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giz tab?

29 jun 2026

i was talking to a friend recently about how lovely it is to get things from strangers. we had an idea which i would like to present here in the hope that it catches on.

here is the idea. you carry around a stack of business card-sized cards, so that you can fit quite a few of them into a wallet, a phone case, or a cigarette box. these can be made of sturdy cardstock, but just regular paper is good enough. these are your tabs. you can pre-prepare these tabs, for example by printing a design onto them or decorating them with stickers. however, you must leave at least some blank space, because when you trade them, you write down the date and location of the trade.

here is how i envision this going down. out in the highlands, you meet a stranger at a roadside cafe. you ask them if they collect tabs. "what's that?" they ask. you pull out a small stack of your own tabs, and explain that they are small personal cards that you can trade. on one side of your tabs, there is a small collage that you made earlier, photocopied and mass printed, which contains your name. this particular tab also contains a contact email, but it doesn't have to. the back is blank, because you like to draw. you pull a pen out of your pocket and doodle the nearest mountain, and perhaps write a little note for them. then you write the date and location of the tab trade, and give them the card. this person has no tabs of their own, but luckily you carry some blanks. they quickly doodle their own tab, and you slot it into your wallet.

imagine collecting tabs from around the world! imagine showing off your collections to each other and telling the stories behind them! how lovely would that be?

until next time,

mzw☆

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