Hello & Welcome

Feb 1, 2021

Hello & welcome to a windy day.

A casual life / hobby / style / web newsletter for fun.
Feel free to reply with questions, answers, comments, and so on.

I think a lot about emailing.
When I was a kid first discovering the internet, email was my passion.
I was constantly emailing my friends. We used adorable background images, playful fonts, cute animal pictures; we forwarded terrifying email chains, and shared our Weebly websites back and forth. I remember I had a couple friends who wanted to be veterinarians, they banded together to create an adorable Weebly site all about wild animals... one of them is a scientist now, I watched her do a presentation on whales not long ago. And I made so many Weebly sites with forums and chats. I tried tirelessly to get my friends on board; alas, my efforts were no match against MSN. Now I'm building an online chat and forum from scratch with a friend... so, not much as changed.

I thought I'd eventually move on from emailing... now I'm not so sure.
I recently subscribed to the great Rachel Seville Tashjian's invite-only style & life newsletter, and realized I needed more of these long-form-personal-content-soup emails in my life. With short-form media as the norm - personally, I feel a strange social block: I don't want to take up too much of any person's time (and I don't). Then I think about how much more time people must have spent face to face before the internet - and realize I haven't even made a dent in my real-life social possibilities. Of course, I'll have to wait to act on that for now. Is it common for people nowadays to have to remind themselves that they are allowed to take up other people's time (respectfully)?



In the same vein, I want to make a habit of calling my friends and family more often. Phone calls are special because you can't see each other. There's am emphasis on listening and being heard.
I enjoy emailing people when I think of them. It's not as demanding as a phone call, but still allows you to get deeper into thought. It's also not uncommon to take days, even weeks to reply, it feels like the closest thing to virtual snail mail.

It was much easier not to dwell on these things before quarantine, but living a socially balanced life now is harder than ever for everyone. So during this time, I will see what I can do about making my virtual experience act more like a reality. This newsletter, for example, feels pretty real.

special things to consider:
+ Slippers
+ Going for a drive in the winter
+ Snail Mail
+ Newsletters
+ Oven Bake Clay
+ Hanging out with yourself
+ Finding the perfect coat

What's your social life like these days & how are you staying connected to loved ones?

With wind humming around in the air,
Tiana