This past year has sure warped my sense of time. One memory might feel like it took place yesterday... while another feels like years have passed.
Exactly one year ago... my brother and I drove down to Las Vegas to visit my father. We spent a few days hanging out with him, hitting balls at the driving range together, and chilling on the Colorado River. It was the last time I hung out with either of them in person. I've talked (and Zoomed) with both of them plenty of times, but that trip seemed like years ago.
The same thing applies to Inauguration Day... which took place almost four weeks ago. It feels like way longer than that. Maybe not years... but definitely more than twenty-six days ago.
I think part of it has to do with the fact that time flies when you're having fun. And normally... I love my job and it's a lot of fun... so the past twenty-three years have sort of flown by. Well... all of them except the past year.
Anyways... one of the bright sides to distance learning was that I was able to watch part of the inauguration with my students. In the short time span that we watched it together, they had the opportunity to see and hear Amanda Gorman's beautiful poem. It was hands down my favorite part of the event.
2021 Topps Now #20
The next day Topps offered up a set of Topps Now cards that included a card of Gorman. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of Topps Now cards, I didn't think twice about adding the set to my cart and checking out. The nine card set cost $58.98 ($54.99 + $3.99 taxes). In hindsight... I should have been patience because the following day (or maybe the day after that) Topps had the individual cards available for sale.
On the bright side... had I just purchased the Gorman... I probably would have passed up the famous Bernie Sanders card:
2021 Topps Now #21
I use the word "famous", because it was by far the highest printed card (91,169 copies) from the Inauguration Day set. To put things in perspective... the Gorman was the third highest printed card (14,716 copies) in the set behind the Kamala Harris card (17,016 copies).
Here's a look at the whole set:
We'll never know when I'll be making another Topps Now purchase.
Maybe it'll happen in a month. Maybe a year. Either way... I wonder how long it'll actually feel like, since my sense of time has been completely warped.
Happy President's Day and sayonara!
Second Term
Speaking of a warped sense of time, do you remember seeing this card on my blog before?
2018 Topps Mini #608
Well... not exactly this card. But back in November, Collecting Cutch hooked me up with the Chrome Sapphire Superfractor version for my Kurt Suzuki PC. That card made me an official card carrying member of the Superfractor Club. It's only been three months, but it feels like much longer than that.
Anyways... John over at Johnny's Trading Spot generously sent me the Mini version seen above. I'm thinking this is a sign that I should track down more of the parallels for this very photogenic piece of cardboard.
In addition to the Mini Suzuki, he also sent me two PWE's worth of A's and Tony Gwynn cards:
Inside were the first seven 2020 Topps Holiday cards in my collection... and according to Beckett it appears to be the entire team set. The 2020 Topps Attax card of Matt Chapman along with the two 2020 Optic Stained Glass inserts were also brand new to the collection.
The next card is interesting... but a complete mystery:
No idea what this card is... but I could have used it back when I was in elementary school.
Last, but not least...
This card is very cool for a few reasons:
#1: I didn't have it.
#2: I've never seen or heard of this set before.
#3: It features a well-cropped action shot which I'll never complain about.
#4: This card was released the same year I started teaching... which in sense seems like only a few years ago. Like I mentioned earlier... my sense of time has been warped.
Thank you John for these generous new additions to my A's and Gwynn collections!
11 comments:
I bought the Gorman , Sanders and Harris cards.
I need a few more of the cards from the inauguration
I'm glad you found some keepers in there.
Nice set. I say it all the time but my memory is pathologically bad. How did that 2018 Suzuki make it into the Flagship set? Looks like a Stadium Club.
Someone must be blogging about Pacific cards somewhere. There are so many sets! Some were licensed and some weren't. It's all utterly mad.
I remember your post about the Vegas trip! Crazy it was a year ago.
Time is such a blur these days. It feels like some things were just yesterday and I look and it has been months. We have to get out of the quarantine crazy.
Glad you have great memories of your Vegas trip.
That inauguration card set is great!
mark hoyle - i think these were the only cards that broke the 10k mark. i'm really glad topps made these
matt - the good news is they're only like $5 or $6 each on ebay
johnnys trading spot - it's always fun sifting through care packages and discovering new cards for the collection. thanks again john.
hackenbush - i know... it definitely looks like a stadium club card
jongudmund - there aren't as many pacific posts out there as you'd think. but there are several bloggers who are big fans of their product line
the lost collector - even though it's only been a year, that's the longest my dad and i have ever been apart. my brother too. but like i said... it feels like way longer than that.
sumomenkoman - i know. seems like most conversations i have with friends involves at least one of us mentioning we can't wait for the return to normalcy.
cincicuse bill - yeah, it was awesome. good time... that seems like years ago.
I wish I'd been in on the Bernie card. Didn't know they made one until it was too late. The A's jerseys go well with the Topps holiday cards. Fun post.
bulldog - you're in luck. you can grab one on ebay for around $5 to $6
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