Oh, Hello There!

Here we go again! Story time!

I haven't posted since mid-August, so what's up?

Well, I was working in Sapporo last summer. Getting cards to post about is always tough when I'm working away from home, which I did for most of 2018 and am now doing in 2019. I actually do have some scans to post about but it never happened.

Three weeks after my last post, a big typhoon (Jebi) ripped through Sapporo and Hokkaido. It was the most intense typhoon in Japan in 25 years, and broke several wind records in the Kansai (Osaka) area. Even in Sapporo, it was more than strong enough to rip signs off of buildings and uproot trees all over the city. Several large, mature trees in the park across the street from my apartment were uprooted.

And then, one day later, the Hokkaido Earthern Iburi earthquake struck just after 3:00 AM. The first earthquake in Hokkaido to reach the maximum level of 7 on the Shindo scale (6.6 Moment magnitude, IX on the Mercalli scale), and only the sixth since the scale was developed in 1949, it triggered landslides and other damage that killed 41 people - 36 in Atsuma, where the epicenter was located.

I woke up when the earthquake hit. I had just started to doze off, actually - thanks to the heat (and no A/C in my apartment), I was going to bed really late and waking up later than usual, after the temperature dropped to something comfortable enough to sleep. I've been through enough earthquakes to know it was pretty big, so I jumped up into the doorway to protect myself. After the shaking stopped, the power went out. I checked my phone a couple times for information, but other than the strength, there was nothing yet.

The next morning, my power (and water) was still out, and would remain out for two more days. Thankfully, that was the only real, serious problem for me - I could get water if needed from the tap across the street. But the earthquake also seriously disrupted the food supply, and even three or four weeks later, when I returned to Tokyo, Sapporo's supermarkets had yet to fully recover.

I really didn't have much to do with cards during that time - finishing up at a school already takes up a lot of time, and there was plenty of personal things going on to distract me from my blog.

In the spring, my father contacted my mother, and eventually we started speaking. I had never met my father - he and my mom split up when I was born, so I grew up in a single-parent household. Well, after some Skype conversations and exchanged emails, we arranged to meet for Christmas. Long story short, we spent a few days together over Christmas, and I met his side of the family. I have a brother and sister, new grandparents and uncles and aunts and cousins....

My dad and his side of the family are baseball fans, which is a great thing! And he and I spent a day driving down the San Francisco peninsula visiting card shops and getting to know each other a bit more. Unfortunately, I got a bad cold, so I was miserable some of the time, but without getting too much into things (this post is long enough already) it was a great trip both personally and in terms of collecting!

My Christmas trip continued back in Georgia, my first time going back there since 2011. All of the cards sent to me through eBay, COMC, Sportlots, JustCommons/CardBarrel, and viewers like you (thanks NPB Card Guy, especially!) were there, and I got a good bit of sorting done. Not enough... definitely not enough. Cards everywhere, for every collection. Some might be extras, some might be in the wrong place. And there are plenty of other cards elsewhere that need to be all sorted together. Yeah, while I worked almost straight for five days on organizing, it's going to take a lot more to get back in full working condition.

I brought my scanner to bring images back for posting, but I was so busy sorting and cleaning (and spending time with my mom, of course!) that I didn't scan a single card in the US.

Well, with a typhoon, earthquake, living on the road, and meeting my father was more than enough to keep me away from here. And what free time I have had at home has been spent trying to settle myself back in, so that brings us to today.

I'm back, and hopefully able to get back into a posting routine. We'll see what happens, but first, I have my 2018 goals to review and 2019 goals to post. Until they come....