Love and excitement for the International Geek Girls Pen Pal Club

Boy oh boy am I every excited about this one folks! This is one of those things that happens every so often in the Land of Internet that perfectly demonstrates why I love social media and it combines two of my favourite things! Snail Mail and Geekery!

Emily Farqueharson and Darling Stewie founded the International Geek Girls Pen Pal Club. Any ladies over the age of thirteen can take part. When signing-up, you indicate what your top five geek loves (are you a Whovian? a Trekkie? a lover of all things Sailor Moon? or maybe the Lord of the Rings is more your thing), then Farqueharson and Darling Stewie will match you up with a fellow Lady Geek and you will both exchange post!  I believe there's a geek in all of us - the fun and imaginative part of us.

There's also good news and bad news - this is the project's first run, so unfortunately a limit of 1,000 people had to be set and it's been met.  The limit of 1,000 people was reached within a mere 3 days - 9 days before the sign-up limit date of April 1st! Fantastic!! And if you didn't manage to sign-up this time, despair not! They are going to do it again!

And who says regular post is dead? In my experience, a great deal of people still love receiving "real" mail from their friends and family. I know I keep a box of my correspondence and value it as much as any other treasures. Whenever I've lived (as I do now) in a province away from my family, my mother's always sent me a letter every week or so and it's special in a way that's different to phone calls, text messages or emails. I've also exchange post cards with fellow Tweeps, and just the other day a good friend of mine sent me a text message saying, "I've just sent you a letter - I'm feeling Jane Austen-y."

So there you go! Make sure to sign up on the second round of the International Geek Girls Pen Pal Club if you can and have fun!

Us girls have to stick together ;)

Lines Written in Early Spring

I heard a thousand blended notes,

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,

The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;

And ’tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,

Their thoughts I cannot measure:—

But the least motion which they made

It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,

To catch the breezy air;

And I must think, do all I can,

That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,

If such be Nature’s holy plan,

Have I not reason to lament

What man has made of man?

-William Wordsworth

1798

We are travelers

I love writing things down with pen and paper. I also love using Twitter as a way of sharing the fascinating and inspiring things I encounter throughout the day with others. Lately, I've thought about certain quotes or factoids I've shared in the past and though I know the information is still out there, I'd love to have access to these bits of information in paper form.  

For Christmas I received some beautiful notebooks from family and since then they've sat on my shelf for me to admire and dream about their future contents. Finally, I've decided that I'll begin a new journal of sorts - writing down the quotes and facts I encounter every day into these notebooks. 

To me, writing these things down is also a way of remember how spectacular life really is on a daily basis. It's so easy for the humdrum of responsibility and the pressures of everyday living to get us down and have us think that our lives are small., but by detailing what's exciting and fascinating in life we can be brought back to that utterly essential sense of curiosity and awe for the world that surrounds us. We are travelers through the universes of art, history, science, music, fashion, fauna, and film, and we should never forget this if it can be helped.