WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:35.560 Thank you. Welcome to episode 113 of The Card 00:00:35.560 --> 00:00:38.280 Diary by Hobbyist Thompson. I'm your host, Denny 00:00:38.280 --> 00:00:40.740 Cards, and this is a, I don't know, somewhat 00:00:40.740 --> 00:00:47.539 of a cross -podcast format because I usually 00:00:47.539 --> 00:00:52.039 try to keep my hobby podcast... Oh my gosh, is 00:00:52.039 --> 00:00:54.960 my mic okay? Okay, here we go. So basically... 00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:59.200 I like to keep the car diary a hobby kind of 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:01.579 like recorded. You know, I don't really do edits 00:01:01.579 --> 00:01:04.439 to my podcast, but I like to keep them as recordings 00:01:04.439 --> 00:01:07.719 that I do. And then the hobby hangout, I've been 00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:10.719 trying to do this 9 p .m. live on Sunday nights, 00:01:10.819 --> 00:01:14.799 Eastern time. But this is a. I don't know. I 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:17.579 think it's kind of like a dual episode that I'm 00:01:17.579 --> 00:01:20.560 going to put up on both platforms because my 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:23.239 guest today was willing to go live Sunday at 00:01:23.239 --> 00:01:26.739 9 p .m., which is today. Oh, of course, may the 00:01:26.739 --> 00:01:30.359 4th be with you, Alyx, and with all of you listening 00:01:30.359 --> 00:01:35.540 and tuning in. And yet, this is not a casual, 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:40.780 easy conversation. This is going to be a... pretty 00:01:40.780 --> 00:01:43.680 it may get kind of deep for some folks so this 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:47.519 is kind of you know not a warning or hey this 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:49.739 isn't for kids because this could also be for 00:01:49.739 --> 00:01:53.420 kids in the sense that anyone really can get 00:01:53.420 --> 00:01:58.319 uh head uh in too deep into the hobby whether 00:01:58.319 --> 00:02:02.000 you're a kid or an adult you know there i think 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:05.069 we all know that With breaking culture, there's 00:02:05.069 --> 00:02:08.330 just a lot of money being spent and the gamblers 00:02:08.330 --> 00:02:12.330 or the gambler adjacent folks can really be affected 00:02:12.330 --> 00:02:16.189 hard by this hobby. So I am going to allow my 00:02:16.189 --> 00:02:18.530 guest to introduce himself here in a moment. 00:02:18.569 --> 00:02:21.750 But I did want to say on a positive or fun or 00:02:21.750 --> 00:02:26.099 light, bright note. I did go to my local FedEx 00:02:26.099 --> 00:02:29.340 Kinko's. I am going to have a YouTube video coming 00:02:29.340 --> 00:02:32.479 out about this. And yet I did want to kind of 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:34.379 share with all of you. Today's sponsor is me. 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:38.900 It is me. I am hosting my own very own trade 00:02:38.900 --> 00:02:41.759 night at the Garden ALX. The address is right 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:45.210 there. I'll put it in the chat as well. 5380 00:02:45.210 --> 00:02:47.870 Eisenhower Avenue in Alexandria, Virginia. It 00:02:47.870 --> 00:02:51.449 is going to be May 15th. That is two Thursdays 00:02:51.449 --> 00:02:53.689 from now. And I am covering the time. It is going 00:02:53.689 --> 00:02:57.509 to be 6 to 9 .30 p .m. So I paid myself a handsome, 00:02:57.770 --> 00:03:01.550 a very large sum of money to promote myself on 00:03:01.550 --> 00:03:04.069 my own podcast today. It's going to be giveaways, 00:03:04.110 --> 00:03:05.909 family friendly. I'm going to have some hobby 00:03:05.909 --> 00:03:08.409 companies do some things. So be on the lookout 00:03:08.409 --> 00:03:11.169 for that. If you're in the DMV area, please. 00:03:12.090 --> 00:03:14.090 I've had people in the past drive kind of far 00:03:14.090 --> 00:03:16.949 to come to one of my trade nights. I would not 00:03:16.949 --> 00:03:19.870 advise people to come all the way out on a Thursday 00:03:19.870 --> 00:03:22.210 evening on a school night to come out to this. 00:03:22.289 --> 00:03:26.050 But if you are in the area, May 15th, 6 to 9 00:03:26.050 --> 00:03:29.270 .30 p .m., and it is free for everyone who attends. 00:03:29.610 --> 00:03:33.539 So thank you for indulging me on that. Without 00:03:33.539 --> 00:03:36.080 further ado, I really want to have my guest today 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:38.680 introduce himself and what he's trying to create, 00:03:38.780 --> 00:03:40.520 and then we're going to really dive into it. 00:03:40.580 --> 00:03:44.159 But I'm very supportive of what he is standing 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:48.379 for here. So Alyx, the floor is all yours. Denny, 00:03:48.379 --> 00:03:52.219 thank you so much, man. Truly. Appreciate you 00:03:52.219 --> 00:03:56.139 having me on, appreciate all of the support you've 00:03:56.139 --> 00:03:58.800 given me over the last couple weeks since we 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:02.520 first got in touch. And hey everyone, my name 00:04:02.520 --> 00:04:06.219 is Alyx Effron. I'm the founder of a new movement 00:04:06.219 --> 00:04:09.699 in the hobby called Collectors MD. I've been 00:04:09.699 --> 00:04:13.699 in the hobby for years as a collector, as a seller, 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:17.680 buyer, breaker, you name it. I've seen firsthand 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:22.189 how easy it is for passion. to spiral into something 00:04:22.189 --> 00:04:25.269 a lot more complicated. I've experienced it firsthand. 00:04:25.649 --> 00:04:28.290 I've spoken and met with other people who have 00:04:28.290 --> 00:04:31.769 gone through the rigor. And so that's why I started 00:04:31.769 --> 00:04:34.829 Collectors MD. We're a support -based movement 00:04:34.829 --> 00:04:37.509 focused on helping people collect with intention, 00:04:37.930 --> 00:04:41.149 not compulsion. We host peer support meetings, 00:04:41.370 --> 00:04:43.850 publish daily reflections, basically journal 00:04:43.850 --> 00:04:47.310 entries. We work with creators, breakers, influencers. 00:04:48.589 --> 00:04:51.910 and platforms to push for real reform in the 00:04:51.910 --> 00:04:54.829 space because let's be honest, the hobby's growing 00:04:54.829 --> 00:04:59.610 super fast and there are no guardrails that have 00:04:59.610 --> 00:05:03.269 caught up in time to help those that need them. 00:05:03.470 --> 00:05:06.709 So today I'm here not just someone who loves 00:05:06.709 --> 00:05:10.870 the hobby and is extremely passionate for sports 00:05:10.870 --> 00:05:14.689 cards, sneakers, memorabilia. collectibles, you 00:05:14.689 --> 00:05:18.170 name it. I have been involved in it my entire 00:05:18.170 --> 00:05:20.910 life, but also as someone who wants to help reshape 00:05:20.910 --> 00:05:23.209 it into something healthier, more sustainable, 00:05:23.370 --> 00:05:28.560 and more human. That's really good. All of that, 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:32.019 I super, you know, 100 % endorse. One thing you 00:05:32.019 --> 00:05:33.839 said that I actually didn't know about you, and 00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:36.160 I really have only gotten to know you in the 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:38.680 past couple of weeks, you know, like in the month 00:05:38.680 --> 00:05:41.399 of April is when I really got to really understand 00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:43.500 what you're trying to do. And I am supportive 00:05:43.500 --> 00:05:46.300 of it is I didn't realize that you were previously 00:05:46.300 --> 00:05:48.160 a breaker. Can you talk on that? Can you kind 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:49.759 of talk about you? You're going to go there. 00:05:49.879 --> 00:05:52.560 Yeah. So that's that's a great place to start. 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:58.180 In 2020, beginning of the pandemic, a buddy of 00:05:58.180 --> 00:06:02.480 mine who I grew up with, very close with, reintroduced 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:07.319 me to the hobby. And he was on Facebook and Instagram, 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:12.220 basically hosting live breaks. And it was basically 00:06:12.220 --> 00:06:15.100 the first time I had seen anything like it. And 00:06:15.100 --> 00:06:18.720 I was, at first, a little bit hesitant, thought 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:21.759 it was a little bit cheesy. Like, what is this 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:26.139 guy doing? uh as a grown adult opening packs 00:06:26.139 --> 00:06:28.360 of sports cards for other adults it just felt 00:06:28.360 --> 00:06:33.439 like really strange right and as i engaged with 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:35.160 it more and more and started to join the breaks 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:38.500 myself to support him i got super addicted and 00:06:38.500 --> 00:06:42.480 you know found a lot of interest in it and as 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:45.240 a collector as somebody who has been a sports 00:06:45.240 --> 00:06:51.639 fan my entire life love being able to enjoy a 00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:55.319 tangible item that holds value as opposed to 00:06:55.319 --> 00:06:59.540 a digital asset like a stock or an NFT. I've 00:06:59.540 --> 00:07:02.600 always loved the idea of investing in something 00:07:02.600 --> 00:07:05.540 that you're passionate about, that you can own 00:07:05.540 --> 00:07:08.300 and appreciate, enjoy, potentially pass down 00:07:08.300 --> 00:07:14.379 to a future generation. it was like the perfect 00:07:14.379 --> 00:07:16.360 match for me not to mention i grew up in the 00:07:16.360 --> 00:07:18.939 90s and you know i collected pokemon cards and 00:07:18.939 --> 00:07:22.040 basketball baseball cards as a kid so it was 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:26.399 awesome to sort of re -engage with a nostalgic 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:30.860 time in my life and um you know at the time it 00:07:30.860 --> 00:07:34.000 was really exciting in the hobby because it was 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:38.410 um It was all about the 2019 -2020 basketball 00:07:38.410 --> 00:07:41.449 class, right? There was Zion, Ja, and you had 00:07:41.449 --> 00:07:44.269 like all those quarterbacks, Joe Burrow, Justin 00:07:44.269 --> 00:07:48.110 Herbert, Tua, Hertz, Jordan Love. It's like one 00:07:48.110 --> 00:07:50.790 of the best QB rookie classes of all time. And 00:07:50.790 --> 00:07:53.550 this was all happening at once. And so the products 00:07:53.550 --> 00:07:56.029 were coming out and the hype was there. Zion 00:07:56.029 --> 00:07:59.230 base cards were selling for like hundreds of 00:07:59.230 --> 00:08:02.730 dollars. I think a silver PSA 10 present at one 00:08:02.730 --> 00:08:05.839 point was like. upwards of 2000, maybe more. 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:08.540 So anyway, you know, it was, it was very easy 00:08:08.540 --> 00:08:11.779 to, to get sucked in. And I did. And, uh, my 00:08:11.779 --> 00:08:13.879 buddy who I mentioned in reintroduce me to the 00:08:13.879 --> 00:08:17.399 hobby invited me to, uh, start breaking with 00:08:17.399 --> 00:08:20.360 him under his brand called Bogo breaks. His name 00:08:20.360 --> 00:08:23.860 is Paul Bogosian. Uh, and the, the brand, uh, 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:26.519 is basically, you know, a play on his name, Bogo 00:08:26.519 --> 00:08:29.839 breaks. And it was me, Paul and two other buddies 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:33.679 that grew up, uh, together. that were running 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.820 live breaks on Instagram, Facebook, primarily. 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:41.299 Towards the end, we also started to break on 00:08:41.299 --> 00:08:46.279 Whatnot, but really focused a lot of our attention 00:08:46.279 --> 00:08:49.399 on Instagram. And so I was doing that for the 00:08:49.399 --> 00:08:52.419 better part of the pandemic between 2020 and 00:08:52.419 --> 00:08:57.019 2021. When things started to return to a state 00:08:57.019 --> 00:08:59.399 of normalcy, we all kind of slowed down with 00:08:59.399 --> 00:09:01.879 it. you know we were basically alternating breaking 00:09:01.879 --> 00:09:05.919 every night uh and then you know towards the 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:08.879 end of 2021 it was basically like once or twice 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:11.460 a week uh depending on you know what product 00:09:11.460 --> 00:09:14.220 was coming out and you know who had time but 00:09:14.220 --> 00:09:17.320 we were all kind of just you know refocused on 00:09:17.320 --> 00:09:20.679 our careers and moving on and i was the one who 00:09:20.679 --> 00:09:26.129 kind of uh still you know continued with it uh 00:09:26.129 --> 00:09:28.970 you know from the other side of the fence where 00:09:28.970 --> 00:09:31.769 i was participating in breaks other breaks other 00:09:31.769 --> 00:09:36.509 breakers uh buying personals collecting watching 00:09:36.509 --> 00:09:40.509 the you know the crates of cards pile up to the 00:09:40.509 --> 00:09:43.990 ceiling and just eventually spiral out of control 00:09:43.990 --> 00:09:48.190 and uh so you know we still post on there sometimes 00:09:48.190 --> 00:09:51.350 we still like buy sell trade uh and engage with 00:09:51.350 --> 00:09:54.710 um customers or people that we have done deals 00:09:54.710 --> 00:09:57.629 with in the past. So that page does still exist, 00:09:57.750 --> 00:10:01.549 but we no longer break on it. I should take that 00:10:01.549 --> 00:10:04.970 back actually. Paul and one of the other guys, 00:10:05.070 --> 00:10:07.309 Tony, I think they went live like a month or 00:10:07.309 --> 00:10:11.789 two ago to open up WebC. One thing I'll ask you 00:10:11.789 --> 00:10:13.529 before I get to the next question is could you 00:10:13.529 --> 00:10:16.070 move maybe a couple of inches away from the microphone 00:10:16.070 --> 00:10:18.730 because I'm getting a little bit too much. Somewhere 00:10:18.730 --> 00:10:22.009 in between that. and where you were yeah kind 00:10:22.009 --> 00:10:24.789 of like that that might help yeah awesome thank 00:10:24.789 --> 00:10:27.669 you so um not that it matters too much i did 00:10:27.669 --> 00:10:30.029 want to ask you though what what were you breaking 00:10:30.029 --> 00:10:31.889 actually maybe it does matter because in the 00:10:31.889 --> 00:10:35.629 sense of like uh what sports were you breaking 00:10:35.629 --> 00:10:39.230 and were those the sports that you collect because 00:10:39.230 --> 00:10:43.649 i know some people like to do just one type of 00:10:43.649 --> 00:10:46.049 collecting but then they break another i mean 00:10:46.049 --> 00:10:48.230 i've heard that from some folks but let me know 00:10:48.230 --> 00:10:51.720 uh what What sports or what genres were you breaking 00:10:51.720 --> 00:10:54.480 and who do you like or who do you PC and who 00:10:54.480 --> 00:11:01.340 do you collect? Oh, no. Now I think you might 00:11:01.340 --> 00:11:02.980 have disconnected your microphone because I can't 00:11:02.980 --> 00:11:07.120 hear you now. What about now? Yes. Now I can. 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:09.879 Go ahead. I'm just posting real quick that we're 00:11:09.879 --> 00:11:12.279 live on my story. Okay. And then I'll answer 00:11:12.279 --> 00:11:14.940 your question. But I want to try to get some 00:11:14.940 --> 00:11:19.250 of the followers in the room if we can. Okay. 00:11:19.389 --> 00:11:23.509 As you do that, not my cat, this cat, this neighborhood 00:11:23.509 --> 00:11:27.570 cat wants to come on my lap and is now messing 00:11:27.570 --> 00:11:31.610 with me. Okay. So neighborhood cat. Yeah. Yeah. 00:11:31.629 --> 00:11:34.830 Just cat likes to, as soon as I'm comfortable, 00:11:34.950 --> 00:11:39.139 it's time to. want attention from me so that's 00:11:39.139 --> 00:11:41.620 just kind of how it goes um but yeah i i did 00:11:41.620 --> 00:11:44.299 post that we were live on my instagram as well 00:11:44.299 --> 00:11:47.700 i was kind of looking for any questions if people 00:11:47.700 --> 00:11:49.980 had any questions i don't see any roll in and 00:11:49.980 --> 00:11:53.700 i don't see any questions in the chat um uh but 00:11:53.700 --> 00:11:55.840 i'll kind of get to that in a moment but yeah 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:57.720 so who what what were you what were you breaking 00:11:57.720 --> 00:12:02.250 and what do you collect So we were primarily 00:12:02.250 --> 00:12:04.990 breaking basketball, football, baseball. I actually 00:12:04.990 --> 00:12:06.909 started out as the baseball guy because they 00:12:06.909 --> 00:12:10.990 were doing football and basketball. Paul was 00:12:10.990 --> 00:12:14.289 doing football. Tony was doing basketball. Other 00:12:14.289 --> 00:12:16.149 guy, Joe, was doing a little bit of both. And 00:12:16.149 --> 00:12:18.330 then I was like the baseball guy. And then it 00:12:18.330 --> 00:12:20.590 got to a point where all three of us were just 00:12:20.590 --> 00:12:24.649 rotating and doing all three sports. This was 00:12:24.649 --> 00:12:27.470 also before some of these secondary sports really 00:12:27.470 --> 00:12:30.730 blew up and became... you know incredibly popular 00:12:30.730 --> 00:12:33.490 in the hobby uh you know those sports being like 00:12:33.490 --> 00:12:41.149 ufc wwe um f1 women's basketball uh of course 00:12:41.149 --> 00:12:43.669 you know there's a whole other side of it with 00:12:43.669 --> 00:12:47.230 tcg um i don't know like there's like marvel 00:12:47.230 --> 00:12:50.909 and disney and uh all that sort of stuff fall 00:12:50.909 --> 00:12:54.169 under the same umbrella as uh tcg or is it like 00:12:54.169 --> 00:12:59.019 more so just like uh trading cards i guess like 00:12:59.019 --> 00:13:02.200 somewhere in between you know the the term tcg 00:13:02.200 --> 00:13:04.480 is the trading card game part and i think that 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:08.720 loricana would be a tcg because there's a trading 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:11.120 there's like a tournament aspect to it a game 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:15.679 gamification or gameplay and then marvel like 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:17.679 let's say uh you know the most recent i can't 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:22.580 remember what it's called like 19 um was it 1987 00:13:22.580 --> 00:13:27.360 i see that i wish i wish i hadn't uh 1994 something 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:32.720 x -men top 94 that has no actual like say points 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:35.259 and uh they're they're not used in like tournament 00:13:35.259 --> 00:13:38.240 play that's those are just kind of like characters 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:41.779 so i think magic gathering uh certainly pokemon 00:13:41.779 --> 00:13:44.759 is a tcg because they have the the stats and 00:13:44.759 --> 00:13:47.500 the combat points and all that stuff right so 00:13:47.500 --> 00:13:49.799 it depends which which product yeah but yeah 00:13:49.799 --> 00:13:52.960 i would say marvel you know i remember as a kid 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:55.539 marvel masterpieces was like a huge thing of 00:13:55.539 --> 00:13:57.240 course back then the packs were like a dollar 00:13:57.240 --> 00:14:00.519 or two dollars um the artwork was beautiful um 00:14:00.519 --> 00:14:03.399 but it didn't break the bank i think that you 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:05.659 know uh before we get to maybe what you do collect 00:14:05.659 --> 00:14:09.220 like back then like it was wax has always been 00:14:09.220 --> 00:14:11.179 a gamble it's always been a gamble it's just 00:14:11.179 --> 00:14:16.639 that gamble it went from penny slots to a thousand 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:20.690 dollar uh you know, swings of the jackpot of 00:14:20.690 --> 00:14:24.350 the slot machine. Right. So that's the issue 00:14:24.350 --> 00:14:27.710 I think a lot of people have. But so did you 00:14:27.710 --> 00:14:31.309 become the baseball guy because you like baseball 00:14:31.309 --> 00:14:35.289 more? Not really. I'm just knowledgeable. I think 00:14:35.289 --> 00:14:37.169 I was like the only knowledgeable baseball guy. 00:14:37.889 --> 00:14:42.190 But I do. I do like all three sports. I would 00:14:42.190 --> 00:14:46.970 say pretty evenly. It's hard, right? Because, 00:14:46.990 --> 00:14:50.909 like, it really depends on the season and, like, 00:14:50.909 --> 00:14:54.169 the teams. Like, I'm a Yankee fan. I grew up 00:14:54.169 --> 00:14:56.070 watching or, like, I grew up rooting for the 00:14:56.070 --> 00:15:00.090 Miami Dolphins. But they're just, like, notoriously, 00:15:00.230 --> 00:15:04.190 you know, not good. And then, like, for basketball, 00:15:04.490 --> 00:15:07.809 I kind of lean towards the Knicks. But, like, 00:15:07.870 --> 00:15:10.330 you know, as good as they are this year, this 00:15:10.330 --> 00:15:12.700 team kind of, like. irks me a little bit i don't 00:15:12.700 --> 00:15:15.100 know like i don't know why like i love brunson 00:15:15.100 --> 00:15:17.379 but lately he's just been flopping so much and 00:15:17.379 --> 00:15:20.279 like carl anthony towns is so obnoxious with 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:24.200 his like you know this whole zesty thing he's 00:15:24.200 --> 00:15:27.340 got going on so just like you are you are a new 00:15:27.340 --> 00:15:30.259 york city guy then yeah from the tri -state area 00:15:30.259 --> 00:15:34.480 born and raised in north jersey I work in and 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:36.960 around Manhattan. My wife works in Manhattan. 00:15:37.220 --> 00:15:40.379 We actually just moved from Jersey City, which 00:15:40.379 --> 00:15:44.539 is a town right outside of Manhattan, to the 00:15:44.539 --> 00:15:47.320 suburbs in Jersey. But yeah, born and raised. 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:50.899 You know, it's really not by design, but I have 00:15:50.899 --> 00:15:53.539 such a string of New York City guests. I don't 00:15:53.539 --> 00:15:55.960 know if it's because... I connect with them better 00:15:55.960 --> 00:15:59.740 online on Instagram or whatever it is, but, you 00:15:59.740 --> 00:16:02.139 know, so thank you for taking the time and, and, 00:16:02.139 --> 00:16:04.179 you know, from your schedule with, you know, 00:16:04.179 --> 00:16:07.720 coming from the tri -state area. So you are kind 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:11.360 of like a New York fan, a New York teams fan, 00:16:11.539 --> 00:16:13.799 but somehow Miami dolphins, which, you know, 00:16:13.820 --> 00:16:15.600 you don't have to explain. I mean, I don't know 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:19.080 if you're a nineties kid, but I know that. Even 00:16:19.080 --> 00:16:22.059 post -Perfect season, you just had the Dan Marino, 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:26.820 Irving Fryer years and all this stuff. So maybe 00:16:26.820 --> 00:16:29.379 not recently that they've been good, but I don't 00:16:29.379 --> 00:16:30.659 know if they were good in your childhood. But 00:16:30.659 --> 00:16:33.879 I know with a lot of kind of, I don't know, mental 00:16:33.879 --> 00:16:36.200 health or kind of like improving yourself, it 00:16:36.200 --> 00:16:39.840 does kind of go back to who you were or what 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:42.759 you were as a kid. Right. Yeah, no, I grew up 00:16:42.759 --> 00:16:47.299 in the 90s. I was born in 89. I'm 35. you know 00:16:47.299 --> 00:16:49.639 the chicago bulls era just like watching the 00:16:49.639 --> 00:16:53.100 bulls jazz finals uh you know obviously the knicks 00:16:53.100 --> 00:16:55.899 with ewing and alan houston and john stark's 00:16:55.899 --> 00:17:00.059 like that's all like deeply rooted in my upbringing 00:17:00.059 --> 00:17:05.279 okay so so that's the foundational base um you 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:08.519 know you pc kind of like the new york teams you 00:17:08.519 --> 00:17:12.940 were a breaker with baseball and you have seen 00:17:12.940 --> 00:17:15.900 i guess before we get to what we're current you 00:17:15.900 --> 00:17:18.319 know the current state of things and and collectors 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:26.019 md yeah did you as a breaker um see like you 00:17:26.019 --> 00:17:28.500 know how some bartenders uh some of the more 00:17:28.500 --> 00:17:31.119 responsible ones where if someone is drinking 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:34.460 too much they they cut them off um i've heard 00:17:34.460 --> 00:17:37.259 the similar analogy occur with breakers some 00:17:37.259 --> 00:17:40.099 of the better uh or more socially responsible 00:17:40.099 --> 00:17:45.250 breakers even as if it's against their own financial 00:17:45.250 --> 00:17:48.029 benefit or gain. They'll just kind of say, hey, 00:17:48.109 --> 00:17:52.029 love you. You're a great supporter. You spent 00:17:52.029 --> 00:17:54.750 a lot of money. I just can't accept more of your 00:17:54.750 --> 00:17:57.029 money. Have you ever gotten to that point with 00:17:57.029 --> 00:18:01.039 some of your buyers? It's a great question, first 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:04.579 of all. And I have spoken to a handful of breakers 00:18:04.579 --> 00:18:07.259 who have acknowledged that and have stated that 00:18:07.259 --> 00:18:11.140 there are certain customers or circumstances 00:18:11.140 --> 00:18:14.200 where they will cut off that person if they feel 00:18:14.200 --> 00:18:15.920 like they're spiraling. And I think that's really 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:17.920 important. And it's a huge part of what we're 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:20.980 doing with Collectors MD to push reform. But as 00:18:20.980 --> 00:18:23.700 far as from my perspective, as a breaker, when 00:18:23.700 --> 00:18:26.779 I was breaking, and again, this was four or five 00:18:26.779 --> 00:18:31.000 years ago, It was such a different landscape, 00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:34.519 right? Like the environment now with like the 00:18:34.519 --> 00:18:38.680 Whatnot and Fanatics Live streams, you know, 00:18:38.700 --> 00:18:41.380 the breaker playing the role of the dealer, the 00:18:41.380 --> 00:18:44.680 marketer, the hype man, and, you know, still 00:18:44.680 --> 00:18:47.380 breaking the cards and like all like the overlays 00:18:47.380 --> 00:18:50.799 and the music and the sound effects and everything 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:54.440 else. It's just, it has like casino written all 00:18:54.440 --> 00:18:56.680 over it. i mean like the repacks it's like a 00:18:56.680 --> 00:19:00.700 it's like a carnival right um when we were breaking 00:19:00.700 --> 00:19:05.160 on instagram it was like so much more tamed man 00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:09.660 like we were doing like one hobby box divisionals 00:19:09.660 --> 00:19:13.660 80 bucks a spot like you know we would hop on 00:19:13.660 --> 00:19:15.740 for like one or two of those and that was like 00:19:15.740 --> 00:19:18.240 the extent of it you know we we did have nights 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:20.990 where like we would open personals for you know 00:19:20.990 --> 00:19:23.190 one guy who we at the time considered like a 00:19:23.190 --> 00:19:25.269 whale and we would like see that same person 00:19:25.269 --> 00:19:27.450 spend a lot of money with other breakers but 00:19:27.450 --> 00:19:31.150 like those people generally you you had a sense 00:19:31.150 --> 00:19:33.470 that they just like had a lot of money because 00:19:33.470 --> 00:19:36.150 of how they were spending it and it didn't seem 00:19:36.150 --> 00:19:39.069 like it was a problem at the time Now it's like 00:19:39.069 --> 00:19:41.450 the Wild West. I mean, you go in there and, like, 00:19:41.509 --> 00:19:44.309 these spots are going for, and we're talking 00:19:44.309 --> 00:19:47.150 about, like, one team or, like, one player. When 00:19:47.150 --> 00:19:48.849 they're selling these spots, they're going for, 00:19:48.910 --> 00:19:51.490 like, upwards of $2 ,000 to $3 ,000 to $4 ,000 00:19:51.490 --> 00:19:54.509 to $5 ,000. I mean, I think I saw We The Hobby 00:19:54.509 --> 00:19:57.990 selling spots in their repack break for, like, 00:19:58.009 --> 00:20:00.930 $10 ,000 plus. I mean, it's just, like, it's 00:20:00.930 --> 00:20:03.690 mind -boggling that, like, you know, but, like, 00:20:03.690 --> 00:20:07.630 ultimately what it is is it's a... it's a $10 00:20:07.630 --> 00:20:10.970 ,000 spin on the roulette wheel, you know? Yeah. 00:20:13.500 --> 00:20:15.400 There's no other, you know, way to go. Yeah, 00:20:15.500 --> 00:20:17.460 it's not even, you know, roulette wheel is probably 00:20:17.460 --> 00:20:19.859 a better analogy because I can't remember exactly 00:20:19.859 --> 00:20:22.140 how many numbers on the roulette wheel, but, 00:20:22.180 --> 00:20:23.779 you know, you got the zero, double zero, you 00:20:23.779 --> 00:20:25.200 got the black and the red, and you have like 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:29.420 one, double zero, zero to one to 30, what, 36? 00:20:29.700 --> 00:20:32.220 36, yeah. Right, so then you have like 32 NFL 00:20:32.220 --> 00:20:34.619 teams, 30 NBA teams, this and that, and then 00:20:34.619 --> 00:20:38.660 I forget, whatever, like 32 MLB teams. you really 00:20:38.660 --> 00:20:41.700 do. If you buy one spot, it is like picking one 00:20:41.700 --> 00:20:44.660 out of like the entire wheel. It's not a 50, 00:20:44.700 --> 00:20:47.220 50 proposition. It is not a divisional. It's 00:20:47.220 --> 00:20:50.059 not a one in four chance, one in each chance. 00:20:50.140 --> 00:20:52.960 You really are like picking one spot and it's, 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:55.700 and not only do you have to hit, I mean, not 00:20:55.700 --> 00:20:58.160 only do you have to get, yeah, you have to like 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:03.240 hit like the main auto in one box or the 12 autos 00:21:03.240 --> 00:21:05.700 in a case. Like you have to have like the best. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:09.180 you know quote unquote like hit what's so crazy 00:21:09.180 --> 00:21:11.759 about that is like the roulette wheel before 00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:14.500 a spin like every single number is pretty much 00:21:14.500 --> 00:21:18.299 like even in the grand scheme of things i mean 00:21:18.299 --> 00:21:20.599 you can look at like the history of like the 00:21:20.599 --> 00:21:23.779 spins within that like wheel and like you know 00:21:23.779 --> 00:21:27.470 in terms of the odds of the next number being 00:21:27.470 --> 00:21:30.269 people think there's yeah but there's zero correlation 00:21:30.269 --> 00:21:33.509 there's zero every single spin is a fresh spin 00:21:33.509 --> 00:21:35.529 unless of course like the ball is weighted and 00:21:35.529 --> 00:21:38.109 that's like you know a whole nother you know 00:21:38.109 --> 00:21:41.529 conversation for another day ethics of casinos 00:21:41.529 --> 00:21:45.630 and such but um the the irony is like you know 00:21:45.630 --> 00:21:47.730 i was saying all those numbers are for the most 00:21:47.730 --> 00:21:52.279 part equal to one another with these teams like 00:21:52.279 --> 00:21:54.440 you know there are 36 numbers on a roulette wheel 00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:57.759 there are 32 teams in the nfl uh so it's very 00:21:57.759 --> 00:22:01.000 similar um and you're trying to get one of the 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:03.359 better teams right like when you put your money 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:05.619 on an on an inside number for roulette like you're 00:22:05.619 --> 00:22:07.259 not trying to put a number you're you're not 00:22:07.259 --> 00:22:09.140 trying to beat anybody to like get to a certain 00:22:09.140 --> 00:22:12.779 number or like try to like right win you know 00:22:12.779 --> 00:22:16.339 the chance at putting your your money on the 00:22:16.339 --> 00:22:19.480 number 15 or something like that it's like the 00:22:19.480 --> 00:22:22.759 the way that these breakers uh sell these spots 00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:25.380 it's like if you get the washington commanders 00:22:25.380 --> 00:22:29.740 in a 2024 product break it's like it's a win 00:22:29.740 --> 00:22:32.119 if you get one of the the chasers as they call 00:22:32.119 --> 00:22:35.460 them now uh it's like oh my god you got a chaser 00:22:35.460 --> 00:22:37.799 like that you've already won and it's like the 00:22:37.799 --> 00:22:43.319 the the irony the oxymoron is that like you didn't 00:22:43.319 --> 00:22:46.759 win anything like you now have a chance at potentially 00:22:47.660 --> 00:22:50.339 uh you know getting whatever players come out 00:22:50.339 --> 00:22:53.059 of the box that are assigned to your team but 00:22:53.059 --> 00:22:56.259 the chances of that actually happening are still 00:22:56.259 --> 00:22:58.619 so marginal so it's like you first have to get 00:22:58.619 --> 00:23:01.220 the team the right team then you have to make 00:23:01.220 --> 00:23:03.259 sure or not make sure but like then you have 00:23:03.259 --> 00:23:05.359 to get lucky enough to get the right box that 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:08.259 has the right cards and then that like the player 00:23:08.259 --> 00:23:10.359 that comes out has to be the right parallel and 00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:13.519 you know again it's like semantics and jersey 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:15.619 numbers and one -on -ones and short prints and 00:23:15.619 --> 00:23:18.720 case hits it's like It's so exhausting to even 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:24.019 think about, but like the manufacturers, I hate 00:23:24.019 --> 00:23:26.720 to say it, but like they just do such an incredible 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:30.160 job. Maybe incredible is the wrong adjective, 00:23:30.299 --> 00:23:34.660 but they just do such a good job of marketing 00:23:34.660 --> 00:23:39.480 this stuff and making it so that, you know, their 00:23:39.480 --> 00:23:42.140 consumer just keeps coming back every single 00:23:42.140 --> 00:23:45.460 week, every single month, every year, you know, 00:23:45.460 --> 00:23:49.299 like. optic is like all the all the you know 00:23:49.299 --> 00:23:52.200 um craze right now right the optic football because 00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:54.380 it just came out and this is one of the best 00:23:54.380 --> 00:23:57.339 uh rookie qb classes we've ever seen you know 00:23:57.339 --> 00:24:00.200 we're just talking about 2020 but 2024 potentially 00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:03.619 could be like right on that same level just in 00:24:03.619 --> 00:24:05.980 terms of like the talent and like the volume 00:24:05.980 --> 00:24:08.220 the number of quarterbacks that are you know 00:24:08.220 --> 00:24:09.880 going to potentially start and be successful 00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:18.109 um and you know uh it's it's just it's it's insane 00:24:18.109 --> 00:24:25.210 how um uh we're seeing all of these new products 00:24:25.210 --> 00:24:28.930 come out i was talking about optic and the case 00:24:28.930 --> 00:24:32.750 hits the downtowns like most of the downtowns 00:24:32.750 --> 00:24:35.210 on the checklist are veterans right and they're 00:24:35.210 --> 00:24:39.190 the same players you see every single year on 00:24:39.190 --> 00:24:41.190 those checklists right you see mahomes you see 00:24:41.190 --> 00:24:43.410 josh allen you see burrow you see all of these 00:24:43.410 --> 00:24:47.160 veterans Even the retired players like Dan Marino, 00:24:47.299 --> 00:24:51.640 Joe Montana, Steve Young, John Elway, they always 00:24:51.640 --> 00:24:54.380 have downtowns. They always have kabooms. They 00:24:54.380 --> 00:25:00.200 always have the same short prints that all these 00:25:00.200 --> 00:25:03.099 consumers are chasing. It's just slightly different 00:25:03.099 --> 00:25:07.119 for that year. So how rare is it really? How 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:11.200 many one -of -ones of the same downtown, of the 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:14.180 same player? have they actually made it's so 00:25:14.180 --> 00:25:17.960 oversaturated but Panini and Topps Fanatics they 00:25:17.960 --> 00:25:20.920 do such a fantastic job marketing this stuff 00:25:20.920 --> 00:25:23.799 that people will always come back they'll always 00:25:23.799 --> 00:25:26.819 keep buying it doesn't matter how many they produce 00:25:26.819 --> 00:25:31.220 people will still eat it up yeah no absolutely 00:25:31.220 --> 00:25:36.019 so i i want to kind of die uh delve more into 00:25:36.019 --> 00:25:38.420 this analogy with like either roulette or the 00:25:38.420 --> 00:25:40.920 casino or the gambling aspect of the of the hobby 00:25:40.920 --> 00:25:44.519 because Please correct me if you think otherwise, 00:25:44.740 --> 00:25:51.019 but my understanding of, say, AA, Alcoholics 00:25:51.019 --> 00:25:53.940 Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Gambling, Gamblers 00:25:53.940 --> 00:25:57.799 Anonymous, is complete abstinence. It's do not 00:25:57.799 --> 00:26:02.859 drink. You've had your last drink of. You can't 00:26:02.859 --> 00:26:09.140 expect an alcoholic to socially drink. It's abstinence. 00:26:09.299 --> 00:26:11.700 Same thing with... drugs narcotics same thing 00:26:11.700 --> 00:26:14.940 with gambling my understanding is it's not hey 00:26:14.940 --> 00:26:18.640 um hey uh urine gamblers anonymous you can still 00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:22.920 participate in you know hey go to a sportsbook 00:26:22.920 --> 00:26:25.960 and just hang out don't bet right but you guys 00:26:25.960 --> 00:26:27.680 have positioned yourselves and we can get into 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:29.720 the whole md part of the collectors in a little 00:26:29.720 --> 00:26:32.700 bit but collectors md that you're trying to create 00:26:32.700 --> 00:26:36.759 is you're saying you're not anti -hobby so You 00:26:36.759 --> 00:26:40.900 you are still kind of OK with people being in 00:26:40.900 --> 00:26:44.279 the hobby, but not the breaking part of the hobby, 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:46.119 like the gambling part of the hobby, because 00:26:46.119 --> 00:26:48.519 because my my my, you know, before I let you 00:26:48.519 --> 00:26:51.440 answer, like buying singles is a gamble, too, 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:53.599 because these prices go up and down. The market 00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:55.240 goes up and down. Player performance goes up 00:26:55.240 --> 00:26:57.500 and down. So let's say you do buy, you know, 00:26:57.500 --> 00:27:00.779 something that's steadily even as simple as, 00:27:00.819 --> 00:27:04.720 you know, just, you know, a base Jaden Daniels 00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:08.029 PSA 10. you know, rookie card, right? Not even 00:27:08.029 --> 00:27:11.029 silver, but for like a low amount of money, that 00:27:11.029 --> 00:27:14.269 card will fluctuate in price. So, you know, kind 00:27:14.269 --> 00:27:17.289 of speak to that if you could, please. Yeah, 00:27:17.309 --> 00:27:18.789 no, it's a great question. And it's something 00:27:18.789 --> 00:27:23.089 that has come up time and time again over the 00:27:23.089 --> 00:27:25.450 last, you know, six weeks or so since I launched 00:27:25.450 --> 00:27:28.369 Collectors MD. It's like the biggest question 00:27:28.369 --> 00:27:32.930 that I've gotten. And that is, you know, wait, 00:27:33.009 --> 00:27:34.910 if this is like gambling, shouldn't the goal 00:27:34.910 --> 00:27:37.349 be to quit collecting altogether? And it's a 00:27:37.349 --> 00:27:39.329 totally fair question, especially when you compare 00:27:39.329 --> 00:27:43.670 it to programs like GA and AA and NA, where full 00:27:43.670 --> 00:27:46.190 abstinence, like you said, is the standard. But 00:27:46.190 --> 00:27:48.630 here's the core difference. Collecting isn't 00:27:48.630 --> 00:27:52.049 inherently destructive. It's not the act of buying 00:27:52.049 --> 00:27:56.109 cards, comics, sneakers, memorabilia, whatever 00:27:56.109 --> 00:28:00.099 collectible we're talking about. you know not 00:28:00.099 --> 00:28:02.480 necessarily the problem it's the relationship 00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:04.859 we develop with them so for some people that 00:28:04.859 --> 00:28:08.059 relationship becomes obsessive compulsive harmful 00:28:08.059 --> 00:28:11.839 for others it stays fun balanced and therapeutic 00:28:11.839 --> 00:28:15.069 so there are layers to it right And everyone's 00:28:15.069 --> 00:28:17.470 threshold is different. Some people can set a 00:28:17.470 --> 00:28:21.930 budget, stick to it, occasionally rip and be 00:28:21.930 --> 00:28:24.329 totally fine. Others might find that once they 00:28:24.329 --> 00:28:26.250 start, they just can't stop and they just keep 00:28:26.250 --> 00:28:28.309 chasing. They're hiding purchases from their 00:28:28.309 --> 00:28:31.029 family, loved ones, significant others. They 00:28:31.029 --> 00:28:34.210 feel guilty. They feel shame afterwards. And 00:28:34.210 --> 00:28:36.809 for those individuals, the answer might be full 00:28:36.809 --> 00:28:40.390 abstinence or at least a long committed break. 00:28:40.549 --> 00:28:45.200 So we're not anti -collecting. We are, you know, 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:49.039 we are pro hobby, but what we are more importantly 00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:51.960 is pro honesty. It's about helping people figure 00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:54.519 out what kind of collector they are and whether 00:28:54.519 --> 00:28:56.880 they can participate in the hobby in a way that's 00:28:56.880 --> 00:28:59.220 responsible, sustainable and healthy. Right. 00:28:59.319 --> 00:29:01.660 So at the end of the day, it's not like necessarily 00:29:01.660 --> 00:29:05.019 a one size fits all solution. Recovery in this 00:29:05.019 --> 00:29:08.019 space isn't about like rigid rules. It's about 00:29:08.019 --> 00:29:11.009 reclaiming control. setting boundaries and finding 00:29:11.009 --> 00:29:13.829 a relationship within the hobby that adds to 00:29:13.829 --> 00:29:16.569 your life adds value to your life instead of 00:29:16.569 --> 00:29:19.670 draining it yeah and uh thank you really well 00:29:19.670 --> 00:29:21.849 said and j2 comics thank you for being in the 00:29:21.849 --> 00:29:23.950 chat and uh watching live and he says you're 00:29:23.950 --> 00:29:26.509 right it is a lot and it's important to set boundaries 00:29:26.509 --> 00:29:29.069 so boundaries is like the operative word honesty 00:29:29.069 --> 00:29:31.470 operative word um these are really important 00:29:31.470 --> 00:29:36.099 things so i mean uh The, you know, we talked 00:29:36.099 --> 00:29:38.339 about mental health and boundaries and all that 00:29:38.339 --> 00:29:41.500 stuff. So the MD part of Collectors MD is, does 00:29:41.500 --> 00:29:44.920 not stand for medical doctor. None of you and 00:29:44.920 --> 00:29:47.200 the people who are helping run kind of Collectors 00:29:47.200 --> 00:29:50.200 MD is not, you guys are not trained mental health 00:29:50.200 --> 00:29:52.240 professionals, but can you kind of explain what 00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:56.500 that part is about? Yeah. So the MD, you know, 00:29:56.500 --> 00:29:59.119 when I. came up with the brand when i came up 00:29:59.119 --> 00:30:02.319 with the the idea of collectors md it actually 00:30:02.319 --> 00:30:04.960 originally was supposed to be collectors anonymous 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:08.380 but i wanted it to be uh more approachable i 00:30:08.380 --> 00:30:11.359 wanted it to be uh you know something that anybody 00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:15.359 can uh be involved with right it doesn't necessarily 00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:18.460 have to be somebody who has a problem because 00:30:18.460 --> 00:30:21.440 at the end of the day we all like the hobby is 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:25.000 all about community it's all about making building 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:27.980 relationships making new friends meeting new 00:30:27.980 --> 00:30:30.839 people and eventually you're going to run into 00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:34.059 somebody who might have a little bit of a problem 00:30:34.059 --> 00:30:38.180 so it's about creating awareness for others um 00:30:38.180 --> 00:30:42.980 you know to help others so when you see a gambling 00:30:42.980 --> 00:30:45.710 ad and the bottom there's a disclaimer that says 00:30:45.710 --> 00:30:48.150 if you or a loved one has a problem call 1 -800 00:30:48.150 --> 00:30:50.769 -GAMBLER right that obviously doesn't exist right 00:30:50.769 --> 00:30:52.170 now in the hobby and that's what we're trying 00:30:52.170 --> 00:30:56.190 to change but they always add that you know um 00:30:56.190 --> 00:31:01.170 additional if you know somebody or if a loved 00:31:01.170 --> 00:31:03.750 one you know has a problem make sure to reach 00:31:03.750 --> 00:31:07.769 out it's so so important for us in the hobby 00:31:07.769 --> 00:31:10.390 collectively as a community to look out for one 00:31:10.390 --> 00:31:15.579 another and so um That doesn't exactly answer 00:31:15.579 --> 00:31:17.920 why I came up with MD, but again, I just wanted 00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:20.259 it to be more approachable. Now, with that said, 00:31:20.440 --> 00:31:23.700 after creating it and moving forward with it, 00:31:23.759 --> 00:31:26.579 I realized that a lot of people would question 00:31:26.579 --> 00:31:30.900 me and ask if I was a medical doctor or a trained 00:31:30.900 --> 00:31:34.140 and licensed therapist, or if we're based in 00:31:34.140 --> 00:31:38.660 Maryland, which none of the above apply. But 00:31:38.660 --> 00:31:44.380 what I have turned it into. is a bit of a play 00:31:44.380 --> 00:31:47.900 on words and so if you actually go to our website 00:31:47.900 --> 00:31:50.019 and scroll to the bottom there's a disclaimer 00:31:50.019 --> 00:31:53.119 and within that disclaimer it says the md and 00:31:53.119 --> 00:31:55.380 collectors md is intended to be tongue -in -cheek 00:31:55.380 --> 00:31:57.779 we're not medical doctors or licensed therapists 00:31:57.779 --> 00:31:59.700 and we're definitely not based in maryland that 00:31:59.700 --> 00:32:03.000 that does come up uh quite a bit actually in 00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:06.000 when you go to like when i go to my search i 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:08.059 see maryland everywhere which is like a little 00:32:08.059 --> 00:32:11.940 bit annoying but whatever but the MD it's a nod 00:32:11.940 --> 00:32:14.440 to how real the struggle can feel. And our goal 00:32:14.440 --> 00:32:16.940 is to help diagnose unhealthy habits and support 00:32:16.940 --> 00:32:20.059 emotional wellness in the hobby. So we came up 00:32:20.059 --> 00:32:23.619 with three MDs is what we're calling them. Mental 00:32:23.619 --> 00:32:27.660 detox, money discipline. and or meaningful decisions. 00:32:27.960 --> 00:32:31.019 So within the recovery guide that we've created 00:32:31.019 --> 00:32:33.819 for our weekly meetings, there's actually a section 00:32:33.819 --> 00:32:37.720 in it where we focus on those three MDs. And 00:32:37.720 --> 00:32:39.819 basically what it says is we believe in practical, 00:32:39.980 --> 00:32:43.279 sustainable change below our core tools and guiding 00:32:43.279 --> 00:32:45.900 principles that support healthier spending and 00:32:45.900 --> 00:32:48.710 hobby participation. The first one being mental 00:32:48.710 --> 00:32:52.009 detox practices, and it outlines basically three 00:32:52.009 --> 00:32:54.750 bullets that are associated with that. And then 00:32:54.750 --> 00:32:56.930 there's money discipline strategies, same thing, 00:32:56.970 --> 00:32:59.029 three bullets, and then making meaningful decisions, 00:32:59.230 --> 00:33:02.490 again, three bullets. So we ended up turning 00:33:02.490 --> 00:33:05.569 it into kind of like a core pillar of the brand 00:33:05.569 --> 00:33:09.069 and something that we are focused on as a part 00:33:09.069 --> 00:33:13.720 of the journey towards recovery. Hmm. Okay. So 00:33:13.720 --> 00:33:15.599 I'm sharing it on the screen here for those of 00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:18.440 you who are watching live or watching the replay 00:33:18.440 --> 00:33:22.519 on video on YouTube or video podcast. So, you 00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:25.740 know, really good testimonials in here. Certainly, 00:33:25.980 --> 00:33:29.039 you know, there's. There's a lot of good information 00:33:29.039 --> 00:33:31.579 on collectorsmd .com, and I'll put that in the 00:33:31.579 --> 00:33:33.960 chat as well. Let me stop sharing the screen. 00:33:34.180 --> 00:33:38.299 Let me come back to the chat and just say Collectors MD 00:33:38.299 --> 00:33:42.799 .com. So here's a thing, okay? And I don't think 00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:47.700 this is like the $64 ,000 question, but I mean, 00:33:47.759 --> 00:33:50.319 maybe it's a good segue. So earlier today, so 00:33:50.319 --> 00:33:52.759 I have collectorsmd .com up on the screen here, 00:33:52.900 --> 00:33:56.569 but we have... Not anonymous, but he's in the 00:33:56.569 --> 00:33:59.230 chat and he said this, but I'll just say his 00:33:59.230 --> 00:34:02.269 first name for the audio. Michael says, what 00:34:02.269 --> 00:34:05.430 are you talking about? I just joined. And then 00:34:05.430 --> 00:34:09.030 he said, OK, never mind. Goodbye. So why do I 00:34:09.030 --> 00:34:13.019 highlight? The reason I highlight that is. even 00:34:13.019 --> 00:34:16.320 if you do make it seem as approachable as possible, 00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:18.320 I mean, I think there are a lot of people who, 00:34:18.360 --> 00:34:20.380 again, it's the stages of grief and all that, 00:34:20.460 --> 00:34:23.260 but like they are in such denial. And again, 00:34:23.380 --> 00:34:26.159 this is not about Michael, but I feel like much 00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:28.880 like a lot of things that we have been told to 00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:31.980 attend in life, the people who attend things 00:34:31.980 --> 00:34:35.460 are the, usually the ones who, if you, if you 00:34:35.460 --> 00:34:37.900 willfully go into something, you almost like 00:34:37.900 --> 00:34:40.920 don't need it. Like. Let's say there's a free 00:34:40.920 --> 00:34:44.039 training on diversity in your workplace, right? 00:34:44.139 --> 00:34:45.440 And they're like, it's not mandatory. If you 00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:47.460 want to go, you can go. The people who are open 00:34:47.460 --> 00:34:49.460 -minded or who want to learn how to be, say, 00:34:49.639 --> 00:34:52.579 you know, an ally will go to those. It's the 00:34:52.579 --> 00:34:55.400 people who aren't allies, the people who are 00:34:55.400 --> 00:34:57.840 the ones who maybe need that diversity training 00:34:57.840 --> 00:35:00.840 the most who should be in that. classroom or 00:35:00.840 --> 00:35:03.119 the virtual meeting, but they're the ones who 00:35:03.119 --> 00:35:05.320 are not there. Right. So you, you created the 00:35:05.320 --> 00:35:09.000 space, my concern, you know, and I know we can 00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:10.820 talk about like the first meeting and the subsequent 00:35:10.820 --> 00:35:13.500 meetings, but my, my worry is the people who 00:35:13.500 --> 00:35:15.780 need it the most are going to be the most resistant 00:35:15.780 --> 00:35:19.119 to even considering this either because one, 00:35:19.219 --> 00:35:21.139 they think that they don't have a problem to, 00:35:21.280 --> 00:35:23.579 they think, Oh, wow, I've been doing really well 00:35:23.579 --> 00:35:25.260 in breaks. I don't need this. I'm actually making 00:35:25.260 --> 00:35:31.800 money. And three, just kind of like, oh, it's 00:35:31.800 --> 00:35:33.780 none of your business. You know, I don't need, 00:35:33.860 --> 00:35:35.940 you know, who are you to tell me how to spend 00:35:35.940 --> 00:35:39.539 my money? All three of those are rooted in denial. 00:35:39.760 --> 00:35:42.519 It's denial of the actual reality of the situation. 00:35:42.760 --> 00:35:45.840 And so, you know, this person just jumped in. 00:35:45.860 --> 00:35:48.519 He's like, oh, what did I just come into? Oh, 00:35:48.619 --> 00:35:51.219 it's about that. It's about that topic. It's 00:35:51.219 --> 00:35:53.400 about gambling addiction. It's about, you know. 00:35:53.789 --> 00:35:56.250 breaking culture and you know compulsive spending 00:35:56.250 --> 00:35:58.289 like i don't want to hear that i want to i want 00:35:58.289 --> 00:35:59.849 to the hobby's fun i just want to have a lot 00:35:59.849 --> 00:36:03.789 of fun Alyx you're not the fun police tell me 00:36:03.789 --> 00:36:06.590 what you think about what i just said yeah i 00:36:06.590 --> 00:36:09.949 mean denial is everywhere and honestly you know 00:36:09.949 --> 00:36:12.789 it's something that for a long time like i told 00:36:12.789 --> 00:36:15.789 myself those same things like you know i'm super 00:36:15.789 --> 00:36:18.969 passionate it's not that serious i can afford 00:36:18.969 --> 00:36:21.130 this you know at the end of the day like i'll 00:36:21.130 --> 00:36:24.489 just sell some more cards to make up for this 00:36:24.489 --> 00:36:27.630 loss i even you know at one point framed it as 00:36:27.630 --> 00:36:29.969 like a business and that's how i justified it's 00:36:29.969 --> 00:36:32.030 like my wife it's like well i'm breaking i'm 00:36:32.030 --> 00:36:34.869 profiting i'm you know uh buying and selling 00:36:34.869 --> 00:36:37.250 and i'm being like i'm really savvy with it like 00:36:37.250 --> 00:36:39.150 i know what i'm doing right with like the flippers 00:36:39.150 --> 00:36:43.630 mentality uh so in my head like it felt justified 00:36:43.630 --> 00:36:47.360 right but behind the scenes like i was overspending 00:36:47.360 --> 00:36:50.599 i was hiding packages i was constantly chasing 00:36:50.599 --> 00:36:53.539 that next big hit and it stopped being fun and 00:36:53.539 --> 00:36:55.320 started feeling like something that you know 00:36:55.320 --> 00:36:59.380 i just i had to do uh and even when people you 00:36:59.380 --> 00:37:03.199 know close to me started to say like you're kind 00:37:03.199 --> 00:37:05.000 of getting a little bit out of control you're 00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:07.420 like how many more cards do you need it actually 00:37:07.420 --> 00:37:09.099 started with the sneakers which you see behind 00:37:09.099 --> 00:37:11.579 me at one point i had over 500 pairs of sneakers 00:37:11.579 --> 00:37:16.840 um and the sneakers turned into cards as I got 00:37:16.840 --> 00:37:19.400 older. But there were red flags and I just kind 00:37:19.400 --> 00:37:21.780 of always brushed them off because I didn't want 00:37:21.780 --> 00:37:23.480 to hear it. And that's the thing about denial. 00:37:23.739 --> 00:37:26.940 It's not always dramatic. It sometimes can be 00:37:26.940 --> 00:37:30.559 really quiet and it's rational sounding and it's 00:37:30.559 --> 00:37:33.019 incredibly hard to break out of that until you're 00:37:33.019 --> 00:37:36.260 ready to be open and honest with yourself. And 00:37:36.260 --> 00:37:39.949 so. Personally for me, that's why I started Collectors MD. 00:37:40.150 --> 00:37:43.670 Not because I figured it out or I'm on my high 00:37:43.670 --> 00:37:47.309 horse acting like I saw the light at the end 00:37:47.309 --> 00:37:50.309 of the tunnel and I am now fully healed. That's 00:37:50.309 --> 00:37:55.130 not the case whatsoever. But it's because I personally 00:37:55.130 --> 00:37:58.389 need the space too. It's cathartic. It's therapeutic 00:37:58.389 --> 00:38:01.329 for me. And I knew that I couldn't be the only 00:38:01.329 --> 00:38:05.449 one. So it allows me to help myself while also 00:38:05.449 --> 00:38:08.480 giving back. If that makes sense. So, you know, 00:38:08.500 --> 00:38:11.519 at the end of the day, like denial is human nature. 00:38:11.559 --> 00:38:13.719 We all want to believe we've got it under control. 00:38:14.739 --> 00:38:17.599 But for some people like that line between love 00:38:17.599 --> 00:38:21.579 and loss gets super blurry. And those are usually 00:38:21.579 --> 00:38:23.280 the folks that are most resistant to hearing 00:38:23.280 --> 00:38:24.940 it. They don't want to be told they might have 00:38:24.940 --> 00:38:27.619 a problem, especially when the hobby is, you 00:38:27.619 --> 00:38:30.500 know, their escape. Right. And for me, the hobby 00:38:30.500 --> 00:38:33.300 and gambling, those were like, that was my escape. 00:38:34.349 --> 00:38:37.090 With Collectors MD, we don't come in with judgment 00:38:37.090 --> 00:38:39.829 or shame. We don't tell people what they should 00:38:39.829 --> 00:38:43.769 or shouldn't do. We talked about GA, where it's 00:38:43.769 --> 00:38:45.349 like they tell you gambling is the devil and 00:38:45.349 --> 00:38:47.130 you can never do it again a day in your life. 00:38:47.510 --> 00:38:49.489 All we're trying to do is just share our own 00:38:49.489 --> 00:38:52.130 stories, offer support, and create a space for 00:38:52.130 --> 00:38:54.909 people to reflect at their own pace. Because 00:38:54.909 --> 00:38:58.070 sometimes the first seed of change comes from 00:38:58.070 --> 00:39:01.250 hearing someone say, I've been there too. So 00:39:01.250 --> 00:39:05.860 you can't force recovery. Right, right. Okay, 00:39:05.900 --> 00:39:09.619 so before we get into the recovery, you know, 00:39:09.619 --> 00:39:13.059 first meeting and subsequent ones, I don't know 00:39:13.059 --> 00:39:15.079 how many people in chat and people who are watching 00:39:15.079 --> 00:39:16.920 this are going to know what's called the Dunning 00:39:16.920 --> 00:39:19.500 -Kruger effect. So I'm just going to read the 00:39:19.500 --> 00:39:21.840 AI overview of it. It says the Dunning -Kruger 00:39:21.840 --> 00:39:24.559 effect describes a cognitive bias where individuals 00:39:24.559 --> 00:39:28.440 of low competence in a specific area overestimate 00:39:28.440 --> 00:39:30.900 their abilities while highly competent individuals 00:39:30.900 --> 00:39:34.980 may underestimate their relative expertise. This 00:39:34.980 --> 00:39:37.780 bias leads to overconfidence in the unskilled 00:39:37.780 --> 00:39:43.009 and the lack of confidence in the skilled. I 00:39:43.009 --> 00:39:45.269 knew about this fact. I thought it was more about 00:39:45.269 --> 00:39:47.750 the individuals with low competence. I kind of 00:39:47.750 --> 00:39:49.650 forgot about the second part, the latter half, 00:39:49.769 --> 00:39:51.269 which is about the highly competent individuals 00:39:51.269 --> 00:39:54.670 underestimating their relative expertise. But 00:39:54.670 --> 00:39:56.849 when it comes to the Dunning -Kruger effect in 00:39:56.849 --> 00:39:59.469 the hobby, the reason I bring up this, I don't 00:39:59.469 --> 00:40:02.030 even know what to call it, a scientific theory 00:40:02.030 --> 00:40:08.670 or some sort of bias. Again, I'm not well -versed 00:40:08.670 --> 00:40:10.630 in all of this at all, but I do know of this. 00:40:10.929 --> 00:40:14.170 But the reason I bring it up is because I feel 00:40:14.170 --> 00:40:19.210 that a lot of people think that they are good 00:40:19.210 --> 00:40:23.369 or can – because of the low barrier to entry 00:40:23.369 --> 00:40:25.389 in every single freaking thing in this hobby, 00:40:25.550 --> 00:40:27.969 whether – and I'm not just talking about collecting, 00:40:28.030 --> 00:40:31.619 but I'm talking about flipping. repacking, breaking, 00:40:32.119 --> 00:40:34.900 setting up as a vendor at a show, setting up 00:40:34.900 --> 00:40:37.900 your own eBay account. Like my whole concept 00:40:37.900 --> 00:40:41.190 of the card diary by Javier Thompson was. Hunter 00:40:41.190 --> 00:40:43.289 S. Thompson was like, I'm just going to try a 00:40:43.289 --> 00:40:45.349 lot of different things and see what, you know, 00:40:45.349 --> 00:40:47.690 not what I'm good at or bad at, but he would 00:40:47.690 --> 00:40:50.170 just embed himself into different situations 00:40:50.170 --> 00:40:52.050 and try different things. You know, the master 00:40:52.050 --> 00:40:54.630 of none, jack of all trades. So that's, you know, 00:40:54.630 --> 00:40:58.070 we're at episode 113, like the original episode. 00:40:58.150 --> 00:41:00.670 The whole reason for this podcast existing is 00:41:00.670 --> 00:41:05.349 pretty much the Dunning -Kruger effect in full 00:41:05.349 --> 00:41:07.809 display in the hobby. Me, myself, trying different 00:41:07.809 --> 00:41:12.090 things. And so. I think that it is what I've 00:41:12.090 --> 00:41:14.510 learned is what I like to do, what I don't like 00:41:14.510 --> 00:41:16.269 to do, what I'm good at, what I'm not good at. 00:41:16.369 --> 00:41:21.570 But it really is anyone who has a pulse and a 00:41:21.570 --> 00:41:24.570 little bit of money feels like they can do really 00:41:24.570 --> 00:41:27.690 anything in this hobby because no one really 00:41:27.690 --> 00:41:29.929 can tell them no because of the whole wild, wild 00:41:29.929 --> 00:41:33.590 west mentality or atmosphere that we currently 00:41:33.590 --> 00:41:38.110 are in. We do have this. And people watching 00:41:38.110 --> 00:41:40.309 things on YouTube thinking, you know, I've definitely 00:41:40.309 --> 00:41:42.510 had people say, you've inspired me, Denny, to 00:41:42.510 --> 00:41:45.429 try, you know, to try a podcast, to set up as 00:41:45.429 --> 00:41:48.090 a vendor, to, you know, to do this or do that 00:41:48.090 --> 00:41:50.909 and, you know, try my own YouTube. And I'm like 00:41:50.909 --> 00:41:53.329 really flattered. It's really nice. It really 00:41:53.329 --> 00:41:56.050 costs you nothing to create a podcast or YouTube 00:41:56.050 --> 00:42:00.250 channel or to sell on eBay. But I think there 00:42:00.250 --> 00:42:03.050 is a danger when. again if you spend too much 00:42:03.050 --> 00:42:05.829 money in it so again if you are say not even 00:42:05.829 --> 00:42:08.409 just a break or buying into breaks but if you're 00:42:08.409 --> 00:42:10.570 a flipper and you just can't get your accounting 00:42:10.570 --> 00:42:12.949 straight and you think you're a good flipper 00:42:12.949 --> 00:42:15.590 but you are just underwater on cards or there 00:42:15.590 --> 00:42:18.150 you've bought a lot of bricks or you're actually 00:42:18.150 --> 00:42:20.909 not as good not as savvy from the on a business 00:42:20.909 --> 00:42:24.349 transaction side of the hobby you are you you 00:42:24.349 --> 00:42:26.289 have a cognitive bias you think you can do it 00:42:26.289 --> 00:42:29.630 and you a lot of people are realizing you know 00:42:29.630 --> 00:42:34.130 i can't or hey sports cards were hot it was easy 00:42:34.130 --> 00:42:38.289 um to to transact in the hobby but now it's like 00:42:38.289 --> 00:42:40.769 oh pokemon's hot so i better jump to pokemon 00:42:40.769 --> 00:42:43.590 so i actually see a lot of people their vendor 00:42:43.590 --> 00:42:49.010 tables are flipping from sports 100 zero pokemon 00:42:49.010 --> 00:42:54.929 to 50 50 to now zero sports 100 pokemon yeah 00:42:54.929 --> 00:42:58.239 this is like All really, really good points. 00:42:58.280 --> 00:43:00.920 I love that you brought up something that's scientific 00:43:00.920 --> 00:43:04.300 in nature, like an actual theory that ties to 00:43:04.300 --> 00:43:06.940 this directly. And I mean, I think you really 00:43:06.940 --> 00:43:09.820 hit the nail on the head, right? Like in the 00:43:09.820 --> 00:43:13.019 context of collecting, someone starts ripping, 00:43:13.219 --> 00:43:15.320 they're flipping cars, they're chasing slabs. 00:43:15.320 --> 00:43:17.639 And after a few wins, they start thinking they've 00:43:17.639 --> 00:43:19.360 got it all figured out. Like there's some sort 00:43:19.360 --> 00:43:22.460 of expert. they're a market analyst like they're 00:43:22.460 --> 00:43:25.320 a dealer now right like meanwhile they're drowning 00:43:25.320 --> 00:43:27.900 in credit card debt they're stuck holding piles 00:43:27.900 --> 00:43:31.019 of bulk that they can't move so you know it's 00:43:31.019 --> 00:43:34.400 it's not about like being stupid it's not it's 00:43:34.400 --> 00:43:38.400 about like not yet knowing what you don't know 00:43:38.400 --> 00:43:40.599 if that makes sense yeah it's like you're super 00:43:40.599 --> 00:43:43.539 dangerous right right like because in a hobby 00:43:43.539 --> 00:43:48.000 that's in sorry my wife's calling me okay sorry 00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:56.170 phone's blown up You know, it's crazy. You know, 00:43:56.190 --> 00:43:58.869 the hobby is, like, designed to be fast and flashy 00:43:58.869 --> 00:44:03.170 and full of FOMO. Hold on one sec. She's calling 00:44:03.170 --> 00:44:05.559 me again. Let me text her. i should have told 00:44:05.559 --> 00:44:07.460 her that yeah no uh why don't you go on pause 00:44:07.460 --> 00:44:08.880 for just a minute and i'll just kind of talk 00:44:08.880 --> 00:44:13.039 about this so about the whole people okay so 00:44:13.039 --> 00:44:14.760 i'm reading off wikipedia here it says according 00:44:14.760 --> 00:44:17.920 to psychologist robert d mcintosh and his colleagues 00:44:17.920 --> 00:44:20.460 it is sometimes understood in popular culture 00:44:20.460 --> 00:44:23.559 as the claim that and this is the quote stupid 00:44:23.559 --> 00:44:26.519 people are too stupid to know that they are stupid 00:44:26.519 --> 00:44:31.739 man that is A lot of the hobby. It is from the 00:44:31.739 --> 00:44:33.179 transactional side. Again, not the collector 00:44:33.179 --> 00:44:36.260 side. I mean, there is no stupidity in collecting. 00:44:36.559 --> 00:44:38.400 I mean, you collect what you love, buy what you 00:44:38.400 --> 00:44:41.139 love. But the thing about that whole mantra of 00:44:41.139 --> 00:44:43.699 buy what you love is it really is this kind of 00:44:43.699 --> 00:44:47.260 like nice way of just saying like, hey, don't 00:44:47.260 --> 00:44:49.559 be in the transactional side of the hobby. But, 00:44:49.780 --> 00:44:55.400 you know, my inverse to that is don't buy what 00:44:55.400 --> 00:44:59.409 you love if you want to flip it. It's like. you 00:44:59.409 --> 00:45:03.409 know, hate what you flip, right? It's almost 00:45:03.409 --> 00:45:07.329 like, I don't love baseball and football as much 00:45:07.329 --> 00:45:10.070 as I love basketball. So it's hard for me to 00:45:10.070 --> 00:45:12.409 sell my Michael Jordan cards. It just is. I mean, 00:45:12.409 --> 00:45:15.170 I'm high on them, or I don't have room on them. 00:45:15.230 --> 00:45:17.329 I'm not flexible on them, because I'd rather 00:45:17.329 --> 00:45:20.210 just keep it. So it would take more money for 00:45:20.210 --> 00:45:23.869 someone for me to let go of my Jordan cards, 00:45:23.949 --> 00:45:25.929 whereas a flipper would be like, Oh, I just need 00:45:25.929 --> 00:45:29.719 to get at least uh margin like you know five 00:45:29.719 --> 00:45:31.440 percent ten percent you know as long as i make 00:45:31.440 --> 00:45:34.539 20 bucks off this transaction you know uh i'm 00:45:34.539 --> 00:45:37.179 okay i don't care about the card so a lot of 00:45:37.179 --> 00:45:39.300 people and and this is the flipper mentality 00:45:39.300 --> 00:45:42.440 is like the cards are merely just the conduit 00:45:42.440 --> 00:45:45.739 to uh financial success it's like they literally 00:45:45.739 --> 00:45:48.780 do not care about cards and so that's why they're 00:45:48.780 --> 00:45:52.019 okay moving to pokemon and they were previously 00:45:52.019 --> 00:45:55.039 in sneakers where you know that were hot earlier 00:45:55.039 --> 00:45:58.539 too so you know it is the whole stupid people 00:45:58.539 --> 00:46:01.699 are too stupid to know they are stupid i'm gonna 00:46:01.699 --> 00:46:03.940 put that in the chat too for people who come 00:46:03.940 --> 00:46:06.679 up who come out later but uh i'm gonna stop sharing 00:46:06.679 --> 00:46:08.780 screen and i'm gonna give you the the floor now 00:46:08.780 --> 00:46:14.159 there we go i don't know if you heard me but 00:46:14.159 --> 00:46:15.960 yeah i i heard everything you said yeah that 00:46:15.960 --> 00:46:17.760 was weird when my wife facetimed me it was connected 00:46:17.760 --> 00:46:21.059 to my computer so yeah like completely malfunction 00:46:21.059 --> 00:46:25.280 but apologize for that yeah um yeah i mean it 00:46:25.280 --> 00:46:27.780 all makes complete sense and you brought up a 00:46:27.780 --> 00:46:30.320 a point before about how people are like flipping 00:46:30.320 --> 00:46:33.500 from uh sports cards to pokemon because like 00:46:33.500 --> 00:46:36.559 that's what's hot that's like what's hyped and 00:46:36.559 --> 00:46:39.280 it's pokemon's always hyped right it's like that's 00:46:39.280 --> 00:46:44.539 been um a pillar of collect the collecting world 00:46:44.539 --> 00:46:47.960 for decades now uh to the point where like you 00:46:47.960 --> 00:46:51.099 know talk about vintage cards like pokemon falls 00:46:51.099 --> 00:46:55.360 in that mix with uh like the original you know 00:46:55.360 --> 00:46:58.519 98 charizard whatever year it came out but uh 00:46:58.519 --> 00:47:01.440 it's just like it kind of makes me sad to an 00:47:01.440 --> 00:47:06.059 extent just like how much hype drives what people 00:47:06.059 --> 00:47:08.599 are collecting it's like it's not about passion 00:47:08.599 --> 00:47:11.440 or meaning or connection it's it's literally 00:47:11.440 --> 00:47:14.159 just hype and again it just like it makes me 00:47:14.159 --> 00:47:17.969 sad to see people buying whatever, cards, sneakers, 00:47:18.170 --> 00:47:21.889 comics, you know, any type of collectible, not 00:47:21.889 --> 00:47:23.530 just because they love them, but because they're 00:47:23.530 --> 00:47:25.489 afraid of missing out. They have that sense of 00:47:25.489 --> 00:47:29.170 FOMO because a YouTuber or an influencer or, 00:47:29.230 --> 00:47:31.710 you know, Roth cards, I don't mean to like call 00:47:31.710 --> 00:47:34.190 anybody out, but like, they're like, oh, this 00:47:34.190 --> 00:47:36.110 is hot. You got to buy this now. You got to hop 00:47:36.110 --> 00:47:38.289 on this athlete. Everybody's got to do it. Because 00:47:38.289 --> 00:47:41.409 like at the end of the day, everyone on their 00:47:41.409 --> 00:47:44.239 feed is ripping the same product, right? And 00:47:44.239 --> 00:47:46.480 I get it. I've been there. We all have. But when 00:47:46.480 --> 00:47:49.119 hype becomes the compass, you start losing sense 00:47:49.119 --> 00:47:51.619 of why you started collecting in the first place. 00:47:52.079 --> 00:47:54.179 And it becomes less about joy and more about 00:47:54.179 --> 00:47:56.300 chasing the next big thing just to feel that 00:47:56.300 --> 00:48:02.360 you're still in it. And so I was just going to 00:48:02.360 --> 00:48:05.940 say to tie it all together, tie it back to Collectors MD, 00:48:06.360 --> 00:48:10.079 one of the big reasons why I started it was to 00:48:10.079 --> 00:48:15.579 help people reconnect with intention. collecting 00:48:15.579 --> 00:48:18.820 for a purpose collecting in what you love what 00:48:18.820 --> 00:48:22.019 you believe in to remind folks it's okay to sit 00:48:22.019 --> 00:48:24.199 on the sidelines sometimes that it's okay to 00:48:24.199 --> 00:48:27.099 collect for you not for the algorithm because 00:48:27.099 --> 00:48:30.340 when all the hype fades and it always does you 00:48:30.340 --> 00:48:33.519 know what's hot today is forgotten tomorrow what's 00:48:33.519 --> 00:48:35.599 left should be something that still matters to 00:48:35.599 --> 00:48:37.340 you and that's really really important to me 00:48:37.340 --> 00:48:41.019 j2 says uh really really good thing and glad 00:48:41.019 --> 00:48:42.880 earlier was like yeah are you guys talking about 00:48:42.880 --> 00:48:45.090 the dunning crew Kruger Fact and says, what's 00:48:45.090 --> 00:48:47.849 up? Thank you for being here. Glad. J2, flipping 00:48:47.849 --> 00:48:50.070 cards sounds fun and easy, but finding a buyer 00:48:50.070 --> 00:48:51.769 is sometimes harder than it looks. Absolutely. 00:48:52.110 --> 00:48:56.050 And Brandon just now says, finding a way to replace 00:48:56.050 --> 00:48:59.110 the dopamine rush. You know, it's really interesting 00:48:59.110 --> 00:49:04.949 that former, and I've heard this, you know, again, 00:49:05.050 --> 00:49:07.730 it's just allegorical, just, you know, just data 00:49:07.730 --> 00:49:11.829 points, discrete data points and not like a general 00:49:11.829 --> 00:49:16.000 trend, but. alcoholics um when they're in the 00:49:16.000 --> 00:49:17.960 recovery they find something else to be addicted 00:49:17.960 --> 00:49:21.659 to um gamblers we have a lot of people who stopped 00:49:21.659 --> 00:49:24.099 gambling on you know going to sports books but 00:49:24.099 --> 00:49:26.559 are now in the hobby there are people who have 00:49:26.559 --> 00:49:29.280 done drugs who they don't they stop drugs but 00:49:29.280 --> 00:49:31.619 they smoke up a chimney because they need something 00:49:31.619 --> 00:49:33.980 to be addicted to yeah there's some something 00:49:33.980 --> 00:49:37.739 to replace the dopamine rush you know go ahead 00:49:37.739 --> 00:49:43.199 it's it's crazy how for me like i okay so A couple 00:49:43.199 --> 00:49:47.800 of days ago, I met with the owner of a local 00:49:47.800 --> 00:49:50.480 facility. It's called Right Choice Recovery. 00:49:50.800 --> 00:49:52.840 It's here in Jersey. They're based in Dayton, 00:49:52.900 --> 00:49:56.679 New Jersey, and they offer service and therapy 00:49:56.679 --> 00:49:59.940 and recovery programs for people with all sorts 00:49:59.940 --> 00:50:02.519 of addiction, alcohol, narcotics, gambling. And 00:50:02.519 --> 00:50:04.539 we're talking about, you know, I don't want to 00:50:04.539 --> 00:50:05.820 jump the gun, but we're talking about ways to 00:50:05.820 --> 00:50:08.599 potentially partner and, you know, add this. 00:50:09.360 --> 00:50:12.400 uh sort of division uh within what they what 00:50:12.400 --> 00:50:16.539 they offer so um the guy who founded it his name 00:50:16.539 --> 00:50:19.599 is rob sakowitz he's he's a great great guy um 00:50:19.599 --> 00:50:22.579 really really cares about people and helping 00:50:22.579 --> 00:50:26.519 them find purpose in life and and you know just 00:50:26.519 --> 00:50:30.840 getting on the right path and he he himself was 00:50:30.840 --> 00:50:32.840 a compulsive gambler and he was millions and 00:50:32.840 --> 00:50:36.280 millions of dollars in debt and what he did was 00:50:36.280 --> 00:50:41.079 he took the negative in his life and he turned 00:50:41.079 --> 00:50:44.300 it into a positive and made it his best asset 00:50:44.300 --> 00:50:47.840 right and that in a way like i i wasn't like 00:50:47.840 --> 00:50:50.820 consciously thinking that when i started collectors 00:50:50.820 --> 00:50:54.679 md but for me this has in a lot of ways replaced 00:50:54.679 --> 00:50:59.099 that sort of itch that that dopamine rush that 00:50:59.099 --> 00:51:01.840 my body is craving right because it's giving 00:51:01.840 --> 00:51:05.139 me a sense of purpose and at the end of the day 00:51:05.139 --> 00:51:07.869 like you can't control it like The dopamine is 00:51:07.869 --> 00:51:10.610 real. It's a real chemical. And your brain starts 00:51:10.610 --> 00:51:14.269 to literally crave it. And at the end of the 00:51:14.269 --> 00:51:16.010 day, it's not about the cards anymore. It's not 00:51:16.010 --> 00:51:19.150 about the packs. It's all about chasing that 00:51:19.150 --> 00:51:21.710 feeling. And the danger is once your brain gets 00:51:21.710 --> 00:51:25.210 used to those spikes, you need to feel it every 00:51:25.210 --> 00:51:29.210 day. Otherwise, everything is dull. It's a drug. 00:51:29.369 --> 00:51:34.110 It's quite literally a drug. you can't just tell 00:51:34.110 --> 00:51:36.349 somebody like just to stop spending or to take 00:51:36.349 --> 00:51:38.230 a break. It just, it doesn't work that way. Like 00:51:38.230 --> 00:51:40.710 addiction is addiction. You're, you're not just 00:51:40.710 --> 00:51:42.630 stopping a habit. You're removing a source of 00:51:42.630 --> 00:51:45.989 like emotional stimulation. And so, you know, 00:51:45.989 --> 00:51:47.909 that's why in recover, we talk so much about 00:51:47.909 --> 00:51:50.510 replacing that rush. So I think everybody's just 00:51:50.510 --> 00:51:53.809 has to find new ways to get that same reward. 00:51:54.030 --> 00:51:56.769 Like for me, it was starting collectors MD. Like 00:51:56.769 --> 00:51:59.369 it might be a movement or another movement, creativity, 00:51:59.630 --> 00:52:02.789 community, helping someone exercise, you know, 00:52:03.230 --> 00:52:05.309 progress towards a goal something that lights 00:52:05.309 --> 00:52:06.809 your brain up in a healthier way some of these 00:52:06.809 --> 00:52:08.969 like sound obviously some of that sounds like 00:52:08.969 --> 00:52:12.429 kind of canned and cheesy but like you just have 00:52:12.429 --> 00:52:18.510 to find what works for you that helps you and 00:52:18.510 --> 00:52:21.650 doesn't harm you or those around you so because 00:52:21.650 --> 00:52:23.489 if you don't replace it you're just you're eventually 00:52:23.489 --> 00:52:26.730 just you're gonna feel empty so breaking a course 00:52:26.730 --> 00:52:28.989 if you get into like a high you know, dollar 00:52:28.989 --> 00:52:31.250 amount, it can get destructive if you're getting 00:52:31.250 --> 00:52:33.369 crushed and you're, you know, racking up credit 00:52:33.369 --> 00:52:35.570 card bills. If you have a money tree or if you're 00:52:35.570 --> 00:52:38.769 super rich, yeah, it doesn't matter losing in 00:52:38.769 --> 00:52:41.030 several thousand dollar breaks because that's, 00:52:41.030 --> 00:52:43.789 you know, that's play money. That's, you know, 00:52:43.789 --> 00:52:48.110 that's petty cash. But for the most of Americans 00:52:48.110 --> 00:52:50.550 or people who are ever watching, because I know 00:52:50.550 --> 00:52:53.349 I do have an international audience, is, you 00:52:53.349 --> 00:52:57.590 know, my question to you is, What is another 00:52:57.590 --> 00:53:02.289 way within the hobby, not exercise or, you know, 00:53:02.289 --> 00:53:05.389 eating healthy or, you know, doing other things 00:53:05.389 --> 00:53:08.010 that are therapeutic and good for you. But do 00:53:08.010 --> 00:53:10.809 you have any suggestions of different ways to 00:53:10.809 --> 00:53:14.650 replace the dopamine rush within the hobby? And 00:53:14.650 --> 00:53:17.550 one example before I let you answer is, could 00:53:17.550 --> 00:53:20.230 that be doing personal wax? Or is that just another 00:53:20.230 --> 00:53:22.849 way of, again, like breaking culture just has 00:53:22.849 --> 00:53:25.960 like. 32 teams, 36 spots on the roulette wheel. 00:53:26.099 --> 00:53:29.300 You've got to hit the team if it's a random break. 00:53:29.940 --> 00:53:31.780 If it's like pick your own team, then you're 00:53:31.780 --> 00:53:33.159 just paying a lot for the commanders. But if 00:53:33.159 --> 00:53:35.219 it's a random team, not only do you have to get 00:53:35.219 --> 00:53:37.280 the commanders if it's 2024 because of Jaden 00:53:37.280 --> 00:53:39.559 Daniels and the rookie class, and then you've 00:53:39.559 --> 00:53:41.880 got to hit the downtown in order to justify the 00:53:41.880 --> 00:53:45.360 amount spent. But what if you just buy a box 00:53:45.360 --> 00:53:49.099 of Donruss Optic, which... I recently did. I 00:53:49.099 --> 00:53:53.159 mean, I spent $250 on a fat pack box, but I know 00:53:53.159 --> 00:53:56.420 I can, I know it's not irresponsible for me to 00:53:56.420 --> 00:54:02.800 buy a box of that. So what, one, is buying your 00:54:02.800 --> 00:54:05.380 own personal wax a way to replace dopamine rush? 00:54:05.460 --> 00:54:09.820 And two, if it's not, what is? So it's, I mean, 00:54:09.920 --> 00:54:15.079 it's such a tough question to answer because 00:54:16.719 --> 00:54:20.300 Every person is different. And it's so, it's 00:54:20.300 --> 00:54:23.380 like case by case, you know, for me personally, 00:54:23.539 --> 00:54:27.500 I tried that exactly where you just suggested. 00:54:27.559 --> 00:54:30.400 I tried to stop joining breaks and just opening 00:54:30.400 --> 00:54:33.059 personals, but that ended up for me becoming 00:54:33.059 --> 00:54:37.960 like an even worse habit because the personals 00:54:37.960 --> 00:54:40.940 were so much more expensive. And these days, 00:54:40.980 --> 00:54:43.699 like, you know, the way these cases are designed. 00:54:45.789 --> 00:54:49.389 nine out of the 12 boxes are duds. And then like 00:54:49.389 --> 00:54:51.369 maybe one or two, you might come close to breaking 00:54:51.369 --> 00:54:54.510 even. And then like one might have like the big 00:54:54.510 --> 00:54:58.510 hit. And in most cases, like if you count up 00:54:58.510 --> 00:55:01.710 every single card within a case or like you value 00:55:01.710 --> 00:55:03.949 every single card in the case, you're most likely 00:55:03.949 --> 00:55:06.050 not going to find a card that even pays for one 00:55:06.050 --> 00:55:08.969 box, let alone the entire case. So like I would 00:55:08.969 --> 00:55:10.769 just chase, chase, chase, chase, chase to the 00:55:10.769 --> 00:55:13.030 point where like, you know, by the time I hit 00:55:13.030 --> 00:55:15.679 something that scratched that itch. i've already 00:55:15.679 --> 00:55:19.639 dropped like thousands of dollars so again it 00:55:19.639 --> 00:55:21.460 really depends on the type of person you are 00:55:21.460 --> 00:55:24.659 and if you are able to control yourself and be 00:55:24.659 --> 00:55:26.920 responsible if you can just go to walmart with 00:55:26.920 --> 00:55:30.679 your kid or uh you know with some friends and 00:55:30.679 --> 00:55:34.760 buy a few fat packs or mega boxes and just scratch 00:55:34.760 --> 00:55:37.260 that itch by opening those packs regardless of 00:55:37.260 --> 00:55:40.699 what you hit more power to you but for me like 00:55:40.699 --> 00:55:42.739 that doesn't work because i'm not going to stop 00:55:42.739 --> 00:55:46.349 until i hit something of note something that 00:55:46.349 --> 00:55:49.610 like i can put in my pc or like marvel over and 00:55:49.610 --> 00:55:53.070 that's just how i've always been um so it's tough 00:55:53.070 --> 00:55:56.090 man it's tough to like figure out a replacement 00:55:56.090 --> 00:55:59.150 or a solution within the hobby there are things 00:55:59.150 --> 00:56:03.389 i think that you can try to do but you know you 00:56:03.389 --> 00:56:06.409 know you mentioned like drug addicts smoke cigarettes 00:56:06.409 --> 00:56:11.250 it it's such a diluted version of the actual 00:56:11.250 --> 00:56:14.699 drug that it's, it's just, it's really hard to 00:56:14.699 --> 00:56:18.840 replace. So if you are that deep and you feel 00:56:18.840 --> 00:56:23.059 that, you know, you need that dopamine rush and 00:56:23.059 --> 00:56:27.079 you know, you can't cope without it, it might 00:56:27.079 --> 00:56:30.699 be more beneficial to you to just take a step 00:56:30.699 --> 00:56:34.639 back and take some time away from the hobby completely. 00:56:35.219 --> 00:56:37.559 I'm not saying like self exclude forever, because 00:56:37.559 --> 00:56:39.420 obviously you can't even do that. Like you can 00:56:39.420 --> 00:56:42.079 with gambling. But it might make more sense for 00:56:42.079 --> 00:56:45.820 you to just like pause, take some time to yourself, 00:56:46.000 --> 00:56:49.420 focus on other things that make you happy and, 00:56:49.480 --> 00:56:56.019 you know, figure out a better solution for your 00:56:56.019 --> 00:56:59.760 lifestyle. I mean, again, there's so many layers 00:56:59.760 --> 00:57:01.659 to it. Because like on the other hand, if you 00:57:01.659 --> 00:57:06.039 are, if you do have some control and you are 00:57:06.039 --> 00:57:08.420 responsible, like you could do things like, you 00:57:08.420 --> 00:57:11.599 know, just. organizing and cataloging the collection 00:57:11.599 --> 00:57:13.719 you already have. You know, you could just focus 00:57:13.719 --> 00:57:16.599 on like research and education and like, you 00:57:16.599 --> 00:57:18.699 know, monitoring the newest releases and just 00:57:18.699 --> 00:57:20.719 like being a bystander and watching the breaks. 00:57:21.219 --> 00:57:24.599 You know, you can like trade the cards you do 00:57:24.599 --> 00:57:27.059 have instead of buying new ones or ripping boxes. 00:57:27.219 --> 00:57:30.280 You can create content, storytelling. There's 00:57:30.280 --> 00:57:34.539 actually a young lady that has been a huge advocate 00:57:34.539 --> 00:57:38.780 of Collectors MD from the start. and i've actually 00:57:38.780 --> 00:57:40.940 been talking to her about potentially doing some 00:57:40.940 --> 00:57:43.340 con uh you know collaborating on some content 00:57:43.340 --> 00:57:45.119 together because i think she's really talented 00:57:45.119 --> 00:57:48.059 um i'd actually love for you to bring up her 00:57:48.059 --> 00:57:50.599 page if you don't mind but i think like she's 00:57:50.599 --> 00:57:53.579 a perfect example of somebody who collects with 00:57:53.579 --> 00:57:56.739 intent and it's clear that she doesn't like overspend 00:57:56.739 --> 00:57:59.840 or like extend beyond her means but she curates 00:57:59.840 --> 00:58:02.980 her collection in like such a beautiful way that 00:58:02.980 --> 00:58:06.079 clearly like she's super passionate about it 00:58:06.079 --> 00:58:08.559 and she's probably just as happy if not more 00:58:08.559 --> 00:58:12.179 happy than those collectors that are chasing 00:58:12.179 --> 00:58:14.880 the logo men or like you know the the six -figure 00:58:14.880 --> 00:58:19.760 cards in the hobby and so her name is uh bullseye 00:58:19.760 --> 00:58:24.280 breaks her name her name is maya um i've met 00:58:24.280 --> 00:58:27.619 her over video and she has again she has a beautiful 00:58:27.619 --> 00:58:31.440 page where she uh hones in on like the players 00:58:31.440 --> 00:58:35.360 that she um PCs, it's bullseye underscore breaks. 00:58:36.539 --> 00:58:40.460 So I think she PCs like Bobby Witt and like Shota 00:58:40.460 --> 00:58:45.619 Imanaga and Seiza Zuki. And she photographs them 00:58:45.619 --> 00:58:48.380 in like a very unique way that like really stands 00:58:48.380 --> 00:58:51.699 out. And like, again, clearly like that is her 00:58:51.699 --> 00:58:54.760 passion. Like she loves photography. She loves 00:58:54.760 --> 00:58:58.800 curating. And you could do that without spending 00:58:58.800 --> 00:59:04.760 your entire life savings. You know? Yes, thank 00:59:04.760 --> 00:59:10.760 you for that. So I don't want to go into her 00:59:10.760 --> 00:59:12.679 page, not because I'm like, no, she didn't pay 00:59:12.679 --> 00:59:15.980 me to and got to sponsor this whole thing. It's 00:59:15.980 --> 00:59:18.760 more of we're almost at an hour and I don't want 00:59:18.760 --> 00:59:21.900 to go too much over an hour. And I want to read 00:59:21.900 --> 00:59:24.260 some really good comments in the chat. That said. 00:59:24.840 --> 00:59:27.139 As a reminder, this is the second sponsor read. 00:59:27.579 --> 00:59:33.019 This is today's episode on the Car Diary by Hobbyist 00:59:33.019 --> 00:59:35.719 Thompson slash Hobby Hangout, live on YouTube 00:59:35.719 --> 00:59:38.679 and available on replay on YouTube and wherever 00:59:38.679 --> 00:59:41.659 you get your podcasts is me. I am sponsoring 00:59:41.659 --> 00:59:44.500 my own today. I have a trade night for sports 00:59:44.500 --> 00:59:51.860 cards and Pokemon at the Garden ALX 5380. 5380 00:59:51.860 --> 00:59:54.380 Eisenhower Avenue in Alexandria, Virginia. It's 00:59:54.380 --> 00:59:57.300 hosted by me. I'm going to have some hobby companies 00:59:57.300 --> 01:00:00.539 jump in and give some giveaways and have some 01:00:00.539 --> 01:00:03.219 food. We're going to have a great time. Free 01:00:03.219 --> 01:00:06.440 for all ages. Again, if you are within driving 01:00:06.440 --> 01:00:10.699 distance. from Alexandria, Virginia and in the 01:00:10.699 --> 01:00:15.079 DMV it is a Thursday night so it may not be so 01:00:15.079 --> 01:00:18.340 great for kids who have school the next day uh 01:00:18.340 --> 01:00:20.380 especially if they have to drive more than like 01:00:20.380 --> 01:00:23.920 i don't know 40 minutes but it is may 15th it's 01:00:23.920 --> 01:00:29.099 from 6 to 9 30 p .m that said i the snickerdoodle 01:00:29.099 --> 01:00:32.769 crowd is out in full force orange slices says 01:00:32.769 --> 01:00:35.969 is Pokemon packs gambling Connor says sorry for 01:00:35.969 --> 01:00:38.869 being late Denny not a problem at all don't have 01:00:38.869 --> 01:00:42.829 to apologize um before we get to orange slice's 01:00:42.829 --> 01:00:45.369 question i wanted to kind of stay on this uh 01:00:45.369 --> 01:00:48.849 this anal analogy or analog to you know the the 01:00:48.849 --> 01:00:51.809 you know we've had some comparisons with gambling 01:00:51.809 --> 01:00:54.949 comparisons with addiction of like you know say 01:00:54.949 --> 01:00:58.909 cigarettes so brandon a really good uh uh back 01:00:58.909 --> 01:01:01.880 -to -back comments he says Personal wax to me 01:01:01.880 --> 01:01:04.219 feels like replacing cigarettes with vaping. 01:01:04.219 --> 01:01:07.260 I spent just as much on personal wax rabbit holes. 01:01:07.340 --> 01:01:09.239 Thank you for your honesty, Brandon, and great 01:01:09.239 --> 01:01:12.340 analogy there. Really like that. He also says, 01:01:12.519 --> 01:01:15.920 that said, spending time just talking in local 01:01:15.920 --> 01:01:18.599 card shops and focusing on things that emphasize 01:01:18.599 --> 01:01:22.320 the community aspect helped a lot. Thank you, 01:01:22.320 --> 01:01:25.880 Brandon. That is a concrete, real example of 01:01:25.880 --> 01:01:30.639 what maybe is not going to directly one -to -one 01:01:30.639 --> 01:01:34.380 replace the dopamine rush. But again, the hype 01:01:34.380 --> 01:01:37.940 machine, the chases, the roulette wheels, the 01:01:37.940 --> 01:01:42.039 casino aspect of things, it's so hard to, you 01:01:42.039 --> 01:01:44.519 know, it's marketing 101. It's capitalism 101. 01:01:44.780 --> 01:01:47.880 It's easy to kind of get into all that, but just 01:01:47.880 --> 01:01:50.699 appreciating what you have. And again, if we... 01:01:50.940 --> 01:01:53.619 always and it's so sad a lot of these breakers 01:01:53.619 --> 01:01:55.360 go the community i'm all about the community 01:01:55.360 --> 01:01:57.980 i'm all for the people for the people they just 01:01:57.980 --> 01:02:00.659 it's for the buying community that they don't 01:02:00.659 --> 01:02:02.719 care about you if you're not spending money if 01:02:02.719 --> 01:02:04.159 you're not a whale if they don't have your number 01:02:04.159 --> 01:02:06.599 to text you and say hey uh jumping on this uh 01:02:06.599 --> 01:02:08.460 break it's i'm having a hard time feeling filling 01:02:08.460 --> 01:02:10.960 it or all these teams are going for too low they 01:02:10.960 --> 01:02:13.280 have these big breakers have their big whales 01:02:13.280 --> 01:02:16.119 who are able to jump in they have their numbers 01:02:16.119 --> 01:02:18.380 and they text them and they say jump in so so 01:02:18.380 --> 01:02:20.659 i don't get destroyed or killed and These whales 01:02:20.659 --> 01:02:23.619 will oblige. Sure, I'll just, you're my friend. 01:02:23.760 --> 01:02:26.460 You text me happy birthday because you know my 01:02:26.460 --> 01:02:29.400 birthday and you read my comments out in the 01:02:29.400 --> 01:02:32.719 chat and you laugh at my jokes in the chat. They're 01:02:32.719 --> 01:02:37.099 just doing that. It's like the pretty girl bartender 01:02:37.099 --> 01:02:39.179 who's flirting with you at the bar so you buy 01:02:39.179 --> 01:02:41.539 more drinks. They don't care about you. They 01:02:41.539 --> 01:02:45.360 just want your tips. So having said that, focus 01:02:45.360 --> 01:02:48.989 on what you love, what you have, folks. That's 01:02:48.989 --> 01:02:51.050 why buying what you love is important because 01:02:51.050 --> 01:02:53.909 you don't want to look at a card and go, oh my 01:02:53.909 --> 01:02:56.489 gosh, I remember I spent $1 ,000 on that break 01:02:56.489 --> 01:02:59.489 to get a $500 card. But if you have that $500 01:02:59.489 --> 01:03:02.949 card, it's great. It's nice to look at. So Brandon 01:03:02.949 --> 01:03:05.789 here says, spending time just talking in local 01:03:05.789 --> 01:03:07.929 card shops, that's actual community building. 01:03:08.690 --> 01:03:11.570 LCSs, yes, they might have higher price wax online 01:03:11.570 --> 01:03:15.170 or on breaks or whatever, but they actually have 01:03:15.170 --> 01:03:17.510 the brick and mortar. It is a third space. It 01:03:17.510 --> 01:03:19.570 is a place for you to go that is not your home 01:03:19.570 --> 01:03:21.889 and it's not your office where you can actually 01:03:21.889 --> 01:03:25.420 have. people who are like -minded such as yourself 01:03:25.420 --> 01:03:28.320 and talk with them about sports, about collecting. 01:03:28.519 --> 01:03:31.380 And so Brandon, like, thank you. That's, that's 01:03:31.380 --> 01:03:34.380 really great. Before I move on to other questions 01:03:34.380 --> 01:03:37.019 and comments, you know, anything you wanted to 01:03:37.019 --> 01:03:39.679 touch on that with Alyx? Yeah. I dropped a few 01:03:39.679 --> 01:03:42.480 comments in the chat while you were talking. 01:03:42.860 --> 01:03:46.679 I think he, who was it? Brandon hit the nail 01:03:46.679 --> 01:03:50.150 on the head. I think if you're trying to. step 01:03:50.150 --> 01:03:52.809 down or like replace your addiction with another 01:03:52.809 --> 01:03:56.949 habit, you're, you're just justifying it. You're, 01:03:56.949 --> 01:03:59.949 you're basically just, you know, tricking yourself 01:03:59.949 --> 01:04:03.050 into thinking that you're, you know, replacing 01:04:03.050 --> 01:04:05.449 it with a, a better, healthier option. But at 01:04:05.449 --> 01:04:07.690 the same day, it's, it's the same compulsion 01:04:07.690 --> 01:04:11.250 just packaged slightly differently. Right. And 01:04:11.250 --> 01:04:13.650 the same thing can, can be said about so many 01:04:13.650 --> 01:04:17.150 different types of addictions. But, you know, 01:04:17.150 --> 01:04:20.360 as far as like, cigarettes versus vaping like 01:04:20.360 --> 01:04:23.960 that's so universal like anybody can understand 01:04:23.960 --> 01:04:26.699 you know that they're neither are good for you 01:04:26.699 --> 01:04:30.099 maybe one is better than the other slightly but 01:04:30.099 --> 01:04:32.679 like you're just picking the lesser of two evils 01:04:32.679 --> 01:04:36.860 right and and regarding community like communities 01:04:36.860 --> 01:04:39.380 is everything like spending time in your local 01:04:39.380 --> 01:04:42.440 shop talking to people sharing stories trading 01:04:42.440 --> 01:04:45.639 building connections you know focusing on relationships 01:04:45.639 --> 01:04:48.329 like that's what grounds you like that's what 01:04:48.329 --> 01:04:51.090 we should be focused on not just the cardboard 01:04:51.090 --> 01:04:55.369 you know what's incredible about this hobby is 01:04:55.369 --> 01:04:57.849 that it brings people together you see the amount 01:04:57.849 --> 01:05:02.909 of people that come together at trade shows card 01:05:02.909 --> 01:05:06.570 shows the national Fanatics Fest and that's a 01:05:06.570 --> 01:05:09.389 beautiful thing you know and we can do that now 01:05:09.389 --> 01:05:11.610 in today's day and age with technology it allows 01:05:11.610 --> 01:05:15.820 us to do it together and I just want to see a 01:05:15.820 --> 01:05:19.239 community. I want to see a hobby that isn't just 01:05:19.239 --> 01:05:23.400 all about dollar signs. Everything is a goddamn 01:05:23.400 --> 01:05:26.780 dollar sign these days, right? It's like the 01:05:26.780 --> 01:05:30.239 breaks, you get a big hit and all the breaker 01:05:30.239 --> 01:05:32.940 talks about is how much the card is worth. Wow, 01:05:33.059 --> 01:05:37.179 it's a nuke. It's worth, this customer turned 01:05:37.179 --> 01:05:40.019 $10 into $10 ,000. Like at the end of the day, 01:05:40.079 --> 01:05:44.280 why can't we just focus on? The beauty of the 01:05:44.280 --> 01:05:48.340 hobby, the card itself, the athlete, let's celebrate 01:05:48.340 --> 01:05:51.960 that athlete and their success on or maybe off 01:05:51.960 --> 01:05:55.659 the field, you know, and maybe you're a fan of 01:05:55.659 --> 01:05:57.500 that player or that team. Like, let's talk about 01:05:57.500 --> 01:06:00.000 those things. It doesn't always have to tie back 01:06:00.000 --> 01:06:03.280 to the monetary value. And I think that's a huge 01:06:03.280 --> 01:06:06.159 reason why the hobby has been heading in the 01:06:06.159 --> 01:06:09.179 direction it's been headed in. Right. And I don't 01:06:09.179 --> 01:06:12.519 want to come across as like. overly vanilla like 01:06:12.519 --> 01:06:14.460 you know i get it at the end of the day like 01:06:14.460 --> 01:06:17.019 i mentioned this in the beginning of of the the 01:06:17.019 --> 01:06:21.940 live like i love the idea of investing in something 01:06:21.940 --> 01:06:24.460 tangible that you could take home and enjoy and 01:06:24.460 --> 01:06:29.559 eventually pass down you know like if these cards 01:06:29.559 --> 01:06:31.760 were completely worthless like would we still 01:06:31.760 --> 01:06:36.420 collect like you know that's maybe a conversation 01:06:36.420 --> 01:06:39.880 for another day, a paradox of sorts. But like 01:06:39.880 --> 01:06:42.019 at the end of the day, like I just, I'm getting 01:06:42.019 --> 01:06:46.960 so exhausted from seeing dollar signs everywhere. 01:06:47.139 --> 01:06:50.760 Yeah. Yeah. So I totally agree. An orange slice 01:06:50.760 --> 01:06:52.800 of says is Pokemon packs gambling. Cause I, you 01:06:52.800 --> 01:06:54.820 know, collecting on Z I, my, my understanding 01:06:54.820 --> 01:06:57.260 is, you know, maybe you did do some Marvel or 01:06:57.260 --> 01:07:02.440 TCG, but I don't think you got. You're mostly 01:07:02.440 --> 01:07:06.260 sports cards. Did you ever do Pokemon? Because 01:07:06.260 --> 01:07:07.900 Pokemon is so different. There's no breaking. 01:07:08.039 --> 01:07:10.940 The only... breaks you get into pokemon is is 01:07:10.940 --> 01:07:13.320 ripping ships which is like doing personals but 01:07:13.320 --> 01:07:15.519 you're just doing online with your favorite you 01:07:15.519 --> 01:07:18.260 know person wearing a funny gengar hat or pikachu 01:07:18.260 --> 01:07:20.420 hat and you know they fun and they talk in different 01:07:20.420 --> 01:07:22.940 voices and you know they have personalities and 01:07:22.940 --> 01:07:25.559 there's a there's a value to having someone rip 01:07:25.559 --> 01:07:28.440 and ship but yeah i mean in my opinion before 01:07:28.440 --> 01:07:31.119 i get Alyx's is Pokemon packs anything that again 01:07:31.119 --> 01:07:34.340 i think orange slate who who wrote rng rng stands 01:07:34.340 --> 01:07:38.630 for random number generator yes Since the beginning 01:07:38.630 --> 01:07:41.570 of the hobby, since the beginning of sports cards 01:07:41.570 --> 01:07:45.369 or TCG cards, we're literally talking about a 01:07:45.369 --> 01:07:48.670 pack that has some cards in it that you do not 01:07:48.670 --> 01:07:52.329 know what's in that pack. Whether it was cigarette, 01:07:52.489 --> 01:07:56.130 tobacco cards, gum wrapper cards, Topps. We're 01:07:56.130 --> 01:07:58.989 talking about the earliest of the early cards. 01:07:59.110 --> 01:08:02.650 You did not know what you were getting. Literally, 01:08:03.650 --> 01:08:06.579 as a consumer, Anything you buy at a grocery 01:08:06.579 --> 01:08:08.360 store, you know what you're getting. You buy 01:08:08.360 --> 01:08:09.860 milk, you know you're getting milk. You buy, 01:08:09.980 --> 01:08:11.900 you know, let's not talk about the price of eggs 01:08:11.900 --> 01:08:13.280 here, but if you buy eggs, you know you're getting 01:08:13.280 --> 01:08:18.739 eggs. Not always. Okay. Yeah, maybe there's some 01:08:18.739 --> 01:08:20.520 broken eggs or maybe someone stole some eggs. 01:08:20.659 --> 01:08:24.029 No, but, you know. you're buying uncertainty 01:08:24.029 --> 01:08:26.470 and you're hoping for something that's worth 01:08:26.470 --> 01:08:29.550 the value of the box or more. So the random number 01:08:29.550 --> 01:08:33.130 generator aspect of both the Pokemon and sports 01:08:33.130 --> 01:08:36.590 cards side of the hobby, I think is, it can be 01:08:36.590 --> 01:08:39.329 dangerous. Now there's a big difference between 01:08:39.329 --> 01:08:44.289 a thousand dollar box, um, of prism. I'm not 01:08:44.289 --> 01:08:46.109 even talking flawless and transcendence, which 01:08:46.109 --> 01:08:48.310 are like five figure boxes or whatever, but, 01:08:48.310 --> 01:08:53.000 or cases and cases. But, um, Orange Slices, if 01:08:53.000 --> 01:08:58.239 you are literally buying one $5 pack or one Elite 01:08:58.239 --> 01:09:00.699 Trainer Box for $60, I know some of them are 01:09:00.699 --> 01:09:04.000 more with Prismatic and Surging Sparks and the 01:09:04.000 --> 01:09:06.060 reprints and this and that and English versus 01:09:06.060 --> 01:09:08.779 Japanese versus Korean and all these different 01:09:08.779 --> 01:09:12.880 versions of Pokemon, but it's much more easy, 01:09:12.939 --> 01:09:15.119 especially if you're a kid. If you're a kid who 01:09:15.119 --> 01:09:17.560 gets their money or allowance from their mom 01:09:17.560 --> 01:09:21.319 or dad and be like, hey, mom or dad, can I buy... 01:09:21.680 --> 01:09:24.760 a 60 elite trainer box to the mom or dad that's 01:09:24.760 --> 01:09:28.260 much more palatable and approachable and easy 01:09:28.260 --> 01:09:33.319 than hey mom or dad can i buy that 500 box of 01:09:33.319 --> 01:09:37.819 bowman chrome right so there's a big difference 01:09:37.819 --> 01:09:40.159 i think what do you think Alyx uh you nailed 01:09:40.159 --> 01:09:42.960 it i mean okay so let's let's just like define 01:09:42.960 --> 01:09:46.960 gambling plainly right gambling is when you stake 01:09:46.960 --> 01:09:48.979 something of value when you put money on the 01:09:48.979 --> 01:09:54.270 table um on an outcome that's uncertain in hopes 01:09:54.270 --> 01:09:57.109 of a reward. And by that definition, ripping 01:09:57.109 --> 01:09:59.569 packs, whether it's Pokemon, sports cards, or 01:09:59.569 --> 01:10:01.789 even digital collectibles is absolutely gambling. 01:10:02.029 --> 01:10:04.130 You're putting up money. You don't know what 01:10:04.130 --> 01:10:06.109 you're going to get. You don't know the contents 01:10:06.109 --> 01:10:08.630 of the pack or the box. And you're hoping what's 01:10:08.630 --> 01:10:12.029 inside is worth more or what you paid, right? 01:10:12.170 --> 01:10:14.710 It doesn't matter if it's licensed by a card 01:10:14.710 --> 01:10:17.250 company or wrapped in shiny foil. If the outcome 01:10:17.250 --> 01:10:20.090 is unknown and there's a risk factor involved, 01:10:20.800 --> 01:10:24.039 It's gambling in disguise. And manufacturers 01:10:24.039 --> 01:10:26.859 are marketing that to children. Let's remember 01:10:26.859 --> 01:10:30.100 that. And they have been for many, many decades 01:10:30.100 --> 01:10:33.560 and even centuries. And here's the kicker. That 01:10:33.560 --> 01:10:36.060 rush you feel when you open a pack, that's the 01:10:36.060 --> 01:10:39.260 same dopamine system that's triggered by slot 01:10:39.260 --> 01:10:41.659 machines, by the blackjack table, by roulette. 01:10:41.779 --> 01:10:45.899 So whether it's Pokemon, sports cards, packs 01:10:45.899 --> 01:10:48.710 at Target. you know even if it's just like two 01:10:48.710 --> 01:10:51.289 dollar value packs it's not about the theme it's 01:10:51.289 --> 01:10:54.250 about structure it's about the structure if you 01:10:54.250 --> 01:10:55.789 don't know the contents of what you're paying 01:10:55.789 --> 01:10:58.250 for the chance at something better that's gambling 01:10:58.250 --> 01:11:01.329 period yeah you know like Denny said like you 01:11:01.329 --> 01:11:02.909 know what you're buying when you're you're buying 01:11:02.909 --> 01:11:05.850 uh you know a carton of eggs or even in other 01:11:05.850 --> 01:11:07.670 hobbies like sneakers you know this is something 01:11:07.670 --> 01:11:11.770 that um the guys over at sports card madness 01:11:11.770 --> 01:11:14.670 uh asked me while i was when i was on um you 01:11:14.670 --> 01:11:16.510 know how did like your sneaker collecting days 01:11:16.510 --> 01:11:19.270 compared to sports card collecting days and the 01:11:19.270 --> 01:11:22.350 answer is simple when i bought a pair of jordan 01:11:22.350 --> 01:11:24.310 threes i knew i was buying a pair of jordan threes 01:11:24.310 --> 01:11:27.170 i wasn't like buying a pair of mystery jordans 01:11:27.170 --> 01:11:30.409 and then maybe getting like a pair of like you 01:11:30.409 --> 01:11:32.510 know sketchers in the mail right like i knew 01:11:32.510 --> 01:11:34.050 what i was getting right right and there was 01:11:34.050 --> 01:11:36.409 one other thing i want to touch on sure and that's 01:11:36.409 --> 01:11:39.600 that's gambling has been around for thousands 01:11:39.600 --> 01:11:42.819 of years. Yeah, yeah. Right? Ancient dice games 01:11:42.819 --> 01:11:46.119 betting on gladiators, lotteries in temples. 01:11:46.399 --> 01:11:49.560 This is like nothing new. Yeah. and the reason 01:11:49.560 --> 01:11:51.720 it's stuck around is simple it plays directly 01:11:51.720 --> 01:11:55.319 into our psychology it's it's risk reward and 01:11:55.319 --> 01:11:58.140 the illusion of control and as humans we're wired 01:11:58.140 --> 01:12:01.199 to chase uncertain rewards for whatever whatever 01:12:01.199 --> 01:12:03.739 reason i don't know what like why that is but 01:12:03.739 --> 01:12:07.119 our brains light up more when we might win than 01:12:07.119 --> 01:12:09.779 when we know we will win which is why people 01:12:09.779 --> 01:12:12.859 are more attracted to joining breaks or buying 01:12:12.859 --> 01:12:14.939 personals versus just buying the single that 01:12:14.939 --> 01:12:17.960 they want from the associated product. That's 01:12:17.960 --> 01:12:21.039 what keeps us coming back. It gives us hope. 01:12:21.100 --> 01:12:23.279 It fuels the belief that this next one could 01:12:23.279 --> 01:12:25.979 change everything. I can open that optic box 01:12:25.979 --> 01:12:28.600 and hit the Jaden Daniels gold vinyl downtown 01:12:28.600 --> 01:12:33.000 and my life will be forever different. right 01:12:33.000 --> 01:12:35.880 gambling just it creates an illusion of control 01:12:35.880 --> 01:12:38.079 we start to think about you know how can we beat 01:12:38.079 --> 01:12:41.100 the odds that we have this strategy you know 01:12:41.100 --> 01:12:42.920 that if we just play it the right way and use 01:12:42.920 --> 01:12:45.819 logic we buy the right pack or pick the right 01:12:45.819 --> 01:12:48.039 pack enter the right break hit the right team 01:12:48.039 --> 01:12:50.260 we can come out ahead and for some that just 01:12:50.260 --> 01:12:52.880 becomes super addictive not because they're weak 01:12:52.880 --> 01:12:55.119 but because this system is literally designed 01:12:55.119 --> 01:12:57.880 to just to keep us up so yeah i mean gambling 01:12:57.880 --> 01:12:59.920 gambling's been around forever and it's it's 01:12:59.920 --> 01:13:02.270 not because it's good for us but because it's 01:13:02.270 --> 01:13:04.750 it's just something that's profitable and those 01:13:04.750 --> 01:13:09.250 who run it um you know make it irresistible and 01:13:09.250 --> 01:13:14.529 just you know basically mind f us into chasing 01:13:14.529 --> 01:13:18.369 that next minute so yeah thank you for self -censoring 01:13:18.369 --> 01:13:20.329 i i know the hobby hangout was meant to be more 01:13:20.329 --> 01:13:22.149 kind of like you know people can curse if they 01:13:22.149 --> 01:13:24.649 want to car diary i've been trying to keep more 01:13:24.649 --> 01:13:27.069 kind of not family friendly, but not explicit. 01:13:27.170 --> 01:13:29.350 So I didn't have to check that box in the podcast 01:13:29.350 --> 01:13:32.109 when I published, but it's all good. Thank you 01:13:32.109 --> 01:13:34.689 for all of this. I do have to try to land the 01:13:34.689 --> 01:13:37.909 plane a little bit here. And I want to get to 01:13:37.909 --> 01:13:41.649 some more chat. We've had quite a lively chat 01:13:41.649 --> 01:13:44.050 and, and I do want you to kind of talk about, 01:13:44.050 --> 01:13:46.989 you know, what, what the next steps are. Before 01:13:46.989 --> 01:13:49.470 I do, I did want to ask you, because we just 01:13:49.470 --> 01:13:53.189 on the whole temple and kind of like the, you 01:13:53.189 --> 01:13:55.029 know, there have been religious organizations, 01:13:55.369 --> 01:13:56.890 communities like, you know, it's so funny how 01:13:56.890 --> 01:14:00.729 not funny, but it's sad that we as a society, 01:14:00.789 --> 01:14:03.890 again, we're a white Anglo -Saxon Protestant 01:14:03.890 --> 01:14:09.399 society still. bingo halls it's like hey bingo 01:14:09.399 --> 01:14:13.039 bingo is safe and fun and okay but man people 01:14:13.039 --> 01:14:16.319 can get crazy into bingo there's jackpots and 01:14:16.319 --> 01:14:18.159 people spending money and like that's a whole 01:14:18.159 --> 01:14:20.479 subculture i want to get into a lot of scratch 01:14:20.479 --> 01:14:24.060 house people are okay hey um for the office you 01:14:24.060 --> 01:14:26.180 know march madness pools like there's definitely 01:14:26.180 --> 01:14:29.000 certain allowable amounts of gambling that we 01:14:29.000 --> 01:14:31.140 accept as society and then of course now we have 01:14:31.140 --> 01:14:33.760 sports books and now it's like much more of a 01:14:33.760 --> 01:14:36.460 big you know it's big big bucks and billions 01:14:36.460 --> 01:14:41.100 of dollars so um but when it comes to the aspect 01:14:41.100 --> 01:14:45.859 of religion a a n a g a i think my understanding 01:14:45.859 --> 01:14:49.359 is that there is a lot of the christianity kind 01:14:49.359 --> 01:14:53.300 of uh um there's an aspect that ties around to 01:14:53.300 --> 01:14:55.140 religion right gamblers anonymous you have in 01:14:55.140 --> 01:14:57.699 front of you yeah right in front god grant me 01:14:57.699 --> 01:15:01.229 the strength yeah or god god grant me the serenity 01:15:01.229 --> 01:15:03.130 to accept the things i cannot change courage 01:15:03.130 --> 01:15:04.609 to change the things i can and the wisdom to 01:15:04.609 --> 01:15:07.550 know the difference yeah so does collectors md 01:15:07.550 --> 01:15:11.010 do you guys have some religious uh you know kind 01:15:11.010 --> 01:15:15.050 of uh influence or or been to it no not at all 01:15:15.050 --> 01:15:20.430 um i'll be honest like i don't know why uh i 01:15:20.430 --> 01:15:25.250 guess i do but like you know before every meeting 01:15:25.739 --> 01:15:28.039 um or at the end of every meeting ga meeting 01:15:28.039 --> 01:15:31.859 you would chant what i just uh yeah read from 01:15:31.859 --> 01:15:33.479 the front of the yellow book and then on the 01:15:33.479 --> 01:15:35.140 inside it says i sought my soul but could not 01:15:35.140 --> 01:15:37.680 see i sought my god but he eluded me i sought 01:15:37.680 --> 01:15:40.340 my brothers and sisters and found all three uh 01:15:40.340 --> 01:15:42.680 and then you know god give me the strength i 01:15:42.680 --> 01:15:44.600 forget the rest of it or god grant me the serenity 01:15:44.600 --> 01:15:48.699 then you read the front but anyway like i get 01:15:48.699 --> 01:15:51.279 it but not everybody is religious and that doesn't 01:15:51.279 --> 01:15:53.140 necessarily resonate with every single person 01:15:53.140 --> 01:15:55.600 and Frankly, some people might feel a little 01:15:55.600 --> 01:15:59.600 bit intimidated by that. Or might have different 01:15:59.600 --> 01:16:01.979 personal values or beliefs when it comes to religion. 01:16:02.140 --> 01:16:04.819 So I don't want to get in the weeds with that. 01:16:04.899 --> 01:16:06.960 I don't want to ruffle any feathers. I think 01:16:06.960 --> 01:16:10.560 we have a really, really strong mission, and 01:16:10.560 --> 01:16:15.750 it carries its weight with or without. faith 01:16:15.750 --> 01:16:18.229 and religion if somebody comes to us and says 01:16:18.229 --> 01:16:20.989 like you know i'd love to insert my personal 01:16:20.989 --> 01:16:23.869 faith or religion into my personal recovery program 01:16:23.869 --> 01:16:26.470 we'd be all ears like we wouldn't like shy away 01:16:26.470 --> 01:16:28.489 from that but it's not something that we're like 01:16:28.489 --> 01:16:30.869 building around or like is has become like a 01:16:30.869 --> 01:16:33.409 core pillar of the movement got it thank you 01:16:33.409 --> 01:16:35.489 and i i thought that was the answer but i definitely 01:16:35.489 --> 01:16:37.409 wanted to give you the opportunity to kind of 01:16:37.409 --> 01:16:39.229 say that in case anyone in the chat is like well 01:16:39.949 --> 01:16:41.510 you know, it sounds like a gamblers anonymous 01:16:41.510 --> 01:16:43.649 and I'm not, you know, I, I'm an atheist and 01:16:43.649 --> 01:16:45.210 I don't like that stuff. Right. So I don't want 01:16:45.210 --> 01:16:47.390 to kind of, I wanted them to know that you guys 01:16:47.390 --> 01:16:49.510 are approachable. So I'm going to read some questions 01:16:49.510 --> 01:16:51.270 and then we're going to talk about the meeting, 01:16:51.350 --> 01:16:54.229 uh, that's coming up, uh, every, every, every 01:16:54.229 --> 01:16:56.869 Wednesday night and all that. So, um, I told 01:16:56.869 --> 01:16:58.729 myself with the hobby hanging out, I would read 01:16:58.729 --> 01:17:02.829 every non -offensive, non -explicit, uh, comments 01:17:02.829 --> 01:17:05.810 and orange slices. I know that snickerdoodle 01:17:05.810 --> 01:17:09.819 crowd, uh, previously has asked me. 100 men versus 01:17:09.819 --> 01:17:12.920 a silverback gorilla and kind of fun, silly stuff. 01:17:13.760 --> 01:17:15.500 You know, today being kind of a more serious 01:17:15.500 --> 01:17:17.840 subject, I won't get into all the silly stuff. 01:17:18.020 --> 01:17:21.300 So I'm just going to read it. He asks, do you 01:17:21.300 --> 01:17:22.960 think they should change the Brawl Stars ring 01:17:22.960 --> 01:17:25.500 system? My understanding is Brawl Stars is a 01:17:25.500 --> 01:17:28.340 supercell mobile game. I have played it in the 01:17:28.340 --> 01:17:30.279 past. I do not currently play it. I do not play 01:17:30.279 --> 01:17:32.699 Clash Royale, Clash of Clans. Have I in the past? 01:17:32.840 --> 01:17:34.739 Have I been addicted to them in the past? I mean, 01:17:34.760 --> 01:17:36.659 this is the first time I've ever actually even 01:17:36.659 --> 01:17:39.760 said that out loud. said it in public but i mean 01:17:39.760 --> 01:17:41.619 those games are meant to be addictive and i used 01:17:41.619 --> 01:17:43.920 to be addicted to them i'm not now and i'm really 01:17:43.920 --> 01:17:47.470 happy to say that but If there's a way to responsibly 01:17:47.470 --> 01:17:49.949 play those addictive games, then, hey, more power 01:17:49.949 --> 01:17:52.689 to you. But I do not have a response to that. 01:17:52.770 --> 01:17:54.630 So maybe that was a good way, a good reason for 01:17:54.630 --> 01:17:56.989 me to kind of ask that or read that question 01:17:56.989 --> 01:18:01.390 out loud. But we're going to move on to Brandon, 01:18:01.470 --> 01:18:03.829 who says this is awesome content. Denny, can 01:18:03.829 --> 01:18:05.590 I just touch on that really, really quickly? 01:18:05.750 --> 01:18:08.250 Brawl Stars Ring System. Here we go, Alyx. I 01:18:08.250 --> 01:18:10.869 don't know that game. I actually have never heard 01:18:10.869 --> 01:18:13.069 of it. But what I did want to talk about or what 01:18:13.069 --> 01:18:16.270 I did want to quickly... caveat is that collectors 01:18:16.270 --> 01:18:19.029 md isn't just about cards you know this kind 01:18:19.029 --> 01:18:21.750 of compulsive behavior shows up across all hobbies 01:18:21.750 --> 01:18:23.529 uh that's something i've mentioned throughout 01:18:23.529 --> 01:18:26.590 uh the live here tonight um you know where anywhere 01:18:26.590 --> 01:18:28.909 where money dopamine and identity kind of get 01:18:28.909 --> 01:18:31.029 wrapped together and that definitely includes 01:18:31.029 --> 01:18:34.010 gaming like gaming as a matter of fact might 01:18:34.010 --> 01:18:37.399 end up becoming like the At the forefront of 01:18:37.399 --> 01:18:39.939 what we're doing here, whether it's like loot 01:18:39.939 --> 01:18:45.020 boxes or like micro transactions, there's like 01:18:45.020 --> 01:18:48.199 in -game skins and aesthetics. So many modern 01:18:48.199 --> 01:18:50.579 games are built on this same slot machine mechanics 01:18:50.579 --> 01:18:53.439 we see in pack ripping. And it's the same dopamine 01:18:53.439 --> 01:18:55.699 rush, the same chase, the same risk reward cycle. 01:18:56.140 --> 01:18:58.760 And for some people, it's just as damaging. So 01:18:58.760 --> 01:19:02.380 especially for kids like they're there. Oh, my 01:19:02.380 --> 01:19:06.970 gosh. predatory honestly uh the the adult male 01:19:06.970 --> 01:19:09.630 brain doesn't fully form until age 22 or something 01:19:09.630 --> 01:19:12.829 like that or even even older what's what's mind 01:19:12.829 --> 01:19:14.630 -boggling is that like you know the more and 01:19:14.630 --> 01:19:16.409 more we talk about this the more and more animated 01:19:16.409 --> 01:19:20.609 and passionate and to some extent frustrated 01:19:20.609 --> 01:19:24.909 i get that this it's taken so long for people 01:19:24.909 --> 01:19:29.490 to have a conversation about this yeah yeah So 01:19:29.490 --> 01:19:32.149 I just want to briefly say that I earlier said 01:19:32.149 --> 01:19:34.310 that I loved what you said about when hype is 01:19:34.310 --> 01:19:36.529 your compass. I said that we will talk about 01:19:36.529 --> 01:19:38.369 that in a moment. We just don't have enough time 01:19:38.369 --> 01:19:40.670 to kind of delve into that. We're already longer 01:19:40.670 --> 01:19:42.250 than I thought we would be. Again, thank you 01:19:42.250 --> 01:19:43.989 for your time here. And I definitely want you 01:19:43.989 --> 01:19:46.149 to kind of shout out the next meetings and all 01:19:46.149 --> 01:19:49.109 that. Brandon, speaking about the being talked 01:19:49.109 --> 01:19:50.729 about more, he says this is awesome content, 01:19:50.890 --> 01:19:52.210 something that needs to be talked about more 01:19:52.210 --> 01:19:54.789 in the hobby. Imagine if every top content creator 01:19:54.789 --> 01:19:56.670 was encouraging responsibility in the hobby, 01:19:56.729 --> 01:20:00.189 it would send shockwaves. man Brandon great point 01:20:00.189 --> 01:20:02.310 it's just that there's so much money that and 01:20:02.310 --> 01:20:04.930 people are happy and they're happy as pigs and 01:20:05.609 --> 01:20:07.369 they don't want to send any pigs to slaughter. 01:20:07.510 --> 01:20:09.869 I mean, it's just hard. I mean, I think I can 01:20:09.869 --> 01:20:12.189 speak on stuff like this because no one, no one 01:20:12.189 --> 01:20:15.270 controls my content or my voice in the hobby. 01:20:15.350 --> 01:20:17.789 It's just much as I work with hobby companies, 01:20:17.890 --> 01:20:20.550 I don't work for hobby companies. And so I think 01:20:20.550 --> 01:20:23.449 it's, I'm able to do things like that, but I 01:20:23.449 --> 01:20:25.430 mean, you know, collector, you know, Alyx, you 01:20:25.430 --> 01:20:27.710 said bingo and all that. Thanks for saying it. 01:20:28.390 --> 01:20:32.130 and then we have here brandon oh j2 says man 01:20:32.130 --> 01:20:33.890 i would drive to four different stores looking 01:20:33.890 --> 01:20:39.109 for buying cards wow i mean j2 i i i don't i've 01:20:39.109 --> 01:20:41.050 never met you in person but i've seen your content 01:20:41.050 --> 01:20:43.109 and i know you uh you're a great supporter of 01:20:43.109 --> 01:20:47.520 mine um you know i I get that feeling. And, you 01:20:47.520 --> 01:20:49.579 know, let's talk separately, but it's, it's, 01:20:49.579 --> 01:20:51.100 you know, it doesn't mean that you're like a 01:20:51.100 --> 01:20:54.300 compulsive gambling addict. It's just, I know 01:20:54.300 --> 01:20:56.699 that desire to find, it's almost like scratching 01:20:56.699 --> 01:20:59.159 an itch. It's like, wait, if this store is out, 01:20:59.220 --> 01:21:01.199 if I just go to the next one, surely they have 01:21:01.199 --> 01:21:03.260 something. So I get it. So thank you for sharing 01:21:03.260 --> 01:21:04.800 that with me. There's a lot of people are being 01:21:04.800 --> 01:21:07.800 very kind of open here and I love it. Even though 01:21:07.800 --> 01:21:10.279 this is not. you know, a collector's empty meeting. 01:21:10.699 --> 01:21:13.039 Brandon says there's a weird feeling of accomplishment 01:21:13.039 --> 01:21:14.840 that comes along with breaking the card versus 01:21:14.840 --> 01:21:17.260 buying a single for me, man. I hear that. Yeah. 01:21:17.359 --> 01:21:20.020 I've worked on it and forced myself to get the 01:21:20.020 --> 01:21:24.590 single. Yeah. Either you force yourself or a 01:21:24.590 --> 01:21:27.069 loved one forces you yourself or your wallet 01:21:27.069 --> 01:21:28.890 forces yourself. I mean, that's the way I think 01:21:28.890 --> 01:21:32.890 I see it. And Brandon says it's helped for sure. 01:21:33.170 --> 01:21:37.350 And Ziggy, Ziggy. Oh, man. Here we go. First 01:21:37.350 --> 01:21:39.390 step in addiction is to admitting you have a 01:21:39.390 --> 01:21:41.670 problem. One of the steps is accepting your humanity. 01:21:41.890 --> 01:21:45.210 Well said. Most programs leverage a belief in 01:21:45.210 --> 01:21:47.050 a higher power that goes to the whole religious 01:21:47.050 --> 01:21:50.050 aspect. If addicted, you need to remove yourself. 01:21:51.119 --> 01:21:54.699 i mean ziggy i i have such a you know you say 01:21:54.699 --> 01:21:56.880 some amazing things in here and i really appreciate 01:21:56.880 --> 01:21:59.739 your input um it's like you have different versions 01:21:59.739 --> 01:22:01.939 yourself you're there's like this wonderful version 01:22:01.939 --> 01:22:05.640 of yourself in this uh live chat and then there's 01:22:05.640 --> 01:22:08.600 the social media part where i remember you talking 01:22:08.600 --> 01:22:10.180 about maybe we shouldn't have kids in the hobby 01:22:10.180 --> 01:22:12.579 i mean ziggy in my one of my content pieces where 01:22:12.579 --> 01:22:14.899 i make him deal with a kid was like this is i 01:22:14.899 --> 01:22:17.479 forget what he said but like i i was like i don't 01:22:17.479 --> 01:22:19.579 think he's trolling me but it was like you know 01:22:19.579 --> 01:22:22.180 i would never do that or this is that was awkward 01:22:22.180 --> 01:22:26.199 and i'm like i kids like me and i i have kids 01:22:26.199 --> 01:22:28.039 on my own and i i know what it's like to be in 01:22:28.039 --> 01:22:29.439 a kid in the hobby and so i try to be nice to 01:22:29.439 --> 01:22:32.340 them but um you know, he asked me, we shouldn't 01:22:32.340 --> 01:22:34.899 have kids in hobby. I say we should. It's just, 01:22:34.899 --> 01:22:37.640 it's hard when even the kids themselves, there 01:22:37.640 --> 01:22:39.899 are affordable price points, you know, there's 01:22:39.899 --> 01:22:43.340 retail and there's NBA hoops and top series one. 01:22:43.420 --> 01:22:45.020 It's just that the kids don't want top series 01:22:45.020 --> 01:22:47.720 one. They want flawless. They want transcendence. 01:22:47.720 --> 01:22:50.260 They want top triple threads. They want the big 01:22:50.260 --> 01:22:53.819 shiny, just like adults do. So Ziggy says polarizing. 01:22:53.819 --> 01:22:57.680 I mean, yeah, man, totally. So I think. yeah 01:22:57.680 --> 01:23:01.579 i met ziggy uh when i was on the real card show 01:23:01.579 --> 01:23:05.739 with uh valor and uh cage Oh, yeah. He came on 01:23:05.739 --> 01:23:07.680 and chatted with us. He's the man. Nice. Yes. 01:23:07.859 --> 01:23:10.479 Yes. So thank you, Ziggy, for being in the chat. 01:23:10.979 --> 01:23:13.460 He said I wouldn't. And he is a breaker. I mean, 01:23:13.460 --> 01:23:15.039 he well, he owns a break. I mean, I won't get 01:23:15.039 --> 01:23:17.140 into all this stuff, but he's he's out there 01:23:17.140 --> 01:23:20.560 known to be part of the breaking culture. And 01:23:20.560 --> 01:23:22.779 for him to say that is big. I mean, that's really 01:23:22.779 --> 01:23:26.060 nice. Ziggy says I wouldn't do deals for hundreds 01:23:26.060 --> 01:23:28.500 of dollars with a kid without a parent. I he 01:23:28.500 --> 01:23:30.479 was he actually he was on camera, but his dad 01:23:30.479 --> 01:23:33.020 was there and his dad is actually a good, decent 01:23:33.020 --> 01:23:36.520 person. Someone who actually replaced wax that 01:23:36.520 --> 01:23:40.699 was stolen from me from, you know, in that video 01:23:40.699 --> 01:23:43.039 is coming out tomorrow. I have done editing it. 01:23:43.119 --> 01:23:46.100 But Friday night, May 2nd, Orioles versus Royals 01:23:46.100 --> 01:23:49.539 at Camden Yards. I made a joke about getting 01:23:49.539 --> 01:23:52.199 a case of Tufts Transcendence stolen from me 01:23:52.199 --> 01:23:54.600 that I was going to donate to a pack of Cub Scouts. 01:23:54.899 --> 01:23:58.180 I mean, clearly I'm not donating $20 ,000 box 01:23:58.180 --> 01:24:01.750 to. Eight -year -olds, that's silly. That's funny. 01:24:01.810 --> 01:24:04.050 I thought it was funny because it sounds so ludicrous. 01:24:04.250 --> 01:24:07.970 But did I actually get a box of 2024 Bowman stolen 01:24:07.970 --> 01:24:11.789 from me as I was creating content in Canon Yards? 01:24:11.789 --> 01:24:14.229 Yes, that actually did occur. And Jeff, shout 01:24:14.229 --> 01:24:18.010 out to Jeff. He, as the store owner, replaced 01:24:18.010 --> 01:24:21.510 that wax by giving me, gifting me a box from 01:24:21.510 --> 01:24:24.229 his shop, from his hardware shop. He's not an 01:24:24.229 --> 01:24:27.449 LCS owner. He's a hardware store guy. But he 01:24:27.449 --> 01:24:30.649 made it right. to uh but shout out to you jeff 01:24:30.649 --> 01:24:31.850 i don't know if you're watching this or if you'll 01:24:31.850 --> 01:24:34.409 watch it later but happy belated birthday for 01:24:34.409 --> 01:24:36.649 you to do that on your actual birthday yesterday 01:24:36.649 --> 01:24:40.609 at the um silver springs civic center uh middle 01:24:40.609 --> 01:24:42.710 at a car show was really big of you but that 01:24:42.710 --> 01:24:45.010 was his kid ziggy just so you know and ziggy 01:24:45.010 --> 01:24:48.350 does say i'm a fan i'm a critical i appreciate 01:24:48.350 --> 01:24:50.609 your dialogue i mean you know what i appreciate 01:24:50.609 --> 01:24:53.350 that there's there's there's a lot to be said 01:24:53.350 --> 01:24:57.170 about communication dialogue just talking to 01:24:57.170 --> 01:24:59.569 each other you know we can't just be so polarized 01:24:59.569 --> 01:25:02.970 and so upset that we stop talking and i think 01:25:02.970 --> 01:25:05.090 that's that's a big thing i think collectors 01:25:05.090 --> 01:25:07.729 on these trying to do is they're not judgmental 01:25:07.729 --> 01:25:11.050 they're not there to criticize they are there 01:25:11.050 --> 01:25:13.810 to listen and they are there for dialogue right 01:25:13.810 --> 01:25:17.920 right Alyx yeah nailed it Is that a good segue 01:25:17.920 --> 01:25:22.000 to telling us all about your weekly meetings? 01:25:22.079 --> 01:25:25.020 Because I attended the first one and I was there 01:25:25.020 --> 01:25:27.159 to support because I know some people, they put 01:25:27.159 --> 01:25:28.640 you on the, you know, nothing against sport, 01:25:28.680 --> 01:25:30.800 part of madness, but they had you on as guests. 01:25:30.920 --> 01:25:32.720 I mean, they weren't there at the meeting. I 01:25:32.720 --> 01:25:34.979 mean, some people have you on and it's, you know, 01:25:34.979 --> 01:25:38.479 it's onto the next thing, but I did want to be 01:25:38.479 --> 01:25:40.800 not a man of my word because I. promise that 01:25:40.800 --> 01:25:43.739 i'll be there but yeah um you know i i was talking 01:25:43.739 --> 01:25:45.699 with you and i was very curious and i definitely 01:25:45.699 --> 01:25:48.199 wanted to be there and i wanted to see what was 01:25:48.199 --> 01:25:51.380 about and you know it wasn't the most attended 01:25:51.380 --> 01:25:53.539 i won't say what the number was but it wasn't 01:25:53.539 --> 01:25:56.000 i i was wondering if it was going to be kind 01:25:56.000 --> 01:25:58.300 of like a low number just because of the whole 01:25:58.300 --> 01:26:02.039 the shame the denial the you know to themselves 01:26:02.039 --> 01:26:05.560 and sometimes people who go to aa were interventions 01:26:05.560 --> 01:26:11.659 forced or coerced or or violent uh voluntold 01:26:11.659 --> 01:26:14.600 by their fam friends and family ultimatums i'm 01:26:14.600 --> 01:26:17.239 gonna divorce you if you don't get your alcohol 01:26:17.239 --> 01:26:19.579 uh your alcoholism in check i'm gonna divorce 01:26:19.579 --> 01:26:22.710 you know I feel like people may join Collectors MD 01:26:22.710 --> 01:26:25.569 more if their spouse was like, and let's be real, 01:26:25.649 --> 01:26:29.529 it's a wife to a husband. Hey, I'm going to divorce 01:26:29.529 --> 01:26:32.149 you if you don't get your gamble, if you don't 01:26:32.149 --> 01:26:35.770 get your sports card collection, hobby, breaking, 01:26:36.270 --> 01:26:38.890 the credit card bills and all of this. If you 01:26:38.890 --> 01:26:40.409 don't get that in check, I'm going to leave you. 01:26:40.850 --> 01:26:44.890 So, I mean, yeah, I think much as the first meeting 01:26:44.890 --> 01:26:47.449 was not well attended, and I'm not going to attend 01:26:47.449 --> 01:26:50.460 every single one. I wish you the best of luck 01:26:50.460 --> 01:26:52.619 and I hope that it's just a start because I know 01:26:52.619 --> 01:26:55.439 how hard it is to start from zero. So yeah, no, 01:26:55.539 --> 01:26:58.420 I appreciate that. Well, first of all, Denny, 01:26:58.420 --> 01:27:00.159 thank you so much for having me on. This has 01:27:00.159 --> 01:27:02.640 been an awesome 90 minutes of just, you know, 01:27:02.640 --> 01:27:04.380 talking about really, really important things 01:27:04.380 --> 01:27:07.520 that matter that I I'm passionate about and clearly 01:27:07.520 --> 01:27:13.170 you are too. So your support is. I'm so grateful 01:27:13.170 --> 01:27:15.930 that you're just giving me a platform and a stage 01:27:15.930 --> 01:27:19.130 to talk about this. As far as our meetings, thank 01:27:19.130 --> 01:27:23.130 you for joining as well. Our weekly peer support 01:27:23.130 --> 01:27:25.109 meetings are one of the most important parts 01:27:25.109 --> 01:27:28.069 of what we're doing at Collectors MD. And I'll 01:27:28.069 --> 01:27:30.489 be real, like you said, the attendance was super 01:27:30.489 --> 01:27:33.189 low in that first meeting. I'm not afraid to 01:27:33.189 --> 01:27:35.890 say the number. I think the total was five of 01:27:35.890 --> 01:27:41.420 us, maybe six. And that's kind of what I expected, 01:27:41.479 --> 01:27:44.399 if I'm being honest. And that's okay. We're not 01:27:44.399 --> 01:27:49.880 discouraged. We do want to talk about why that 01:27:49.880 --> 01:27:52.319 might be happening or how we can potentially 01:27:52.319 --> 01:27:55.659 get more people involved. And the truth is, showing 01:27:55.659 --> 01:27:58.859 up... To say something like you said just isn't 01:27:58.859 --> 01:28:01.399 easy. It takes a lot to admit that maybe you're 01:28:01.399 --> 01:28:03.779 collecting habits or getting out of hand. Denial 01:28:03.779 --> 01:28:06.020 is strong. We talked about that at a great length. 01:28:06.180 --> 01:28:08.479 It tells you you're fine. You don't need to do 01:28:08.479 --> 01:28:11.539 this. This is for people with real problems. 01:28:11.640 --> 01:28:15.319 But the reality, if you have even thought about 01:28:15.319 --> 01:28:17.520 joining one of these meetings, that's probably 01:28:17.520 --> 01:28:20.600 your gut telling you something. And here's the 01:28:20.600 --> 01:28:22.899 thing. These meetings aren't therapy. They're 01:28:22.899 --> 01:28:26.229 not lectures. They're just honest, judgment -free 01:28:26.229 --> 01:28:29.050 spaces to share, listen, and connect with others 01:28:29.050 --> 01:28:31.649 who get it. Whether you're spending too much, 01:28:31.729 --> 01:28:35.149 hiding purchases, feeling burnt out, or just 01:28:35.149 --> 01:28:37.369 questioning your relationship with the hobby 01:28:37.369 --> 01:28:40.529 or your collecting habits, this is your place 01:28:40.529 --> 01:28:43.390 to unpack all of that. No shame, no pressure. 01:28:43.810 --> 01:28:46.329 You can just show up and listen. You don't even 01:28:46.329 --> 01:28:50.109 have to put your camera on. I do ask that, at 01:28:50.109 --> 01:28:52.430 the very least, you just put in your initials 01:28:52.430 --> 01:28:56.060 or your first name. the uh first letter of your 01:28:56.060 --> 01:28:59.800 your last name but um you don't have to participate 01:28:59.800 --> 01:29:02.020 you don't have to talk you could literally just 01:29:02.020 --> 01:29:05.180 join and listen the hardest part is getting past 01:29:05.180 --> 01:29:07.960 that first hump pushing through that denial the 01:29:07.960 --> 01:29:10.640 hesitation the pride but once you're in the room 01:29:10.640 --> 01:29:13.239 i'm telling you it will click because the same 01:29:13.239 --> 01:29:14.939 thing happened when i started to go to ga meetings 01:29:14.939 --> 01:29:17.460 for the first time you realize you're not alone 01:29:17.460 --> 01:29:19.939 you're not broken and you don't have to carry 01:29:19.939 --> 01:29:21.979 all of this in silence there are other people 01:29:21.979 --> 01:29:25.390 out there just like you, who care, who want to 01:29:25.390 --> 01:29:28.649 help you get through this. Again, this is a community. 01:29:28.850 --> 01:29:31.770 We want to do this as a team. This isn't just 01:29:31.770 --> 01:29:34.630 me leading the way. This is a group effort through 01:29:34.630 --> 01:29:37.510 and through. So if you've been on the fence and 01:29:37.510 --> 01:29:40.470 you're interested in checking it out, our next 01:29:40.470 --> 01:29:43.770 meeting is this Wednesday, this coming Wednesday 01:29:43.770 --> 01:29:48.310 night, which is, I believe, May 7th at 8 p .m. 01:29:48.310 --> 01:29:52.479 Eastern. All that is asked is that you fill out 01:29:52.479 --> 01:29:56.220 a basically like a screening form, just answering 01:29:56.220 --> 01:29:58.460 a few questions and putting in your email so 01:29:58.460 --> 01:30:03.340 that I can add you to the invite. Again, there's 01:30:03.340 --> 01:30:05.699 no spotlight. There's no pressure, just a space 01:30:05.699 --> 01:30:08.739 to breathe, reflect, and maybe start seeing things 01:30:08.739 --> 01:30:11.560 a little bit more clearly. And it's free, right? 01:30:11.619 --> 01:30:16.460 Just to be clear. And it's free. i i do want 01:30:16.460 --> 01:30:19.119 to caveat one other thing with it um we just 01:30:19.119 --> 01:30:22.359 released our official collectors md recovery 01:30:22.359 --> 01:30:26.140 journal a recovery guide uh it's live on the 01:30:26.140 --> 01:30:28.539 website when you go to collectorsmd .com it's 01:30:28.539 --> 01:30:31.119 at the top it says recovery guide it's live it's 01:30:31.119 --> 01:30:34.279 free and it's already become a core tool for 01:30:34.279 --> 01:30:37.039 uh folks navigating compulsive collecting and 01:30:37.039 --> 01:30:40.119 it's uh kind of our version of again the yellow 01:30:40.119 --> 01:30:45.079 book uh that we use in ga but really tailored 01:30:45.079 --> 01:30:50.020 for collecting in this community. So if you just 01:30:50.020 --> 01:30:52.420 want to check that out, all the information is 01:30:52.420 --> 01:30:54.300 there. If you have questions, feel free to reach 01:30:54.300 --> 01:30:57.000 out. You can email, DM. I'm more than happy to 01:30:57.000 --> 01:31:00.180 just have a conversation. If you are hesitant 01:31:00.180 --> 01:31:02.079 about just joining the meeting, we could just 01:31:02.079 --> 01:31:07.180 talk. Yeah. Okay, so this is why I shouldn't 01:31:07.180 --> 01:31:09.140 be a pilot because I would be terrible at landing 01:31:09.140 --> 01:31:11.500 planes. So Reddit story says I have a gambling 01:31:11.500 --> 01:31:13.880 addiction. And so, I mean, you know, that's a 01:31:13.880 --> 01:31:15.479 serious thing. I thank you for sharing that. 01:31:15.960 --> 01:31:19.039 Even if it's an anonymous account, like, you 01:31:19.039 --> 01:31:21.720 know, I hope you do go to collectorsmd .com. 01:31:22.800 --> 01:31:25.180 I know the answer to this next one. He says, 01:31:25.279 --> 01:31:27.460 Uncle Lester Cam says, will he sell our information 01:31:27.460 --> 01:31:29.380 if we fill out a form? I know the answer is no, 01:31:29.460 --> 01:31:34.439 but I'm going to let Alyx answer that. Sorry, 01:31:34.539 --> 01:31:36.180 what was the question? Will we sell our information 01:31:36.180 --> 01:31:38.760 if we fill out a form? No, we'll not sell your 01:31:38.760 --> 01:31:43.779 information. If you would like to read our privacy 01:31:43.779 --> 01:31:46.399 policy, that's on the website as well. If you 01:31:46.399 --> 01:31:48.220 scroll all the way down to the bottom, you'll 01:31:48.220 --> 01:31:51.680 see all the information that will protect your... 01:31:52.010 --> 01:31:54.149 privacy and your information. Okay. Thank you. 01:31:54.390 --> 01:31:57.430 Just to clear that. Uncle Esther, he said something 01:31:57.430 --> 01:31:59.250 else I'm not going to read out loud because it's 01:31:59.250 --> 01:32:03.189 a minorly offensive, but he does say - I can 01:32:03.189 --> 01:32:07.369 answer that. Go ahead. I'm not in a dorm room. 01:32:07.449 --> 01:32:10.649 This is actually my home office. My wife insisted 01:32:10.649 --> 01:32:13.449 we stick a bed in here because we needed an extra 01:32:13.449 --> 01:32:16.510 guest room. And this is my little curated collection 01:32:16.510 --> 01:32:18.789 in the back. So I actually take that as a compliment. 01:32:20.640 --> 01:32:22.260 would like to consider this a little bit of a 01:32:22.260 --> 01:32:24.840 man cave i got some memorabilia hanging on the 01:32:24.840 --> 01:32:27.680 wall and stuff but uh i appreciate that you know 01:32:27.680 --> 01:32:30.039 it's nice that he said i apologize and says i 01:32:30.039 --> 01:32:31.899 thought he was a college student now he is uh 01:32:31.899 --> 01:32:35.500 35 36 what you said i'm 35 yeah wow how flattering 01:32:35.500 --> 01:32:37.039 college student i would love to be in college 01:32:37.039 --> 01:32:39.319 that's awesome to penn state so there you go 01:32:39.319 --> 01:32:44.229 we we are We are, baby. Uncle Les says, hi, Tonto. 01:32:44.390 --> 01:32:46.270 Tonto says, what's up, guys? We are going to 01:32:46.270 --> 01:32:49.609 end this very soon. He says, you're always one 01:32:49.609 --> 01:32:52.050 bet away from getting even. I mean, that is definitely 01:32:52.050 --> 01:32:55.609 the gambler's mentality. It's what is it like? 01:32:55.649 --> 01:33:00.630 You're just you're one step. You are one swing 01:33:00.630 --> 01:33:04.140 away from just. hitting the the the jackpot right 01:33:04.140 --> 01:33:07.199 or one one slot machine pull away from just you 01:33:07.199 --> 01:33:09.460 know you left it you left it for the next person 01:33:09.460 --> 01:33:13.300 and oh my god you know that's that's such a what 01:33:13.300 --> 01:33:15.500 is it called like the gambler's fallacy maybe 01:33:15.500 --> 01:33:18.260 you know it's just real real quick i remember 01:33:18.260 --> 01:33:23.100 buying i think it was like five fat packs of 01:33:23.100 --> 01:33:26.000 optic football a couple years ago from target 01:33:26.000 --> 01:33:29.800 and as i was i was 100 sure i purchased five 01:33:29.800 --> 01:33:32.430 of them As I was walking to the car, I somehow 01:33:32.430 --> 01:33:34.550 managed to lose one of them. I don't know if 01:33:34.550 --> 01:33:38.670 I dropped it or if I left it at the cash register, 01:33:38.869 --> 01:33:41.510 but I ended up with four fat packs when I got 01:33:41.510 --> 01:33:44.250 home. And I opened them. They were all duds. 01:33:44.869 --> 01:33:49.050 And for the longest time, my mind just kept telling 01:33:49.050 --> 01:33:51.369 me that there was a downtown in that pack. Yeah, 01:33:51.390 --> 01:33:55.170 yeah. It's the exact same thing. It's your mind 01:33:55.170 --> 01:33:58.970 playing tricks on you. absolutely it's it's not 01:33:58.970 --> 01:34:05.890 realistic it's not thinking logically and that's 01:34:05.890 --> 01:34:07.390 what you have to realize that's just what you 01:34:07.390 --> 01:34:10.989 have to accept right absolutely and um r gordon 01:34:10.989 --> 01:34:13.369 here says i am an addict too i mean really just 01:34:13.369 --> 01:34:16.649 even typing that saying that out loud just Just 01:34:16.649 --> 01:34:18.930 really, I mean, that's big. That's the first 01:34:18.930 --> 01:34:21.890 step. And so our Gordon, whoever you are, like, 01:34:21.949 --> 01:34:23.529 thank you. Thank you for putting that in the 01:34:23.529 --> 01:34:25.989 chat. I mean, really, really fantastic. I applaud 01:34:25.989 --> 01:34:29.609 you for, again, just having the thought in your 01:34:29.609 --> 01:34:32.199 mind. and then having that thought go to your 01:34:32.199 --> 01:34:34.560 fingers and to tap that out onto the screen or 01:34:34.560 --> 01:34:37.279 the keyboard like thank you so much and brandon 01:34:37.279 --> 01:34:39.520 great i mean he's like the mvp of this chat i 01:34:39.520 --> 01:34:42.079 think he says what player and where did you drop 01:34:42.079 --> 01:34:45.079 it oh my gosh brandon he might he says he might 01:34:45.079 --> 01:34:48.819 have to go scour the parking lot what what player 01:34:48.819 --> 01:34:52.779 it was uh maybe it was cj stroud or i don't know 01:34:52.779 --> 01:34:55.880 a parking lot yeah it's it's long gone i mean 01:34:57.770 --> 01:35:04.310 The full circle would be a young, healthy, and 01:35:04.310 --> 01:35:07.770 happy 12 -year -old collector found it, opened 01:35:07.770 --> 01:35:11.890 it, and is cherishing that downtown for the rest 01:35:11.890 --> 01:35:17.550 of their life. What a silly farce. Your mind 01:35:17.550 --> 01:35:19.649 goes in so many directions, and you just have 01:35:19.649 --> 01:35:23.210 to be able to take a deep breath and collect 01:35:23.210 --> 01:35:26.789 yourself. No pun intended. Call somebody. Reach 01:35:26.789 --> 01:35:30.279 out. But like, I want to piggyback off what you 01:35:30.279 --> 01:35:32.800 said, like our Gordon just saying there, you 01:35:32.800 --> 01:35:36.039 know, I am an addict to like, that is so brave 01:35:36.039 --> 01:35:40.800 and powerful and it takes so much, you know, 01:35:40.800 --> 01:35:45.079 resilience to come to terms with that and not 01:35:45.079 --> 01:35:46.979 just say it to yourself, but to admit it in a 01:35:46.979 --> 01:35:50.460 public forum. So, you know, really, really appreciate 01:35:50.460 --> 01:35:52.659 you for saying that. And we're here for you or 01:35:52.659 --> 01:35:55.739 garden or Gordon. If you want to reach out, please 01:35:55.739 --> 01:36:00.789 DM me. Collectors MD. We can get on a call tomorrow. 01:36:01.229 --> 01:36:03.569 We could talk about what you're going through, 01:36:03.670 --> 01:36:07.289 and we could talk about ways to help put you 01:36:07.289 --> 01:36:10.329 in the right direction. Thank you. That's a great 01:36:10.329 --> 01:36:13.289 way to end. The box that was stolen from me, 01:36:13.510 --> 01:36:15.710 in my head, I kept thinking, what if there was 01:36:15.710 --> 01:36:18.270 a super fractor in there? I got so upset, and 01:36:18.270 --> 01:36:20.470 I didn't even get to open up the box. Of course, 01:36:20.489 --> 01:36:24.329 my hope is that the box that Jeff... hardware 01:36:24.329 --> 01:36:26.850 owner gifted me is the one that does have it 01:36:26.850 --> 01:36:30.250 but again it's all rng random number generator 01:36:30.250 --> 01:36:32.869 just you know my friend was like hey what if 01:36:32.869 --> 01:36:35.770 the person who who stole it they it was a kid 01:36:35.770 --> 01:36:39.069 and they Not that they're down on their luck, 01:36:39.130 --> 01:36:42.090 but yeah, what if they were meant to just kind 01:36:42.090 --> 01:36:46.369 of enjoy it? So just all good. Uncle Lester Kim 01:36:46.369 --> 01:36:48.890 says, terrific life. Thank you guys so much for 01:36:48.890 --> 01:36:51.050 being here. At one point, I think we had about 01:36:51.050 --> 01:36:53.390 a dozen people in the chat. You guys were really, 01:36:53.470 --> 01:36:56.449 really like, I mean, sometimes the hobby hangout 01:36:56.449 --> 01:36:58.949 can get kind of silly, but you guys gave this 01:36:58.949 --> 01:37:03.489 entire time, almost over an hour and a half, 01:37:03.689 --> 01:37:07.600 the gravitas and the sincerity. sincerity that 01:37:07.600 --> 01:37:10.720 it deserves. So Alyx, much applause to you for 01:37:10.720 --> 01:37:12.560 doing what you're doing. The chat, you guys are 01:37:12.560 --> 01:37:14.840 excellent. This is why I love doing this live. 01:37:14.939 --> 01:37:18.439 The chat really provides a great value to the 01:37:18.439 --> 01:37:21.600 proceedings. And so this is where I will finally 01:37:21.600 --> 01:37:24.699 land the plane. It almost ran out of fuel flying 01:37:24.699 --> 01:37:27.359 in the air, hovering around the airspace. But 01:37:27.359 --> 01:37:33.979 Alyx, 30 second final words. Denny, thank you 01:37:33.979 --> 01:37:37.930 so much again. Truly, this has been so powerful 01:37:37.930 --> 01:37:43.609 and impactful. I think not just for me, but for 01:37:43.609 --> 01:37:46.329 everybody who's been watching. If you're rewatching 01:37:46.329 --> 01:37:49.550 this and you want to reach out and have a discussion 01:37:49.550 --> 01:37:52.550 about anything, even if it's not you, if you 01:37:52.550 --> 01:37:54.369 know somebody, if you have a loved one who might 01:37:54.369 --> 01:37:59.409 be in a crisis, please reach out. Of course, 01:37:59.409 --> 01:38:04.380 we are not licensed medical. doctors or therapists 01:38:04.380 --> 01:38:08.300 so if you are truly in crisis mode please call 01:38:08.300 --> 01:38:12.760 a crisis line please reach out to a licensed 01:38:12.760 --> 01:38:15.880 mental health professional but if you just want 01:38:15.880 --> 01:38:18.930 to have a conversation we're here for you Thank 01:38:18.930 --> 01:38:21.090 you so much, Alyx. And Uncle Lester says, I like 01:38:21.090 --> 01:38:22.789 going on eBay and just low -balling offers to 01:38:22.789 --> 01:38:24.810 people. Man, I'm telling you, that's a great 01:38:24.810 --> 01:38:27.090 way to participate in the hobby. And people may 01:38:27.090 --> 01:38:28.930 get upset at you, but hey, someone might take 01:38:28.930 --> 01:38:31.569 it. Someone might want to just get rid of a card, 01:38:31.649 --> 01:38:34.229 but there's many different ways. And I don't 01:38:34.229 --> 01:38:36.050 think it's trolling. It's just, hey, you just 01:38:36.050 --> 01:38:38.510 never know. And some people highball, right? 01:38:38.630 --> 01:38:40.649 I mean, there are offers on eBay that are like 01:38:40.649 --> 01:38:43.789 astronomically high. So anyway, that's a good 01:38:43.789 --> 01:38:45.630 way to end the live. Alyx, thank you so much 01:38:45.630 --> 01:38:47.649 for your time. Chat, you guys are actually - 01:38:48.109 --> 01:38:50.569 Absolutely awesome. And I don't like when people 01:38:50.569 --> 01:38:53.409 say chat because it's the whole breaker vocabulary. 01:38:54.949 --> 01:38:57.810 But it works here, and you guys are excellent. 01:38:58.010 --> 01:39:00.069 And remember, breakers are not – if they have 01:39:00.069 --> 01:39:03.369 your number and they text you saying, hey, how's 01:39:03.369 --> 01:39:05.390 it going? Are you doing anything? Are you busy? 01:39:05.529 --> 01:39:07.770 Can you jump in this live? They're not doing 01:39:07.770 --> 01:39:09.930 that out of the goodness of their heart. They 01:39:09.930 --> 01:39:12.930 want you to set the floor for their break. The 01:39:12.930 --> 01:39:15.529 same thing as having a VIP host on DraftKings. 01:39:16.360 --> 01:39:18.840 Exactly. Yeah, that's a sign. It really is, guys. 01:39:19.020 --> 01:39:21.079 So just keep that in mind. So thank you so much, 01:39:21.100 --> 01:39:23.140 everyone. I'm going to end the stream here and 01:39:23.140 --> 01:39:24.699 hope you guys have a great week in the hobby. 01:39:24.800 --> 01:39:27.539 Take care. Until the next time in the Hobby Hangout 01:39:27.539 --> 01:39:31.520 and the Car Diary by Hobby S. Thompson. Thank 01:39:31.520 --> 01:39:32.020 you so much.