A lot can happen in a 1000 posts

 This is my 1000th Post on Cardboard History. I am really, truly shocked that I've been able to do this...my follow through on projects isn't great, and I didn't know if I would have the motivation to keep writing. I did, and I still do, even if finding motivation is sometimes a challenge, I know I'm not quitting any time soon. When I started this back in 2014...9 years ago (!) my goal was to get my thoughts and memories down on "paper", to maybe contribute something to the general knowledge base of the hobby. 

What a ride it's been! Something I didn't really expect...I didn't expect anyone to read it in the first place!...was that I've made friends via Cardboard History. People that I care about their wellbeing, and I think, although I don't know for sure, that they care about mine. That's more important than the cards themselves, and I'm really glad there is a group of "blogger buddies" out there. 

When I started Cardboard History, one of the first of an intended series I ever thought up was One Hit Wonders, highlighting people who ever got only one card...and as it turns out, I wrote exactly one post in the series. Irony, perhaps, but it's not because I lost interest...it's because I realized I didn't know enough to do it right. I realized that when I discovered the subject of the post had, in fact, received at least one other card in a regional set I wasn't yet aware of at the time I wrote the first one.

When I started, my three main focuses were NBA, NASCAR and Star Wars. NBA is still a part of my collection habits but is no longer the main focus, and Star Wars is pretty much completely out of the picture now, as I'm not a fan of what Disney has done with it. I had exactly 27 NHL cards when I started this, and I was not watching the sport at all...whoo, has that changed! Hockey has become a MAJOR part of my life, a part of every single day, and those 27 hockey cards have since grown to over 28,000. I just can't get enough of the sport and I will watch any game at any time, read any article, collect any card. While NASCAR is still my favorite sport, I have no doubt that someday the NHL will overtake NASCAR and even the NBA and become the largest part of my collection, although that's not going to be any time soon as I have a 25+ years of collecting head start with both sports. Hockey gets a lot more cards a year though, so it's likely.

The way I collect has even changed. Set collecting was the be-all, end all for me from when I began back in 1988 up to around 2015. Frustrated with the sets currently being issued, I changed focus to my "Names Project", which is what I call trying to get one of every person to ever get one in the three sports I collect. It has been much more rewarding honestly, and it's led me to discovering a wide variety of regional and oddball sets I would likely have never even heard of otherwise. I know, realistically, that it's a project that can't be completed, due to the costs and rarity of some of the cards, but it gives me something to focus on, and something to keep working towards, forever. 

Don't get me wrong though, I will still complete sets if I can, because after all, the best way to get every person represented is to get every card in the set, right?!

Life outside the card hobby has also changed. I admit it, I was/am pretty sedentary. I have a lot of pain on a regular basis, 24/7/365. My doctor literally prescribed that I get out more and exercise more, and I have done just that, with the adventures my brother and I have gone on, so many that this has become less about cardboard and more about history as we've been visiting as many museums as I can physically handle. It turns out that museums, and the rides to them, are one of my favorite things to do. I never thought I'd ever walk around Manhattan, but in 2018, I did. I never thought I'd ever see Mount Rushmore, a long time bucket list item, but in 2022 I did. I may not be able to do everything I want to do physically but where I am now is better than where I was when I started this thing. 

My modeling hobby has sure changed, too. In 2014 when this began I was in the middle of a bad slump that lasted from 2011-2018.  I was so disgusted I thought about leaving the hobby many times, and even reached out to a kit dealer to see about selling my collection. My family talked me out of it, and I'm really glad they did. I finally conquered what was causing me the trouble and now I'm building the best work I've ever done, and in 2022 I got a permanent workspace set up that made my building even better. I'm actually excited about the future of that hobby for me, which, when you are as depressed as I usually am, is an unusual feeling to actually look forward to something.   

I do have an "end goal" for this, and the hobby in general, which I've talked about before. I want to open a museum & Hall of Fame for the hobby, something that to my knowledge has never existed. I don't quite know how or if I will ever be able to pull it off, but that's the goal. That's why I don't mind when people send me cards for sports I don't collect, because the plan is for the museum to represent the entirety of the hobby and that certainly includes baseball, football and all the rest. Here's to hoping I can do it someday. 

Thanks for sticking with me for 1000 posts. I don't plan to ever stop, I'll keep this going as long as I have something to say. I know it's customary to do a contest on anniversaries but I'm just not up to that right now. Next year, when I celebrate 10 years, I promise I'll do a contest then. 

Thanks for reading...not just this post, but the 999 that came before this and the 999+ yet to come!