My week in the penalty box

I am trying the plow through that worst work week of all work weeks: the week after a vacation week.

That week, always trying, was exacerbated by a compacted and very busy high school sports schedule.

As usual I feel like I'm being punished for daring to enjoy a few days off on my own, like someone assessed a week's worth of penalties for the crime of having off-time. I'm now serving my sentence in the box.

So I've been struggling to get to my hobby all week with spotty success. You are allowed only a certain amount of cards in the sin bin.

I pulled together two different card packages sent fairly recently that each contained some of the same cards.

Here are the cards from Starting Nine:

Here are the cards from The Collective Mind:

You can see I have two to spare.

These are the tarot card-themed inserts from Gypsy Queen this year. A lot of people love these. I'm not into them. They go with the circus-freak vibe of GQ the last couple of years. I appreciate themed sets, but it's not my thing.

I do appreciate the rounded corners, as I dropped the Kershaw on the hardwood floor and it was immune from the scourge of corner ding. And I'm mildly amused by "The Joker" designation on the Puig card.

Max also sent a nifty Heritage Chrome Dodger:

Good to know I was there for the beginning of the end for Darvish in his stint with the Dodgers. He's lost almost an entire World Series by himself during his six games with the Cubs.

Max also sent the entire Dodgers set from this year's Opening Day. I had already beaten him to it (as did another guy), but I am accumulating as many Buehlers as I can. You never know when people will start paying 20 bucks for a base card. (No sooner did I write this and he contributes to the first Dodgers' combined no-hitter).

Max added a couple of key night cards. Matt Kemp's card probably won't make the night card binder at #11 -- too much competition. But check out that identity theft ad in the background. This is A Modern Card Reflecting Modern Life.

The other night card I received will be saved for an Awesome Night Card post. You know this card. You love it. I can't believe I haven't dedicated an ANC to it. It'll be coming soon.

GCA's cards were sent along with a congratulatory note for reaching 4,000 posts (this is 4,015). The above Kershaw is a prize all itself. It's from something called Panini Gold Standard (how very late 1990s of you, Panini). I've never heard of it before. I'm gathering that it's some sort of high-end set. It's numbered on the front and it won't fit in your average nine-pocket without doing damage. Those are key signs of "high-end".

It's snazzy though. GCA even found the right kind of penny sleeve.

Here is the complete opposite.

This is a genuine authentic 1968 Topps Venezuelan John Roseboro card that seems to have spent four decades on an attic floor.

Cards like this fascinate me. The corners are hardly worn yet the card is painstakingly disintegrating from the inside out.

How do you make an old, brown 1968 card even browner? Somebody found a way. But it's my first Venezuelan card so I'm as ecstatic as I can be from my work chair.

I'll be sitting here at work for three more days and then finally my punishment is over.

I just think it's a tad excessive for the crime of avoiding florescent lighting for seven days.