Cool People, Cool Stuff: The Kenny Files

It's been a long time since I've made a real post here. Life just gets in the way of writing for me. After spending all day with the English language - listening, speaking, correcting, suggesting, all with energy and a smile - I don't have much brain power left for here. Excuses, as always.

There are several things I can report on now. I want to get what I feel is most important out of the way, so I need to talk about a couple trade/gift packages I've received in the last few months. Yes, I know there are more that were sent in the last four or five months (I think someone sent something in December that wasn't included in my last care package from America - so six months there) but I don't have everything in hand.

First, my Japanese-American friend Kenny - you should know him as Zippy Zappy - lived here last year and went to school nearby. He's a great guy anyway, and in trades he was very good to me! He returned to New York last month, but several hundreds of cards are now in my possession. I posted my want list for 2012 Allen & Ginter (I still have a bunch of needs from that set, by the way) but haven't bought a single card yet, thanks to his generosity and then the generosity of others.

 The last time we met we exchanged a few cards. Well, I guess I should say he gave me a few cards. I always seem to come out on top of the deal. There were a handful of 2013 Topps.

 A couple inserts were in there to give me an idea of what the release looked like in hand, too.

 I guess this set is my favorite of what I have, but I'm not too impressed with this year's Topps inserts. (Thanks for the cards, though!)

 He also tossed in some great shinyness! Platinum mining...

 A bit of green refractory bo-chrome...

 A bit of refractory to-chrome (that doesn't sound as cool).

 Silly scanner. It doesn't like the curly, slicky, thick Chrome stock. Always hard to scan. The card itself is perfectly fine.

 A little bit of fishing...

And this orange refractor of Chipper! While all these cards are ending up in my collection, this was probably my favorite since I have enjoyed watching Chipper play (and have affairs with Hooters girls - no, I didn't watch him have the affair though I bet that would have been a pretty hot seller in the adult video stores).

Okay, moving on. Kenny and I are working on our next trade, which is going to be pretty big, given the cards he's interested in! I hope he's having a good time back in the States. Thanks for all the cards you've given me and all the good times we've been able to have running around Tokyo!

Until tomorrow (I promise!)...