Half-Year in Review

Howdy, folks! It's been a few weeks. I don't know how I've been keeping busy, but here we are. I've been busy. I haven't neglected collecting, and I do have some scans that I hopefully will be sharing sooner or later (perhaps some in this post?)... but until then, 2021 is already halfway through, and I thought it would be nice to take a quick look at my goals for the year.

If you're interested in the original post where I introduced my goals, just go back to this January 1st post.

1. Finish certain player collections. Two of the four US collections are done, and the others are moving along as much as possible. I haven't made much progress on my NPB collections, either. But I did get the card above - the 1990 Calbee "Big" card for Motonobu Tanishige. I've also added a few new players to my collection, but I haven't actually begun to collect them.

2. Complete certain collections. Nothing completed, but I did find a few singles here and there to get me closer. Nothing to write home about! 

3. BBM and Calbee sets. I've met my goal, as I've finished a couple Calbee sets and I finally finished 1996 BBM last month. This is the only goal that's actually completed, halfway through the year!

4. Reduce my US want list size. I have finished a few sets, and if I ignore this year's additions, I'm making some good progress. But overall, the list is just as big as before, thanks to new releases and beginning a few new vintage sets.

5. Knock a bunch of inserts off my type collection want list. I haven't started on this goal. It's possible I could tackle it late in the year, or even on an idle Sunday. But I've always figured this was a stretch goal.

6. I wanted to create some custom card sets, but I haven't done anything with this. Another goal that I need some free time for! I have figured out one aspect of creating the cards: I can print photos quite easily from local convenience stores or at electronics stores (I'm not sure which is cheaper, since I haven't priced them yet).

7. I also wanted to properly label my type collections and card scans. I've finished the bulk of the non-set scans (I'm not sure I'll ever do the set scans, but it's possible). But I've been working away from home all year, and it looks like I might be here for the remainder of the year. As new sets have come out, I've been properly labeling my cards, but the older sets need to be done. Because I'm not at home, I doubt this will get completed this year. Labels don't write themselves.

Beyond my annual goals, it's been really hard to get complete sets, but I've started on 2021 Donruss and 2021 Diamond Kings. I  haven't had any luck on Stadium Club yet, and Ginter hits shelves in a few weeks. This might be the year of unfinished base sets. (Ugh.)

Until next time...