger within a death

I met him as a humbled slave
full with others though unquestioned
above me fell in all status
tied with words to another

meetings in back halls
rooms and dark hearts
mind filled with eager lust
burning with sweetness

his words filled with wisdom
I see nothing but owls
through flying hearts
and beating secrets

he sees me despite
attachments blockade us
though heart feels mourning
guilt clouds over all

"I love thee" fills my thoughts
swirls of daunt raised
pining to move forward
cumbersome to be nothing honest

here he sticks me
stuck to ice
though heart melts with burn
mind is uneased

I see a lighter shade of cold
the darker side lusting
drawn by secrets
and lulled with emotion

coming out to release
never beating on
a lust to hold me
stuck though me with icicles

wishes keep me to him
hopes which are dastardly
unlikely to fruition
desire sings solely through birds.

La fin.
June 29 2010 - 11:58pm



Bam another one bites the dust.
And another one down
And another one down.
Go Odn ight

I have just finished two more!

Two more poems have been completed!
I now have postcards 1-6 poemized! 4 to go... and just imagine if I had received them all back already! Oh Dear!

Poem for Postcard 4 is a Sonnet about my lovely province
Poem for Postcard 5 is an acrostic of sorts
Poem for Postcard 6 is back to the basics =)

Here is the lovely postcard 5 which is again handmade, from Canada, and from our mystery sender with the fishes.



Postcard number 6 is a postcard all the way from New Zealand! From Jared Campbell, who wants to travel here which is so funny because I almost went to New Zealand this summer because I have a hankering to go there! I added the picture of the back because you can see the New Zealand postmark across the top right.




Postcard number 7 is back to being from the stash sent to Tennesse! Which, at the moment, is the batch that has sent the most back! This one has a cool We Are Nashville slogan and almost shameless self advertising (Heart)




Postcard number 8 is again from Tennesse and this time depicts more of the hand drawn suit. I did not take a picture of the back as there was nothing, and not even the stamp had been marked so I suppose I could reuse it =)



More postcards uploaded tomorrow!
I promise! But for now it is now 4 in the morning and I need to sleep before I get to drive Alex to work... as I need the van!

ttfn =)

Post Card Two - Poem!

Not entirely sure at the moment why it has taken me so long to get anything posted on this blog, or even any of my channels at the moment but I am here just the same and mass updating because it is way too early and I cant sleep. Holy Giant Sentence.
2 am, Alex is sleep talking, way too hot to sleep.

So since it has been awhile,
the second postcard to arrive was the card with the... hold on let me check...
ok it was the postcard with the picture of clue the board game and the first in what I assumed would be a long string of postcards but I have only seen two.
My guess from the writing is that it is someone I went to highschool with.
Which really doesn't limit it, but I recognize the writing.
And it only has one stamp which means Canadian.

So I attempted a free verse... which is terrible because I tend to lack real structure with my free verse poems as you may or may not notice below. So here it goes!

(Untitled as of yet)
Little fishes driving your soul
guiding you to your pond and goal

little mysteries building you up piece by piece
never letting you give up on your lease

little bits of Canada fueling your identity
pushing you onwards to attempt telepathy

little tiny bits that make up who you are
a friend, known, loved, and a star.

-June 21st, 2pm

Not sure why I rhymed either but as I reread I am both laughing at its corniness and repeating it in my brain to a semi limerick tune. do do do do. almost catchy.

HAPPY HEARTATTACK

I FOUND IT

My postcard keeper that tells me when everything came in and left and woogoooo!!
Thank-you external harddrive that I thought I backed everything up on and I didn't check until this moment. =)

Minor Heartattack

So I had a heart attack because I lost this stupid USB.
Then I just found it while grabbing my book, thus inducing a minor heart attack
then I opened the usb only to find that I had erased everything off for pictures.
Again heart attack.
But then I remembered that I had everything from my Kingston on my desktop (the computer Im on)'s desktop so I of course had a heart attack.
And then when I opened it I saw that there was nothing in that file that had anything to do with postcards.
Also heart attack.
Needless to say the lack of intelligence in this situation prompted me to check my other usb and of course there was a file that said postcards!
Surprise Heart attack!
The file contains postcards of old courthouses that I scanned for an elderly gentleman and I thought they were so intriguing I may be able to use them.
Sad Heart Attack.

Needless to say I am back to square one.
And now thanks to my minor heart attacks I now have to go to work.
No postcards till later. Sorry.

=)
But there are ten.
I did take pictures.
Ten total. so minus the four or five I already posted...
aha.

Update

So I seem to have lost my usb that had all of my postcard information on it,
good thing I backed up my pictures on my computer,
but the idiot in me did not back up my postcard counter.
Which basically was this handy little excel spreadsheet I made for all the postcards and when they came in.
Of course.

In any case. I am now up to a running total of 10 postcards....
wait...
Arent I suppose to have a hundred by now.
I think so!

So I think frantic post on facebook may do it... I dont know.
I will have pictures of the newer ones up till now.
AND
I will be posting poems after this post
so ... now.
Good
Glad we had this talk.

Ciao.

Post Script.

You should know that I also received three more cards this week!
One from New Zealand, and two from Tennessee!

Poem 2 is free verse,
poem 3 is an ode based around a Keats
and poem four is so far a sonnet

Stay Tuned Loved OneS!
-A

Post Card One - Poem!

So for the first postcard it was decided that a long poem was necessary so I wrote a sestina... keep in mind that it is my first poem since my writer's block... and partially still in writer's block.

For those that don't know a Sestina is a poem that has 7 stanza. The first six each have six lines and each of the lines ends with a specific word. As the poem moves on the last words rotate until every word has been at the end of every line. From here in the last stanza the first two are used in the first line, the second two in the next, and the last two in the third. You will understand my wording better when you read the poem. I pulled my six words from the postcard itself: diner, celebration(s), self, birthday(s), question(s), coffee. These words can be in any tense and singular or plural.

This one is entitled: New Hampshire Nights
(which is a play on Never Winter Nights for those nerds out there like me =] )

Sitting in a small American no name late night diner
with thoughts of a plethora of celebrations
ones that signify the magic of yourself
and events to revolve around birthdays
all of which, in myself, spark questions
that swirl amongst my cold dreads of coffee

Those dreads are there for all celebrations
even those that remind you to love yourself
they are present even for the birthdays
even those that spark the questions
of whether or not you should leave it as coffee
no parties but instead just an empty diner

But whether you are with others or by your self
even the oldest celebrated birthdays
shouldn't have a limit or be questioned
these feats of age shouldn't just be left to coffee
unless that is your heart - but why settle for a diner
when you could be surrounded by love and celebration

these days the best ones are the oldest birthdays
as you begin to answer life's greatest questions
through the answers swirling in all of that drunk coffee
or odd flavors from those lonesome diners
either way the night should be a celebration
one which, at any age, makes you again love your self

There is no real question
towards which age you just shut up and drink coffee
no age where your only excitement is a diner
everyday for any age should be a celebration
no matter what age you should always be true to yourself
and celebrate in any style all of your birthdays

of course if you prefer the silent dreads of coffee
or the calm of a late night diner
to the real loving excitement of celebrations
then stick with it and be true to your self
but be happy with any age birthday
for you have made it through another year without question

so even if a diner is your idea of a real celebration
be happy with yourself and your next milestone or not birthday
because even if you question it, you're always love by more than the dreads of daily coffee

-Fin
Completed End of May.
Edited Today June 29

There it is! Woot... =)
I have the second and third done too but need time to edit.

Best Wishes (Airplanes or otherwise)
-A

New Postcards have arrived~

Postcards 2 and 3 and 4 have arrived...
well the second and third and fourth ones to arrive have arrived.

One was sent in locally from one of the postcards that I handed out to a friend from work
See his handy work here:





And the other two came in mysteriously.... hand made from home not a part of my jazz!
Stoked for these two.

Here is one with a part of a note of some sort...


And the back:



And here is the other with CLUE!



Clue came in second, the piece of a note came in third, and BC in fourth.
So we are well on our way through the madness and I have completed the Sestina for postcard 1
Congratulations we are off to a great start!
Now I just need to write more.

(June 21: Pictures Up!)

ITS HERE!

It is here! The first postcard to come back has arrive only a few days ago and it is here and ready for posting this very minute.
It is Postcard #51, which is one of zottepark's, and it came from New Hampshire, USA.

I am please to bring you pictures of the front and back:


This is the Front and it is some handwriting and a coffee stain.
=) It says:

"Celebrate Yourself! Love Yourself! Sitting in a small diner in Bradford, NH. Thinking of the weekend's birthday celebrations. Are birthdays only for the young? why are adults left out even when they are people and love ones around? Do adults need special requests for birthdays? I can dwell on the questions or I can move past to positivity. So when it comes to birthdays for adults love yourself enough to celebrate (Coffee stain!) and ask for what you deserve!"

Here is the back, which kind of just has a doodle on it:



And here is a picture of the beginning of the poem which should be up in a few days. I have decided that it will be a Sestina. The first deserves a longer form of poetry.



Like my Watermark image?
I knew you would. =D

The Template!

Because technically it is the next day, and that wouldnt be nearly as sad posting two days in a row as it would be two posts in one day!

Anyways!
AS PROMISED!

Here is the template for the postcards in a pdf format.
They should be printed on a thicker paper if you can manage it, and preferably cut down to roughly 4.5 by 6 inches. Give a few I mean whatever you feel is best. The bigger the more I have to work with. But bigger may also mean more postage.

The ones that I have printed out are printed at Staples on a 65Ibs cardstock in black and white, trimmed out to the above proportions. Nothing fancy... if you want to print in colour by all means.
Where I live it is .10 cents a page black and white, plus .07 cents for 65Ibs. paper. With a rough cost of .17 cents for two cards. I trim them out myself and there is no rush on printing... some stores may have express pricing so please do not assume your Staples or any other local print shop will have the same prices as above. It may even work out cheaper for you to print at home I don't know. I am not a price expert.

Download Postcards.pdf from FileFactory.com

The link above will take you to a site, scroll to the bottom and click download with basic or what have you. Then it takes about 30 seconds and gives you the button to click to download. Lots of ads and what not but just ignore them they don't insist on you clicking on anything. If anyone knows of a site that hosts without the hassel of an obnoxious countdown on the top then let me know, until then just follow those directions. =)

Nothing As Of Yet

The title says it all.
Although nothing has come through the mail to me yet, I am not regretting spending money on a post box. Nope Not at All.

But switching topics!
The Habs won today in Game 7 in the most unlikely upset I have seen in a number of year.
First the Habs raced past Ovechkin and his Capitals.... something that no one expected given that the Canadians were much lower in the standings compared to Ovie. But they prevailed and they beat the Capitals in game seven, moving on to go against Crosby and his penguins. Of course no one expected last year's Stanely Cup Champions to fall to a team that is supposedly worse than them. but the Habs came back! And beat the Penguins in game seven by an upset of 5 to 2!
And we all know that when in doubt of your Canadian Team.... like mine... the Canucks who lost again and will not be passing round 2, you always cheer for the next Canadian Team!
So Woooohooo Habs!

I love my Canucks don't get me wrong but if the Habs get through then Im all for them.
They tried hard my Canucks, but a fair bit of injuries occurred so no worries my Canucks <3 There is always next year.

Hopefully I dont have to wait till next year for some mail!

Bon Voyage!

So the postcards have started their journeys!
I have sent ten to some of the best and creative vloggers:

• BarryAlderidge
• LaughItsGoodForYou
  
• MattNebula
  
• outofthedark
• SaithJC
• zottepark

And sent invites to the best to push my postcards so hopefully we will be receiving some soon.
They are already going around the world, now they just have to make their way back to good
old Canada. Well... outofthedark isn't out of the country, just a handful of hours away but I mean... the postcard still has to travel!

So I have postcards 80 or so 120 still available for Canadian Postage.
I have sent out as much as I can out of the continent but I may be able to swing some US.
I can send you the postcards... just not guarantee that the postage for the return will be paid.

Or You can also send me a postcard, made by yourself or from anywhere to the great Post Box that I have acquired:

P.O. Box 21032
Orchard Park P.O.L.
Kelowna, BC, V1Y 9N8

Welsh, I am going to go back to watching the worlds most painful and corniest Gossip Girl episode and we shall chat later, hopefully with my first postcard!

Ciao!

The Project

Here's how this is going to play out
-At least the way I think it is suppose to

So I have printed around 200 post cards
the
first 150 will come with paid postage
They all depict the same information on the back
which tells you what to do.
Basically the front of the postcard where there would normally be a picture is completely blank, this is the area for you to put whatever your heart contends. Similar to Post Secret only with that you wrote secrets, this can be anything. Doodles, drawings, poems, notes. Anything.
There is also a spot on the back for anything else you wish to add.
But personal information is not allowed. If you want you can put your state, or country but no names, addresses, ages, etc. All of that does not matter and I do not need to know. These postcards are to serve me as imagination of sorts. I have had writer's block for awhile now and haven' had any creative way to think until now!
For each postcard that comes in I will be writing a poem. Hopefully by the end of the summer I will have a book full of poems.
Of course this is your choice to send me your postcard and once the postcard passes into my postal box it becomes mine to use. You dont have to send me your drawings, but in the even that you do not fee like doing the postcard please pass it on to someone else. =) I would like at least 100 post cards back. For 100 poems, and 100 thoughts.