Night Owl Cards

  Yesterday I attended the big show at the state fairgrounds that goes off twice a year. The last time I was there was in September and I obtained the majority of cards from three dealers who are almost always there and almost always get the majority of my business.   I was so confident that they would be there this time that I didn't bother to update my blog want lists or to finally figure out how to access my TCDB want lists on my phone. I just took my hand-penned want list for 1969 Topps and 1979 Topps football and stuffed them in my pocket. If two of those dealers were there, then that would be sufficient.   Well, neither of the two were there. This was a crisis because they are there so often I automatically thought something was wrong. Then I realized just about all my vintage options were gone. The crumpled list in my pocket was useless.   It was time to regroup, though after I did, I walked the show with a lot more uneasiness than I usually do. Not only were...

Today is Free Comic Book Day, which is yet another modern-day celebration that would have been a lot more useful to me in, say, 1980. That's when I read comic books. That's when I bought the few that I bought. It's an interest that didn't stay with me long nor follow me into adulthood. While I appreciate comics and cartoon drawings and story-telling immensely, I have no desire to read through a comic book anymore and haven't for years. When Free Comic Book Day comes around every year, I look at the offerings online with faint interest. But the days of wanting to turn those pages are gone. Besides, cards take up all my free time. I decided to look at a few instances of comics on the fronts of cards. I talk all the time about how much I love the cartoons on the backs of cards (and how they should be on the back always ). But comics on the front are a rarity. This is by no means an exhaustive, historical look. I don't have the time today. I just want t...

I don't like missing card shows, because there are so few of them and they're shrinking by the year. So even though I was lucky enough to go to an unexpected show a couple of weeks ago, it's still eating me up that there is another show next month staring me in the face that I am going to miss. It is very much like me to focus on what I can't have instead of what I do have. Getting myself converted to a more positive way of thinking is a constant battle. So this is my attempt to focus on the PRO column in my hobby life, rather than the CON column. I may have just a couple of card shows to attend each year, but I also have many other card shows available to me from around the country. That's the benefit of writing a semi-well-read blog. People read about what you like, go to their show in Dreamland, Arizona, or wherever, and -- wham! -- you have card show cards in your possession. I like to call these people who go to a card show in distant lands "car...