"Hitting the wall" in collecting

Maybe I'm just more in a reflective mood these days.  Maybe it's the change in the seasons.  Maybe it's that my kids are growing older.  I don't know what exactly "it" is, but everything around me is changing.  And it's a natural change.  I accept it.

But I guess that's a misnomer.  Not everything is changing.  My hobby remains very much the same.  Sounds insignificant, right?  Not really.  Most people, when they describe themselves, will identify themselves via their hobbies right alongside the really important stuff.  Describe yourself in ten words.  I'll go first.  Father, husband, comic, writer, son, brother, collector, sports fan, latino and hard worker.  See?  Ten things in a quick list I jotted down in thirty seconds and I honestly would put that I'm a collector and a sports fan (though maybe they're combined).  But hobbies are important.  Collecting to me is important.  And yet I think I have hit the proverbial wall in collecting.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still determined to finish my Murad.  The Murad for me has trenscended hobby status and has risen to something akin to being a commission that I've given myself to complete.

And I'm still very into Nicolas Batum RC's.  But you already know about my one-way bro-mance with Nicolas Batum.....  It's well documented to say the least.  So moving on...

I just can't rise to the occasion with "new hobby" anymore.  And when I say 'new hobby' I'm referring to that collector who really focuses on the next big thing.  He's the first guy to bust the latest release.  He's the guy that actually has pre-sell purchases.

I used to want to be that guy.  Badly.  But not anymore.  I've fallen out of love with collecting football.  I can't muster up the gumption to break any baseball.  I'm left with basketball, my true hobby love, and yet I can't get truly excited about anything that's coming up.

In many ways I'm living in the past.  I understand that.  But I'd like to be a forward thinking person.  I'd like to be that guy that got in early on the ground floor of the next great collecting marvel.  But where is it?  Where is the release that came out this last year - or is slated for the coming year - that you had to have?  What release made you contemplate buying a case?  Which release made you save money and skip other entertainment to be able to purchase more?

There isn't any.  And let's be honest with ourselves.  I saw a lot of really really good stuff come out this last year.  But there wasn't anything that I couldn't really live without.  I don't know where that release is.  Do you?

If I'll say one thing about myself that I think I do better than most of my peers, it's the ability to budget.  I budget like a fanatic.  It's somethng I've grown into.  Having three kids will do that to a person.  I created a spreadsheet for myself that tracks my spending to the penny.  Literally. 

And in that budget is a meager portion that I put to a Murad piece or a Batum RC.  When I buy a card for five bucks, I buy it fully knowing that it could've been five bucks that my daughter could've used to put to a new outfit.  It could've been five bucks my wife could've put towards the food budget.  But it wasn't.  I've set aside just that small piece for me.

All I ask is where is that release that makes me want to alter my spending to have it?  And there is no answer.  Not yet.  Another year of sports is upon us.  New champions.  New storylines.  Just new.  But I have a premonition that for the time being my collecting will be based on the past.  Just a hunch.

But I'm so open to being 'new hobby'.  All I need is the right reason.

Please?