Nakama
I haven’t had much to say lately, and… I still don’t. The scans are still missing, so that isn’t helping. Neither is the sleep restlessly for 4 hours, stay then stay up 11-12 hours doing pretty much nothing but stare blankly at the internet like I had been for most of the week until I restlessly slept most of the day yesterday (14-15 hours) till late last night. Haven’t been writing the sci-fi/fantasy stuff either, so it’s been a pretty fail kinda week.
Though that’s not to say I’ve been completely wasting my time in the dazed, half-conscious state that said sleep schedule and odd binge-ish eating caused (just mostly). I had the chance to reconnect with a couple of old Jtv friends that I regard (or regarded at one time) as nakama (caution, tvtropes is addictive) yesterday morning and early this morning as well. It did me good to see a couple friends from back in the day. The days weren’t better when I spent nearly every waking moment on that site, I was in a far worse way mentally than I am today (arguably), but I sure as heck met some really cool people when I hung out there.
Sometimes I think about the concept of nakama (leaning more towards the deeper otaku-given friends like family connotations), and wonder if it applies to us card bloggers, whether as a whole, or with specific bloggers? I mean, I think most of us have our own friends and family in real life, but the incredible generosity between card bloggers is truly a sight to behold. It’s not the kind of thing you see very often, people doing things for each other unsolicited. Not that cards are ultimately a thing of grave importance in the grand scheme of the universe or whatever, but they are what brings us all together, they are our common ground. As such, cards are significant to us as individuals, and to look out for one another’s interests with regards to them as most of us seem to do, is a rare and wonderful thing.
Maybe it’s just living such an isolated existence that leads me to ponder such things, due to general lack of trust in people, and not wanting to burden those I do with my f***ed upness. I don’t really understand or have but the most distant frame of reference for regular plain old friendship, and I’m not particularly close to my own family. I guess maybe that’s why I seek that kind of deeper kinship that nakama (with the western connotations) describes. I dunno if they would feel the same, but there are specific card bloggers my lazy arse would go to greater lengths for, beyond even the card and blogging realms.
And with the general vibe of “It’s no big deal, I know you’d do the same for me” I get when it comes to the awe-inspiring generosity, I can’t help but wonder if maybe there is something to it. But I guess it doesn’t really matter what I think. What does everyone else think?
Until our next…
The Lonestarr Personal Collection #6
I’m falling way behind on posting, because well, I am me. Yeah… (Hit me with that shifty eyes emoticon!) >.> (Thank you!)
So here’s another time-buying quickie while I deal with several partially finished posts and documenting my ridiculously awesome RANDOM PACKS OF KINDNESS from David for future posting considerations. Yes, they were so awesome I had to put them in caps and italics.
Maybe I’ll get around to tackling the seven or eight emails I need to send out before I go on to other stuff tonight. Maybe.
And here’s today’s card from the PC:
2008 SP Legendary Cuts Generations Jim Rice/David Ortiz DUAL JERSEY
This beaut cost me all of 99¢+ shipping on eBay back in the day, and it just seems like right time to post it, with both guys getting headlines recently.
Congrats on FINALLY getting into the Hall of Fame, Jim Rice! You have certainly earned it, sir. I hope it was worth the wait.
And I still really like David Ortiz, PEDs or not. Deal with it, haters. Kthx. 
Life’s too short to hate… especially someone as likable as Big Papi.
2009 Allen & Ginter Official-ish Wantlist
A specific wantlist for 2009 Allen & Ginter has been requested by a couple of fellow bloggers, so here it is. I need all of the following:
Base- 23 Kristin Armstrong, 24 Steve Wiebe, 33 Florence Nightingale, 34 Ryan Dempster, 39 Hanley Ramirez, 45 Derrek Lee, 96 Geronimo, 97 Art Pennington, 116 Charles Darwin, 128 Red Moore, 136 Mickey Mantle, 141 Carlos Zambrano, 143 Robbie Maddison, 146 Rich Harden, 213 Stephanie Brown Trafton, 220 Suez Canal, 228 Will Simpson/Archie Bunker, 234 Wyatt Earp, 238 Vincent Van Gogh, 246 General Custer, 255 Aramis Ramirez, 257 Heinrich Hertz, 259 Napoleon Bonaparte, 260 Louis Braille, 275 Vlad Guerrero, 289 Milky Way, 300 David Ortiz
309 Kosuke Fukudome SP, 310 Old Faithful SP, 331 Jeff Samardzija SP, 340 Richard Gatling SP, 346 Dominique Wilkins SP
Minis-
9 Ryan Theriot, 18 Clyde Parris, 23, 24, 34, 35 Geovany Soto (maybe, card sorta unnerves me), 39, 45, 57 Frank Evans, 95 David Patton, 97, 100 Ichiro Suzuki, 112 Millito Navarro, 128, 132 Anna Tunnicliffe 136, 141, 142 LaShawn Merritt, 146, 175 Alfonso Soriano, 186 Adrian Beltre, 212 Mariel Zagunis, 213, 228, 243 Alexander Cartwright, 255, 275, 276 Michael Phelps, 278 Herb Simpson, 280 Shin-Sii Choo, 290 Cat Osterman, 297 Kolan McConiughey, 300
309 SP, 331 SP (maybe, already have Ginter Back)
Also want any and all parallels of said minis.
Mini Exclusives- Specific ones I want are 358 Hanley Ramirez, 373 Geovany Soto, 381 Rich Harden, and 396 Ryan Howard, but I’ll take any of these if you don’t want them.
Inserts (These are what I have, need the rest…)-
National Pride- NP4 Geovany Soto, NP5 Ryan Dempster, NP29 Alfonso Soriano, NP32 Rich Harden, NP33 Hanley Ramirez, NP39 Shin-Soo Choo, NP68 Ichiro Suzuki
Brian Kong Baseball Highlights Sketches- AGHS3 Randy Johnson, AGHS16 Alex Rodriguez, AGHS17 Chipper Jones
National Heroes- NH1 George Washington (USA), NH19 Vasil Levski (Bulgaria), NH34 General Jose de san Martin (Argentina)
Creatures of Legends, Myth, & Terror- I have none.
Extinct Creatures- I have none.
Inventions of the Future- I have none.
World’s Biggest Hoaxes, Hoodwinks, & Bamboozles (Lowest Priority)- HHB10 DB Cooper, HHB15 The Bathtub Hoax, HHB16 The Cottingley Fairies
Hits-
Relics- AGR-IS Ichiro Suzuki, AGR-VG Vlad Guerrero, AGR-JRH Rich Harden, AGR-IS2 Ichiro Suzuki, AGR-DO David Ortiz, AGR-HR Hanley Ramirez, AGR-AS Alfonso Soriano, AGR-KF Kosuke Fukudome, AGR-MM Mickey Mantle
Any and all of the other sports champions/oddballs/mythical creatures as well.
Autos- AGA-DO David Ortiz, AGA-HR Hanley Ramirez
Any and all champions from other sports/Negro League Stars/oddballs as well.
Boxloaders-
Cabinet Boxloader- CB1 de Caster/Kingsale, CB2 Cepeda/Gourriel, CB3 Wright/Roberts, CB4 Aoki/Matsuzaka, CB5 Iwakuma/Ichiro, CB6 Jefferson/Hancock, CB8 Truman/Pearson, CB9 Lincoln/Grant, CB10 JFK/Krushchev
N43 Boxloader- N43-RH Ryan Howard
N43 Relics- N43BR-VG Vlad Guerrero, N43BR-YD Yub Darvish, N43BR-JY Jin Young Lee, N43BR-YG Yulieski Gourriel, N43BR-NA Norichika Aoki, N43BR-FF Fei Feng
Pipe Dreams- Kosuke Fukudome Dick Perez Originals, Cat Osterman Auto, Yu Darvish N43 Relic, Any Unripped Rip Card
I think that abouut covers everything. I’ll knock stuff off (or add, for the inserts) as I trade for it or pull it or buy it myself. Cards in italics are in the process of being traded for.
To Do List~!
I intend to finish all these things before my box of 2009 Allen & Ginter comes, probably in the middle of next week, judging by the time my first box took. These are in not listed by order of importance, by the way. I’m just writing them as I think of them.
1.) Get all my baseball cards sorted by team (except for ‘08 Allen & Ginter and a couple others that I have a bunch of that may be useful to set-builders). [Somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 of the way done I think. Unfortunately, my urge to do the Gambit sketch card is outweighing going any further, but I think I did pretty okay overall.]
2.) Send SASE to Mario at Wax Heaven for the ‘09 Football Heroes inserts. [With the mighty Dayf's valuable information, I might be able to send this as soon as the next time I'm out.]
3.) Figure out what a SASE entails, because I’ve never sent one before. [Done- Wow, Dayf really is the expert at doing the bubble mailer version!]
4.) Finish Marie & Sooz‘ sketch cards. Albert Pujols for Marie, Kevin Kouzmanoff and oh, maybe Gabe Kapler for Sooz. [We're all done... unless I add some color to Kouz, Kap, & Pujols.]
5.) Get the sketch cards, as well as the rest of Sooz’ trade ready to send. [Think I'm done, since I've only got about two cards that she's after. Working on another trade with Marie as well, since I found my Canos, Jobas, & Phil Hughes'.]
6.) Get a bigger bubble mailer for the cards I’m sending to Matt of Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius. [Done]
7.) Find the Bazooka Gold Chunk Aaron Rodgers rookie for what I’m sending to Matt, and then send the cards. [Yatta, I FOUND IT~!! Always in the last place ya look. >.< Also found a 2003 Donruss Elite Series Glavine #ed /2500 & some other stuff with it. So, umm... w00t~!]
8.) SEND DINGED CORNERS THEIR FREAKING CARDS ALREADY~!!!!!!!!!!! It’s only been what… 9 months, since you made that trade? Good grief Lonestarr, send them something at least! [Asian players are packed up & ready to be sent. Will send next time I'm out.]
Yes, I fail.
9.) Send Baseball Dad my pathetically small list of Sandberg cards. [Done- I had a few more Rynos than I thought!]
10.) Prepare some Indians to send to Baseball Dad. [Done]
11.) Get my Orioles cards organized to send to some people in the Orioles card blogger nation, just because. [Done. Now when will I ever get around to contacting any of them?]
12.) Get my Washington Redskins cards in order because I want to make a trade with Chris from Sac Bunt because there are a bunch of cards on his trade list I’m interested in. [At least half done. Will contact you soon about a trade, Chris.]
13.) This one I have to get done tomorrow. Pay for the box of cards I picked up in the big sale at Dave & Adam’s. [Done]
14.) Get over wanting to call them Dave & Buster’s. *stomach grumbles* [Done- Though now I'm doing the opposite! >.<]
15.) Get the UDX cards ready for McCann Can Triple. [Done, but need to to double-check them sometime.]
16.) Get some more White Sox Cards ready for Steve. [They are in order, but I'm not too sure I have anything he doesn't. Will have to check later.]
All that’s left that I can do before I bust my box is to finish organizing my cards, send an email or two, and check a couple of want lists. Won’t be able to send any stuff out until next time I’m out.
I will not open my 2009 Allen & Ginter box until I get pretty much all of this done. I will check things off the list as I get through them, so you can keep up with my progress, especially if you appear on the list. Let me know if I’ve forgotten anyone or anything, or if you want to be added to the list too. It’s gonna be a busy week. 
It’s go time~!
2008 TriStar Projections Box Break
I bought my first ever box online in the latter half of last month, from Blowout Cards. The box was of 2008 TriStar Projections, because it promised lots of hits (4 or 8, depending on your definition) for low low price. Good enough for me, and minor league cards are cool sometimes. At the time, I got it for $32 & change shipped, though last I checked, the box had itself jumped up to higher than that, after bottoming out at a couple bucks less than I paid. But that’s not why you’re here… you came for a box break!
So let’s break it down:
24 packs per box, 8 cards per pack, 192 cards per box
Base-
I got around 3/4 of the base set with no dupes. Forgot to scan the base cards though. I pulled base of most of the (future) stars, including (off the top of my head) Matt Wieters, Matt LaPorta, Rick Porcello, Jason Heyward, Andrew McClutchen, Colby Rasmus, and Evan Longoria, who already is a star.
The design is pretty slick, but there are two notable problems with the set:
1.) Because the rest of the image the picture of the player is taken from is shoop’d out, leaving only the player, a few players have disembodied body parts encroaching on their action shots (see the Adrien Cardenas parallel below). It’s very very weird looking and distracting, but there are very few like that, so it’s tolerable.
2.) The stats on the backs of the position player cards are misaligned. Every. Single. Card. The batting average is supposed to be at the end of the statline, but instead, it is the first thing listed, throwing off the entire line. It is a pretty bad mistake, which is a shame, because this set is nicer looking than 75% of Topps & UD’s releases from the past year.
Reflectives Parallels (1 per pack)-
I think I got 22 of these, also without dupes. The reason there are only 22 is because a couple of the #ed parallels were Reflectives, which, except for one memorable one, replaced the regulars. (Future) Stars included David Price, Matt Wieters, Jed Lowrie, Andrew McClutchen, and Max Scherzer, who’ve all seen major league action, if nothing else. Jason Heyward is a highly touted prospect as well, it seems.
Reflectives
The Reflectives are freakin’ gorgeous, by the way.
#ed Parallels (4 Guaranteed per box; Green #ed 50, Yellow #ed /25, Orange #ed 5, and Purple #ed 1/1)-
Ben Revere Green base #ed 40/50, Adrien Cardenas Yellow base #ed 13/25, Jesus Montero Reflectives Parallel #ed 12/50 (Reserved for Sooz of A Cardboard Problem), and Wilmer Font #ed 11/25.
I see Rainbows... @.@
Numbered ones... @o@
I actually pulled a 5th #ed parallel too, but we’ll cover that in a bit.
Autographs (4 Guaranteed per box; same parallel numbering as the non-autos)-
Matt LaPorta base, Casey Weathers base, Chris Withrow Green base #ed /50, Balbino Fuenmayor ORANGE base #ed 3/5(!)
Withrow has a really nice sig.
And the backs...
All four of these guys seem to have some promise, Matt LaPorta with tons of hype, Casey Weathers being a high draft pick (though Tommy John’d at the moment), Withrow I’d heard of before this pack, and Balbino is struggling but has huge expectations and is still only 20. Plus he’s freakin’ #ed to /5~!
That’s not all though, oh no. I did say there were five parallels. And here is the 5th:
For realz 1/1? Believe it~!
Bonus~!!!!
Jon Still Purple Reflectives Parallel #ed 1/1.
I will not be saying mojo, because that would be wrong. But it is the first true 1/1 I’ve ever pulled, so it is still really exciting going on two weeks later. However, being in the Red Sox organization, I did offer it to Shane over at Shoebox Legends if he wants it.
I was going to try and score this box, but I really can just give it a number or letter grade. I really enjoyed opening this box. The cards look really nice, there were a lot of hits for a low price, some of them may even end up being good, and I greatly enjoyed taking the time to open them, because, well… minor league cards are “Hope in a Pack”-incarnate. It’s not just hoping you get something good of someone good, it’s getting something good of someone you *hope* turns out to be good, of someone who hopes *they themselves* turn out to be good.
I don’t know who, if anybody, from my box will become major stars (aside from Longoria, who already is), but it doesn’t matter that much anyway. I got a whole lot more than what was promised for my $27+ shipping. Two cards whose print runs equal six… combined, a possibly record long box break (somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 hours, due to having to type to chat with people the whole time), three blog posts, and probably many soon-to-be pending trades as a direct result of the pulls.
What more could I ask for? Besides posting the pictures and getting them where I want being less of a pain in the @$^%Z4$&%¢@#%$.
The Lonestarr Personal Collection #2
The is my favorite Ryne Sandberg card that I own (and to be honest, very few I don’t own could hope to surpass it, it’s just that great):
1996 Finest Gold Refractor
Not only do I love this card because it’s freaking beautiful, or because Sandberg was my second baseman idol when I played little league (along with Roberto Alomar), but it is one of the few bidding wars I ever actually won on eBay. Sometimes it’s the simple things that push something that’s is already awesome into the stratosphere. Winning is fun, what can I say? ;3
~I am me, and I am awesome. Deal with it.
K-Mart Cards
My brain woke up shortly after I posted earlier, so I actually got around and went out today, making it to K-Mart before closing time.
There wasn’t much baseball to choose from unfortunately. No Goudey or Heroes anymore, though there was a fresh supply of ‘08 Masterpieces. The only other thing was regular Upper Deck Series 2 and the USA version of Series 2.
They had Hot Prospects basketball and Icons football, and enough Hockey to choke a moose, if anybody wanted to get other sports involved. They probably had regular Upper Deck basketball and football too, but I forgot my list, so I can’t say for sure.
If the choices are lacking, it’s possible I can check back at Shopko sometime. Never know how long the random Hobby boxes and unopened retail boxes will hold out, but the boxes they had when I got mine would have been the same price as ten blasters for two of them. It was all 2006 stuff, but it was some of the nicest that year had to offer in Flair Showcase and Ovation (and something else on their smexy looking upper-low end level that I can’t remember). They’d have less cards than ten blasters even if it’s heavy on the Masterpieces, but unless the Masterpieces hold some hits (I’m 0 for probably 12 or so in K-Marts non-guaranteed hit discount blasters since they were marked down late last fall, so I’m not hopeful…), those boxes would would give up more hits, one or two being autographs.
There’s a lot of ways we can go with this, assuming it there is enough interest to actually make it happen. We can always mix and match and replace a couple or four discount ones with more desirable regular price blasters like ‘08 Allen & Ginter or this year’s Heritage or Spectrum (ha!) from elsewhere.
It’s getting a little convoluted, but I’m still down if the interest is there. If you like the idea, leave a comment or send an e-mail. And if you have an idea on how to make it all work, by all means, let me know. I’d love to have the chance to be master of ceremonies for a group break for y’all, however we may decide to do it.
Thanks again for your consideration. Did you all have a funderful day?
.::~Outtro~::.
Under Consideration
I’m thinking about doing something. They’ve got a whole mess of discount blasters at K-Mart still. It seems a shame to let them all go to waste, but I after my hobby box from Shopko, I’m pretty much done with buying cards of my own for the forseeable future. I’m wondering though, does anybody want to do a group blaster break?
I’d like to get a at the very least 12 people, but preferably 14 (I’ll play too unless the turnout is good enough that 15 people wish to buy in), who would be interested. So if you should come across this and like the idea, spread the word, because if you’ve noticed my hit counter, very few people actually read this blog. 
As for specifics, I’d like to get 10 blasters. Does $9.00 per person for two teams sound good? That should cover all the blasters and some, if not most, of the shipping, provided we get a full turnout of 14 or 15. Even still, 12 will cover the blasters. And I’ll of course cover you with stuff from my own collection if you get the shaft. Heck, I’ll probably do it a little regardless (unless you completely pwn the break). I’m cool like that.
I’ll be out tomorrow, barring something going wrong, so I can check out exactly what all they’ve got and pass it along. The selection isn’t the greatest, but stuff apparently continues to trickle in, so there may be a new thing or two there, or maybe not. We’ll see. I can put the final decision of what and how many up to vote, if we actually get that far.
Thanks for your consideration, and have a funderful day.
.::~Outtro~::.
Something More…
Messing with finishing typing up the rest of the Yankees for The Great Cardening of 2009 isn’t in the cards today, as it were. As of right now I have been up over 29 1/2 hours straight (ended up being over 35 hours total), so although I am still pretty awake and coherent, messing with the ridiculous amount of Yankee cards I need to write down still is probably not the best of ideas. I do have something that might be worth posting though.
As you probably don’t know, I have a LOOOOOOOONG overdue lot of cards needing to be sent to the beloved sports card blog royalty and all-around great ladies of Dinged Corners. Now then, having finally decided what all to be sent, and getting the box to send the more than 200 cards in, I still felt like I needed to do something more. So I have postponed the sending of the wonderful stack of cardboard happiness yet a little longer still.
Now I’m going to explain, and then show you, why. You see, I have a problem. I am a total f***-up. It is what it is, and I hate myself for it. So even sending an over-the-top lot like I am, it still doesn’t feel like enough. Perhaps I am just overcompensating for my own self-loathing, but I like to go the extra mile when I can even when I’m not hating on myself. So I decided I must do something unique to add to the awesome, perhaps giving myself a boost of positive energy in the process.
But what can I do to make 200+ cards even more awesome? I only have two natural skills in my arsenal, three counting being less biased and more willing to listen and consider reason than your average human being. But that one doesn’t really help me here, potentially handy as it may be from time to time. My other two skills are more marketable, though I haven’t found it within myself to try and make money off of them yet.
The skills of which I… err, type, are of course, writing and drawing, as anyone who has given my blog the time of day might have noticed. I don’t truly think I’m all that good at either, to be honest. My dad and brother are both tremendously talented artists I feel I’ll always be reaching up towards, the effort to even match their respective talents being an impossible goal, to speak nothing of surpassing them.
As well, the closest person I can count as a best friend, though we have never met in person, is a brilliant writer, far beyond the wisdom and sophistication of her years. Again, she is someone close to me who’s talent dwarfs my own supposedly formidable skills in one of the only things I have ever shown anything resembling a “gift” for.
But that is neither here nor there in this case, merely a glimpse Behind These Hazel Eyes, as this blog of mine’s title goes. All of the above mentioned, and many others I’ve come to know and even care for, encourage the s*** out of me, for lack of a better term. They are in fact the ones who consider my talent in both art and writing formidable, and hope (and in the case of said best friend, threaten violence ) that one day I’ll get my head right and man up, that I’ll make good on my gifts one day, suspect as I find them to be.
That, somewhere between brutally honest and tediously, all said, we come to back to the task at hand. Something truly unique and interesting to make my end of a sickeningly long overdue trade even better. I decided, since while I can turn a pretty decent phrase now and again, I’m not very good at speaking directly to an individual person, or in this case two, let alone in a way that can adequately describe anything involving my feelings or of thanks in any substantial way.
So right here and now, from the very depths of my soul, I will simply say *thank you* to Patricia and Lucy, for putting up with my laziness, short attention span, immaturity, lack of focus, repeated inability to do stuff in a timely manner, and anything else I might have missed… And I hope that the number of hours and amount of effort I put into turning a plain white, 39¢ storage box into a legitimate work of art, in some small way, helps to make your dealings with me, somehow, worth the time.
Here is part one (of six) of your custom storage box:
Once I’ve completed all four sides, the top and the flap, I will send it, crammed to the gills with as many cards as I can possibly fit.
.::~Outtro~::.
Shoutouts #6
Shoutout to the ladies of Dinged Corners. After getting the box to send your cards in, I’ve decided to make it beautiful. I’m gonna draw a bunch of cool stuff on it. Hope you approve.
Shoutout to the one and only Shane Diaz of Shoebox Legends. The reason I haven’t sent your stuff yet is because… well, I’m broke at the moment. I have about $5 to my name until tomorrow. I’ll get it to you shortly though.
And sometime in April, I will get around to properly documenting the awesome lot of cards you sent. I actually got some of them scanned! w00t!
Shoutouts to Peter and Chris (but not Peter Criss, wokka wokka) of Dropped Third Strike and Nachos Grande, respectively. With the maneuvering I did with Yankee Stadium Legacies, I can move the Reds up to 3rd in the Great Cardening of 2009. I can’t guarantee anything close to an exact time when I’ll have them posted though. As for the 8 or so remaining YSLs, they will be up with the rest of the Yankees as soon as I get them posted.
Finally, thanks to Marie from A Cardboard Problem for the linkage that popped normal daily viewer count of like 6-10 when I’m posting regularly, to over 60! The least read sports card-centric blog going today humbly thanks you.
I recognize that annoyed look on Babe’s face. At least I can say I give it as much as I get I guess. Straws are being grasped at. Anyway…
That’s all for now. Back to Pokemon! Seeyas.
.::~Outtro~::.
