a personal note

So I really wanted to keep this away from my personal life, cause honestly who but me gives a crap?

Now, in the past 2 years all I've done is give people what they want. When my mother was sick, I was the one at home with her at all times. I'd drop anything at any time for whatever she needed. This is not something I have a problem with. I love my mother (RIP momma), and would do anything for her.

My problem is I was the only one to do that. My siblings did nothing. Sure, my eldest sibling worked for a living to keep the lights on. I get that. but when you spend your weekends partying.... yeah. fuck that.

My brother... oh boy.... He couldn't bear to see her, so he turned to drugs and escapism. so I had no help from him.

After december... well, I took some time off in a heroic BSOD, but once I could function again, I did everything for my family. anything they'd ask, id jump through hoops for it.

why? well... for a while i liked doing it. I liked being the go to guy for everyone. But lately....

well lately no one seems to be around anymore. so while I try to keep my friendships going... I get the feeling they don't care. If I'm the one that always has to make things happen, and still get shit on 4/5 of the time... why bother? I think I'm gonna be a hermit for a while. I'll be with my bass, my paints, and a bottle of hooch.

Time for some motherfuckin action-

ok, where to begin. ah. Its been almost a year since my mom past. One of you knows that (HI KLOSE), the rest of you don't know me well enough to care. welp... it sucks. and I'm drinking heavily to cope. Oh, i'm single again. thats a train wreck. eh.

lesse, lesse.... something to rant about... hmmm.... OH!

In case you can't tell by the background, I'm a huge ranger fan. And so far this season, my boys in blue have been tearing things up. Even going a month without their star goal scorer, The Rangers have been doing great. very few games have been outright bullshit playing, and the man crush I have going on for the Dubinsky-Anisimov-Calahan line is... well.... unhealthy. I like the team, they're going far this year, but not quite a cup. maybe in another 3 seasons... not now

Hockey is a good segueway into... CARDS! My dubi rookie collection is all but complete. I'm missing his Cup rookie, SPA, and Hot Prospects Patch/Auto. Richter PC is slow and steady, no major pickups besides some patch upgrades. Gilroy PC has been cancelled, along with the Shanny one. Champs set is complete, mini veterans complete, rookies all but the big names, and history done besides the presidents.

This year, its looking like I'm gonna be doing either a set from Upper Deck 1, Donruss, or Crown Royalle. Probably Royalle, I like the look of the cards. a little cluttered, but nothing but me is perfect (oh, hi god complex. glad to see your back)

gaming. I have begun wargames. I used to dabble in 40k, but I'm now heavily into mantics Kings of War range. Mantic Games puts out beautiful plastic sculpts, at very reasonable prices (read: MORE FOR LESS THAN GW!) the game system is clean and elegant, with no major special rules besides the one or 2 each army has to make it unique. During the beta, undead were shit and elves were king. during this second beta, the armies are much more balanced. which makes me immeasurably happy, because I love the look of the undead best, and am going to be playing them as soon as I find a store.

Cards: magic has taken a back seat. it used to be something I did every week, but lately I've been burnt out. I lost the great designer search, that may be a part of it. but even before that, after the shards pre, I haven't been interested. Maybe its because my usual sunday night group has been scattered to the winds, and I really only liked playing with them. I'm rambling and getting sentimental. fuck that noise.

well... thats enough of playing Catch up. Tune in next week, when I discuss music. and by discuss, I mean post a link to my article at audioaddictionmag.com- A PLACE YOU SHOULD ALL BE GOING!!!

stay brutal kids

Game Review: Zatch Bell! Collectible card game

ok, right off the bat I am saying I did not play the game yet. but it was not from lack of trying. Me adn a buddy (some of you may know as Shining_demon) opened the box from the big box of gaming junk. We spent about 15 minutes trying to decipher anything from the cards themselves before going "Screw it, we have the internet". Now, when it comes to obscure games and hobbies, the internet is supposed to have all the answers.... not in the case of ZATCH BELL!!!!1! The most informative thing we found was an awefully written wall of text on a Yahoo!answers. I even tried forums dedicated to this series, and their the closest we got was "if you cant figure it out, you can make up your own rules". Dammit internet, you have failed me. It was only after using the way back machine to figure it out that I was able to build 2 decks, and by that time we had lost all desire to do it. actual review coming soon, along with AUSTIN POWERS!!! and maybe Inuyasha.

For those of you who wanted to see my box breaks, I posted one on sportscardforum.com HERE

Delays :(

My package got delayed until monday. :(

Huge break coming tommorow, and some Gaming stuff for my 2 followers :)

Allrighty kids (yes, everyone I talk to is a kid. even though Im sure im younger than both of you)

Well, tomorrow Im getting a huge package from DAcardworld.com, 2 boxes of champs hockey, 6 packs of Pokemon HG/SS (ah, nostalgia. and its actually a decent game too!), their big box of gaming junk ( more on this a little below), and 4 packs of mechwarrior minis. im hoping for some good rookies, and to not get shafted on my GU and parallels like in my last open. this one will be on youtube, so check it out. I'll update with a link tomorrow night.

Onto the games: The Big Box of Gaming Junk comes with:
Score Inuyasha Keshin Booster 12-Pack Box - 1
Score Inuyasha Shimei Tin - 4
Score Inuyasha Feudal 2-Player Starter Deck - 2
Austin Powers Starter Deck - 2
Bandai Zatchbell Series 1 Booster Box - 1
Wizkids Pirate Davy Jones Curse SE 3 Pack Value Box - 2
Wizkids Pirates Mysterious Island Booster 18 Pack Box - 1
Wizkids NASCAR Race Day Value Box: 1 of either Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr or Joe Nemechek

I have an admission to make to the both of you: I am an addict. I love games, of all shapes sizes and types. if I see a new card game on the self, I tend to look it up that night when I get home. The first time I impulsively got one, it became a lifelong hobby for me called Magic: The Gathering. the most recent was a blast from the past in the form of 2 Pokemon HeartGold and Soulsilver theme decks I split with a friend. I love both those games. So when browsing the site for some interesting stuff (read: more pokemon to change up the theme decks) I found the box o' gaming junk. Now, I know next to nothing about Inuyasha or Zatch Bell, but i've already flipped one of the starters for a profit, so I guess I can try out the other one before deciding if I will sell the shit ton of packs I got.

Austin powers: Funny movie, I can see a trading card set cause lord knows everything else has one, but a game!!?? I simply must try this.

Pirates: a couple of friends of mine are huge pirate fans, and always mention trying the game but never do. now they have no choice.

I have no idea what that nascar thing is. maybe someone on sportscardforum will help me out.

now, since I spent a ton of money, I got a free gift and free shipping. and thats where the mechs came from. I like mechs, I paint minis, Im making myself a new display shelf. :)

Thats all for today, I actually put some thoughts out. Join me tomorrow while I rant about champs, and randomly next week I guess I could review those games. I swear, more activity is coming, I put the blog on my toolbar and everything!

4/28/10- DOUBLE E-BAY MAILDAY

Hey everybody, just got a few sweet deals from Ebay in. First things first, for my Richter PC we have a Double Memorabilia Jersey/Stick from ITG Franchise Series, EDM-22, Numbered 1/60. Good pickup, my first stick card

Next we have a Dubinsky Young Gun and Victory rookie. I still need the rest of his rookies, but my Dubi PC seems to be picking up speed.

Full on rant coming soon, once my Sinus infection clears up. Stay Brutal kids

Holy shit, I have a blog

Allright kids, the last post I made was me mentioning Im getting back into the collecting hobby. its been several months since then, so lets see where I am now. Im going to talk about my collections, break down what I like and dont like about the hobby, and then post a link to some of the sites that have really made this enjoyable for me.

Ok, collections. Im collecting as much as I can of Mike Richter, Dan Blackburn, and Brandon Dubinsky. I mention to people that I collect the now retired Brendan Shanahan, and an up and coming defensemen Mat Gilroy, but Ive cut that down to if I see a nice cheap jersey or rookie. My most ambitious project to date is my set collection. Im trying to put together most of the master set of this years Champs. Im not going after the Case hit fossil cards, or all the parallels though. I currently have 93/100 of the base set, around half the rookies, a good chunk of the NHL veteran Minis, and a smattering of Natural history and world leaders. id like to finish the plain cardboard before I move into the Jerseys and Autos, and Ill be posting what I need in another blog.

Likes & Dislikes:
The hobby has changed since I was a kid in the mid nineties collecting random retail packs. Some of it for the better, some... not so much.

Likes: the internet and Ebay. it makes tracking down what should be cheap inserts and parallels (hell, even low end jersey and autos) easy and inexpensively. Trading sites help too.
Variety: I like having a bunch of sets with different looks out to get. this year I'm putting champs together. next year, I can go with a set thats shinier, or another vintage looking set, or a plain staple set. No matter what I like, I can go for it,

Dislikes: it seems there are more people trying to flip cards for a profit then I remember. its annoying when you have no trade bait of the big stars and are trying to trade for some old inserts for your Player Collections.
People who hate on low end sets. There has to be something for collecters who have hit on hard times, and for kids just getting into the hobby. I know if it werent for $1 packs of victory, i wouldnt be typing this out today.

wow, this is getting long winded. I'll post again next week, and we'll continue from there. Future Maildays and Box Breaks will get their own blog, too.