2020 Year in Review

Geez, it seemed like yesterday that I was just doing this, but here we go again.  I really like to read fellow bloggers' year-end summaries and their New Year collecting goals.  It helps me find inspiration in my own collecting and we definitely need that this year.  I feel like I did fairly well this past year finally getting settled in a high-stress job and adjusting to life under a pandemic.  Since I collect cards mostly from Japan, my collecting habits weren't impacted too much and other than slower shipping over to the U.S., my hobby weathered the storm rather uneventfully.  Let's hope that 2021 brings a lot more health and prosperity to all of us and let's get 2020 behind us!  Over the past three years, here is how I fared with my Annual Goals:

2017 Overall Grade = B

2018 Overall Grade = A-

2019 Overall Grade = B

 

In 2020, I set out to accomplish 10 collecting and hobby goals.  I do this every year and I know it can seem quite ambitious, but I thought most of them could be easily achievable....I wanted my trophies and to get my "A" grade.  The pandemic did curtail some of these so I will "grade on the curve" on those.  Thanks for reading.

Goal #1: Blog at least once a week - 52 posts this year! - Grade "A"
Darn, you would have thought I would have knock this out of the park to an "A+"...well beyond once a week, but the inefficiencies of working from home and the increased amount of time devoted to pandemic work really limited my blogging time until about November.  Fortunately, these past few months allowed me to catch up.  I am claiming victory here and thanks to all my loyal readers!

Goal #2: Publish the 5th Edition of the Sumo Menko and Card Checklist - Grade "D"

This did not happen....again.....  I keep putting it on here in hopes that I can make it happen.  Is 2021 the year for this?  I need about 40 hours to get everything tidied up, final checklists updated, and all the administrative stuff that goes along with self publishing a book.  However, I am constantly updating the checklists in the draft of the book and whittling away at the work, but need to hunker down and light a fire to get over the goal line.  Almost a big goose egg this year, but the ball did move forward on this.

 

 

 

Goal #3: Add 5 more Sumo World magazines from 1973-1999 to my collection - Grade "A+"

Boom, I was able to connect with a long-time sumo fan who was downsizing her collection and I was able to pick up the remainder of all these magazines (except for the July 1974) and even added some post-1999 issues.  These are such a wealth of history and information I would love to be able to republish them for the greater community to read.  However, I now have the entire run and ready to retire this goal! 

 

 

 

Goal #4: Attend three card shows this year - Grade "Audit"

Well, I think it is fair to have "dropped" this goal and have audited it for the year.  SoCal does not have a great variety of shows, so I've had to travel elsewhere for shows....however, the pandemic basically killed that this year.  I had a great time with Fuji last year and was really looking forward to do it again this year.  It's an easy flight up to San Jose from SoCal and Fuji is an amazing friend and so easy to converse with..plus we now have a DelTaco tradition.  I have penciled in the National this year which is another easy flight from LAX to Chicago.  More to follow on that.  

 

Goal #5: Add three more 1973 Calbee cards to my set - Grade "A+"
Boom, nailed this goal this year with some nice pick ups!  I'm ready to get to the halfway point in set completion in 2021!  

Goal #6: Keep rounding out my Japanese yukata fabric bolt & card collection - Grade "A+"
Another home-run goal!  This is one of the quirks in my collection.  In the 1960s and early 1970s, Japanese cloth makers would add photo cards to bolts of indigo yukata material to help entice the buyer into buying the material to take home to make their own yukata.  Say what?  Yeah, hard to explain, but here are a few pictures to help give you a visual.  The problem with these is not so much the price, but they are heavy and expensive to import to the U.S.  Not sure what I am going to do with them all, but I'll figure it out at some point.  Weird, huh?  I was able to pick up a ton of them this year....so many that I very rarely see any new ones pop up for auction anymore.  Likely going to make this a different goal for next year and that is to get them catalogued on my blog.

 

 

 

Goal #7: Publish at least 6 BBM Card Set reviews - Grade "F"
This did no happen this year....booo.  I had a little hobby/video area set up to do this and then the pandemic hit and hobby/office got rearranged to accommodate a home office which overtook my hobby area.  So, alas, I did not get to this and not sure I will be able to until the pandemic is over.  I could have made it work, but too many other things took over.  

Goal #8: Add 20 more cards to my Non-Sport Collection - Grade "A+"
Wow, I was on a roll this year with my non-sports collections as a lot of the cards seemed to show up for auction.  I attribute it to the pandemic and people were selling because 1) they needed the money, or 2) they were bored and digging out all their old cards.  To recap, I am very particular with my non-sumo wrestling sets and only have a few sets that I am actively collecting: 1980s Japanese Myojo Noodle Cards, 2002-2005 Radio Shack Zip Zap Cards, 1980s Famikon (NES) Amada Cards, Airport Trading Cards, & 1970s Yamakatsu Bruce Lee Cards. 

 

Goal #9: Send out 10 care packages - Grade "A"

I lost count of who I sent out packages this year, but I am pretty sure I was able to get to 10.  I'll chock this one up as a win!

 

 

 

Goal #10: Maintain/Improve Google/Yahoo/Bing Search Engine results for Sumo Card(s) & Menko - Grade "A-"

For a fourth year in a row, my goal has been for this blog to be the #1-at-the-very-top-of-your-browser result when you go search up Sumo Card(s) and Menko.  Last year I was the #1 on Yahoo, almost the #1 on Bing, and the #1 to #6 on Google.  Now I am in the top 3 all around!  This is a fun one to chase and trying to beat the search engines algorithms is always a challenge.  Excluding the ad sites that always pop up at the top, here is how I fared this year (last year's rankings are in brackets [ ]:

Sumo Card: Bing #1 [#2], Google #2 [#6], Yahoo #1 [#1]

Sumo Cards: Bing #1 [#2], Google #2 [#4], Yahoo #1 [#1]

Sumo Menko:#1 [#1], Google #1 [#1], Yahoo #1 [#1]

Sumo Wrestling Card: Bing #3 [#1], Google #3 [#3], Yahoo #3 [#1]

Sumo Wrestling Cards: Bing #2 [#1] , Google #2 [#2], Yahoo #2 [#1]

  

Well, there you have it again.  A ton of really good "A" grades marked by two not-so-good "D" and "F" grades.  It was a great year collecting and so I feel like I earned a "A-" this year.  As always, thanks for stopping by and being a part of this blog.  I hope everyone stays safe tomorrow on New Year's Eve and I'll catch everyone in the next New Year!  Sayonara!

2020 Overall Grade = A-