Gm, finally back from a 3 week vacation in Japan. As some of you might have heard, @Azuki went through a recent company restructuring with numerous employees being laid off, including myself. I thought I’d be more bitter about it but honestly, the last two and a half years working at Azuki have been an absolute blessing. Being able to move to LA, be surrounded by some of the kindest and most passionate individuals I’ve ever worked with, and having the privilege of learning and growing from tech and media professionals with decades of experience and excellence has been a dream. They say you should strive to never be the smartest person in the room, and at Azuki I never was - and it was awesome. You can’t buy that kind of learning and growing opportunity. I have nothing but appreciation and respect for Azuki and my former team for giving me the opportunity to grow, come in every day, and work my ass off doing work I love doing. Big love to @Zagabond, @locationtba, @2pmflow, and @hoshiboyzen for giving a bean like me a chance to be part of such an incredible journey. Huge thanks to @DemAzuki, @emilyrosemcg, @elaineazuki14, and @dgtlemissions for being such incredible bosses, mentors, and friends. The countless memories and hardships I shared with a dope team in the most battle-hardened NFT project and community will never be forgotten. Thank you, Azuki. ⛩️ All that being said, with 2 years of content creation and 3 years of Web3 community building, strategy, and business development under my belt, I’m now looking for new opportunities to pursue. My DM’s are open - and I’m ready to build. 🫡

Best breakfast burrito in LA, but they misspelled my name smh

You would think with TCGs popping off, buying at card shows and conventions would result in always having to buy cards at market price. Wrong. Sitting behind shiny glass cases and splashy card displays does not make someone an expert- the only thing that separates them from you is that they paid $40-$300 for a vending table and you didn’t. Almost every vendor started out as a collector learning the ropes and making mistakes. And some vendors just want to liquidate cards that their typical clientele don’t buy. Just picked up this fossil Articuno for a bargain from a sports card vendor who knew the market price, but just wanted it gone asap. Part of the fun of collecting is the journey you take to acquire your cards, one by one. Every deal is part of the experience. Good deals favor the knowledgeable, and the friendly. 🫡

Stamped mid-era reverse holos >>>

If you didn’t expect to see a car with Pikachu dressed as Zenitsu drive past you today, neither did I

First, a gold star Torchic card sold for $2.5 million a couple weeks ago, now a Mudkip card just sold for $3.72 million. Following the Hoenn starter trend, which Treecko card is next to break a record? 👀

My friend just pulled both of these from a single 30th anniversary ETB Are pull rates better in ETBs for this set?

The same artist who drew this Pikachu illustrated Bubble Mew 🫧 @USGMEN doesn’t miss

Another day, another vend

30th anniversary made ripping Pokémon cards fun again

Kanye’s music is timeless

I still remember the late night 3 AM Azuki TCG reps at @DragonKoiBoi’s house where this man @IKATOH_ETH had three 2-drops on the board on turn 9, with a three 5-drops and a 7-drop in hand. After I beat him 4 times in a row, I asked if he wanted me to help him improve. When he nodded yes, his TCG training arc began. Incredibly proud of how much this dude has improved and honed his gameplay over the last several months, besting me fair and square at yesterday’s @g3nkitcg locals. Always said it’s not a matter of if, but when this man wins one of these locals - and yesterday he did it. First of many W’s, this is just the beginning for my guy Ikatoh 🫡

Randomly found this Chopper promo card I got from @AnimeExpo Am I rich or

Impulse buy of the day Crown Zenith is easily a top 5 modern set

This is my @jackbutcher Credit NFT. I paid $8 in @XMoney (shoutouts @elonmusk for the free onboarding money) for this piece, and Jack Butcher turned it into a unique and cool pixel art currently worth multiple times that. Is it rare? Nope. Is it mine? Yes. Do I like it? Yes. And that's all that matters.

I’m by no means a great trader. In fact, I’m pretty awful at trading usually. All of my friends get rich every cycle and I’m left playing it safe, making money in boring ways. And I’m okay with that- nobody will cheer for my friends’ victories harder than me. This time, I got lucky and trusted my gut. I told everyone and anybody who would listen, to send @jackbutcher $8 because he’s proven time and time again to be one of the most innovative and influential artists in crypto, and I had a good feeling about this NFT collection. I ended up personally helping over a dozen of my friends send hundreds of $8 @XMoney or convinced them that this would be a good play. Today, every one of those $8 turned into $96, and the timeline is abuzz with success stories. I’m happy for my rare win, but I’m even happier that I was able to win with my friends. The table feels empty when you eat alone. 🫡

Hello @bot @grok

Right in the fucking feels. It’s a blow to the entire Pokémon card community to lose someone who shone as bright as Avery. I admittedly didn’t really know him personally very well, but being in the community, I saw the positive impact he made across the board. I can’t really say much about his passing, just that he was taken far too early and he clearly injected so much light into the community. All that being said, I’ve seen a lot of posts farming this tragedy for engagement across all social medias. Countless people coming out of the woodwork claiming to have known him and are personally affected by his passing, when the words in their posts clearly show otherwise. To those people I say: you should be fucking ashamed of yourselves.

The best thing to wake up to - 30th anniversary ETBs at your front door that you forgot you ordered 🤣🙏

Every night is a good night for KBBQ