FAQ: So what's up with that lordmarcovan guy on the Contests forum?

@Eric Babula recently messaged me with a number of questions. Since they do get asked occasionally, I figured I'd address them here, in a public FAQ format, rather than retype them every time someone asks. Eric has given me permission to share excerpts from our private conversation.

For those of you who have no interest in these questions, and are instead wondering "why is this @lordmarcovan fool talking about himself again?", my apologies. I know this might seem like an attention ploy. And I must confess that I do enjoy the attention from all these contests. But if my rather large footprint on this otherwise-sleepy subforum is already a bit too much, mea culpa.

@Eric Babula:

@lordmarcovan:
I sometimes ask myself that same thing. ​

@Eric Babula:

@lordmarcovan:
It has become a source of great fun for me, so I make the time for it. If it ever quits being fun for me, I’ll stop doing it.​

As to the energy- well- that’s inconsistent. I am mildly bipolar, so when I’m on a manic buzz I have boundless energy (mental, not physical). I post incessantly when I’m manic. When the pendulum swings to the more depressive side, I become more withdrawn, and often disappear from the forums entirely, until the pendulum swings back and the cycle resets itself.​

@Eric Babula:

@lordmarcovan:
I am most assuredly NOT wealthy. I work as a middle-ranking hotel clerk. (I’m not even a manager- though I do have some managerial responsibilities.) Until three years ago I was just as wracked by debt and money problems as any lower-middle class American.​

I live in a trailer (not even a doublewide) with a rotting kitchen floor, way out in the boondocks in rural Georgia. I drive a ten year old Kia compact. My neighborhood surroundings are rather rednecky, and the inside of my home looks like a thrift store- except with more cats and dogs.​

But it’s all paid for now. Thanks to some inheritance when my mother passed, I’m debt free and have covered my daughter’s education, and still have had a little money to indulge in my coin hobby. But I still don’t have much of a retirement nest egg, and I'm nearing sixty. I might never be able to fully retire. I might have to sell off most of my collections when that time comes.​

@Eric Babula:

@lordmarcovan:
Occasionally that’s the case, but more often it is stuff I bought specifically to give away. Stuff I find appealing within a $25-50-ish price range. Stuff I’d like to win in a giveaway myself. That's why I often ask the contestants what they find interesting about the prizes- so I can shop for better giveaway goodies in the future.​

Recently I’ve started curating the Giveaway Gallery as if it was a branch of my own personal collection- which, on a temporary basis, it is. (You can see my other collections here.)​

I figure I can afford $25-50 or so a month (in normal months- more in December) for entertainment. I don’t have any other hobbies. No cable TV bill (don’t even own a TV anymore). No other toys.​

@Eric Babula:

@lordmarcovan:
Not really.​

@Eric Babula:

@lordmarcovan:
Indeed. And I’ve been the recipient of as much generosity as I’ve given out. I’m just giving back. Paying it forward. What comes around certainly goes around.​

@Eric Babula:

It would be vain of me to say yes to the former question, but definitely yes to the latter. I am certainly a better person than I used to be. I’ve tried to tamp down my own ego and selfish tendencies. Both are still definitely present- but I constantly try to keep them in check.​

It also helps that I've been hanging out with so many folks who themselves are kind and generous with their time, knowledge, and coins. There are too many of them here to name.

Numismatic Regards,

~Robertson ("Rob") Shinnick ("LordM")
Golden Isles of Georgia
27 December 2024

 

Mailed that yesterday AM.

 

Hope we can liven the joint up a bit. Place has been too much of a ghost town like Tumbleweed City a lot of the time.

Hopefully the new CTF contests will help.

Those won’t be a LordM thing. They’re a forum thing.

 

That’s sorta what I think about the mysterious “Quarter Master” of Quarter Notes, Ltd., and his mailings of counterstamped quarters (plus the occasional $50 or $100 bill).

He might be crazy, but he’s my kinda crazy. The world needs more lunatics like that.