Check Out My Cards, Cards
I had $16+ leftover from stuff in my paypal account for awhile, and hadn’t felt like messing around on ebay, so I took it over to Check Out My Cards. I’d looked around there several times before, but never pulled the trigger on anything, but this time, I found some cool stuff I decided I must have.
Before we begin, I didn’t make any offers on anything. I dunno if there’s a long wait on it or not, but I just wanted to get my stuff and be gone. I’m comfortable with the prices paid, so it’s cool. Maybe I’ll try that out another time, because there will definitely be another time. The transaction was smoother than an analogy I’m too tired to make, so I’ll be going back. Give it a go yourself sometime, if you haven’t already. It’s a cool place, despite card pricing being based on “book value”.
Enough jibba-jabba. Without further ado, here’s what I got for my $16 and change:
Picked up a little Braves trade bait. Anyone in the market for a little LaRochey illegible autographness?
Sweet, I can finally put in pictures. The Flash upload wasn’t working. Fortunately, you can do it the old fashioned not flash way too, so I can do this post instead of complaining about my deteriorating mental state, due to my sleep issues sinking close to all-time bad range. Incidentally, I’m starting to feel a little like when I tried that nasty 5-Hour Energy stuff not too long ago (minus the actual energy). It kinda feels like… being all there mentally, understanding and thinking, but not quite being in control of the thoughts. It’s unnerving as hell. No likey. 
Wow, that would’ve been a much shorter post than I expected. I could’ve done the quickpress thing and been done and gone to sleep by now, lol.
Cat Osterman and some other dude. Not for trade. The Mojo Hand probably has it anyway. My Kitty collection stands at three after the two I picked up at teh COMC.
Paid way under a buck apiece for the two Cat’s. LaRoche was inexpensive too. It’s really just the last two cards in this post I might possibly have been able to knock a buck or two off of making an offer.
Cat = shiny intensity
Cat is pretty tall. I think she could use my head as an armrest (and I’m not even that short!). It’ll be soft place to rest her arm at least. I have enough hair up there to put in cornrows, and I have every intention of getting them one day.
This intermission sponsored by soggy Volcano Nachos… mmm. 
And now, for the main event. It’s Kosuke time! We’ll start with a card that makes topps’ Ridiculous Gimmicks Departmant blush (even though the card may quite possibly not be a gimmick at all).
Looks like a jersey card right?
Well guess again, Chachi. That swatch is just a picture, and the card itself is no thicker than your average base card. Just what the heck is this shiznit?
Here's the back. It's a non jersey card. Umm, yeah... what?
BBM: Hey topps, those Heritage High # cards. The Jeter with a Red Sox logo and Dustin Pedroia with a Yankees logo. That’s great… FOR ME TO POOP ON!
This has got to be way up there with the weirdest cards ever made. And look, it’s number M2, so apparently there is at least one other card like this, maybe even an entire set! Madness… Yet, it’s kinda growing on me. I mean, it’s a Fukudome card, so there is already redeeming quality to it, but the sheer brazen absurdity of it all makes me chuckle. This was actually the most expensive card in the lot, at or just shy of $5 (too tired too look, I’ve been up since before 11am… yesterday morning). Uh, oops. >.>
Matsuzaka, Johjima, Fukudome Sweet Swatch triple
I think I mentioned recently that I wouldn’t search out and aquire any ‘09 Sweet Spot relics, but I said wouldn’t get them on eBay. Yes yes, taking advantage of the untintional loophole I gave myself sure is clever. I didn’t even know the jersey cards went past dual in ‘09 Sweet Spot until I saw this and few other triples at COMC. Second, while it’s not like they are card of the year-level good looking, this kicks a single swatch Carlos Lee upside the head (sorry to those that have pulled a single swatch Carlos Lee), and looks a bit better than the fugly singles as well.
Alright, that’s all the cards. I’m barely coherent at this point (actually dozed off for a few minutes), but I do have a little more to say before I go. I want to thank everyone who commented on my last post for the words of encouragement. It means a lot. Thank you Wicked, Shane, Tim, Ken, and Ms. Latina♥. It’s cool to know that what must be at least half of my entire regular readership consists of some of the absolute coolest people to have an internet connection. Y’all rock. 
And I will see what I can do about a collecting for beginners post after apartment inspections early next week (I r slob, have lots of cleaning to do), Ms. L. I think I can probably do a pretty decent post on that subject.
Here’s another tease for my big retail hit to go out on. Not that this actually tells anyone anything about it, but only one card I’ve ever owned (still own it, actually) has sold for more than what I saw this one sell for on eBay the other day. And with that, I bid you all adieu.
Looking for paradise… or a good night’s sleep. That’d be cool too.
Good News, Everyone!
I’m back on track sorta with the bloggin’ and tradin’ & stuff. The joy. Here’s what all is happening.
Within the next couple hours, five bubble mailers with cards in them will be going out to the following peeps:
Marie of A Cardboard Problem (and I totally forgot the sketch card, so you’ll be due for another eventually), Shot Not Taken, Stats on the Back, Nachos Grande, and umm, someone else (sleep-deprived brain can’t remember last one).
That still leaves soon to be sent packages to Sooz also of A Cardboard Problem, Night Owl, Great Sports Name Hall of Fame, Roll out the Barrel, and… I’m pretty sure there are a couple more. If I did miss anyone else, please let me know!
More good news! I finally got that last bunch of scans with trades & stuff, and did a couple more of the I picked up from Check Out My Cards. So I will have some pretty pictures to go with my pithy commentary again, lol.
Side note: Lacking scans and not having much card stuff to write about lately, and seeing this recent post from Ms. Latina gave me much to think about, and I actually started a post along the lines of that subject (race/ethnicity if you don’t want to click the link). I’m sure it would’ve been interesting, and I may still do it if I can find the words. And not that it has or ever will stop me from writing about other things, but I am curious about something. Does anyone even care or pay attention when I write about anything besides cards?
Finally, despite massive sleep problems of late, I do have personal good news too. I got a HUGE hit out of a retail pack at Walmart last night. Let’s just say, I also picked up a couple Topps206 packs in the hopes of maybe getting lucky with a relatively easy to pull (1:41 pack) auto, but I ended up pulling something considerably harder to get than the hardest pull from 206 retail, which itself is a little over 1:500 packs. Oh, and it’s someone good too.
Was that a great tease or what? 
Write on, ride on…
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…
I Wanna Say, Thank You ♫
I know I’m a little late with this, but there are some people I am thankful for, and I want to say thank you to them.
First, I am thankful for Migdalia, the Latina on a Mission herself. Really, twitter makes you think you are closer to people you actually are, and we probably hardly know each other at all (we even discussed this phenomena once, lol). But that doesn’t matter, because there aren’t many people that can instantly put a smile on my face with just their presence, not many people can make my heart skip a beat just by saying (err, typing?) my name. She is not only one of the few people in this world that can do that to me, but also a sweet and helpful person who’s gentle encouragement gives me hope.
Next, I am thankful for Jacky from over at justin.tv, who’s presence does the same thing as Migdalia. Similar in personality as well. In fact, I’ve known Jacky quite a bit longer. We haven’t talked much lately, but every time we do, I get the same warm & fuzzies. 
I am also thankful for AnotherMaria. She is just made of awesome, basically. She’s strong-willed, motivated, driven to succeed. She can multitask like nobody’s business. She is basically all the good stuff that I’m not, but want to be. She is The Maria as far as I’m concerned. I hope to be as awesome as her one day. It may be an impossible dream, but to be that strong, I suppose there is nothing I couldn’t do, and I could find someone as awesome as Maria to be with (and feel like I might actually be on something close to equal footing).
Taylor, another someone I haven’t talked to in awhile, but someone I go back with further than anyone else on the internet. I’m thankful for her because, well, I might never have even taken the first step try to recover from my horrible mental screwed-upedness if not for her. Amazing what having someone to care about can do.
And amongst the card bloggers there, whom I am thankful for in general, for what I have learned from y’all about generosity and stuff, are a few I am particularly thankful for.
Shane of Shoebox Legends, with whom I made my first major trade. He’s cool, and who knows if I would’ve even hung around if not for that trade.
Of course we should all be thankful for the ladies of Dinged Corners, who constantly push the limits of what we can learn from cards. They are truly innovative in their approach to little cardboard pictures of baseball players. Go look through their archives if for some reason you don’t know of them, and prepare to have your mind blown by all the ways baseball cards can be used to teach, all the things things you can learn, all things you never considered before, about specific cards and cards in general.
And finally, I want to thank the man, the myth, the Wicked Ortega. I want to thank him for caring enough to comment frequently, and for just being cool in general. Thank you.
And yeah, I totally cried at his “What I’m Thankful For” post. Like “hide the sharp objects” crying. When it comes to people I have a connection to, that kinda thing is like stabbing me in the soul. I hurt right along with.
I know I’m leaving out a few people I’m thankful for, for one reason or another, and I hope they know how much they mean to me. You all are as much family to me as my own flesh & blood, perhaps even more so. I think my friends are a blessing, even if I don’t often know how to properly express it, and I think that, in my friends, I am surrounded by some of the greatest people who have ever lived.
Love always…
Keyboard Fail
My keyboard is no longer working, so no more posts until I get a new one tomorrow. I’m sure as heck not writing enough for a proper post with this on-screen. A real shame too, I just woke from a dream about baseball cards. Let’s just call it ‘anime-esque’. And I need also to reveal the results of my 2005 Pack Wars twitter 5 pack break here on the blizzog.
And that concludes my short burst of energy. Back to sleep I go, till at least 4am hopefully. Goodnight, sports fans and uber-sweet blogger ladies I have a crush on.
43 home runs?? Seriously?
Random pictures I can do…
(Edit: Just found a contest guess from Stats-on-the-Back in the spam comments between a long ranty spam about flu and medicines or something and spam for… semen pills. Umm, yeah. Sorry you got lost in the shuffle. Hopefully I can find something especially useful to send in return for your particular clunkers.)
Going out on a (Hall of Fame) High note!
My last ‘75 to show. Urgh, goodnight again…
Besos.
The Most Badass Sketch Card There Ever Was
My dad finally got around to making use of the pack of blank sketch cards I gave him when I bought my first packs some time ago. And oh did he ever it pwn it on his first try! I’m going to start scanning all his sketch books and make him a deviantART account and post his stuff wherever I can (been meaning to for awhile). He is a great artist, and where my brother and (allegedly) me get our mad artistic skillz. So without further ado, I proudly present to the world, the most badass sketch card that’s ever been drawn:
Chuck!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s right, it’s a sketch card of Chuck-Freakin’-Norris! My dad has been a big fan of Chuck Norris for a long, long time (decades before Chuck Norris Facts, the Walker, Texas Ranger Lever, or even Walker, Texas Ranger itself made it cool), so it’s only appropriate the man hisself be his first try at a sketch card. Pretty awesome huh? I like how he colored it, to give it an old-timey feel. I forget the exact colors, but he did this with gel pens. Not bad, eh?
Y’know, I Hear it Actually Rains Treats in Kitty Heaven
My mom emailed today telling me her cat died sometime today.
There she is... she looks annoyed, lol.
She was around 13 years old, so she was getting up there a bit, but hardly an old fart (especially considering one of the cats we had when I was younger lived to be 22 or so). You’d never have guessed she was well into her second decade, as spry as she was. She was in very good health, which makes her sudden death all the more upsetting. She hadn’t been on the decline at all, and I’m told she was doing quite well even just a couple hours before she was found dead in the closet in my parents room.
My brother drew this awhile back.
RIP Tater. I don’t think you liked me much, but it’s okay. You will be missed.
I Have Had Enough…
…of this fucking hellhole. Pardon my French, ahem…
So yeah, I’m having issues with my neighbors again. Here is the deal: I have severe sleep issues. For the last three years, people be coming and going all hours of the night, every single night, slamming their fucking doors. This has literally cost me HUNDREDs of hours of sleep that I desperately needed. In the meantime, over the same period, I have had the police called on me for being too loud, by the same damn people that have been keeping me up at night, at least a half-dozen times, the latest being verrry early this morning. They also complain about me to the office a ton as well. I have received at least three letters from them.
As if the total hypocrisy of that isn’t enough (I don’t care if they don’t realize it, it’s gotten *increasingly worse* for three fucking years), for the first year, or close to it, I actively did my best to be fucking quiet at night! And that was when most of the complaining happened. So I finally gave up trying after awhile, and had actually only heard the a smattering of complaints since. However, as I said, the noise they were making got so bad that a year or so ago, I took to punching the arm of my chair whenever they slammed a door or made any other kind of loud noise at night. And by now, I just do it almost instinctively to any noise they make any time of day. I just don’t care anymore.
Yeah, I guess that makes me not completely innocent. I’ve never claimed I was a saint. However, they are the ones that started it, and continue to cost me sleep. And no, filing complaints myself isn’t a very viable option. First of all, I have a mountain of complaints against me for various things over the years, exactly one of which can be considered legit. I have no trust in the people running this place anyways. In every instance I’ve dealt with them, they are a bunch of back-talking weasels. Even though they FINALLY did get the word out to try and keep people from slamming their doors, and it has actually worked to some degree, trying to get my point across was like pulling teeth. I’m pretty sure it was only done at all because I was so righteously pissed off I that I was physically shaking trying to keep my shit together when I was talking to the lady.
But of course, now that people are being *somewhat* better about slamming their doors, someone above me nearby has seen fit to start scooting something heavy-sounding across the floor every night. This sound actually bothers me more than the doors slamming. The slow, obnoxious scooting sound that lasts up to several seconds at a time is quite literally one of the most annoying sounds I have ever heard in my entire life.
Anyway though, last night it happened while I was trying to get to sleep, as in I was halfway to dreamland when it started in. I did what I do, I punched the arm of my chair, except really, really hard. Fucker did it when I was almost asleep. So I’m starting to get back to sleep a little later and I here some talking in the and then a knock at my door. Three cops are out there. Guess with that many, they must’ve been expecting some shit. I told them what was going on and that I just wanted get some fucking sleep, they took down my name, listened to what I had to say, and went on their merry way.
Well, I’m sick of it. If I had somewhere else I could go, I would not still be here, but I don’t so there isn’t much that can be done right now. I decided I needed to say something to the people causing me trouble though. So I wrote a note and put it on the cranky old bat’s door across the hall, since most my tormentors hang out together. It took me four tries to try and get out what I had to say, not holding back how pissed off I was, but still trying to keep it clear and to-the-point. Here is what I wrote in it’s entirety:
“Hi, it’s me. Y’know, you don’t seem to understand something. You guys started this shit with me. Understand this, the last three years, while you guys were complaining about my alleged noise all the time, you were costing me literally 100s and 100s of hours of sleep, slamming doors every. Single. Night. And keep this in mind, I did not start retaliating against y’alls BS in any meaningful way until a year or so ago. I even tried to not be loud for awhile, but I finally gave up when it proved futile.
What I’m trying to say is this, you guys have treated me like shit, even and especially when I was trying to be quiet. This is what happened on my end, this is what you did to me. Period. And I absolutely do NOT appreciate it. I don’t care if you care what you have done or not, but now you know. And know that I don’t like or respect almost any of you, that have caused me so much grief the last few years. That won’t change. You guys made my life even worse than it already was, to be 18-19 years old and end up in a place like this. This is how it is. Good day. I have nothing more to say to any of you, ever.”
Too light? Too heavy? Whatcha think? I’ve let the world walk all over me for too long. I had to say something, and I’m a much better writer than talker, so I wrote my heart out at them.
Alright, rant mode off. I just had to get this off my chest. I’m so sick of this place it’s not even funny. I’ve been treated like shit since I moved here really, but I mostly didn’t care until people started screwing with my already tenuous ability to sleep like a normal human. My next move is to file a complaint against whoever’s scooting stuff in the middle of the night if it continues. I know it’s something I should take up with whoever’s doing it before I complain, but I just have no tolerance for any shit having to do with this place anymore. I don’t think I can be respectful as I need to be, so I just have to file the complaint and be done with it and hope they can be arsed to do something about it.
Truth is, the only thing I wanted when I moved here was to be left alone, ideally so that my mental state could hopefully improve to the point where I’d be able to be completely self-sufficient someday, or if worse came to worse, a place I could slowly fade into oblivion. Morbid, but yeah… I was barely functional at all back then. It could’ve gone either way.
Fortunately, despite the constant string of shit I’ve received, I am getting better, and have no desire to fade into oblivion. And I have all my online peeps to thank for that. So for everyone I’ve been lucky enough to befriend online, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
I don’t think I’ll ever think very highly of myself, and who knows if I’ll ever really make good on my alleged potential, but you’ve all given me the will to try and be a better, stronger, more worthwhile person.
Okay, NOW the rant mode is off. Have a great night, everyone. Peace, love, and fighting spirit.
At the End of the Decade
The decade is coming to an end. We’re more than 2/3 of the way through it’s last year. The weather is beginning to cool as 2009 starts to wind down. It is a time of reflection, a time to look back, as we prepare to move ever forward into the great unknown.
My own personal ’00s weren’t so good. Growing up ain’t easy, and I found it especially tough. As I struggled and failed to find my way through, it was as if timed stopped as the new millennium began, and only now, as we approach it’s first decade’s conclusion, do I feel like time has started to flow for me again.
I don’t know what it was that started my life moving forward again this year after being stuck in neutral for so long. I don’t know if it was some outside force or something snapping within my mind, but something changed. The wheels are in motion once more, and I’ve begun to truly feel alive for the first time in a very long time.
Of course, I’m not close to where I want to be, the process of healing my troubled little mind has only just begun, but… it has started. I’m a little less depressed, a little more confident, a little less self-loathing, and little more proactive in keeping it that way. My energy level is a little higher and I’m doing my best to be active and focus a little bit better.
However, being out of circulation for so long itself wasn’t without side effects. I stand before you now as a 24 year old in body only; I’m stunted no less than a decade younger in emotional maturity, to speak nothing of life experience. It is a strange feeling, to be sure. The disconnect between my body and my mind is weird and kinda difficult to reconcile, but considering where my head has been for so long, it’s a comparatively minor issue. Heh.
So this is where I’m at, and it is what it is. And as 2009 goes around turn three and we head into the fall and the reflective feelings it inspires, what is it from the past 10 years that you will reflect on, as the decade comes to an end?
Until our next…
All I Can Do is Smile…
October 13, 2009 at 18:09 (In This Life, Talkin' Baseball) (commentary, controversy, Eric Walker, logic, MLB, PEDs, performance enhancing drugs, steroids, validation)
For you see, someone out there has painstakingly taken all those little incomplete, fractured thoughts and misgivings that I can’t quite properly express or factually back up on my own, that gnaw at me when my mind comes to rest on the thought of performance enhancing drugs in baseball. I have mentioned before that I’m “over it” as far as steroid/PED drama was concerned, and (I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this). Please check out the link I’m dropping at the end of this post (will also be permanently linked on the side of my blog), and maybe have your mind blown.
I will say that if your mind is so thoroughly made up against PEDs, rational thought may not be able to reach you. Disappointing, but it happens. Regardless of how deep your bias runs, I ask you this: Of all the anti-PED sentiment out there, what/who has actually backed up their rhetoric with anything more than hearsay and vague stories/claims/etc? Who has ever presented scientifically-tested data and the words of noted experts to back up their often vitriolic anti-PED stances?
This is one of the key problems I have always had with this subject. I just cannot seem to find more than, at best, anecdotal evidence to support the dangers of performance enhancers (in adults). And as far as the moral and ethical reasons I’ve heard for how PEDs damage the credibility of the game, I don’t really buy into them all that much. At the very least they are infinitely debatable, and it really ticks me off when writers and politicians and even common fans shout from their soapboxes like they have any kind moral highground here, when they can’t back it up with anything but a chorus of people saying the exact same thing, nobody providing a good reason for it. It’s just a vicious cycle of BS, and to me it all rings hollow. And that’s a real good way to turn me off of what your selling in a big way real fast.
So we find ourselves here today. I happened upon this great lil website that has taken it upon itself to look at all the reasons performance enhancing drugs are being taken to task, and thoughtfully break every last one of them down into the quivering mass of lies, misconception, ignorance, and logical fallacies that ultimately rest at the heart of each issue. And glory be, does it ever cite it’s sources, they really did their homework, quite ably discrediting the misconceptions and lies surrounding steroids and PEDs and their negative effect on baseball and a person’s physical wellbeing, not to mention giving some useful opinions from people who have the background to give said opinions real weight on the ethical quagmire that performance enhancers in sports create.
As an added bonus, it also nicely illustrates just how incredibly screwed up our society is.
So yeah, if you see me smiling a little more wryly than usual, I might be feeling a little validated right now.
With that all tediously (depending on where you fall on the issue and what you think of my writing) said, here’s the link: Steroids, Other “Drugs”, and Baseball
Note of caution, there is a TON of stuff to take in over there.
If you give it a fair shot (or even if you don’t), please let me know what you think. I most definitely want to hear what y’all have to say about this. Like I said, I was basically reading my own personal thoughts on the subject and getting the proof for my misgivings that I didn’t have within me to seek out on my own. Agree or disagree, let’s get some intelligent discourse going.
You’re not going crazy, chum. You’re going sane in a crazy world!
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