Joy. Lighthouse keeper?

Magnet #1140 - Cape May Lighthouse

The sisters, BIL and I did a fun sidetrip out to Cape May, NJ, a couple of years ago. Saw the town, saw the houses, saw the lighthouse out at Cape May Point State Park.

It's a cool lighthouse, built just before the Civil War, but has been automated since the 1940s. Like most lighthouses struggling to survive, they charge a small fee to head up to the top of the lighthouse to see all the views of the Jersey coast. We didn't get to go up to the lookout, but apparently, I missed climbing 217 steps. Darn.

The fact that it's automated kind of makes me sad, because the hermit part of me bets I'd be an awesome lighthouse keeper. C'mon, a remote rocky point along the shore, with a tiny little house, with a great big light that I'd have to monitor at night. (I'm assuming. At least that's what the folks in Pete's Dragon had to do.)

And I'd never really have to go to the actual beach. Just stash me in the little house with a little tv, and maybe an elevator to get to the top, and I'd be good to go. Joy. Lighthouse keeper. It could work!

Though, no offense to Cape May, but I couldn't be there, because apparently, it's one of the best places to go birding during the fall migration. Birding. Um. NO.

Of course, there aren't any birds in my Cape May pictures...save for those three weirdos below.

In the sky with Lucy

Magnet #874 - Lucy the Elephant

Or not, as the case may be.

My friend brought back this Lucy the Elephant magnet for me from Margate, NJ, just a few miles down the road from Atlantic City.

Just so happens I already magnetblogged on this very same roadside attraction! Tell me you're surprised.

A couple of years ago, the AGE10 and I went down the shore (can I say that if it's AC? That's still Jersey Shore, right?), and we totally dropped by after I spied Lucy's thingamabob (there has to be a proper name for that thing) poking into the air.

It's actually one of my big Jersey regrets (don't we all have those?) - that we went only to the gift shop and not up into the belly of the elephant. It must be supercool up in there.

Actually, now that I think about it, it'd be superawesome to like, live, up in there. How cool would that be!

What's your address?

Nah, you don't need an address. I live in the elephant over on Atlantic Avenue!

The tiger stands defender*

Magnet #554 - Princeton Tigers

There was a time I knew the mascot of every single NCAA men's basketball team between the ACC, Big East, Pac-10, SEC, Big 10, and the Big Eight. Yes, it was that long ago.

Seriously. A boy's dream girlfriend - I could list inane stats of the top 10 Div I ballers. After all, it's only expected of a Carolina Girl.

Well, not really. Really, it was because I had the best summer internship - ever. Editorial intern at the publishing house that put out the college basketball previews for most of the conferences listed above. Had to read behind everyone as a last check - on the stories, the players, the stats.

So. Much. Fun. And, they also put out those fabulous commemorative hardcovers for the NCAA basketball champions every year, and they had this terrific library - read, skids of boxes - of past books.

I managed to score the Carolina '93 book, as well as the Carolina '82 book. And of course, I gave them both away to the wrong boy. Man, those would be collectors' items now. Sigh.

Anyway. My friend went out to Princeton for an event, and picked up this Princeton Tiger for me. Supercute! Whiiiiiich is probably not what they were going for in terms of fighting tigers. He looks like he could kill me with his little smirky smirk going on there. Hah.

Actually, years ago, UNC redesigned their mascot, for almost the same reason. The old ram was too lovable looking and meek. And so they changed him to be all mean and unhappy, and quite frankly, scary.

I picked this guy for today because a couple of nights ago, I was talking with some friends about the mascots they had over the years. Interestingly, my sampling of a dozen people yielded several Eagles and Mustangs, Cardinals and Bulldogs. Some of the odder ones were the Wallabies, the Maroons, the Blue and the Aztecs.

Though, my all-time favorite? The Hot Rods. Yeah. Good thing that was an elementary school. Any older and we'd be making jokes all the way through the last buzzer!

*From one of the Tiger fight songs. What? I just got done saying I'm a Carolina Girl, I'm not going around spouting off other people's fight songs!

A smile makes you go a mile!

Magnet #533 - Angry Little Girls' Damn, I'm Cute Button-nosed Smiley Face

Love this ALG magnet. Yet again, one that I made, since I can't get ALG to make them. Sigh.

Anyway - except for it not being a little Asian girl, this magnet fits perfect for today, as I spent all day with my super, supercute cousins and their friend in Jersey, making videos and stuff for a work thing.

It was a hoot, pretending we had our own little production company, running around setting up shots all over the house and the playground. The four of them were great in front of the camera - of course, my little divas were laughing and giggling, singing and goofing around.

It was a very much-needed day, after the last couple of crappy ones. As my 12-year-old cousin says, a smile makes you go a mile!

It's so funny how much our families are alike. My aunt and my mom have some of the same mannerisms and phrases, and they haven't lived in the same house for longer than I've been alive! And, my cousins and sisters and me share a lot in common as well...and I can't figure out if that's birth order, or that we're first-gen Filipinos, or if it's a simple case of nature/nurture, or whatever.

Either way, it was a blast hanging out with the girls, watching their silliness, and hearing their hopes and dreams...all the while, learning that I'm waaaay too old. Or, not old enough.

eta:
Eeeeeeep! I knew it would happen! I actually duped a magnet! I thought I'd used that ALG Damn, I'm cute magnet before! Shoot. My failsafe system, not quite so failsafey! No worries, at least I realized before the end of the day! Searching for a new one asap.

eta2:
Whew. Like I don't have a million smiley faces! I know you're shocked. Anyway, I musta had this one for years and years - it used to play You Are My Sunshine when you press his button nose, but sadly it sings no more.

Brand new day in New Jersey

Magnet #417 - The Toxic Avenger Musical

I was luckily enough to get a great seat to The Toxic Avenger Musical last week, where I picked up this keychain magnet.

I'd never seen the 80s movie, so I went in completely blind. All I knew, was that it was supposed to be funny and campy. And it was. Hilariously so.

From the moment the story opens in Tromaville, NJ, you're just not allowed to rest. The story was totally fast-paced, you don't stop head-bopping and toe-tapping until the end. I swear, it's a good several hours before the songs leave your head.

I had thought of giving ya'll a rundown of the characters, but then I realized there were just too many memorable ones. The actors were superb - and with only five people playing all the roles, that's saying something. That's all I'm going to say, without giving away the game. Dudes. I can't even imagine the quick changes and in general running around backstage. Bravo.

I'll come right out and say it. I love a boy with a guitar - bass, electric, acoustic. Doesn't matter. I love a boy with a guitar. Always have (see: Ode to John Taylor). The band was super awesome, the songs were terrific, and they totally rocked the house (which I can say with a straight face, given the 80s vibe overall).

The set design? The production itself? FanTASTic. I guess on so small a stage (at the New World Stages - I think I saw Braveheart there back in the day), you need to be superinventive. Dang, did these guys make the most of that stage - up to and including the vertical real estate as well. Amazing. And just damned clever.

So, what didn't I like? It's nitpicky, silly relating only to me, stuff.

Remember, I was a romance editor, so I was never sold on the love story.

And, well, there's a reason that I don't watch any of the CSIs. A reason why I totally look away during about 25% of Bones. I was sitting so close (in an already tight theatre), that I could see every little gross dangly thing hanging from Toxie's body. Ewwwww. Makeup/costuming - well done, you!

Also, while I loved the loud music, I winced every time Toxie growled. He was too loud.

Finally, I was a little put off by the violence and implied violence. But, that's me. I get upset when people raise their voice. Don't get me wrong - some of it was hysterically funny, ripping off of limbs and whatnot. Some of it was just too over the top.

I know! I'm like the oldest mid-30s chick you ever did meet!

I'll tell you one thing, though - the little boy seated beside me enjoyed the hell out of the show.

As did I.

I will say that one thing pissed me off more than anything...New World Stages are so close, that the audience is literally looking up actors' noses. (In fact, the little boy told his dad that Toxie was still breathing, when he wasn't supposed to be.) But, during the pivotal moment at the end, where the Sarah has Toxie lying in her arms, and all eyes were at stage center, like 2 feet from the edge - some jackass in the middle of the 2nd row stood up, and excused himself.

I gasped aloud at the utter rudeness of it, as did many others. Seriously, I wanted to smack that guy. But you know what? The two actors, particularly blind Sarah, handled it well - they didn't miss a beat. So, bravo, Sarah and Toxie. Bravo.

Anyway, definitely check out the show, but go to the bathroom first. Don't want to pee in your pants from laughter.

What? It's a blogreview, man, not the New York Times. I'll tell it like it is, thank you.

Lights on. Lights off.

Magnet #280 - Tanglewood Park

Most people know Tanglewood Park in North Carolina for its fabulous golf course. At our house, we know it only for one thing. Or millions, actually.

Every year on the Friday night after Thanksgiving, we go to Tanglewood Park to see the lights. It's just what you do, you pile everyone you can into the big blue van, and you twist your way through 4 miles of park and 180 lighted displays.

There's the really fun part, where you all get to hang out with your family in very close quarters, while you all ooooh and ahhhh over the pretty, pretty lighted displays, while playing holiday music in the speakers that only work up front. But, the best part is that you get to just sit in the car the whole time, the ultimate lazy attraction! (Unless, of course, you want to do that free hayride. Outside. Out in the cold. Uh. No.)

Then, there's the not as fun part, with the stops and starts and the exhaust fumes of the cars ahead that give you motion sickness and a case of nausea in the close-quartered car, cars breaking down (sometimes your own), and oh, there's part where you're actually driving in a circle...watching lights.

And yet, every year we go. Scratch that. Suddenly my sisters and I, adults now, have found excuses not to go. Napping's a good one. TV's a better one. There's inevitable guilt leaving our younger cousins to the mercies of my mother and Tanglewood, but hey, you just gotta do what you can to save your own skin.

This year's the first Thanksgiving and Black Friday in a while that I'm not spending in North Carolina. I'm posting from New Jersey...having just spent the morning cursing the Bergen County Blue Laws that prohibit any big box stores to open before 7am, despite what the ads and the flyers say.*

But, I gotta admit that there's a little part of me that kinda sorta misses the pretty-pretty lights.

Kinda.

Sorta.

Though, my cousin and I just did ALL of Tanglewood. Here! Seriously. Just like seeing it live! But in 8 minutes!

Awesome.



*Dudes. Seriously. Bergen County, NJ. Get with the program. It's Black Friday. You see us outside in the middle of the night, lining up outside of Best Buys and Targets. Turn your lights on, and let us in. I honestly can't believe you're letting some silly old law cost you millions in tax revenues lost during those 3-4 hours that everywhere else is open!

Shopaholics in Jersey

Magnet #253 - Sense of Living is Joy Enough

Economists might say we're going into a recession and that the Middle Class is dying, but they should take a peek into the big box stores and malls of New Jersey.

Having now spent two Saturdays there straight, it becomes apparent that people aren't having as much trouble spending money as Washington or Wall Street think.

Based on these two shopping days, some random observations:

• The sales are insane.
• The lines are even worse.
• Sales people are being outnumbered almost everywhere.
• The higher-end and non-essentials stores aren't enjoying as much of the crowds.
• Ikea dinners are cheap and awesome. The meatballs even awesomer. But the Daim torte is awesomest.
  
• Christmas has come too early - in every store. I'm surprised Santa's not already hanging out in the center.
  
• Joy seems to have been extricated from Christmas, as evidenced by the lack of items with my name on it. (Mind you, that doesn't have a thing to do with the economy, but tragic, nonetheless.)

Anyway, fun days, shopping. Or rather, watching other people shop.

Turn left! Turn left!

Magnet #164 - Lucy the Elephant

It's summer, and the best time of year for roadtrips and sidetrips, so I thought I'd do a little miniseries on Roadside Attractions.

For those of you who don't know, there are a TON of roadside attractions here in the States, so much so that there's an entire web site (and indeed, culture) devoted to these weird places of interest. These are the forgotten, or little-known, attractions that you find along the way to your real destinations. The serendipitous pieces of history that time and major highways forgot. The unplanned (or sometimes, planned, if you're me) detours that add on a couple hours to your trip. The wacky pitstops that, when you woke up that morning, you never imagined you'd be standing in the shadow a 65-foot elephant with a funny french manicure.

So, on Saturday, as we were headed down the Jersey shore, I was sitting in the backseat, minding my own business, when suddenly I saw a roadsign for Lucy the Elephant, with an arrow pointing left. As we moved through the traffic light, I was a little puzzled, and more than a little intrigued, when toward my left I saw one of those seats (a giant one, floating in the air) that you put on top of an elephant, peeping above the buildings.

I yelled out, "Turn left! We have to turn left!" I'm quite sure that my sister and her fiance thought I was joking, because of the Turn Left episode of Doctor Who, where Donna Noble changed the entire course of history by turning right, instead of left. When they realized I was serious, the fiance hurriedly turned left two blocks down, and we began to instinctively navigate back to where I saw the giant, disembodied elephant seat...with me bouncing in the backseat like a kid going to a candy store.

And what we found was Lucy the Elephant, of Margate, NJ!!!!

OMG. She was fanTASTic! How often do you accidentally run across a giant elephant on the way to wherever you're going? So we stopped. I'm sad to report that I did not do the tour of the inside of Lucy, but we did go into the little shop - hence the little magnet, which I freakin' love.

So why is there a 65-foot elephant in the middle of the Jersey Shore? Well, the real history's is here at her official site. But, basically, a real estate developer back in the 1880s wanted to attract attention to his properties in the area. And so he built a giant freakin' elephant to get people from far and wide to come.

And, 127 years later, it's registered as a National Historic Landmark, and people are still coming from far and wide to see Lucy.

Down the Jersey Shore

Magnet #163 - Cape May, NJ

Soooo, yesterday, if you'd said that I'd spend my sister's big birthday weekend down the Jersey Shore, I'd probably have laughed at you. Mostly, because ya'll know how I detest beaches. But also because for some reason beyond me, I didn't associate either Atlantic City or Cape May, NJ, part of the Jersey Shore.

Clearly, both are next to the water, but I just didn't think about it.

We spent much of today in Cape May - the only town in all of America designated as a historic landmark - looking at the supercute Victorians, visiting the lighthouse, running around the little shops, and yes, walking on the beach and even(!) dipping a toe or two or ten in the freezing cold Atlantic.

The best surprise of yesterday was a giant elephant (yep, I'll eventually get to that in a later magnetpost), but the coolest surprise of today was seeing a World War II bunker on the beach. I've been to Normandy, and seen the WWII bunkers there, so, seeing a bunker on a beach shouldn't have been so jarring. But, I honestly hadn't a clue that we had our own bunkers on U.S. soil. How cool is that. A little scary, but still cool.

Also a little scary? How much food one can consume in a weekend. Between the Philly cheesesteak taste tests between Pat's and Geno's in Philly (jury's still out), the Borgata buffet (pretty damn good, though the Bellagio's better), and seafood (seeing as how it was the beach) along the shore, I'm surprised I didn't just roll down the railroad tracks back up to NYC. Yikes.

Meet me tonight in Atlantic City

Magnet #125 - Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ

Today in 1870, they opened the first section of the Atlantic City Boardwalk. That stretch of beach developed pretty rapidly, with luxurious hotels, retail shops and fine restaurants and other attractions, making AC the coolest thing on the eastern seaboard - a turn-of-the-century playground for the rich and famous.

Now, that same boardwalk is still there - the hotels, shops and restaurants have all come and gone and come again, and people still make their way to AC with the sole purpose of having fun.

Well, that, and to win their fortune at the slots, I suppose. Of course, AC is trying to make itself a little more family friendly, but to me, it just feels a little seedier now, and when compared to Vegas, it seems to give off an air of desperation.

What's funny is that the last time we went, I made my sister traipse up and down the boardwalk, following the trail that Danny Ocean followed inside the Trump casino, buying saltwater taffy, visiting the mall with the requisite (and a little sad) water fountain show. After that, I took her off the boardwalk, and over to the Borgata.

It was like watching a heavenly chorus of angels, the way she lit up at the happy place that IS the Borgata. Why? Well, for starters, it's the sister hotel to my beloved Vegas Bellagio. And, the majority, if not all, of the glasswork is done by my beloved Chihuly. And, honestly? It just feels nicer than anything on the boardwalk.

Well, at least until their slots eats all your money.

Chivalry. Rivalry. Revelry. Jersey?

Magnet #109 - Medieval Times

Leave it to America to commercialize the hell out of history...we love doing it to our own (National Treasures 1 and 2, HBO's John Adams). But, we also love doing it to other countries' history and cultures, too (Epcot, Busch Gardens). And, really, who hasn't been to a Renaissance Fair in the last ten years.

However, one of the best examples of commercializing the past, is Medieval Times. For those of you who haven't been - it's where you pay a lot of real money to go to a fake castle, sit in a real grandstand, to watch fake knights on real horses participate in a somewhat real jousting tournament hosted by fake royalty, while eating a real (and pretty darn good) chicken dinner with your real hands.

I. LOVE. IT. It's so darn cheesy that you can't help but have loads of fun. And, I'll admit to falling a little bit for the romantic ideals of knights of the realm.

You get color-assigned to a knight's team, and he's your knight for the night, as he goes through the knights' competition - throwing the javelin, hand-to-hand combat, and then the jousting. There's even a whole overarching storyline of royal intrigue and betrayal. And, if you're really lucky, you have a supercute knight. The funny thing is, that the actors are so genuinely into their roles, you sort of forget that they're actors. Which makes them very, very good...or me, very, very gullible.

Here's what I want to know. One has to wonder if Medieval Times exists in Europe. The closest I've seen for myself was a big military tournament at Earl's Court in London many years ago. And, I know they have Highlander festivals throughout Scotland. Oh! And then there's that game that's not quite football that's played over miles and miles of hill and dale for days and days - again in Scotland (or at least according to the last book I read).

But, I gotta wonder if there's anything that's as commercially cheesy as Medieval Times in the land of medieval times, or is it yet another thing that we've co-opted for our own amusement.

I chose MT for today's magnet, because last year, we went to the fake castle in Jersey (!) to celebrate a friend's birthday last year. So much fun to be had, right down to the official roll call of birthday announcements.

Speaking of: Happy birthday, Ro!

eta: Huh. I just looked at the history of MT. It's the 25th anniversary. And started in Majorca. Who knew?