one of my projects this weekend has been getting my postcard list in order. i have this growing postcard list that i use every time i travel. the list keeps growing and growing; each year i add names and i never really take anyone off. i have been known to keep sending cards to people long after i've otherwise lost touch with them. if i completely lost track of someone on the list, i go through some trouble to find them before i leave for my trip. and if that doesn't work, i still send the cards of lost postcard list people addressed to "current resident" at their last known address. the only way the list shrinks is when two of my friends move in with one another or if i hear that someone had died.
and so the list keeps growing. two years ago (the last time i counted) there were about 120 addresses on the list. i realize at this rate some day i will spend my entire vacation in a far-off land sitting in my hotel room writing postcards. it's not that bad yet and i am a fast postcard writer. i must admit, however, that the list is getting a little long.
but i don't care. which is why i'm making this SPECIAL ONE-TIME OFFER
here's the deal: if you're not already on my postcard list and want to get a postcard from syria, email me your postal address by hitting the "harass me" button on the right. i will add the first three people who respond to this email to the syria postcard list. you don't have to give me your real name, but you do need to give me your real address (and not mind if a card arrives addressed to your pseudonym).
the fine print:
(1) people added because of the SPECIAL ONE-TIME OFFER are only guaranteed a postcard from this syria trip. i'm not gonna add them onto the list to become postcard recipients in perpetuity. i realize this means that, for the first time, my postcard list will be a class-based system, with two classes of postcard people--those who only get syrian cards and the rest who are in for life. while normally i wouldn't approve of such things, i can live with this one.
(2) by agreeing to send a postcard, i am not guaranteeing that a postcard will be received. about 1/3 of my postcards sent from uzbekistan never reached their intended recipients. you never know with third-world postal systems. so if i say i'm gonna send you one, but you never get a card from me, you're just gonna have to believe me that i did send it.
(3) i reserve the right to add some of the recipients to the permanent postcard list if i want to. so, especially if you've met me in real life, there is a danger that i might make you a postcard recipient in perpetuity and you'll be plagued with those little cards from now until the end of time, life can be hard, i know.
(4) anyone who is already on the postcard list cannot get a second card from the SPECIAL ONE-TIME OFFER.
(5) there is no guarantee that the card will be interesting, legible, or even about syria. it may, or may not, be in english. it will, however, be mailed from syria.
(6) i promise not to divulge your postal address to anyone, unless they offer a whole lot of money.
UPDATE (9/6/05, 11:56 a.m EDT): i got three takers. if you want to get on the postcard list now, your only recourse is begging and/or bribery
