Gone Pinnin'

Joy Magnetism, abbreviated

So I've known for a while that long-form blogging was quickly becoming archaic in this age of 140 characters or less.

Therefore, after 1,324 magnets faithfully blogged upon, I've now picked up where I left off with Magnet #1325 on the Magnets of Joy Magnetism pinboard on Pinterest. Come follow me there!

Of course, I'll miss telling all the fun stories behind the magnets, but I'm thinking this will be a great time to re-stock a treasure trove of fun stories and happy memories.

Kisses,
Funtimejoy

Blue fin

Magnet #1324 - Provincetown Blue Whale

Some friends brought this rather big whale magnet back for me from the Cape.

I've always wanted to go whale watching. Well, sorta.

I think I like the idea of whale watching, rather than the actual practice. I'm sure seeing the grandeur of a blue whale, the largest mammal on earth, would probably be all types of awesome. But, to actually go out on the open sea (already do not like), walk around decks staring into the ocean (which I kinda like), and seeing wildlife swim around me (probably would not like), is another story.

There was an incredible report about a blue whale sighting off of Provincetown last month. Sightings are rare and far between and they're not always in Cape waters - apparently the guy leading the tour has been on 6,500 whale watch trips and has only seen four of them. And this recent one was something like 75-80 feet long. I mean, whoa.

But here's something. A 2YO human could crawl through a blue whale's arteries.

I'm sorry.

WHAT?

And like, how do we know this?

Zoinks!

Magnet #1323 - Scooby Gang

"Oh, Joy. Scooby-Doo won't marry you."

- My mother, upon hearing that I was watching yet another episode of Scooby-Doo mysteries.

What? I can admit it - long into my 30s and I still love a good Scooby marathon. Honestly, when I bought this at Comic-Con a few weeks ago, I couldn't believe this is my only Scooby-Doo magnet.

You would think that watching all those Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?s growing up (and now, to be honest) would desensitize me to anything hokey scary. But nothing could be further from reality.

When I was 12ish, I beat up a Disney World attendant. To let me out of the Haunted Mansion.

When I was in college, I screamed, "You can't do this to me, I'm an American citizen!" to the Jack the Ripper dayplayer who fake grabbed me and held a fake knife to my throat at the London Dungeon.

And just this past Halloween weekend, I was laughing hysterically with tears streaming down my cheeks, literally quaking in boots and wondering if I should yell out the safeword "safety" at the fake scary Haunted House downtown.

Yep. When it comes to scaring easily, I would pretty much roll with Scooby and Shaggy, thankyouverymuch.

Do a barrel roll, Google, do a barrel role

Magnet #1322 - Loch Ness Takes Manhattan

Love this magnet my sister got me. It reminds of that latest Mashable article on the special Google Easter eggs - one of which is when you set your Google home page to the beach theme and at 3:14am Nessie comes out to play.

Mind you, I haven't done it, but it does crack me up.

As does making Google do the barrel roll.

Or going looking for Chuck Norris.

Seriously. Go read that article I linked above.

So interesting how Google has become such a presence in our lives, that we totally take it for granted. You could extend that to all of the Internet, plus mobile technology. Still...for all the wonderful things it's brought us in the last 20 years, I have to say I am still very, very, very glad that I went to college without the presence of either Facebook , mobile communications or any form of instant communications.

My UNC experience would have been so much different had they been around. And I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been for the better.

Tall tales

Magnet #1321 - Giraffe

Bought this one at NY Comic-Con a few weeks ago. Yes, yes, I know, I dunno, I end up buying the oddest magnets in the oddest of places. But NYCC has come to be the place where I buy my cute things, this giraffe being one of them. Wait til you see the rest of the set!

Just read a bunch of facts about giraffes - they have black tongues and spend 16-20 hours a day feeding, they sleep for about five minutes at a time, and no one's ever seen them bathe.

OH! And their tails are like 8 feet long! Like, I always knew giraffes were tall, but I don't think I've ever noticed how tall their tails were.

See what I did there?

Tempting fate...or, Come On, Irene

Magnet #1281 - Accidents will occur

This magnet made me laugh this morning, because as I type, I'm sitting in a rather nice but kind of ridiculous Delta gate at LGA, waiting for my noon flight. To North Carolina. In the midst of a hurricane.

Note: This silliness is only outdumb'd by me thinking I might actually make it home to NYC on Sunday night.

I'm headed to Raleigh, so that Save the World Couple and I can drive up to Richmond and meet up with DCSis for a weekend in Richmond. You know, the town that was superclose to this week's earthquake epicenter and that's now also relatively close to the Irene's path, too?

The airport's pretty calm right now, so I should be totally fine getting down to NC, but I suspect that it'll be DCSis' bus trip from DC down to Richmond that will be plagued with troubles, if not cancellation.

I'll totally admit here that I'm sad to be missing NYC in a hurricane, but at this point, nothing will stop us from heading into a hurricane to celebrate the baby sister's 30th birthday.

Ya'll stay safe out there, Eastern Seaboard!

High Line is your line, too

Magnet #1280 - Locomotive on the High Line

Back in the mid-1840s, NY said ok to having a street-level railroad tracks on 10th Avenue, but so many casualties happened during the next several decades that it became known as Death Avenue.

By the 30s, they built the High Line - an elevated train that ran from Spring Street all the way up to 34th Street.

But, as with many great public works, it went through a decline and then finally in the 60s, they started demolishing parts of it. Sad.

Thank goodness for pictures - love this pin magnet because it shows a downtown train (because that's the ESB behind it) on the elevated tracks.

What I want to do is talk to someone who actually rode that train back in the day - I bet money when they walk around at the High Line park nowadays, they're totally amazed with what they've managed to accomplish up there.

And if you haven't been to the High Line park - go when it's not crowded. For sure, the park's been discovered.

Which is a good thing...I guess.

These are the people in your neighborhood

Magnet #1279 - Starbucks coffee

I moved to New York to become anonymous. No, really. Growing up one of a handful of Asians in a small Southern town, people tended to know who you were. I'm not saying I was Justin Bieber, but you try buying alcohol at Food Lion without them saying, oh, are you Dr. so-and-so's daughter?

So yeah, on the pro list for moving to NYC after college was anonymity walking down the street. It's why I never knew my neighbors until late last year - indeed, the neighborhood restaurant delivery guys knew me more than my neighbors did.

Right. So ya'll know I have this new gig, right? In this new neighborhood? Turns out, it's actually becoming a real neighborhood, as I start to get to know all the delis within a two-block radius. So much so that the chick at my favorite deli called my breakfast purchase "my usual."

Sigh. I have a usual.

Totally freaked me out. I hate when people know too much about me (this magnetblog notwithstanding, apparently).

I'm still trying to figure out if this is a good thing, that they know exactly what I order every time I come in, almost without me having to order.

What keeps me going back in spite of having been made?

They seriously make the best. iced. coffee. on. the. planet. No joke.

My biggest pet peeve for iced coffee is when they stick some ice in the cup, then the sugar, and then the milk and then the coffee. Which means that the sugar has not a chance in hell of melting. I supertotally hate that. Like I want to walk away from the person making it, even if I've already paid for it. Ugh.

But my guy at this deli? Totally has the coffee and sugar mixed together in a separate pitcher and then mixes in the milk and ice. So. Damn. Good. It might be better than iced tea. From the South.

Ace Deli on 28th. Between 5th and Mad. Go. Now.

Awww. Sorry, Starbucks, I bet you thought this magnetpost was about you. Actually, here's a good article on Starbucks' secret menu that @avanveck forwarded on to me earlier this week.

Oddly, there was NO White Wicker Basket listed.

Authority always wins

Magnet#1274 - James I (1603-1625)

Meet James I.

As in King James Bible, which is apparently 400 years old this year.

One wonders what someone's thinking when they say..."Oh, you know what? I think I'll just issue my version of the Bible."

King James (who, as son of Mary Queen of Scots, was the King of Scotland for 36 years before he ever sat on the English throne) was a theologian as well, and had some issues with how the Puritans had interpreted the Bible, and so decided to do his own. It was only the third English version by 1611, and he used almost 50 translators to get the job done.

They must have done a good job, given that the Authorized Version became the one widely accepted.

Or, at least, accepted in hotel rooms worldwide, anyway.

Not Leaving London

Magnet #1273 - Passenger to London

The new blog Not Leaving London is one of the best things to come out of the recent London riots. It's theoretically for non-Brit London-lovers - where you submit an image and a quote about why you'd never leave London.

Here's my entry, with St. Ethelburga the Virgin, the smallest church in the City, backed by the Gherkin, the 6th tallest building in town.

The other thing to come out of London during the last few weeks is their new Tube map that's sparked map vs. diagram controversy on Fast Company. While it may help our tourists a bit more because it maps a little bit more to street level geography, folks seem to be having issues with it for just that very reason.

To be honest, if I were a local, I'd be annoyed as well. Indeed, when NYC MTA redid our transit map last year, I was nervous - we'd had the other one for so long. Part of me feels like London waited to see how NYC would take it before implementing theirs. The other part of me thinks that they just wanted a new map in time for London 2012 Olympics.

Eh, however you feel about it, it's still a pretty, pretty map...and of course now I have a reason to head back to London - need to get the new Tube map magnet!

Oh, yes. This is number two of my 24-magnet London set. What? Yes, I might try and blog them all...remember, I can't see myself breaking up a set!

You don't *get* to complain

Magnet #1272 - Grouchy Smurf

Love Grouchy Smurf. Love him. I would never want to hang out with him, but in small doses, he's great.

Although, what do you suppose he's doing with his hand behind his back? (I mean, Smurfs don't have middle fingers, right?

Picking him for today because I find it hard to believe I've never used Grouchy Smurf on this magnetblog, especially given how miserable I was the last couple of years at my old gig. Granted, the misery was my fault, and I was too lazy to do anything about it for a dozen years, but it was misery nonetheless.

I've been thinking lately about how different I am from that stranger I became over the last few years. I look at myself through the filter of folks who have met me over the last year, and I can see it. I'm happier. I smile a helluva lot more. It's nice.

But I feel for the folks left behind. Well, some of them, anyway.

It's funny because I saw a tweet from the chick who replaced me last fall, and she was tweeplaining about it being a whole two weeks since she'd left the office before 8:30 at night. Really?

First, try a whole decade of that.

Second, really? Less than a year of time served, you don't get to complain, sweetheart. Not unless Edwin the nighttime car service dispatcher knows your travel information just by the sound of your hello.

Now the idea of an all-nighter/round-robin at the office is so foreign to me. I mean, I can't believe I ever lived by the mantra of "A Coke at 8 gets me to Midnight, a Coke at Midnight gets me to 3, and then I can call Edwin to get me home to wait for me while I take a shower and come right back."

Oh, yeah, completely surprised I never used a Grouchy magnet before. I just thank God and the universe for giving me the last year to learn some hard lessons and make me appreciate that things happen for a reason, and that it'll work out in the end.

I told ya'll it'd be fine.

And it was.

Elvis and the Hell on Wheels boys

Magnet #1271 - Hell on Wheels Elvis

So when I bought this magnet down the street at Ricky's, ya'll know I was thinking, holy moly, Elvis in uniform!!!

I mean, c'mon, ya'll know I love a cuteboy in uniform. That it's Elvis makes it all the more awesome. Man, can young Elvis wear a uniform.

Then I thought, nope, someone totally photoshopped this image, only because the patch looks a little off. But, it's real.

During his time in the service, Elvis was assigned the 2nd Armored Division, Hell on Wheels, out of Fort Hood, so called because Brigadier General George S. Patton was watching maneuvers in WWII and said they'd be Hell on Wheels in battle.

Today in 1977, Elvis died at a very young 42. He'd have been 76, had he lived. I saw this morning that Doris Day in her 80s is putting out another album this year trying to make a come back, which makes me wonder whether or not Elvis would still be putting out music today.

My guess is hell yeah, and he totally would have been earning that Hell on Wheels moniker in a totally different field of battle.

The long shadow

Magnet #1270 - Madison and 34th

When I first moved here, my first job was at Berkley Publishing at 200 Madison Avenue.

Every day I'd walk across 34th street to get to my westside train, pass this exact corner on this Tiggy Ticehurst magnet of 34th and Mad and the Empire State Building and never really look up. We could see it from the bathrooms at work - I know, because somewhere I have pictures.

But to be honest, my young 22-year-old self never really took the time to look up and appreciate how cool the view was.

I would however, go there for lunch every once in a while.

Yes. Lunch.

I'd take my $4.75, walk right into the elevators with minimal security delay (try none), and eat a $3.00 hot dog with Gulden's mustard at the top of the building - all in the space of an hour.

No way you could ever do that now with forever and a day wait times and crazy tight security. But, I have to tell ya'll, it was a fantastic way to spend the lunch hour.

And now, I get to see the ESB every day again - my new gig is just a little bit south on Madison, in the 20s. So when I walk across the island for my westside train, I have an even better view. The difference is, I don't forget to enjoy it.

I love getting caught by the lights on the corners of 29th and 5th - I look up and over, and there I am, standing in her long, long shadow.

Fantastic.

Great expectations

Magnet #1269 - Treasure Island Bintan

In junior high, one of my best friends told me that my expectations were too high, and that inevitably, people would disappoint me, because it's impossible for them to live up to my standards.

This belief is likely a metastatement for every area in my life.

My sisters always mock me for always reporting back that one thing or another was just, "ok." Movies, parties, events, books, people, you name it.

Creative directors sometimes leave meetings with me feeling a little sad when I don't immediately cotton to one of their ideas, proclaiming it the best idea I'd ever seen from them.

And when friends say or do something that's incredibly disappointing to me, I take it personally. Admittedly, perhaps too personally.

In the end, my friend was right. I am inevitably disappointed by one thing or other, and have no one to blame but my great expectations.

On the other hand, it does make it all the more sweet when someone does do or create something that knocks my socks off, or impresses me to no end. You can tell when that happens - I'm usually dancing for, well, me, and generally grinning from ear to ear.

So yeah. Ya'll aim to skew that way. Please and thank you.

Oh! I picked this Treasure Island Bintan magnet today because we managed to make it through only two movies yesterday for 80s movie education day - Breakfast Club and surfer boy Spicoli's Fast Times. Did they hold up? Fairly well, actually - they're definitely a snapshot of America in a different time...but not so different that the stories, the characters and even wardrobe couldn't be found today.

And I know. Only two movies.

If ya'll know me at all, you know that as far as marathons go, even though we had a lot of fun and ate great food and hung out with fun people, I'm a little disappointed that we couldn't power through all eight movies - clearly, these friends haven't hung out with me enough to know it was totally possible.

What? It totally is!

"It's our time down here!"

Magnet #1268 - Paddington Bear's Shopping List

Spending the day in Jersey today, doing a quintessential 80s movie day for a friend of ours. Actually, a couple of friends who were only born the last 3 years of the 80s and a friend born in the new millennium, and therefore missed out on some of the best movies on the planet.

I know. 80s movies are not exactly the height of film couture (is that word even applicable here to film? whatever), but for better or worse, they're movies that defined a generation. And of course, it's our generation forcing the younger ones to pay attention today.

Not surprisingly, I owned most of the movies that we're putting up for selection, and was pleased as bunch to have an excuse to add a couple more to my movie collection. And, by no means is it an exhaustive set of choices for today, clearly there are some already seen movies that are missing (Top Gun, Raiders, Back to the Futures, etc.)...but it proves that I totes could spend days in DVD cabinet marathoning just movies from my childhood.

But on today's possible docket:

Sixteen Candles
"Duh-nuh-nuh-nuhnuh! You say it's your birthday!"

Breakfast Club
"Eat. My. Shorts."

Princess Bride
"As you wish."

Stand by Me
"Chopper! Sic balls!"

Fast Times at Ridgemont High
"All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine."

Better off Dead
"I want my two dollars!"

Goonies
"It's our time down here!"

SpaceCamp
"Whip me! Beat me! NASA's talking!"

Clearly, the ultimate test will be if the movies still resonate with the 12- and 24-year-olds coming to today's funfest. Mind you, I'm fairly sure that watching these movies (a few of which are the 25th anniversary editions, yikes) will make me realize that they were either supergreat or...not.

What's this have to do with this ultracute Paddington magnet I picked up at Paddington Station in London? Nothing much, other than I was keeping a running list in my head as to what we kept adding to the shopping lists - both for food and for movies.

Ok, I confess. Cookies, cookies are the only food on my list for today.

What?

Those are some biiiiig shoes...

Magnet #1267 - John Quincy Adams

Our sixth president had a lot of living up to, to do, methinks. I mean, when your pops is like the 2nd president ever, of the United States, yeah, those are some big shoes to fill.

But, John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) did it, serving as the 8th U.S. Secretary of State, US Ambassador to the UK, Russia, Prussia and the Netherlands, US House Representative from 3 different districts, and as US Senator from Massachusetts.

Whew.

Meanwhile, I just picked this magnet because the other day, I saw an @PeterSokolowski video that finally explains (at least for me) why we Americans have our own spellings that differ from the original English spellings.

Turns out it was Noah Webster of Merriam-Webster who gave America our own language. I won't lie, even after having spent a few years editing and converting British spelling to American spelling in romance and science-fiction books, I hadn't a clue about Webster's contribution.

Take a look:


Why the tie back to JQ? Only because it was at the Adamses library that I saw one of the original first editions of Merriam-Webster, and man I would have loved to rifle through that tome.

Yes. I'm a dork at heart. What? You couldn't tell after 1,267 magnets?

Give a what, now?

Magnet #1266 - Puerto Rican Parrot

When I was in grade school, I had the only big slumber party I was ever allowed. All my friends came over, sleeping bags and typewriters or word processors (shut it) in hand.

It was a big "let's all do our endangered species papers over at Joy's house" slumber party (again, shut it).

My paper was on the parrot, dunno if it was this Puerto Rican parrot on this magnet that my friend gave me, but it's close enough.

So, here's a heart-warming story. Apparently, these Puerto Rican parrots were down to like 10 parrots left in the world in the 1970s, which is why they were on the endangered species list in the first place.

As I was doing my research for this magnetpost, I found this article about how a zoologist from NC State University was helping reintroduce parrots back into the wild. At the time, there were only 40 or so birds left. The very last line of the article said:

"Within a decade, Collazo hopes there will be at least 100 Puerto Rican parrots in the wild."

Ya'll, that article was written in 2000.

It's now 2011. And look what this article written earlier this summer has to say about the current parrot population:

"It is difficult to pinpoint the number of birds because they are elusive and not all have functioning radio collars. But White said there are 20-25 in El Yunque, east of San Juan, and 40-70 in Rio Abajo Nature Preserve in western Puerto Rico."

Yay! That's pretty much a hundred! Talk about people giving a shit!

Yes, yes, I know - don't get me started on MTV's new social awareness campaign called give-a-shit.org. I'm pretty sure I don't know if it's real or fake...just that I want to jump out a window when I see it.

And no, no unlike this superpretty parrot, I can't fly.

You know just what it takes...@duranduran Appreciation Day

Magnet #1265 - Bintan Island

My friend brought this magnet back for me from Bintan, Indonesia. And yes, I had to look up where it was. It's an island getaway, and we all know how I feel about islands.

Anyway, picked it for Duran Duran Appreciation Day because of my John Taylor, bassist for my fave band of all, all, all time.

And also, its tropical island motif reminds me of the Save a Prayer video shot in Sri Lanka from 1982.

What? Of course, I could have used Rio, but don't get me started on how when people say they love Duran Duran, they're like, "yeah, I loved Rio." That makes me crazy.

Not that I'm much better with showing you Save a Prayer, but I haven't seen this video in ages. So, yeah, enjoy.




Although, if I'm hard-pressed, my favorite Duran Duran track might actually be New Religion, because it's so much fun to sing.

London, what up?

Magnet #1264 - Houses of Parliament and Big Ben

I'm not a Londoner.

No matter how much I want to be.

So I can't pretend to get what the hell's going on over there, no matter how much coverage I find myself watching this week.

But, it's upsetting nonetheless.

Happy #Loveswept Day!

Magnet #1263 - Authors are my rock stars

In junior high and high school, I loved Duran Duran, my band director, soap operas and my Loveswept authors.

I wrote to John Taylor, wrote a letter to the editor in our hometown paper about our band director, joined the Frisco & Felicia fan clubs and even wrote a screenplay featuring Frisco & Felicia & Sean.

But I also wrote a letter to the editors of Loveswept to find out how I could do what they do - not to be a writer, but to be an editor and work with my favorite authors.

No response, but a decade later, I became a Loveswept editor, getting my dream job very early on in life.

I never wanted to write, but I worshipped Loveswept authors like Iris Johansen, Kay Hooper, Peggy Webb, Joan Elliott Pickart, and dozens more. It was a fabulous job, working with the later generations of Loveswept authors, and really, just an honor for me - and my seventh grade self.

Because it's true, this magnet from my friend - they were my rock stars growing up - and I won't lie, they're my rock stars now.

Now that Loveswept has been relaunched today as a digital imprint, I'm looking forward to discovering more Loveswept rock stars.

Just as soon as I get an eReader.

What?

That's a whole other magnetpost!