I'll be 42 in Feb. Collecting has had several phases:
* Ages 9 - 14: Intro and pretty much hardcore. Bought new wax constantly with any money I had, and got into vintage.
* Ages 15 - 20: Gee collecting cards sure is nerdy. Everything sat in boxes and on shelves at mom and dad's while I did high school, college, and attempted to be cool and get girls.
* Age 21: Holy crap you can buy old baseball cards in online auctions! Spent my last year in college being a total nerd again, participating in random auctions that don't even exist anymore, and found eBay for the first time.
* Ages 22 - 24: Dabbled, but not much. Was busy getting engaged and married.
* Ages 26 - 28: Grad school. No time for baseball cards.
* Ages 29 - 32: Kids being born. What's sleep? Baseball, what's that?
* Roughly 32 -37: Probably should pay attention to this CAREER...
* Age 38: Dammit, this has to stop. You love baseball and cards too much. Joined Net54 and have been back fairly active (if not totally consistent with a collecting focus...) ever since.
