A day for myself

Today I've decided that, once I've got home from work, I would do only things that I love. It may sound obvious, but I so often keep busy with so many things, that I don't do my favorite things.

So, I'll read a book, write a letter, maybe play video game... and post here. :)

Want to see my mail?

Incoming

from Melanie, in the USA

from Teresa, in the USA

from Caddi, in Germany

Outgoing

to postcrossers

to Kelly, in the USA

What about you? If you had a night free to do all your favorite things, what would you do?

Does somebody want to see some mail?

Because that's what I'm showing you today. :)

Incoming

My friend Caio gave me a bunch of gingerbread men and this ugly monkey. Loved it!

This is part of Jessica's selection for me. Please note that I now have a license to kill.

More from Jessica, in Canada.

From Teresa, in the USA

From Kerri, in Australia

Outgoing

To Felicia, in Canada

To Kerri, in Australia

To Savindi, in Canada

To some fellow postcrossers

That's all for now. I'm glad that the Corpus Christi holliday game me some time to organize my mail and finally post in here. I hope I won't be so long without posting again. Have a great week everyone!

Top 5 weird spams I received

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned what an e-mail enthusiastic I am. While on a computer, I check my inbox every 10 minutes and get really excited when there's a new message. Sometimes I'm too bored to wait and start looking on my spam box, to check if there's anything interesting.

It happens that once in a while spams can be really creative or at least really weird. These are my top 5. I kept the writing as original, but removed occasional hyperlinks, just in case anyone says I'm spreading virus or something. Enjoy!

5. The Sex-Business Penpal

"Subject: I am finally became a boss
Message:
Hundreds of lovely woman will be glad to get a letter from you."

First of all, thanks for sharing your life, anonymous friend. I am happy to know that you became a boss (although your grammar is even worse than mine), but I'm really curious to know how is that related to the content of your message. Did you become a boss of a women agency? Do these women communicate by letters?! Really? Is this a spam just for snail mail lovers or what?

4. The bullying

"Hi Bárbara Prince!

You still have 0 new messages in your InterPals inbox from .

To read your messages, view your inbox."


Seriously, InterPals? Are you really telling me what a forever alone I am? Oh, thank you for your e-mail, but I bet you sent it because you don't have new messages either, do you?

3. The Eclectic

"from:     Pamela Anderson weight loss Free trial
subject: Your morning fashion and beauty report: Anne Hathaway?"

You all have to agree that this is a strategic spam. I bet everyone is interested in at least one of these topics: Pamela Anderson, losing weigh, Anne Hathaway, fashion and beauty. Aren't you? Well, me neither. But that was a nice try from them!

2. The International Relations

"Hello,
I seek your confirmation to transfer fund to your country for investment.Contact me for details.

Best Regards,
Mr. Fred Huang Ming."

Mr. Fred Huang Ming,
If you're really interested in investing on my country, I have a better idea: maybe you should contact my president! For real, man, I am a simple citizen with financial problems, you better not trust that I will invest your fund to my country. You may found out I'm not THAT much of a patriot.

1. The Adriana

"BABE... i guess your not getting any of my email huh? ive been tryign to email u so many times but this dam laptop is such a piece of garbage and keeps freezing.. anyways how u been?
In case u dont know who this is its ME Adriana.. we used to chat a bit on facebook and then I think u deleted me :( haha.. anyways guess what... I got 2 things to tell u.. both good news.. 1) im single now.. yup me and my bf broke up about 3 months ago... and 2) guess where im moving? RIGHT EFFING NEAR U.. lol... ur actually the only person im gonna know there.. [...]"

Okay, this hot(?) girl seems to think I know her and wants to be with me. Seems legit. It goes on:

"we only chatted a couple times but i remember thinking to myself i wanted to get ot know u better when i was single..a nd i thoguth u were cute too but cudnt tell u cause i wasnt single lol...ok so more info about me.. well im 23.. virgo.. love the outdoors and love to socialize, go out for drinks, restaurants, movies etc.. travel.. i have a lil kitty named BOO and i luv her to death... uhhh oh im a super horny gurl too but every gurl is they just wont admit it. so ilove watching p0rn and all that.. love sex etc blah blah blah...who doesnt.."

Ok, you started telling me about your zodiac and your cat and now you're horny. I'm still lucky that I "accidentally" got your e-mail. ~yay!

"do u have any hookups or know anybody hiring? id LOVE to work in a bar or osmehting like that...really anythgin cause my current job is fun and all.. and technically i CUD keep doign it but i want a change.. i currently work from home and well thats cool but i need ot be out meeting people.. oh wait. i dont think i ever actually told u what i did? hmm shud i......????"

No, I'm not interested.

"ok WELLLL... and dont get all weirded out on me.. i work on a webcam chat community site and i get paid to chat with people and get naked HHAHA... BOMB right :)? I KNOW.. like i figure iim horny anyways why not get paid to chat with people and play with myself heheh...anyways i hope u dont look down on that and NO THATS NOT WHY IM CONTACTING U RELAX URSELF lol... i actually need help once i move and i remembered u live there so im reaching out..."

And it goes on and on. In the end, there's a super safe link to watch Adriana naked (despite her statement that she's not writing to you because of that).
My surprise is that not only this spam is huge and has a story (is some bored writer doing this?), that it's also a multiple spam: I'd already received three other e-mails from Adriana, telling me about her life and inviting me to see her naked. Whoever is faking this is really putting some effort on it!

***

I hope this list made you laugh a little or even made you a little curious: what weird things can be on my spam inbox (except, of course, from the default things like "get it larger" and "you won the lottery")? Go check it and don't forget to turn on your firewall!

Beautiful kids

Pics of children have always been my favorites. Take a look at these two beautiful postcards that I'm lucky to have on my collection!

From my friend Ju, who went to Peru

From a private swap with a fellow postcrosser in Vietnam

Do you also like children?

My first penpal

* Yeah, I know it's been a while since my last post. I've been full of ideas for new posts, but life has been crazy lately and I've been too busy to catch up here. I hope you don't mind the dust, I'll soon clean the mess around here! *

Who was your first penpal? Do you still talk to him/her or did time separate you two?

I am lucky to tell you that my first penpal has been one of my best friends for the last 12 years!
We met through ICQ back in 2001, when I was 11 and she was 16, and started writing to each other due to a common interest: Card Captors Sakura. We've become great friends and she introduced me the pleasure of waiting everyday for the postman.

Many years had passed and Fer doesn't write letters anymore, but we always keep in touch through facebook, e-mail and celphone. She lives only a 5 hours bus trip from me, yet we only met a few times through all these years. It's always great to see her, and she's an awesome friend!

Fer and I the last time we met, on Easter

We went to a board games bar with some friends

There was an egg hunt and I got a board game as a prize!

The first letter she sent me

Some envelopes she sent me many years ago

I think it's a great luck when you find true friendship, no matter how you communicate or how far you live. And one of the joys of penpalling is to have the chance of meeting new friends anywhere.

Thank you Fer, for being there for me through all these years! I love you!

I'm back! (And so is my mail...)

It's been about two months since I last updated this blog with my correspondence. And, guess what? I'm also very late on replying my letters.
During these months I've received lots of beautiful letters, plus amazing surprises which I wasn't expecting and that made my days a lot brighter, as snail mail always does. I didn't take photos of everything, so I'm sorry if I'm not posting your letter/card. But everyone who sent me something will for sure receive a reply - even if it's a late one!

Well, to the mail now!

Incoming

from Bahar, in Turkey

from PostMuse. This was a very sweet surprise, since I had no idea she was sending me something. Plus, it's an AWESOME card.

from Laura, in the U.S.

from Eugenia, in Kazakhstan

from Frida, in the Netherlands

a giveaway prize, from Caddi (thank you SO much!)

from Joana, in Portugal

from Felicia, in Canada

from Anna, in the U.S.

Outgoing

to Shannah, in the U.S.

to Teresa, in the U.S.

to Olive, also in the U.S.!

Last but not least, this letter is my contribution to the awesome Fumi No Hi Project, which is about sending letters to people who doesn't penpal, in order to spread mail love through the world. I sent it to my friend Kassia, who lives in Rio. We've been friends online for many years, but never met in person. I hope she'll like finding this on her mailbox.

to Kassia, in Rio

São Paulo - 459 years

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil. Its 11 million inhabitants are used to crowded places, to the everyday heavy traffic and to being always in a hurry. It's a cosmopolitan city, with lots of different cultures converging on a very urban scene.

If you have ever heard of São Paulo, this is probably what they told you about it - and I can surely tell you it's true. But there's more about this city than that. On the 459th anniversary of my homeplace, I had visited one of its 63 parks and decided to share some pictures with you.

by Bruno

by Bruno

by Bruno

I always say that I'm a very urban person and that I love to live on a big city. But it's always nice to take a rest on a green area, and that is also possible in São Paulo. So, this is my tribute post to my city on it's day (which was actually 2 days ago, but I'm still enjoying the holliday!).

Happy Birthday, São Paulo!