The show must go on

So, when your blog hits a million views, that's a good time to take a break, right? Or when you've worked 12 straight days, that's a good time for a breather, huh? Or when you don't feel like much of a collector because trades aren't being transacted as much as before and purchases have shrunk to almost nothing, that's when to give it a rest, hmmmm?

Or when you don't have any time to formulate a decent post, or when the ones that are thought-out get little reaction, or when you're grown so cynical that you even bother to notice either of those things, that's the time to step back, correct?

Or when baseball's about to end, basketball (bluuuh) is about to begin, and the team you like the least is about to celebrate a World Series title for the third time in five years, that's when to call timeout, you know?

You know?

Yet, here I am.

Disillusioned and dedicated, I'm pressing forward.

What has me blogging for another day is a package from Greg A. (hey, that rhymed -- THERE's a reason to go on). It is a very productive package because it took out the Nebulous 9 -- which is now a Nebulous 6 -- and a few other very recent wants.

I'll show the nebulous needs first because I want to get them in the binders first:

1990 Topps glossy Tim Belcher.

Glossy cards were the height of innovation around 1981. Yet, Topps churned them out for another decade, so long that I didn't realize glossy cards were still being issued in 1990 until about three years ago. As Tom Cochrane once said, "the secret is to know when to stop."

1994 Fleer Brett Butler/Tony Gwynn Superstar Special

This completes the '94 Fleer Dodgers team set for me (on to the Update set, wheeeeeee!). This card depicts two cancer victims, one who beat it and one who ultimately lost to it. And just to continue this happy theme, Butler is wearing a Campanella-Drysdale memorial patch. Let's hurry to the next card.

2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Paco Rodriguez

That Chevron add just enhances the old-timey feel doesn't it? I don't know what the Dodgers are doing with Rodriguez. If there is a strategy called "Demoralize The Guy Until He Quits" then the Dodgers are right on track.

2014 Topps Heritage Brian Wilson

Last card to complete the Dodgers team set for Heritage, too. Not thrilled the blue rubber band man has to be in my collection, especially with how he pitched this past year.

OK, those were the Nebulous 9 cards, now let's move on to some unlicensed material that Greg sent.

Two from the first Panini Cooperstown Off With The Tops Of Their Heads set. That Dodger set is now complete, too. Just a bazillion few inserts left. All unlicensed.

These Hometown Heroes cards come with black borders, too? Panini knows it's Panini, right? It can't be doing that stuff.

This is an insert from Hometown Heroes. I was about complain about how all I'm going to do is lose this tiny thing and why are there five Dodgers in an insert set, but then I started flipping it back-and-forth in my hand and ... wow, I need one of these at work.

All right, let's move on to the licensed stuff. And it's the best kind, too -- Allen and Ginter:

That wipes out all but three of the A&G Dodgers needs from this year. Excuse me one moment while I drive to Target so I can go to the card aisle and laugh at all the A&G blasters.

Oh, and I'm just going to leave this right here*:

Moving on to something happy ....

MINIIIISSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These can whisk away the cranky, too.

This also probably explains why I'm continuing to blog despite all of the reasons outlined in the beginning. Those reasons are really just "excuses". Cards make me happy -- most of them anyway. And anything that makes me happy is worth doing.

The show must go on.

Two million views?

Two million views.


*Fix this. Now.