The idea of losing my memory is pretty scary. I've accepted the fact that many of my childhood memories have been lost over time, but I always figured that my brain was just clearing out room for new memories. Then something happened to me yesterday that made me realize that even some of my newer memories are fading as well.
Yesterday... I attended my first card show in over fifteen months. It was the best show I've attended since I returned to the hobby in 2008, but that's not really the focus of this post. I'll recap it in a future post.
Today's post is about my meetup with Mr. Haverkamp. I know some of you have made trades or have received care packages from him... but for those who haven't... he's a blog supporter who will comment on posts from time to time. I've been fortunate enough to meet up with him on numerous occasions.
While walking around the show, I noticed him helping out his friend who was set up. We started chatting and he pulled out some cards that he had set aside for me... and that's where the memory loss portion of this post begins.
The first card he showed me was this:
1964 Topps #352
I wasn't quite sure how this Red Sox card fit into my collection, but before I could ask... he mentioned that I had wrote about collecting cards featured in the Baseball Card Bible: The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book.
I had totally forgot about that post... which was written only 175 days ago. However as soon as he mentioned the book... I remembered.
Then he pulled out another card:
1954 Topps #189
This time... I recognized the card... but couldn't pinpoint how I knew it. Before I could start stressing over my poor memory, he asked me if I needed this card for my San Jose State PC.
That's when I pulled out my phone to search my blog which revealed that I own a signed copy of the 1994 Archives reprint in a post I wrote 427 days earlier... but had totally forgotten about it.
Thankfully he didn't. If I ever needed motivation to continue blogging... this would be it. I need to preserve my memories in writing... just in case I don't remember them later on down the road.
The third card he showed me was this signed minor league card of Kurt Suzuki:
2005 Grandstand California League Top Prospects #NNO
I think this is the first time I've ever seen this card before.
Then again... maybe I saw it years ago and forgot. I'm going to try extra hard to keep this cool autograph in the memory bank.
Maybe I should keep this Post-It note that was attached to the penny sleeve to help me.
2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Mini #309
2001 Bowman Heritage #239
Thank you Jim for taking the time to remember special collections that I'm working on... and for these three cards, the A&G mini, and the new Yoshii for my Japanese PC. It was nice catching up and talking shop. Now that I have your wantlist of Schmidts, I'll try to track something down for you. If not... the next time we hang out, I'll buy you lunch and a beer. Have fun at The National! Hope you're able to finish the 1953 Bowman Color set build.
As for the rest of you...
Do you ever forget a set build, a card project, or a certain collection you're working on?
I look forward to reading your comments and responding to them. And stay tuned... I'm going to try and recap some of my card show purchases on Tuesday. Here's a peek at some of the stuff I picked up...
Happy Sunday and sayonara!
23 comments:
I'm starting to go 'blank' on trivial things like movie titles and other pop culture tid-bits, and it has me somewhat concerned that I'll forget important things before long. But I think in your case, it could be that your mind is just relaxing a bit too much after a stressful school year?
I think I'd forget a lot more about my collection if I didn't maintain a blog about it. Which means I should probably spend more time documenting trades and purchases and less time talking about hockey lol.
Can't wait to see what's in that box you brought home from the show! All these bloggers going to shows makes me wish I could attend one. But the CT show was today and I was in town a week too early :/
I don't forget projects / collections. I just get frustrated and move on to different ones.
That Ross card can also fit defunct teams and famous names. Good get.
I think about memory loss all the time these days. It's what happens when you reach this point -- and can't remember when you went to bed the night before.
Your post about the Great American Baseball Card book was piggy-backing on my post about it and I remember my post. So I guess I should feel good about my memory.
I definitely forget stuff I'm working on. Though when someone hits me with stuff for this projects I'm usually pretty good about making the connection
Oh, I totally forget different things within my PC all the time. I just bought a 1961 Post Ernie Banks at a card show two days ago and I was completely convinced I didn't already have it in my collection. Pshaw. Now I have two. C'est la vie.
That Best Western Kurt Suzuki card is most excellent!
Cool stuff! I've never seen that Suzuki either but it's definitely a cool add to your collection. I'm looking forward to seeing what's in that shoebox too!
All the time. I get started on something, then I find another thing that looks good, and I forget others...but I always make my way back some how. I only have about half of the 61 Topps cards from the 1961 Set that I wanted to collect for my 61st Birthday in February.
It'll get finished,hopefully,in time for "62 for my 62nd."
Keep on blogging!
I just received another pwe from Mr. Haverkamp - great that you were able to meet up again. I've wound up with some dupes for my mini collections in the last year or so because I forgot that I had already ordered them. Nothing major hobby related though - knock on wood.
chris - i sure hope it's just my mind relaxing. i've definitely noticed my retention of trivial information has gotten worse. i used to be really good at naming music and movies. these days i'm only confident on the 80's stuff. hope you're able to get to a show sooner than later.
elliptical man - i'm at the point where if i move on to different ones, i'll essentially be collecting everything ;D
night owl - yeah... while writing this post, i went back and skimmed my post and noticed it was in response to yours. as for knowing the time i went to bed... i let my fitbit tell me. my ocd likes keeping track of things like hours of sleep and number of steps i take on a daily basis
nick vossbrink - it's a good thing i document stuff with this blog... otherwise i'd be completely lost ;D
p-town tom - i've purchased duplicates on accident a few times myself. and i'm always excited to add a new kurt suzuki to the collection.
dennis - there's a bunch of variety in there... but nothing huge. i pretty much spent hours digging through the low-end boxes like the good old days
john sharp - it's a good thing i have people like jim who remind me what i collect ;D best of luck with those projects of yours.
gcrl - it's good that your dupes aren't major. i feel like i've purchased a couple of hof autographs that were duplicates over the years. but i guess it's better than duplicate draft bust autographs.
Yep, all the darn time. But in my defense...I've got so many "collection/projects" going on that it is not just acceptable but expected. As for my normal memory, it's not as good as it used to be, but it is pretty darn good. I'd say the only weakness would be phone numbers.
I don't keep "backburner" sets top of mind - the ones I am working on but not actively. I just keep a list that I check when needed. Too many to track!
I usually try only one or two projects at a time, so any reminders I log in my smart phone.Almost all sets I buy these days are hand sorted or factory,so I don't have to keep a checklist with me ,like I did back in the day.
Ha, I'm constantly forgetting stuff like that too.
Actually one of the funnest aspects of the hobby for me now is going through boxes of cards that I put aside and haven't looked at for a few years (which I do a lot with cards since I just don't have the time to go through them too often). I'll often pull out cards and be like "OMG, I have this card?? Fantastic!" because I've often forgotten that I even owned it.
This has been particularly fun recently due to the insane escalation of vintage card prices since last year. Just the other day I found a few cards that I paid like 20-40$ each for a few years ago which now sell for several times that and it really made my day since I had forgotten I even owned them :) It felt like winning the lottery (not the big lotto, but one of the like 100 to 200$ prizes or something!)
My comment will be non baseball related but pertaining to memory. I had a recent conversation with my sister about memories because she loves "creating" them with pictures. I told her that by taking pictures she would actually be forgetting that memory until she decided to look at the photo again. We relieve our brains from it's duty to retain memory when we capture it in a photo or even write about
it, imo. That's why we always say " I totally forgot about this day" when we see it in a picture years later. So there's that😁
Definitely. It doesn't help that I have to many collections going at the same time. Surprised I don't have doubles and triples of more cards!
One of my main reasons for starting Cardboard History was because of my poor memory. I have been keeping track of my collection on paper since 1998 due to my poor memory. I remember trying to decide at a show which card to get, I could only afford one. I picked the wrong one, one I already had, and left the one I needed behind. Ironically at this late date I no longer remember which cards were involved and if I ever got the one I left behind.
I have a really poor memory, and it scares me the most for work. Something I think it's a lack of focus, but I often go back and check out my notes from the call and can't remember what some of them were about.
Memory for me is bad. I have stacks of cards for trades I can't remember who some went to
My memory is horrible. I don't build a lot of sets but I have forgotten some. I'm reminded about things pertaining to the hobby all the time though. Cards or designs I really like, etc. Good post.
The mind is a terrible thing...and it must be stopped...in our lifetime...before it kills somebody.
I'm horrible at passwords I created a week ago. I started writing every single one on a notebook.
It truly happens to the best of us, but you are doing your part to preserve history and memories on this blog. You are not alone though...in this era we are all subject to information overload and don't have all the capacity to take it in. Your mind has to make room for all the data being thrown at you these days. Hang in there and definitely looking forward to your post tomorrow on your card show finds! Don't forget to post about it. Ha!
johnnys trading spot - i think i'm down to only having three phone numbers memorized. it's kind of sad when you think about it.
crazie joe - i have a document with all of my sent builds, but i'm sure even that is incomplete.
sg488 - even though i have a large number of set builds, i'm usually too impatient and prefer to just buy completed sets these days.
sean - i do the same thing. a few weeks ago i was flipping through boxes and discovered all kinds of cool cards that i hope to one day blog about. congratulations on stumbling across those vintage cards. it's always nicer to see that they've soared in value compared to crashing.
big tone - i think you're right. in my case... maybe blogging has hurt my memory more than helped it... because now i depend on it so much instead of my mind.
jeff b - i often stumble across doubles and triples. my problem is sometimes i buy multiples just because they're cheap or i like having multiple copies
billy kingsley - that's one of the reasons i started this blog too. although big tone made a great point. maybe i've learned to depend on my blog for memories too much over the years
the lost collector - i could see how that would be scary. when it comes to my job... usually the only thing i forget are names of former students. but considering in have over 300 different students each year, it's something i can live with
matt - me too. i've started writing names on post-it notes and attaching them to cards. as soon as i have a reasonably sized stack... i just ship them out.
bulldog - fellow bloggers are constantly reminding me of cards and designs i enjoy. sure glad i have a large list of blogs to follow. the more blogs i read... the more cards i discover i enjoy.
rebel coyote - passwords can be a nightmare. not sure what i'd do without my phone or computer
sumomenkoman - thanks buddy. publishing today's post was high on my priority list for today. spent a couple hours on it this morning.
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