The Centerpiece!

Something really really amazingly beyond cool came in the mail yesterday.  I don’t even know where to begin… But I guess the beginning will do.  As you know, I have a Sarita, aka “Dark Angel” Sarah Stock, supercollection going.  It’s pretty great.  I’m not sure why, but she (and to a lesser extent Hamada) was who I was drawn to when TNA brought in a bunch of women wrestlers to fill out the Knockouts division.  And even though she was way underutilized, she hung around quite awhile and did some good work in TNA and was part of the Knockouts great early run.

She has a fair amount of cards from her stint in TNA, nearly all of which I have acquired at least one version of, and they tend to be pretty inexpensive.  I’ve even amassed a trio of 1/1s, though they do tend to push the upper limits of my card budget.

Anyway, I’ve still been following along with her and her career since she joined up on Twitter at some point after leaving TNA.  She’s been splitting her time between Japan & Mexico and has enjoyed a good amount of success.  She’s always seemed pretty cool and easy to root for in the limited interaction I’ve had with her on there.  Which leads us to about a week & a half ago.

I powered up my internets to find a new 1/1 Sarita card had surfaced on the ol’ eBay.  Much to my dismay, however, it had a BIN of $500 on it!  Boo-urns.  So like I am want to do, I took to twitter to passively-aggressively whine about it.  I am a whiny ass sometimes and Twitter is a good place for anonymous whining, what can I say…

But then a funny thing happened.  The Dark Angel herself replied back, saying she would send me “something even cooler for free”.  After confirming she was for realz about it, I sent her my address.  And yesterday, from south of the border… it arrived.

What arrived, you may ask?  Behold!

Wrist/arm thing from sleeveless side..

Could it be?!

Oh my..

Yes!

The top was too big for to fit in one shot..

A full set of wrestling gear!

One side had a sleeve is why it wouldn’t fit..

I literally had tears in my eyes as I pulled each piece out.

The rest of the sleeve..

How freakin’ unbelievably cool is this?!

The other side of the unattached wrist/arm piece..

Oh yeah, each item is also signed!

The separate wrist/arm piece signature..

The bottoms..

The signature on the top is on the inside..

Like all things in life really (especially my own), my digital camera is… hit-or-miss.  So if you can’t quite read it, this is what they say:

Sarita

Dark Angel (with wings on the outside)

-2014- ♥

Briefs back..

This is all just so unreal… I still don’t know if it’s fully sunk in.

Other side of the top..

They smelled lovely, btw.  I mean, wait… Ha!  I didn’t get all creepy about it!  They just had a powerful perfume-y scent you didn’t have to be right up by to catch.  Was very intoxicating and will stick with me for awhile.  Yaharr… Moving on.

Other side of sleeve..

Rest of other side of sleeve..

Oh and check this out!  I immediately recognized this gear from somewhere, but a Google search didn’t find what I was looking for.  But then I checked my own collection.

Immortalized in card form..

Yep, I’m pretty sure that she sent me the same gear she’s wearing in this card.  This was already way beyond the call, but that somehow makes all of this even more insanely cool.  And all because I was a whiny tool on twitter.  That’s… um, that’s probably not the lesson you should take away from all of this. 😛

Anyway, I am so beyond grateful and humbled by this gift.  I mentioned when I sent her my address that I couldn’t in good conscience accept it for free, even though my promise of sending some original art in return seems so paltry in comparison now.  But I guess that means I just gotta step my art game way up to make it worthwhile.

Thank you again, Dark Angel!  You are fantastic and amazing and I am down 4-Life!

Until our next…

Raven Sketch Card Collection #1

My only licensed Raven sketch card (on account of being able to afford it), by Ray Dillon..

Until our next…

COMC Order #2

Vintage 2: Son of The Search for Curly’s Electric Boogaloo Returns

Yeah, let that sweet vintage goodness wash over you and cleanse your soul...

These are all Hall of Famers (except the card-sharing Downing and the Cobra, who is fairly close to Hall-worthy), and they are all keepers this time.

Is that ’72 not glorious?  1047 wins represented on that card!  And those two early-mid ’80s Carews probably don’t qualify as vintage yet, but they’re getting way too close for comfort.  That is depressing, because I will become vintage only one year later.  Not cool, man, not cool. 😦

On that disheartening note, the next post will be short, in more ways than one, as we somewhat seamlessly segue out of vintage and into the next section.

Oh, and Merry Christmas and Happy Universal Non-Denominational Holiday Celebration to all!

Now I have a machine gun.  Ho-ho-ho…

Old Skool ’75

Wanting to do a post of some substance, but I’m pretty out of it (been up since 2:30-ish in the morn), so I’ll just post an awesome card.

Rangers uni-Smangers uni. Keeper!

A good card to go to sleep on, if I do say so myself.  G’night.

zzzzzzZZZzz…

The Lonestarr Personal Collection #7

Coming off an 86 hit day for my blog, I think I should try to keep it going.  So here’s a little personal collection goodness for your viewing pleasure:

I actually pulled this from a pack myself!

It’s true, I pulled this from a pack!  A pack of 2005 topps Pack Wars… wait wut?  If you are confused, don’t worry, so was I when I pulled it.  I even wrote the dude I got the pack from, asking about it.  He didn’t even know.  I’m not sure how I found out what the deal was, but I was eventually steered in the right direction.

In the odds on the back of the pack, in 1:59 packs falls a retired player autograph.  It’s vague and easy to overlook.  This is what you get.  Leftover 2003 topps Fan Favorites autographs.  It’s more awesome than you think.  I mean, that was a pretty great set, with lots of regionally legendary Hall of Very Good players amongst the Hall of Famers.  It’s not a high priority, but I would like to get ahold of some more someday.

As for this card itself, there is so much going for it:

• One of these years, Lee Smith is going to get into the Hall of Fame.

• The auto is on card, which is always nice.

• His sig is also nice.  Pleasingly loopy.

• The design is 1983 topps, quite possibly the most perfectly designed cards ever made.

• Lee’s smile in the little head shot makes you fear for your life.

There you have it, one of the cooler pieces of my personal collection.

The Lonestarr Personal Collection #1

In an effort to give the blog a little mo’ pretty with scans, shine a little more light on my collection, and keep me posting a little more regularly, I will start showing off my cards every now & again.  Here is the first card, quite possibly the crown jewel of my collection:

My Favorite Card I Own...

Does it even require description?  It’s just a cool & classy bat/auto of one of the greatest Cubs.  What more can one ask for?  Billy has a great signature, no?

For life, for love, and Forever a Cub…