Recently, my crushing loneliness and love of getting presents in the mail has driven me into the arms of Swap Bot, a website that facilitates mail exchange and letter sending partners, and most definitely NOT the name of my as yet unfinished robot lover.
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| Someday. |
I, myself, have entered into 5 swaps (5 being the limit of swaps an unrated newbie may participate in). Most are simple flat mail swaps; a bookmark exchange, a 30 minute sketch trade. A few others are small package swaps; a small stocking stuffer to open during Christmas (like I'm going to wait).
A lot of what you get depends on your partner (randomly selected and not the same person you send to; you only receive from this person) and your profile. These two criteria have presented a bit of a challenge to me. I had not anticipated the amount of middle aged, very Christian women that use the site. Please don't misunderstand me, I have nothing against religion or anything like that. I just a) don't really know what to get a person who hates basically the things I like to do (I run a voodoo doll and nightmare plushie shop in case you didn't know) and b) I really REALLY don't want holiday or Christian themed things sent to me.
I really do not care for little cherub statuettes or frames with scripture written on it. I don't want mounds of postcards with weeping Jesus in hazy clouds telling me that everything will be ok.
It is not really my style.
"But Megh," you simper in that whining voice that you can't help but communicate with when you think you've got someone in a corner, "Megh, just put it on your profile that you'd prefer not to get these things. Besides, what's so bad about getting religious themed items? They aren't hurting anyone."
They're hurting me. Not only have I gotten these things for years and years, it means that the person sending me packages is very inconsiderate about my preference.
I believe that presents should be thoughtful, letters should be undemanding and pleasant.
I got one of those very Christian women as a partner to send a stocking stuffer to.
My very first reaction to receiving my partner was "Oh! I'll make them a neat little personalized doll!
Let me look on their profile and see what they like."
"Oh."
I can say with certainty that no, they would not have liked a voodoo doll showing up in their mailbox. Did I send her a voodoo doll anyway, because it's something I like to make and I feel like people are way too serious about them? No. Would it have been hilarious to send a religious stranger who I will never meet a doll that they hold as an absolute evil? Of course. But I'm not an insensitive mule. I ended up giving her something that was on her list of wishes that I happened to have a duplicate of. I hope that when she gets it, it makes her day.
I guess that what I'm saying in the end is that you guys should give me lots of presents and send me letters so that I feel loved.
I really hope that you take that away with you after reading this post.
Stay Fan(mail)atic,
Megh
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