[Groop] Groo Cards

[Tone]

	This can not be a coincidence, but if it is, then it is pretty
darn freakish. Seriously, someone must have gotten in touch with her
because apparently, while speaking of the devil, PatsAppleKrate listed a
partial 150 of 153 Groo card deck on eBay. It is a buy it now sale for
$49.98 + $5.00 shipping. Here is the link to it:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270379835507
	The only three cards missing are #1, #38, and #74.

	In my opinion that is not a bad deal at all. I can not imagine
it would be too terribly hard to track three cards down. Heck, I would
think there must be a few of our fellow Groopies with duplicates, which
they really do not need.
	A couple of years ago when I was trying to complete my 9 "Images
of Groo" chase card set, I generally noticed the 153 normal card sets
selling around $75. The IG chase cards themselves usually seemed to sell
anywhere from $15 to $40. I forget if that depended on which of the nine
cards was being sold or if the wide price margin may have just been due
to the condition of each card.

Gary,
	I think you keep forgetting as a matter of convenience to save
your sanity because out of any of us hardcore Groo collecting Groopies
YOU SHOULD have a sketch, but do not. :( <sigh> I remember those days...
believing the sketch cards were some legendary myth... until I magically
had one in my hand.
	I remember opening a bunch of those card packs from the counter
display box of Groo cards I bought. I was flipping through the stacks of
cards searching for the IG cards I was missing. In the periphery of my
vision I glimpsed a card barely jutting out near the bottom of the stack
of cards. It seemed to have a white edge to it, which I new could not be
a normal card or even an IG card. My heart skipped a beat. I could not
believe it for a second. I did not even dare look directly at the white
edge. Instead I set that entire stack of cards from that pack down and
to the side. I then proceeded to open all the other packs to keep
looking for my originally intended IG chase cards.
	Alas, after going through all the other packs I was sadly not
able to complete my set of all the IG chase cards. That left me with the
partially looked through stack I had set aside due to possible delusions
of a sketch card. Amazingly though, even though I never really doubted
my initial suspicion, there was indeed a sketch card near the bottom of
that stack. I could still see the almost Halo-like white edge of it. I
calmly continued to skim through all the top cards in that pack stack,
still focused on my IG chase card quest. Eventually though, as it was
inevitable, I reached the virgin white sketch card. Its white glow
stained only by the blue ink graced upon its surface by Sergio himself.
	I tried not to handle it, both physically and mentally. I did
not want to spoil the card with my mere mortal touch. I asked myself was
I truly this fortunate? Had the higher powers-that-be blessed me with a
card created by the angel Sergio himself? Rather than trying to
contemplate too heavily on the thought and possibly offend whatever
universal force provided me with one of the fifty sketch cards, I safely
and strangely set it aside once again. Instead, I continued flipping
through the last few cards at the bottom of that pack. There were still
no more IG chase cards, but at that point I probably would have glazed
over any special cards because I was still in awe over the sketch card.
	I collected and organized all the cards in numerical order as
well as groupings of duplicate, triplicate, and IG cards, etc. While
doing so, I avoided focusing any of my attention on the sketch card. As
I reached closer to completing my rather anal collector-minded
cataloging of all the new Groo cards, the reality of the sketch card
situation started to leak into my psyche. I indeed possessed one of the
fifty rarest Groo cards!
	When I finally completed the filing of all the other cards, I
took a deep breath, went to wash my hands and refresh myself with a
drink, then returned to finally bask in the glory that was MY sketch
card. I had not even set my eye upon the reverse side of the card. Heck,
I had never seen even a digital image of what the back side of a sketch
card looked like. I proceeded to read the rear of the card. As usual,
the self portrait of Sergio and his amusing text balloon made me smile
immensely and I sighed deeply. It was like I had never taking a breath
since I first imaged the sketch card's white edge. I was in bliss and
ultimately complete and beyond satisfied with my Groo collection.

So Gary,
	...Yes, I suppose one might call me a lucky number sign, dollar
sign, percent sign, the-little-pointed-symbol-over-the-six-key,
ampersand sign, asterisk, and exclamation mark. Hopefully, for your
sake, someday someone might call you the same thing, and you will be
able to experience a similar escalating sequence of ecstatic emotional
events like I attempted to portray. Until that time might come for you,
I share my story with you and instruct you to live on my friend... and
do not give up hope!

	And yes, we (as in someone within the Groop) did compile a list
of Groopies with sketch cards in their possession. I believe they even
had their images collected on a single web page as well. I completely
forget who among us set that up though. If I remember correctly, the
Groop ownership of the sketch cards did not exceed a majority of the
cards in existence though. There are still a number of them still out
there some where.

_TONE_