Not Giving Up Yet...

I've received quite a few emails in the past couple of weeks regarding the blog and basically asking what the hell happened to me, so I think it's time for an explanation. I didn't realize just how long it had been since I last posted...

I was realistic with myself when I started this almost a year and a half ago. I knew I would not be able to keep up with some other bloggers who post daily or even multiple times daily, and I was alright with that. I wasn't looking for a huge following or a sponsorship from a card company, just an outlet for some creativity and a way to share my favorite cards with anyone who was interested. My goal was to manage 8-12 posts a month, and I was able to do so for about the first 15 months. A number of things have changed recently though, and contributed to my absence over the last 5 weeks or so...

My fiance was diagnosed with thyroid cancer recently and just completed her final surgery yesterday. Everything went as expected, and it's one of the least severe forms of cancer, so the long term outlook is good and there will be little impact on her day to day life other than a pill that she has to take once a day to control hormone levels. Nonetheless, there was a good amount of time spent at oncology centers and hospitals as well as providing support. I'm grateful that everything turned out well. She's home resting and it was actually a good chance for us both to reflect on what's important in life.

At the same time, I was given a huge project at work that pretty much occupied all of the free time I had, and had me living out of a suitcase at times over the past few weeks. This finally wrapped up recently and I'm happy with how it went, so I'm starting to see my life return to a more comfortable level of normalcy. Although it was hectic, I really do enjoy my job and am grateful to have one at all in this economy.

On top of all of this, one of only two local cards shops that I usually visit totally burnt down. I feel awful for the owner, he was a friendly guy and was ironically a volunteer fireman in the area. The thing is, I haven't purchased any new cards in over a month anyway. I'm not intrigued by any of the new baseball releases and hockey seems to be dying down now that the season is nearly over.

The funny thing is, instead of being frustrated about the lack of time to devote to my hobby, I actually really enjoyed the break. I didn't realize how much time and energy I was spending on organizing and scanning my cards, putting trades together, updating my collection on Zistle, browsing eBay, etc. Taking a month off left me feeling more relaxed than I have in a long time. So...where do I go from here?

Well, I'm not ready to throw in the towel on this blog or on collecting cards. I still love collecting and have met some absolutely great people through this blog. I think I just need to be a bit more realistic with myself and my expectations, and slow things down a bit. So, I'm going to start blogging again, with the goal of 8-10 posts a month going forward. I want blogging and organizing to be fun again, like it was when I first started, rather than feeling like my second full-time job. So beginning today, you will start to see some activity here once again.

Anyway, enough droning on about my personal life, this blog is supposed to be about cards! I'll leave you with another fine specimen from the 1974 Topps hockey set. You can't tell me that there isn't a strong resemblance between Larry here and Michael Imperioli. Is it just me or does this look like Christopher Moltisanti in a Sabres jersey?