So I had this idea last night as I was writing letters.  I actually write real handwritten letters to people all summer because when I am at camp it really seems like the thing to do.  That mentality probably comes from when I was a camper and the only form of communication that we had was letters.  I like writing, and writing letters at the end of the day is a great way to decompress (especially after a day like today).

I suppose though, that you are wondering what the idea actually is.  Along with writing letters I also like to get mail, also, the walls of my cabin are kind of bare.  So, I thought that I would put out a proposal for post cards.  I don’t really know how many people read my blog, but if any of you out there write me a postcard from wherever you live or are spending your summer then I will send you back a nice handwritten postcard from Maine or New Hampshire.  I will even sweeten the offer and say that if you write more than one postcard this summer I will send you back more than one.

Now I suppose you are going to ask why I would do this.  As I said, I like to write and I am happy to write to anyone who writes to me.  I also think that writing by hand is a dying art and I would like to keep it alive for as long as possible.  It is also fun to get mail from other places.  This certainly is not the most expensive of summer opportunities and it is cool to get neat post cards.  Maybe if I get postcards from any of you I will scan them and post them on my blog.

If you want to send me a postcard and participate in my summer postcard swap, you can find my address below.  I made it a graphic just for a little sense of security.  Of course, in order to write you back I will need your address, and I figure the best way to do that is to either email me or use my contact form here.  If you don’t care then i suppose you could just leave your address in a comment.  In any event, let’s have some fun with this!

So, I have seen on a few of the blogs that I read that people are participating in Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop.  Basically, the idea is that she posts a set of prompts and people pick one or more to write about and then post their links on her site.  It has been something that I have thought about trying, and just have not got around to it.  So, now I am getting around to it and I think it will be fun, plus it will also give anyone reading my blog a little more insight into me.  So, from this weeks prompts, I chose number two: “What book captured your heart? Write about why the first book you loved is the first book you loved.”

I think the book that captured my heart was The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.  It is the first part of the His Dark Materials trilogy, which is also my favorite series of books ever.  I first picked up the original hard cover edition of The Golden Compass after reading a review that had been cut out of the newspaper and was posted on the end of a shelf at the Borders in the Atrium Mall in Newton, MA.  I think that it is amazing that I remember that much detail, but i can’t remember who I was at the bookstore with, though I think that it was my grandmother.  Needless to say, I picked up the book very close to when it was released in 1995.

I remember the first time that I opened up the book to start reading it.  I felt like I was a little over my head and only a few pages in I was lost and couldn’t figure out what was going on.  I mean, I was only 11 at the time.  So, I put the book down for a while.  however, when I came back to it later on I was completely sucked into the story.  I have always been a fan of sci-fi/fantasy books and this story was no exception.

I am not even really sure what it is about the book that really sucked me in.  This is one of those stories that I really let take over my world.  This was a story that I could see all of the events unfolding in my head like they were real or a movie in my mind.  I would read into the night, lying in bed and then I would fall asleep thinking of all the things going on in the world of the story.  Sometimes I would even fall asleep making up my own stories that included me in the story.

Then, while I was in college, there was a fire at my parent’s house.  The biggest loss (aside from the back of the house) was books.  I think I lost the entire series.  So, my girlfriend at the time bought me a new set of the entire series as a birthday gift the year after the fire.  So of course I had to re-read the entire series.  I also picked up the audio books of the series to listen to.  Every time I re-read or listen to these books I get more out of the story or I uncover something that I haven’t noticed before.

These stories touch on so many different themes and ideas.  Pullman creates such an amazing world and characters that I think both children and adults can relate to.  Whenever people ask me for a book to read, The Golden Compass is the first one that I suggest.  Most of the time I don’t even really tell people what the book is about.  Some of the themes in the books may be a little edgy for some people, but I hope that people can can get over that and really enjoy the adventure.

This is a book that I go back to whenever I can’t find something new to read.  It sits in a prominent place on my shelf, and probably will always be my favorite book and one of the only books that I can really say that I love.

As I understand it, blogging is a two way street.  While sure, I have to write something that other people might want to read, it helps if I read what other people have to say.  Frankly, reading other blogs is probably a lot more interesting than reading the newspaper every day. You can probably get the same amount of world news by reading the right blogs every day as well, you just get more biased viewpoints, which is probably not a bad thing.  I mean, the newspapers and media agencies all have their own slant, especially here in Salt Lake City!

There have been a few blogs that I have been following for a while but I wanted to figure out how I could expand who I was reading and then maybe expand who found me.  It really is a strange fascination that many of us have in wanting other people to read what we write.  I mean, sometimes I wonder if I really have something to say that anyone cares about.  It isn’t like anyone listens to me at work, I have been here for four years and sometimes I wonder who notices!

The three blogs that I have been reading regularly are: Photofocus by Scott Bourne, MonsteRawr by Stephanie Van Sandt, and Youngest Around by Jessica Watson.  Photofocus is a great read for photographers with lots of interesting and useful information.  MonsteRawr is just a firend of mine who I met through ControlBooth.com, and Youngest Around is Jessica’s blog documenting her solo circumnavigation sailing adventure.  Also I have recently started to read Jim on Light as we have started to have some interactions on Twitter.