It's Been Awhile

Hello everyone.  Sorry about the sporadic posts.  I've been keeping myself busy with work and recreation... that even includes hobby related stuff.  There are even three posts sitting in my drafts waiting to be edited, revised, and published.  I just need to sit down and hammer them out one at a time.

Plus there are still the handful of care packages I received earlier in the summer as well as a handful I have received since the start of the school year... that need to be shared on the blog.

However... I'm trying to view my blog as a source of recreation rather than obligation in an effort to lower levels of guilt and stress.  So the posts will be published... but I'm not going to force the issue.

Today I just wanted to catch everyone up on what's going on over here since it's been awhile since I've hammered out something for you all to read.

Let's start things off with my 2024-25 school identification card:

The Oakland A's have been my favorite baseball team for over four decades.  I wanted this year's yearbook photo to be a tribute to their final season in the Bay Area.

If you look closely... I utilized one of those 2012 Triple Play Eye Black inserts.

Here's a better look:

This is he first time since 2021 that I've shown off my school ID.  Damn.  Three years.  It's been awhile.

It's also been awhile since I opened up a blaster box of 2024 Topps Chrome U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Team Hopefuls.  Overall... the box was underwhelming, but I did manage to pull a pair of keepers:

2024 Topps Chrome U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Refractor #119

2024 Topps Chrome U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Black Refractor #164 (#'d 07/10)

Both of these guys represent the final group of NBA stars I followed and collected.  I didn't buy this box with the intention of collecting either of these guys, but they honestly saved the box for me.

Getting back to stories from the classroom... this semester I have a student who happens to be the younger brother of a student I had seventeen years ago.  Last week, he brought in this Jordan Love jersey:

His older brother gave it to me for my birthday and included one of the nicest notes I have ever received.  

It's been awhile (probably close to ten years) since I last saw him, but he's coming back to the Bay Area during the holidays so hopefully we'll get together and catch up.

Let's wrap things up with a few cards I originally set aside for World Afro Day, which took place this past Sunday:

1975-76 Topps #236

1976 Topps Traded #74T

2014 Topps Gold #8

I'm four days late... but that's better than a couple of weeks, a couple of months, or a couple of years.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

All Good Things

If all good things must come to an end, then that's something I can live with... because it makes me appreciate those things a wee bit more.

The perfect example is the advent calendar Ryan sent me last month.  Advent calendars have a built-in end date.  So today, we'll see what goodies he put together for me for Day 19 through Day 25.

We left off with blaster box of 2022 Topps Series 2 baseball.  We'll kick off this post with another blaster box...

December 19th

2023 Topps Athletes Unlimited Blaster Box

Until I opened up this present, I had never seen or heard of this product, but according to Topps it is the first product of its kind as it features the best athletes from all four Athletes Unlimited sports leagues.

Based on their website, it's a network of professional sports leagues made up of elite women softball, volleyball, basketball, and lacrosse players.  This should be an interesting break, but I might sit on this box until I can figure out who I'm looking for.

December 20th

The unopened box streak continues...

2022/23 Topps NBL Hobby Box

This time it's a hobby box of NBL athletes.  If you're not familiar with the NBL, it stands for the National Basketball League that's located in the land Down Under.  Unlike the two previous boxes that Ryan sent me... I think I'll add this one to my unopened box collection.  I feel like this one will be more fun to open down the line if some of these guys eventually cross the Pacific and play in the NBA.

December 21st

The box streak might have come to an end... but the foreign sports league trend continues with twenty-one packs of 2022 Epoch JLPGA cards:

Looks like there are ninety cards in the base set... so there's a good chance I'll be able to complete it with these packs.  Ryan included these cards to help me get started:

Here's a closer look at one of the singles:

2022 Epoch JLPGA Top Singles #22

This should be a fun set build.  The best part is any duplicates will be added to my Japanese Athlete PC.

December 22nd

Ryan wasn't sure if I collected Garbage Pail Kids cards.

Well... of course I do.  I started buying them back in 1986 when I spent the summer working in Hawaii for my uncle.  One of the things I'd spend my money on was packs of this stuff.  Unfortunately... I didn't keep them after purging my collection in the early 2000's.

But in 2012, I purchased a collection at a card show for under $100 and it included complete sets of Series 2,3,5,6,7,8,9, and 10.  Plus a partial set of Series 4 that was only missing 5 cards.

Although I haven't purchased any of the newer products, I look forward to opening up the 2022 Topps Chrome GPK Series 5 hanger box in hopes of finding some cool refractors.

As for the micro figures, I already popped those open:

Each of them came with tiny variations of the original cards:

2021 Topps GPK Micro Figures Cards #3b

2021 Topps GPK Micro Figures Cards #10a

Super tiny... but super nostalgic and super duper cool.

December 23rd

Next up are the first packs I opened in 2024:

2023 Topps Big League Baseball

Ripped these open on January 2nd and pulled these:

It was nice to pull a Tatis base card, but this was my favorite pull:

2023 Topps Big League Roll Call Wildstyle #RC-13

While these were the first packs of the new year... next up were my final packs of 2023...

December 24th

The 24th present was this box of 2022 Topps Chrome NPB:

The actual box was a little damaged... but the cards were just fine:

Here are the inserts I pulled:

I recognize Masataka Yoshida (in the middle), but it looks like the hit of the box was this card:

2022 Topps Chrome NPB 1958 Gold Refractor #58-20 (#'d 37/50)

As much as I enjoy collecting NPB cards, I don't really know much about their players.  This is one of the exceptions.  The card show dealer with those Godzilla cards told me about him and his ability to hit the long ball.  The only problem is if he does eventually play in the MLB, it won't be for several years.  I guess the waiting game begins now.

December 25th

Japanese Beastie Boys Hello Nasty Advertisement

Many of you know that I'm a huge Beastie Boys fan, so this is quite the Christmas present.  I've never seen this before, but I love that it combines my interest in the group and my heritage.

It's printed on glossy poster paper with the following measurements:  7.125" x 10.125".  Not exactly sure how these were distributed, but Ryan thinks these were passed out at their concert in Osaka back in 1999.  If so... that's pretty flippin' awesome.

Not 100% sure how I'm going to display it... but this is way too cool to be tucked away in a binder somewhere.  I'll figure out something.

Holy smokes.  That was a ton of fun.  But like I stated at the start of the post... all good things must come to an end.  As bloggers, we're constantly reminded by the extreme generosity passed around our community of collectors.  This custom built advent calendar is just another reminder.

Thank you Ryan for putting this together for me.  I truly appreciate the time, effort, and money you put into such a generous care package.  Looking forward to getting together soon and catching up.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Things Are Taking Off

If you're into unique collectibles like this Frank Robinson hotel key card, Japanese anime, video game cards, or baseball stamps... then you'll enjoy this round of Ryan's awesome advent calendar.

December 13th

Let's blast off with some space stuff...

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Bookmarks

Growing up in the 80's... watching space shuttle launches was kind of a big deal.  That's why I'm always intrigued by NASA related collectibles.  My collection is pretty small... but I have patches, Lego sets, postage stamps, 8x10's, and of course trading cards.

Here are fourteen new additions:

It's kind of funny, because my Christmas care package to Ryan included several space related items too.  Great minds, right?

December 14th

For every minute I spent sorting cards as a kid, I spent almost the same amount of time playing video games.  This carried over into the 90's. 

2023 Cardsmiths Street Fighter Series 1

Convention Exclusive Box

And Street Fighter was big among my college buddies.  We wasted countless hours battling each other while chowing down on Jack in the Box tacos.  The thing is... while I was king of those tacos... I sucked at the game.

Regardless... I'm pretty stoked to open these up.  Maybe I'll get lucky and pull an E. Honda card for my Japanese Athlete PC.

December 15th

Ryan truly is a good friend.  Why?

Because good friends encourage you to use protection.

December 16th

I recently cancelled my subscription to Hulu (as well as Peacock and Paramount).  Unfortunately one of the shows I had on my watchlist was Demon Slayer.

2021 Ensky Demon Slayer Sticker Packs

If these look familiar... Ryan sent me a batch of these last year too.  Hoping to watch the show one of these days, so I can truly appreciate them.

December 17th

When I was growing up, my mom would fill up our Christmas stockings with trinkets catered to each person's interests.  The 17th present reminded me of one of those childhood stockings.

Let's begin with the click bait photo for this post:

2023 Graduate Hotel Key Card

Is this the coolest hotel key card or what?  This year's advent calendar has been full of awesome oddball items.  It's going to be hard to top this one.

Next up were a pair of baseball stamps:

1983 USPS Babe Ruth 20¢ Stamp

1939 Centennial of Baseball 3¢ Stamp

Stamp collecting doesn't seem to be as popular as it once was.  Yeah right.  I'll collect stamps like these until the day I stop collecting.

How about some ice cream mini-helmets?

Love those too!  I already have the same A's one in my office, so I'll take that into my classroom.  The brown & gold Padres mini helmet was added to the office shelf though:

As for the San Francisco Giants helmet... I'll either pass it along to my brother or co-worker... both of whom are Giants fans.

I might have already had the helmet, but I didn't have this A's oddball item:

1990 Superstar Action Marbles #NNO

I tried to put this up on my A's shelf in the office... but it kept rolling off.  Until I can find permanent place to display it, it's part of my desk decorations.

Rounding out the December 17th present are some snack packs:

2022 Bandai Heaven Burns Red Series 1

2023 Bandai Heaven Burns Red Series 2

The very first care packages from Ryan took place when he was stationed in Europe, so they were always filled with interesting treats.  This is kind of a throwback to those days.  Each of these packs contained a delicious vanilla wafer and a trading card:

2022 Bandai Heaven Burns Red Series 1 #18

2023 Bandai Heaven Burns Red Series 2 #08

I'm not familiar with this show, but it must be pretty popular if they're producing trading cards for it.  Both of these will be added to my Japanese non-sports binder.  Wow... that present sure packed a lot.  I could have dedicated an entire post to it.

But the show must go on...

December 18th

Rounding out the third post documenting Ryan's awesome advent calendar is a blaster box of 2022 Topps Series 2 baseball.  Between my Black Friday Dave & Adam's Card World purchase and the plethora of packs from Ryan... my rainy day pack stash is sitting pretty.

2022 Topps Series 2 Baseball Blaster Box

This box will be tossed into the mix.  Looks like I could potentially pull rookie cards of Josh Lowe, Spencer Strider, and Wander Franco 😯.

Stay tuned for the final segment of this series... which will hopefully be up on Thursday.  Until then...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!