Why Do I Keep Doing this to Myself? Sent to India

Swap-bot eats me up from the inside-out.

Let’s back up, and start with an update: the swap-bot “flat envie of fun” I mailed to New Delhi, India last month has landed, and the recipient rated me a 5, with that heart, and a “thank you!”

And then, do you know what happened, the same day?  The assignments were passed out for this month’s version of the same trade–and I was assigned the same person!

Now, I had a really difficult time with this last month, I mean, deciding what to send this trader, and I nearly doubled over at the prospect of facing it again.  I took a day or two to breathe, and then I revisited her profile.  She likes birds–especially owls–and flowers. Okay.  Since my last shopping trip for a swap-bot trade took a lot of time & energy, I decided I needed to try adding a different store to my list of places to visit.  I decided Cost Plus may have owls. I was right!  Between that store, Half-Price Books, and my own postcard stash, I came up with this:

She said she likes tea, too.  I bought a box of tea that I can enjoy, as well–though I usually enjoy dim sum with my pu-erh!

I feel super-successful this time around, AND with the boxed items (owl cards & tags, O’Keefe mini-cards, tea), I have extras for possible future trades.

WHAT THE HECK AM I TALKING ABOUT, “future trades?”  WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF?  So stressful.  I mean, I love to prepare packages for people.  The issue comes up with a) people I don’t know, with wishes that are so different from mine, and sometimes hard to conceptualize or even find; and b) THE RATING SYSTEM.  Also, it has happened in the past that the package I received would indicate that the sender wasn’t trying so much.  So, WHY?  Probably because when it is good, it is very, very good.

Anyhow, I wrote my partner a note:

And trussed it all up:

Here we go again.  Don’t know whether I should delete my swap-bot account, just to prevent future stomach upset…