Fully Psyched

A conglomeration of things

A conglomeration of things

One more postcard: 99-cent mammoth

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Postcard collage of mammoth, aurora borealis, sea stacks, and a 99-cent price tag
Hello Johan! Thanks for backing my Kickstarter project and for sending along your address. I made this postcard between South Dakota and California in July. Now it’s November, and I’m heading north to Seattle tomorrow to visit my friends Megan and Reid for Thanksgiving. My family is scattered around the country in Colorado and Iowa and Massachusetts, so it’s nice to have friends in my neck of the woods. I’m glad I’m finally able to send this postcard; I like mammoths and this postcard is one of my favorites. Sorry for not reminding you to send your address; I should have sent an email! Hope you have a great holiday season.

Found on mantle: A postcard

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I’m housesitting for my friend Tom while he honeymoons. There’s a postcard of mine on the mantle above the fireplace. I sent it to him shy of a year ago. I enjoyed re-reading the message, so I thought I’d post it here.

Llama in front of the Andes

Message on postcard:
Yo! TW! What’s up my homeslice! Greetings from Santiago, Chile. I fly home tomorrow. Most of my time here was spent making friends with the llama you see on this postcard. His name is Scruffy Sweaters, Junior. But don’t be fooled. His cute name hides a tragic past. During The Cosby Show‘s broadcast run, over 5,000 llamas were cruelly exploited to provide raw wardrobe materials for the program’s eponymous star. But today with your help we’re changing things. Friends used only 200 llamas during its last three seasons, and today New Yankee Workshop is the first TV show to be certified llama safe. Will you support our valuable work?

Sincerely,
Mike

A few more postcard collages

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These are postcard collages that went to my Kickstarter project backers at the forty dollar level. They also got a two-page letter and some zany crap I found while traveling.

Postcard collage of a critical car
Hey Reid — How are you? This postcard is from Redwood National Park, but I bypassed that particular destination on this trip. The last time I was there a drunk guy with no license and no insurance drove into my truck. And then when I got home my girlfriend broke up with me. This time around I saw the redwoods farther south, just off 101 on the “Avenue of the Giants”. This trip has been way better, with the exception of the fact that a pig tore up my legs and sent me to the hospital.
Postcard collage of a strange creature in the redwoods advertising five pro tips
Hi Pat — Here are five pro tips that I try to abide by:

1. ABC — Always be coureous!
2. Be good to dogs.
3. Drive at a safe and reasonable speed.
4. Eat three square meals a day.
5. Shower every morning (still working on this one).

I hope you’re having a good summer, and I hope you like this postcard that Amanda ordered for you!

Postcard collage of eohippus and old country house
Caption on back of postcard: Eohippus measured about 18 inches in length. Its back was curved and its legs and neck were short.

Hello Cheyenne! Isn’t this tiny prehistoric horse just cute as the dickens! This postcard pretty much describes the last few years of my life. I got rid of all my genteel trappings — country house, a horse barn built for non-cute, non-miniature, non-prehistoric horses — and traded it for … I don’t know what. Driving around in a van? Holy shit, it’s terrifying that this actually constitutes an upward trajectory to my life.

Postcard collage of Camaro with top secret answers
Hi Kelly — It’s August 19th, and I’m camped out in Trinity National Forest in Northern California. I found a little stand of big old trees with a clearing underneath, and I’m spending the weekend here. A couple folks have cruised by on four-wheelers, but otherwise I’ve had this place completely to myself. My friend Tom gets married in Portland next week … I don’t know why I just told you that.
Postcard collage of Pervez Musharraf contemplating space rescue in front of bison
Hi Kim! I hope you’re having an excellent summer. Mine has been peaceful and relaxing, with a couple glaring exceptions. In Santa Rosa this last week I met a crazy guy on a broken motorcycle who asked me first how he could end all the pain, and then to beat him up. I suspect the motorcycle was just out of gas, but that he was tweaking too hard to realize that fact. But overall mostly things have been good.

Collage correspondence, part 5: First points west

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After leaving Iowa and heading west, I wrote notes to project backers on a few custom postcards that I had made during the last leg of my trip. Here they are:

Postcard collage of happy miner and the phrase "Make Your Own Coolant-Recovery System"
Dear Kimberlie — I didn’t make my own coolant-recovery system, but I did replace my transmission, and when I was done I felt just like the smiling miner on the front of this postcard — except instead of having a pickaxe that advertises underground tours, I have a van that advertises nothing. The Lake Superior shoreline was one of the highlights of my time in the Midwest, although with the fall colors on this postcard it’s rocking a serious New England vibe here. When I visited it felt more like the Pacific Northwest. “Minnesota, you chameleon,” Walt Whitman probably should have said.

 

Postcard collage of singer in front of "UFFDA!" Minnesota license plate with text "legendary vittles"
Dear Emily — Greetings from South Dakota! I know, this postcard is from Minnesota; I was there last month. But the postcard is actually like three years old; I bought it in the Minneapolis airport in 2009. Why am I telling you this? And why have I used so many semicolons here? Sorry. Anyway, the point is that I foresaw a very special future need for Minnesota postcards when I purchased it, or so I choose to tell myself now. I made the collage at a friend’s house in Duluth, where everyone sings and gestures like this all the time.

 

Postcard collage of buffalo, Sleeping Bear Dunes, a danger sign, and a wooden masonry form
Hello Zarah! Greetings from Badlands National Park. I was in Sleeping Bear Dunes about a month ago, and decided that this postcard would look better with a buffalo on it. Mission accomplished! I might have seen some buffalo yesterday, but they were a long way off and I was near the park border, so they might have been cows. I’ll leave it for the courts to decide, and until that happens I’ll compromise by choosing to believe that I saw a herd of beefalo. The badlands are nice. Sleeping Bear Dunes had the edge on lakeshore property, but South Dakota has the edge on prairie.

 

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