For $7 I am definitely in for 1

Quote from: speedyy400 on December 20, 2013, 05:53:39 PM

Finally put all of my cards from the holidays together my collection is slowly growing

I thought you were supposed to buy gifts for OTHER people... 

Seriously, nice haul.  Open the Exquisites yet?

Haha well most of these were purchased as advanced Christmas presents from family members so I already received them :p the Gold Arcanes and the Whispering Imps I believe are the only exceptions. I am extremely happy with what I have gotten.

No I haven't had the time to open the Exquisites yet unfortunately. I am finally finished with finals and have a couple days of work ahead of me this weekend but I plan on spending some time checking them out mid-next week. I am very excited to see them. I have heard nothing but amazing comments on them. Since I don't have much money to spare on cards, I normally only buy one of each deck to collect but I ended up splurging on the Exquisites to actually check out how they feel. I will finally lay my hands on an amazing deck. I still don't know what that feels like since I am nowhere near considered a cardist haha this is the beginning of my experience of the feeling of cards and what is good or bad.

It's not Playing Card related, but it's a pretty cool item. One of our best clients during my day job is Absolut Vodka. They sent over an early Christmas gift with a second, engraved logo on the back of a regular bottle. ABSOLUT BUTTERFIELD!

I'll probably put it on display somewhere with my Absolut Deck.

Thanks, Randy

That is an amazing bottle Randy. Congrats Absolute are definitely one of my more favorite bottles. As most college students do, I collected the first bottle of each different brand of spirits I drank my freshman year. Through the year I came across a bottle of Absolute and it is easily on of my favorites. It is a nice, simple bottle, but has such a classy look to it. When it comes to vodka, it is a close race between Absolute and Ciroc. I think what they did to the bottle for you is absolutely amazing though. Certainly something worth keeping around for a forseeable future. 

A few new additions today, it's pretty easy  to choose which one is my favorite...the question becomes do I save it, or do I open it!!!  Special thanks goes out to Jackson Robinson, you are a badass.

The Black Bicycle Branded Reserve Note looks amazing. I am certainly disappointed that I missed out on such a great couple of decks from the Fed 52 series but I know I can't get them all. Jackson Robinson is one hell of a guy. I have been checking out the new stuff he has been posting here in the forum and I am mind blown with every picture he posts. He is just unbelievably gifted and dedicated to his work. Obviously I don't know the guy but am extremely impressed by him. From the picture they look amazing… especially next to the Gold Arcanes and Red LTD's. I managed to get my hands on a Gold Arcanes as well which was slightly exciting for me. Congratulations on that haul definitely a nice couple of pick ups

50 points for me tonight =) all positive gains I guess

I will certainly be checking this page out within the next month. It will be nice to see magic from years past. Thanks for the hard work of putting something like this together.

I sort of had the same thing Rob. Instead of on my arm, I had it on the left frontal lobe of my brain. Turned out to be benign and hasn't really affected me afterwards. Left me with a pretty badass scare to say the least :p I do hope your surgery works out as well as mine did and that post-op is quick and painless.

As for your son, I can kind of put myself in his shoes to a degree. I currently have a close friend serving in Afghanistan. I have known him for years and he is the same age as I, 19 years old. I try to speak to him whenever I can and update him about home. I find the best thing in our conversations is to never bring up what he is doing over there. I don't ever mention the missions he is on or where he was that day because when I did, he started to disappear. The best thing to do is simply bring up school and work and girls. Don hit the nail perfectly on the head with that one.

I really don't have a strong idea of what my biggest fears are yet. Since I still have a lot to learn about the world we live in, I don't really know what to expect and what can happen. While in high school, I ran a peer group service for kids that needed a place to vent. Myself, 3 other seniors at the time, and a guidance counselor ran it. We talked about everything high schoolers had to worry about, including biggest fears. As I met more and more people, I heard the same answer over and over again. When we would hear that they were afraid of birds or clowns or spiders, we would ask them the question again to hear what their true fears were. Death was the most common fear.

I have spent some time thinking about death and I have always wondered what could be so scary about it. At the time that this was happening, I was also afraid of it, but I feel that my outlook on it has changed to a degree. When I think about it, I come back to the same few reasons why people are afraid to die. 1. They are afraid of the pain or length that could be involved in dying. 2. They are afraid to leave their loved ones behind. 3. They don't know what to expect after you die. I am slowly overcoming the fear of death because: 1. Pain is temporary. 2. I am not married and won't be leaving kids behind so I can't fear for them. As for my parents and my sister, it will be hard on them but I know they will be able to grieve and move on. 3. I have a strong enough faith in God and believe that heaven will be welcoming.

We all have different thought processes and different beliefs, but that is how I have accepted the fear of death and begun to overcome it. I know that this may change after I get married and have children, but when that time comes, I will just have to explore how I feel on that one.

If I had to choose a fear, it would be that of being alone. As a child I was very shy like most other children. It lasted quite awhile, up until sophomore year of high school. Slowly I worked on it and am now quite a social individual. After experiencing how wonderful it is to have a large group of friends and loved ones behind you, I don't think I could exist without having it. I would be completely lost and no longer have the will to live if I ended up losing everyone and being all by myself in the world. It is quite a scary thought to be alone in this nasty world and I feel that it may be something that people should never have to experience.

I pray for you and your family during this time and hope everything works out well. Best of luck and a speedy recovery Rob.

2nd Guess December 28th 2013 =D
This is super exciting!!

Haha would you consider 19 to be very young? I am certainly young in terms of plying cards and experience. I have only been collecting for just over 2 months now and have learned tons already. As I can see though, I have a lot more to learn.

It is tough juggle my time between reading the discourse and studying for finals… The discourse normally wins lol

I really am interested in getting my hands on a marked deck sometime. I might wait for these cards to go public and then pick up a deck on ebay or something.

It was more of a joke than a serious answer lol I don't know if they are public though. Could always invest in Facebook =p On a more serious note, yes I do not understand either how people manage to spend it all and go broke. Most people that win it wish they never did in the first place. I suppose you just have to be extremely smart and stick to your plan from the beginning.

I really like the idea about bringing a family over to the US. That would be sick. And worth every penny. How do you decide who gets to come over?

Also, bit coin is dropping out. I read an article last week from the LA times I believe, that they are beginning to crash and are not worth as much as they used to be. I assume they will return to startup price eventually. I don't have a full grasp of bit coin so I cannot say much on the topic, I'm just stating what I read about them from the times. I was curious if I should get some money together and invest in it, but I saw a couple of people relate it to pyramid schemes and ponzi schemes. I would much rather keep my penny's under my mattress =p

I would honestly spend one year traveling the world. I wouldn't be buying my own jet or anything. Just simply flying business class works well for me. Try not to break the bank in the first year. Then I would probably buy a nice house where it is warm. Startup my own small business to keep me busy instead of trying to make more money. Also would be throwing a lot of it to my family. They are all struggling over in Ireland so I'm sure they could do with it. It is so much money that it is tough come up with ways to spend it. I really wouldn't know what to do with it...

I got 100 elite points today
Btw I haven't exactly kept count of my totals, but I don't think they have been adding to my account. I will keep watch from now on but if I find that they aren't being added, who do you think I should contact?

All of my stuff was packaged the same way Curt. I was worried at first when I saw it but then saw how easily the specs came, I relaxed a bit. Just a quick wipe down and they looked wonderful =) I was excited to finally get my cards from Theory 11.

I'm assuming you mean top left of the picture? That would be a turquoise deck. Otherwise you are talking about a soap dispenser.

Mine literally stopped on Ultimate Brick and then started again and got 100 elite points. I call BS on that one honestly...

So will this definitely be a one way back? Or are you looking at the option of making it two way?