Love the 1935 page update! Congrats on getting a set of nice notes (vibrant coulours and lots of planchettes) including a very tough clean $20, not to mention two French notes. It's especially cool that you set goals, took your time, and acquired them for prices that you knew were fair. Of course part of the joy in collecting is putting together a nice and thorough collection, but I think that
how we acquire notes is at least half the journey.
I also enjoyed reading your notaphily history, which mirrors mine in many ways, from essentially flying blind before the internet, to having to upgrade almost all your notes upon realizing they were not really collectible due to condition or commonness.
Thanks for sharing, and for showing the way: becoming educated, setting goals, having patience, and building relationships. Seriously, this is the good stuff that you don't get from online auctions or read in catalogues. I'd probably still be content with all the common prefixes I used to have if not for your nudging