Checking A List....ia

So the last couple years I haven't been into collecting like I had been for the previous 8 or 9 years.  Fact is I was burnt out.  I was hoping 2021 would turn things around, but here we are in May and I haven't wrote in over a month.  It doesn't help when the market is currently pricing me out of buying new product, not that I have been the last couple years anyways.  However not all hope has been lost.  I knew after 2018, well really 2016, that I probably would be sticking to working on older sets instead of new product.  There were many reasons, mainly it would be cheaper, and possibly easier to get.  However when I got burnt out, I didn't really go out of my way to keep up with my collection.  If I found cards in person I'd check them out, and if given cards, I'd gladly accept.  Online shopping wasn't a huge priority, and until I have a chance at making some money, it probably won't be.  Having said all that, I decide a few months back to check into an old site I used many times before to see if anything caught my eye... Listia.  If you remember when I first started blogging, it was a staple on the site.  Then after a while I stopped posting about the site, first because I didn't have much in my account, and second they switched their payment options.  A couple years later they switched it again to a form of cryptocurrency, then last year then switched yet again to I think points or credits or whatever, and still use some sort of cryptocurrency.  I don't know anything about cryptocurrency, and I've realized the internet has long passed me over, so the less I know, I don't lose sleep over.  After their last switchover last year I decided I had enough and I planned on spending the last of the credits/points/whatever and be done with it.  It was a fun 8 or so years but I wasn't getting much out of the site.

Then something happened.  Maybe others got tired of the same thing and wanted out, or maybe they didn't understand the currency rate for the new system, but cards and lots became cheap.  There was about a month or two where cards could be had quite easily, and despite this, I still didn't get a lot of cards.  In early 2021 I had enough credits that I figured enough, blow the rest and be done with it.  So I started to...

Wow, some cards I've actually wanted for a long time and wanted to build the set.  Besides having a few here and there, it had long been a goal to finish this set.  40 cards total, so adding a few here and there is fine with me. It cost me 75 credits, no big deal.  I had like 300 or so left, good way to deplete them and move on.

Ooh, another batch, 75 more points, yes please.  I can dig this, I can knock out a total of 3 sets of the 8 and be quite happy.

And more, wow.  Now I'm half done and my points are pretty much done.  I can walk away happy and add something I didn't plan on working on this year, things are looking good....  Wait, you have more?  But I don't have enough points and there is still two more sets you have.  Alright, I'll work on some surveys or something to get more points.  I only need like 150 points, so that shouldn't be too hard.

A FEW HOURS LATER...

900 POINTS?   HOW DID I GET 900 POINTS?  It wasn't a few hours later, it was like 45 minutes later.  Now I have more points than I started with, so I guess I can get the other two sets for sale, but still.

In total I got 6 of the 8 sets, only missing the middle two.  I was more than happy to get them, and had to decide to open the packs or not when they arrived, yes they were still sealed!  I decided to open them, and am glad I did.  I would have been happier if the other two came up, but they either didn't have them or I missed them.  Either way, I'm 10 cards short and 2 headers, which I can probably get if I try and I bet I will in the next year.  After doing all that though, I ended up with more points then I started with and again decided to drain the points to be done.

At least that was the plan.  In the few months that followed, I did drain my points, but a couple times I decided to do more surveys and whatnot and build more back up.  In the end its still free cards and I don't have to do much to get them.  In all the years I've been a member, I think I only added 1 real dollar to my account just to get a credit card validated which I really didn't need too.  However looking back, I've gotten a ton of cards from the site and one day plan to do a best of looking back at some of what I got.  For only a dollar even the cards I'll show today is well worth it.  So having this Long John Silver's set already shown, lets see what else I've picked up in the last few months on the site.  I must admit I've also gotten other cards that may not have come from the site and I forgot where they came from so I apologize about that.  Anyways, its been ages since I've shown cards, so less talking more cards.

The top cards are cards that fit into my collection but I didn't really NEED to have them.  The thing about Listia is many sellers start the prices cheap and sometimes cards slip through the cracks and for less than 25 points you can get a card.  In fact I think the two Bob Gibson cards I got for 25 points total.  My favorite is the Albert Pujols card just because it is new and besides Greg Maddux, he's the guy I collect most of in baseball that has no connections to the Royals.  If I'm not mistaken, fellow blogger Cards on Cards was the seller of that one or the Bob Gibsons.  These days I have a few sellers I like to get cards from the most, and he's one of them because he isn't out to make a ton of money on cards, if he doesn't need it he prices it so somebody can get it cheap and can be loved by the new owner.  Another seller like that is copyking, he's probably my favorite seller.  All his auctions start off at 1 point, and its not crazy to sometimes win 4-5 auctions a week from him.

On the bottom scan, the Ohtani wasn't from Listia, it was actually from a repack box in 2018 or 2019 where a graded Ohtani card was in every box, but some parallels were also thrown in, and I got a /25 card which I haven't seen for sale in too many places.  I just wanted to show it because it seemed relevant and because I just found it recently.  I had it stored away, but now might have a place to show it off.

The Royals cards were all from Listia and all were on my wantlist.  It was very odd to add two random Kevin Seitzer base cards in different auctions, but I was happy to add them.  The Alex Gordon was quite a surprise especially as cheap as it was.  One of my biggest wants is a 2006 Topps Alex Gordon card, but getting a 2006 Bowman of him will sit just fine with me for now.  Its funny how you don't know what you'll find on the site, then something totally random pops up.  The longer the auction, the longer the wait to see if you really can get it that cheap, but it is much more enjoyable though.  I still get sniped on auctions but unlike ebay, it doesn't bother me.  In fact, they don't bother me on Ebay either, usually I start to have a bit of buyers remorse before it ends and am fine if I'm outbid.  That doesn't happen as often on Listia, but sometimes I still get that feeling.  I set my limits on how many points to spend on an auction, so by the time it goes over that, I'm okay with losing it.  It means I either should get more points and bid more, or that the other person really wants it more.  It is funny sometimes to see certain buyers outbidding you, some that even sell themselves.  DARN YOU TONY, I WANTED THAT ROYALS CARD.  Oh well, he either wants it more, or will try to flip it himself.  Either way, Tony (a real Listian) usually sells his cheap too, so I can't be too mad at him.

I also got some non baseball cards too.

I guess I should mention the Dice K card before diving in on the others.  I'm not really an avid collector of Matsuzaka, but I have a few of his cards, and this one was super cheap so I bid, and I won.  I think it was under 10 points.  If I lost no biggie, but it was nice to win.  It was almost like gambling and hitting a hot streak.  I couldn't lose and so another card that I'll find a way to fit into my collection.

As for the others, the soccer card is a unique card for a collection I've put on the back burner as of late.  I still want to build it, but I'm not too active on it.  I want at least one card of every professional (and possibly collegiate) team to have ever called Missouri home.  The Kansas City Comets were a team I knew a little about and while I couldn't name many if any players, I liked this card showing their jersey and cool logo.  Next to it is a J'mon Moore card, which I've wanted a few cards of him because he went to Mizzou.  He might be one of the last players I ever saw play at Mizzou who made it into the NFL and I'm pretty sure I met him and have his autograph.  I haven't been to a Mizzou game in a few years, and even though I sit though most of the NFL Draft to see how many Mizzou guys were picked, I hardly knew any of them.  Getting burnt out of blogging and collecting also coincided with being burnt out of sports too.  I'm slowly getting back into it, so there's a chance I could see another Mizzou game in the future, but for now its not a definite.

Bottom row has Dan Marino, from a set I had little cards of but the man responsible for Ray Finkle's meltdown is one of the few football players I collect.  I'm glad my focus is so little on sports not baseball because if not, I'd have a ton of football cards with nothing to do with.  I'm glad I purged most of them to a friend a couple years ago.

The Robert Stack card I got somewhat as a joke.  My sister and I joke about Unsolved Mysteries so much that I felt it was only right to get a card of him.  It was from the same set as a Kenny Rogers card I got last year for much of the same reason, and it will be a welcome addition.  As for the Steve Winwood card, well, thats more complicated and I don't want to go into.  However, I will say I like his music and it was a little pricier than I normally want to spend (99 points), but it was buy it now, so I jumped on it.  Did I need it? No, but think about it, there must be higher love.... crap, I'm now just writing song lyrics.  Anyways, its somewhat of a reminder to me, that card collecting should be fun, and it made me happy to get it.

Since I scanned stuff finally I have a few more cards to show.

A few SI Kids cards, which I don't usually show anymore, but thought I would.  As I was scanning them I wondered if I should more often now that Billy has mentioned he won't be as active on the TCDB.  I understand his reasons, but it will still not be the same without him there as much.  He was usually on top of the SI Kids cards and the scans, so I might start doing that if he doesn't.  I think I have another year before my subscription runs out, but once it does I think I'll probably end it there.  While I still enjoy the cards, I don't really read the magazine as much, and most of the time there's only one or two cards I really like.  Like in these scans, I like the Chase Elliott card and the volleyball one and always happy to see WNBA cards, but none of the people are must haves for me.  No need to keep getting it if one or two cards are the only reason.

Speaking of TCDB real quick, give or take a few forum posts I have just reached (by what is under my username) 1000 posts (the official page shows me at under 10 more to go).  I am kind of excited about it, but at the same time bittersweet because the ones I've talked to the most on there seems to be the ones not as active anymore or in one case, banned from posting on the forums. My goal was never to post as much on there, but its been kind of fun.

Anyways before I wrap things up, I thought I'd go ahead and show a couple more things I've got lately.  It never hurts to clean out files and disc space, so two birds one stone, amirite?

My local second hand store has had some changes lately, and it could affect my Savvy Loot posts as a result.  They decided to dedicate a section to pallet items, items that they bought as overstock from other places, new items.  I'm iffy on the idea because my goal is to find cheap used items, not cheaper new items.  Having said that, while I haven't bought new items since they brought them in, its still a nice presentation and there are a few items I do like.  Though another trend I noticed is right around the same time, 95% of their VHS section was gone.  I don't know what happened, but its been about a month and I don't think they are coming back.  The last two trips there have been maybe 40-50 VHS tapes, and not much has been restocked.  This last time I found these for the first time though so for 10 cents I picked them up.  I got Speed because I like the condition of the case and even though I have it on digital, I don't own it on any format.  I got the Chuck Norris movie because.... its Chuck Norris!  The third one I got because its an oddball selection and if I can upload to Youtube again (not Youtube's fault, a faulty disc making me have to redub 6 hours of content) I might upload it because its different.

In the future, I might show off my media collection, including VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, and CD's.  Maybe even the few vinyl I have too.  It should be fun.

Before wrapping up I thought I'd show one more item.  Last year my local gas station started selling their own branded products.  They started with soda and chips and even beef jerky, and now plan to expand to ice cream I hear.  I hardly ever check it out, so until last month I never tried their soda.  I finally did and here is what I got.

Root Beer and Cream Soda.  After tasting both, I was really surprised at how good they tasted.  The Root Beer especially.  The cream soda did seem a bit too sweet, but it was still good.  More recently I tried their version of lemon lime drink, kind of like 7 Up and Sprite.  It was okay, not something I would get a lot, but its still better than some others I've tried.  They also have cola and grape flavors and maybe more.  I doubt I try the Grape or the Cola because I'm not a big fan of grape soda, and I'm a bit picky when it comes to colas.  I once tried Sam's Choice and hated it so much I mainly stick to Coke or even Pepsi and that's about it.  However, in the last 4-5 years I've cut back on soda so much that I hardly ever drink it anymore.  Sometimes I get a kick to drink it, but that's it.  I'm afraid though that I like the root beer so much I may need to get it more often.

Anyways, I guess that wraps it up for now, I hope you enjoyed reading my blog.  I've been working a lot on getting Youtube videos up and organizing a few things around the house and a few other things so I haven't been as active as I'd like to have been.  Maybe in a couple months I can dig out my cards again and start showing them more.  Its been a bit since I've shown off some of my completed sets, and maybe by then I can knock a few more out.  Thanks so much for reading and hope everyone has a great evening.