I have had a couple of different blog related things on my mind lately, and I've got some random cards that were pulled from the 25-cent boxes at last month's card show, hmmm... what to do? I know, let's combine the two and make a super long post that most people will probably won't end up reading all the way through. Sounds like a plan!
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| 2003 Bowman Heritage Black Facsimile Signature #142 |
Some of you might not be aware of this, but there's been a blog-bat-around making the rounds. Having not participated in one before, I kind of wanted to give this one a go, but probably won't, if only because... I'm slightly confused by the question, or at least I became so, after I started reading the posts of others.
So far I've seen three different interpretations of this topic -- there's been the "What I'm currently working on (card wise)", "What I collect (card wise)", and "What I collect (cards and non-card stuff) -- so, which is it? If it's one of the first two, then I don't really understand it's purpose, and by that I mean, if somebody wanted to know what I collected and/or what I'm currently working on (card wise), they could just scroll up to my want lists and see what's what, which would then make a blog post on the subject sort of unnecessary, right?
Now if it's supposed to be about what I collect in the broader sense...
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| 2018 Topps 1983 Topps Design #83-89 |
... then that's a little different, and normally I'd be all about doing such a post, but right now is probably the worst possible time for me try that kind of post, at least with pictures and all (without pictures it would really be boring). You see, the bulk of my stuff is still in boxes (toys, statues, coins, stamps, etc.).
I've mentioned it before, but when I moved to Tennessee a couple of years ago, I had to leave my super awesome ginormous display case behind, as it would've never survived a cross-country journey. I have only just recently acquired two display cases (the two combined still aren't as big as my old one), both need some repairs, which I've waiting until the weather warmed up to do, which it has, but I just haven't started working on them yet. So for the moment, everything gets to stay in boxes.
I'm also not sure that Night Owl had that kind of post in mind, and judging by the lack of views on my non-card posts as of late...
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| 2007 SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Americana #LA-64 |
... I'm not sure that's what kind of post that reader's had in mind either. And besides, I don't think that I could even fit everything that I collect into one post. Not to mention, what about all the stuff I have that other people might consider a collection, but I don't? I mean I probably have close to a thousand (maybe more) movies on multiple formats, does that count as a collection? Some people would say yes just because of amount that I have, I on the other hand, don't consider them as a collection, I would just say that I might be a bit of a film fanatic that's all (and normally all those are out on shelves, but I had to take everything down and move it to other rooms for the upcoming painting of the living room... see bad timing all around)
I have quite a few records (vinyl) as well, so is that a collection? Again, I don't consider it to be, I just like music, so I have a lot of it. And what about all the stuff that I've bought over years that I only did so...
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| 2017 Topps Archives 1959 Bazooka #59B-14 |
... because I thought that if I didn't, it would end up getting broken or thrown away. Case in point, I have a handful (maybe more) of different 100+ year old demitasse saucers that have been bought over the years. Is that a collection? I don't think it is, in my mind I was merely trying to save them from a world that no longer cares about such things. And that's just one example, I have quite few things that fall into that category. So you see, even if want to, how am I suppose to participate in this kind of blog-bat-around? Especially when I don't even know what the parameters are.
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| 1994-95 NBA Hoops Big Numbers - Rainbow #BN11 |
I realize too that this blog-bat-around might also be kind of a "getting to know you better" sort of thing, but I feel like I already know what everyone collects (card wise), so it doesn't really do much for me. If we're all trying to get to know each other better, I'd much rather see people make lists of their all-time favorite movies, songs, television shows, etc. And not like the "this songs reminds of this card" type of thing, just straight up lists. I probably don't have enough pull to influence others to follow suit, but I will most likely do a number of just such lists at some point in the next couple of months, and not because I think anyone will care to read them, no, it'll be just because it sounds like it would be fun thing to do.
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| 1997 Score The Franchise #3 |
I mentioned the lack of interest/views on my non-card posts, but that's only half the story, as interest/views seem to be down in general as of late. I don't know if it's a cyclical thing, or if it's because of all the non-card posts, or if folks have just gotten tired of my schtick. Some bloggers might try and fix such a problem by finding out what the readers like, and then doing more of it... at this point though , I can definitely say that I am not one of those bloggers.
In fact, since my readership seems to be dropping off, I'm probably going to start doubling down on the non-card posts, as they tend to be the only posts that I actually enjoy putting together. And it's not because I'm losing any interest in cards, on the contrary, I've had more fun with cards in the last couple of months than I have in the last few years. It's just that every card post I try to add words to lately just feels like a grind, actually it feels like something more than a grind, but I just can't think of another more suitable analogy at the moment. So I guess I could say, that if you want to know more about what I collect, stick around, as I've only begun to scratch the surface.
And I still enjoy reading other people's card posts, in fact, blog posts and comic books, are for time being, pretty much the extent of my reading material.
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| 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter's Buyback Framed Mini's 10th Anniversary Issue |
After hitting the publish button on the last post, I noticed that it was #299, meaning of course, that this one is #300. That may not seem like a big deal to the folks that crank out a post every single day, but I don't, so it is... especially if you consider that during my bout with depression last summer, I was for all intensive purposes, done with the blog. But the depression went away, and I came back.
Speaking of depression, I have felt it trying to get another foothold for the last couple of months, I've been able to keep it at bay thus far, but it's only a matter of time before I can no longer do so. People that have experience with depression probably know what I'm taking about. I don't think it will cause me to stop posting this time, but if my posts become more negative in tone, at least you'll know why. Drugs don't work for me, so really I just have to wait, and let it run it's course, but it will... it always does.
Back to 300th post, I should probably be holding a contest of some sort, but only being aware of this impending (now) mini milestone since two days ago, I didn't have much time to plan anything, much less acquire something interesting to give away. Besides, after the disaster that was my last contest, I'm a little down on holding contests right now. I never mentioned it, but neither winner claimed their prizes from my COMC Black Friday contest, well actually the first place winner did try to claim $15 credit to use during the Black Friday sale, the only problem was... that they waited until February to do so, yep... February. So in the end, all I did was waste a bunch of people's time entering a contest that would end up having no winners. Needless to say, I probably won't be trying that kind of contest again.
[Spoiler alert: I will most likely still do a contest in September when the blogs third anniversary comes around]
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| 1995-96 SP NBA All-Stars Die-Cut #AS27 |
About a month ago now, I started dipping my toe into the YouTube waters. I've made a couple of videos so far, really terrible videos, so bad in fact, that I won't be directing anyone to my channel on there until I get a little bit better and/or more comfortable making them. I bring this up because sometime in the next few months, I might start doing more card related videos that would be sort of like companion pieces to what I'm doing here on the blog.
Also, if I do get more comfortable talking (literally) to a larger audience, I'm probably going to start doing the card show recaps in video form, as they seem to be taking longer and longer for me to do, I mean I'm still doing this post with cards from last months show in it. The year end COMC stockpile would likely end up being shown in a couple of videos as well, at least then I'd actually get around to showing it all, instead of just the small percentage of it that I usually do.
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| 1994 Score Select Salute #SS2 |
I guess I really should try to talk about at least a few of these cards: The Clara Barton Legendary Americana was a fun find, but I don't think Nick has to worry about me duplicating his feat anytime soon though. It's hard to believe that after twenty+ years, I'm still trying to find all the rainbow combinations of the Hoops Big Numbers parallel. The A&G framed mini buyback is the first one of those that I've seen in person, I can see why some people would have hated them, but I think their kind of neat. The SP die-cut all-stars are one of my favorite 90's basketball insert sets, with the addition of Rasheed, I think I now have around 2/3 of the set.
How about that Select Salute Dave Winfield? I had never seen one before, apparently it was just a two-card insert set to honor some recent achievements from Dave and Cal Ripken Jr. According to
BaseballCardPedia, the odds of pulling that card were 1:360! And you can't really tell from the picture, but it's got that cool creeping shine effect when the card is moved back in forth.
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| 1998 SPx Finite Radiance #253 (error) |
And finally we've got a card that Billy might find interesting, an error! As far as errors go, I normally only chase blank backs, but that doesn't mean that I won't pass up any other non blank back errors that I come across. I noticed that something was amiss with this Eric Davis right away, but it took me a second to figure out exactly what it was.
As you can see, there is a cardboard bit (which I've never seen by the way) still covering the medallion in the middle, obviously this card escaped the machine that was supposed to pop it out. For anyone who might not be familiar with the SPx Finite set, here's a side by side to show you what's what:
Pretty cool, huh? It just seems so strange to be able to see the impression of the medallion on the back, but not be able to see it on the front. I wonder how many people would just go ahead and pull the tab off the front? I certainly won't, but I bet that some people would.
My apologies for yet another long and rambling post, it may not seem like it, but I'm really trying not to make these a habit.
Thanks for taking a moment (or two) to look at my page.
