LOLs is Joy

Magnet #1288 - Laughter is Joy

LOVE this magnet.

The second I found it on CafePress (during one of their insane magnet sales), I knew I had to buy it.

It's so true! Ok, fine, maybe only when it comes to me.

I mean, I spent a whole weekend bugging the crap out of STWsis by laughing out loud over things and quickly covering with "Nothing!" or "Never mind!"

I'm always laughing at something, I think. Can't help it when something strikes me funny!

I found myself giggling at my desk again today. Only instead of cuteboy account execs over the wall from me, I have a whole team of 20somethings sitting behind me in the social media command center who hear me giggle softly and not-so-softly to myself.

I can't even remember what made me laugh this morning, just that something struck me funny, and I had to mentally remind myself I wasn't alone to laugh out loud.

Usually it doesn't stop me...so at some point in my life, I know I'm just gonna be that crazy old broad laughing to herself in the corner.

And ya'll can say you knew me when, I guess.

*giggles*

Poor little Catholic girl

Magnet #1157 - Unleash your joy

I wanted something non-denominational for this Easter Sunday, and figured this Kelly Rae Roberts inspirational magnet fits the bill.

Unleash your joy
Embrace your truth
Pick more wild flowers
Leap fearlessly
Collect moments of kindness

Lovely.

So, today, I learned something about Easter.

Last night, I saw so many Tweets about parents getting drunk and hiding Easter eggs for their kids, and was totally confused.

Ya'll, I kid you not that until this morning, when several friends posted FB pictures of their kids finding the eggs, I didn't realize that parents actually hid Easter eggs around their own house for their kids to find on Easter morning.

I've never done an Easter egg hunt at my house. Ever. In fact, I don't think my parents have ever bought those plastic eggs. Besides that, a friend pointed that that it might be we do public hunts down here, that maybe it's just a Southern thing - that our hunts are generally held in parks or churches.

I wouldn't know, really - I mean, I can seriously count on one hand how many egg hunts I've been on. And that's counting taking my baby cousins to Central Park for their egg pick-up hunt just a few years ago.

It's crazy, I know. I mean, I always knew about the Easter baskets and I've had pictures taken with the Easter bunny, but I've never known about the morning egg hunts around the house.

For as long as I can remember, though, I've always been superjealous of kids with their Easter baskets and eggs and chocolate bunnies. Once when I was little, I made the mistake of asking why I didn't get a basket or candy.

Totally got the religious lecture about Easter, and that they would never understand the tradition of bunnies and candy, and that therefore, no, we would not have baskets or candy in our house. Ever. I was crushed.

One visit to the Philippines during Easter week proved how serious they take this holiday, with procession after procession, men carrying actual crosses in the streets and being whipped, men getting tied to crosses, a giant Judas being burned in effigy to the jeers of large crowds, kissing of someone's feet (note: I did not go to this, so I dunno if it was real feet, or a statue), novena after novena, stations after stations of the cross, mass after mass. After mass after mass.

It was non-stop.

So yeah, no basket or candy for me. Ever.

Poor little Catholic girl, I know.

Oiy. Thank goodness they never had a problem with Santa.


eta:
Update. Would you look at that. Still absolutely no remorse from my mommy for not giving me baskets and candy over the years.

eta2:
Clarification. I should mention that it really was just my parents - there are plenty of lucky Filipino kids whose parents embraced the bunny and all his accouterments. Sigh. But this post notwithstanding, no, I'm not bitter at all.

A joy by any other character...

Magnet #1146 - Joy

I used to have this friend who was always wary of being around people who were not speaking English. She was always convinced they were talking about her.

I mean, clearly that was just her being paranoid (except when those folks really were talking about her), but I gotta say, I kinda have the same wariness when it comes to buying anything that's supposed to be my name in another language. You just never know if it really says Joy.

For example, I once compared the character on this JOY magnet to the other stuff that my friends and I brought back from Hong Kong. Between this magnet and the JOY ink stamp they brought, plus the JOY I had etched into an ivory pendant, I could swear, it's never the same character. And I'm afraid to check the special art frames at Target or Bed Bath or anywhere else, because who knows if they really match JOY, either.

You could argue that it could be several different languages and/or dialects that are being used, I suppose. Mind you, I don't really care.

Honestly, if it has my name on it, I totally buy it anyway.

I'm just sayin' if you see my name in another language, and you know for a fact that it doesn't say what I think it says...don't tell me.

Ignorance is joy, apparently.

joy magnetism: Year 3, Roll of the dice

Magnet #1096 - Joy in Las Vegas

Not sure if I picked up this magnet myself, or if someone gave it to me, but I figured it was appropriate for me beating the odds. Did you know that something like 95% of all blogs are abandoned? Or that most blogs are abandoned within months of inception?

On February 22, 2008, I giggled to myself, having figured out a way to avoid creating a superdorky Excel spreadsheet to inventory all the magnets in my ever-growing collection. Instead, I created this superdorky magnetblog called joy magnetism. (A name, which made me giggle even harder, as I said to myself, joy magnetism. Geddit?)

Three years later, here I sit, writing about my 1,096th magnet.

Who woulda bet that I could have stuck this out this long?

Or shoot, have this many magnets to talk about?

Thanks very much, everyone who has ever read, posted, or contributed to the blog and/or the collection!

The very definition of...

Magnet #900 - joy definition

...me! You'll note that the last few days of my posts have actually been pretty upbeat and positive, and in general, more joyful than they have been in the last year or so. And, that fact alone gives me more "happiness, delight, elation, pleasure, glee and merriment," than anything else right now. It's a good thing! It's a joy thing.

And speaking of a joy thing.

Ya'll. I'm at 900 magnets. A hundred shy of a thousand. Sure, it doesn't put me in league with that magnet lady of Vegas (she stopped counting at 40,000 magnets, back in 2008), but it's kinda getting scary now.

Up until just over a week ago, I had my magnets here at home, plus up on two locker walls in my cube at work. Since I had to decamp from that cube, all of those "overflow" magnets are now sitting in a pretty big and heavy Verizon bag inside a giant Green Hornet bag (thank you, again, Sony Pictures Entertainment, for the timely giant tote bag from SDCC).

One of my projects over the next few weeks of free time is to figure out what to do with my magnets, because no amount of reconfiguring the dozen metallic surfaces of my apartment will give me enough room for the magnets I just brought home. Annnnd, I suppose it doesn't help that whenever I see a good scrapbook sticker - such as this one I bought in Staten Island last week - I like to make a good magnet out of it.

Oiy. And, it's not even like I have a car to put magnets on, either!

eta:
Double oiy. I'm unpacking that giant Green Hornet bag, and there's not just one, but two bags of magnets! Sheesh. I wonder if the walls of a storage place are metallic.

THE DECISION

Magnet #867 - Sports Legends Joy

Yeah. You know why I'm using this magnet. What a silly 35 minutes that was.

On our impromptu visit to Baltimore, we opted to forgo the Sports Legends Museum, but I bet it's awesome. And I bet LeBron's up in there, too.

Whew. Now. Aren't ya'll glad we have the answer to that burning question?

Hah. Burning.

Hah. Heat.

Geddit?

Are you surprised?

Magnet #860 - Pink Joy

Nooooo, you can't tell me you're surprised that this magnet is the reason I bought that magnet set from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts that I talked about yesterday.


eta:
Sorry for the short & sweet - got hit with a cold this week and am fevery and sniffly today, the day I was supposed to go back to work after a week off.

And, though it turns out that I probably got it from my STW BIL this past weekend, I'm really starting to believe in the physical manifestations of environmental (work) stress/distress.

Hollywood and Joy

Magnet #826 - Hollywood Joy

Dudes. I have a whole half of a board devoted to these silly personalized magnets. I mean, discounting the fact that I love magnets with my name on them, I just want to keep collecting these for the cheesiness of it all. I never pass up a chance to pick one up.

So, yeah. A whole half of a board. And I'm thinking shoot, by now, I must have magnetblogged all of them before. Nu-uh. Dudes! I have like a dozen I haven't used! Whoa.

Also? Yay!

Anyway, I wanted to use this for today because tonight, I'm hoping to see Top Gun. I know! I love it, too! But more awesome than just rewatching the movie for the zillionth time?

Watching it on board the Flight Deck of the Intrepid! The Flight Deck! Of the Intrepid! I mean, I shoved off a whole road trip to NC to early morning Saturday, so that I could see Maverick and Goose take to the skies with "Danger Zone" underscoring the ride.

Top Gun was part of my group project for the lone film class I took at Carolina. Basically, we took pivotal scenes from various movies and re-scored them with different tracks. For Top Gun, we took out "Take my Breath Away," and inserted Jimmy Buffett's "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw." So funny how the scene takes on a whole different tone based on the score.

Hello. A+!

eta:
Mind you, when the (PG) movie first came out? I was just into my teens, and my parents refused to let me go see it in the theatres. They heard about the French kissing scene.

Uh. Yeah. I was like French what? Heh.

eta2:
Sigh. Looks like work just doesn't seem to want to agree with anyone. Guess I'll be packing (which I need to do anyway) with Maverick and Goose at my place, rather than the Intrepid. And, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Two years later...

Magnet #731 - Joy to the world

This night two years ago, I decided to start a blog.

Nope, I still don't believe that I have two years' worth of magnets to keep this joy magnetism going. Probably helps that I keep making things that aren't magnets, like this little plaque a friend gave me, into magnets.

Anyway, you'll see a bit of a color palette change, though I'm not entirely happy with it, and reserve the right to switch it up. Probably won't happen before March 23rd, when I'll be able to sleep again, but we'll see.

Thanks to all of you who have read, commented, encouraged and even reviled me; thanks for sending me magnets and contributing content; thanks for hanging out with me for these last 730 magnets!

Where do we go from here?

Magnet #700a, b and c - Joy tiles, take two

Totally have another set of these from earlier, but these count as separate, because I bought a set, and then got a set from my BFF a while ago. Totally. Counts.

Yay, happy 700th magnet!!!

I know, I copped out again, using another joy magnet as I always do, but did you expect any different?

Yep. That's what I thought.

Having now blogged on 700 magnets, I've felt compelled to face the possible end in site for joy magnetism. I mean, in my first post, I mentioned that this blog could certainly sustain itself for at least two years. But I didn't count on being given and/or making magnets for myself. Surely, I must be on the back nine of my collection, though.

So the questions remain.

How many magnets do I have in the collection? How long will the magnets last? Should I go out at 1,000? Should I just keep going til the last magnet is standing?

Eh, I look forward to figuring it out. Of course, I did just find out late last night that photobucket lets me download my magnet images in hi-rez! That means my magnetbook will totally have hi-rez images!

What magnetbook, you ask? Eh, the one that's gonna get written. In. My. Head. Hahahaha.

Happy 700th magnet - and thanks for playing along!

eta:
I was going to use my shiny new George Clooney magnet for today's post, but USPS didn't get here in time.

But, that's ok. We'll wait to see what the returns are from my boyfriend's Hope For Haiti Now telethon. I'm sure it'll be gangbusters. It's George and friends, after all!

600 days later...

Magnet #600 - Joy in New York

Please.

Like ya'll didn't think I'd use a joy magnet today.

Happy 600th magnet to me!

To infinity...and beyond!

Magnet #514 - Griffith Observatory

I wonder, if when they built this observatory in the 30s that they knew that mankind would eventually reach the moon. There's something so romantic about a world where we'd barely reached the skies, much less the moon.

Growing up, one of the tall tales mom told me was that the day that mankind landed on the moon (40 years ago, happy anniversary, Apollo 11), she was working on a patient who was coding. They finally revived the patient, but when they told him about the moon landing, the guy went out again.

No lie, I was like 8 or 9 when I heard that story, so I totally believed it. What can I say, I was gullible.

Here's something else I can't believe. For whatever reason, I don't have a NASA magnet. But, we make do.

We visited the Griffith Observatory, named for Griffith J. Griffith (goodness), a few years ago, and I dimly remember walking around in it, but not necessarily taking a tour. It had the musty feel of a National Parks building, with aging glass displays, and 70s typefaces.

Still, it was supercool seeing where the Rebel didn't have a cause, where Paula Abdul and Keanu Reeves shot Rush Rush, and where the Rocketeer and the Autobots rallied to save the day.

Raindrops and roses

Magnet #500 - 100% Happy, 100% Joy

Yay! 500!

I do love that I'm blogging on my 500th magnet with a magnet that I made. It's from one of those bottlecap sets that you can buy at like a Michael's or a Jo-Ann's, only I just stuck a magnet on the back, rather than making it into a pin.

I guess if I'd made it into a pin, it would have been like the little bottlecap Mr. Fredricksen gave to Russell on UP. Speaking of UP, I'm gonna go against the grain, and say that it wasn't my favorite Pixar movie. In fact, I fell asleep.

I know! It's a total unpopular opinion!

But, I suspect you'll find that a lot here on joy magnetism, because if there's one thing that I try to do in my life, it's stay true to myself and what I love - no matter how dorky or unpopular or obsessed people think it makes me.

So in honor of my 500th magnet, a review of my 500 favorite things - hahahhah, no, just kidding, only a handful, really. In no particular order: (cue Sound of Music music)

1. Architecture. Frank Lloyd Wright. McKim, Mead & White. Zaha Hadid. Frank Gehry. Daniel Burnham. Philip Johnson. Louis Sullivan. I.M. Pei. My taste runs the gamut, I just know what I like.
2. Magnets. joy magnetism. Nuff said.
3. Tours. I love them. I would take a tour of a paper bag, if it were given.
4. Television/film. I love them both. Love opening weekends, and no matter how much I weed out, there's a baseline of at least 30 hours of tv each week. Except reality. Hate. Kinda meta, methinks.
5. Travel, roadtrips and Roadside America. Practically grew up in a van, and there's nothing better than discovering some lost byway and crazy tourist trap. Here. Or abroad.
6. Books. Yes. When I'm not doing any of the above, I love a good book. Who doesn't?
7. Chocolate. No one understands how I can keep bags and jars of chocolate at my desk and not gobble it up. Psst. It's because I don't share the good stuff.
8. Duran Duran. I know! It's crazy that my little boyband from the 80s can still make a girl squee.
9. Trains. They're awesome. If I could train everywhere, I would.
10. George Clooney. And various and sundry cuteboys. If I list them, gravy, we'd be here for days. Just know: Cuteboys. Uniforms. Big guns. (No, not those guns.)
11. Doctor Who. Ten is my Doctor, and if David Tennant decides to do the big-screen DW while Matt Smith does BabyEmoDoctor Eleven on tv, that'll be interesting. (I'm thinking that this last one shouldn't count, since arguably, it's only been within the last three years or so. It could just be a fleeting thing that ends when David hits the road.)

There you have it. The oddest combination of me I can think of - even my best friend in the world giggles at some of the things I get into. And she's known me since we were in Kindergarten.

But even she doesn't share half of these things with me. And she shouldn't - that's what makes us friends, each bringing something different to the table.

Huh. I feel like I just filled out an online dating profile. Hahahah.

Anyway, happy 500! And they thought it wouldn't last.

eta:
Heh. Upon completing the labels for this post, I realized that I had existing labels for just about every item above, which I guess just means I'm pretty consistent in the things I talk about here, the places I go, and the things that interest me. Yay, consistency, I suppose.

Biggest little city

Magnet #400 - Joy in Reno

I've never been to Reno, but from what I could tell, in the ranks of casino towns, it's just above Atlantic City, but way below Vegas.

If I were to be completely honest, were I to visit Reno, I'd be spending a goodly portion of my time just sitting in front of the slot machines. For some reason, I think I can control the spins of the machine...just by pressing the buttons. It's actually kind of sad, really, how quickly I can go through a roll of quarters.

But, according to the Reno-Tahoe travel website, there's some fun stuff to do in Reno.

There's the National Automobile Museum (whose site doesn't work so well) and the Nevada Museum of Art (whose logo is cute as a button - confusing to the eye, but still cute), plus at least half a dozen historic buildings to visit (including a building that was given by the state of California, for the Transcontinental Highway Exposition).

What? We all know that I love the fun sights to see in any town.

Here's another - the Lake Mansion, owned by the founders of Reno, which apparently has been jacked up and moved a couple of times in its 132-year history. So funny. And they say it might be haunted. Really? Did the ghosts move with them? I'd bet the ghosts are slightly confused by their surroundings - maybe they need Melinda Gordon from Ghost Whisperer to help them out?

Oh. There's also a bunch of outdoor stuff, like skiing and golf.

Umm, yeah. See how I didn't even pay attention to any of that stuff?

One wonder after another*

Magnet #373 - Niagara Falls Joy

It's a weekend in Canada, I guess.

I was going to tell ya'll about the time I convinced a friend of mine that they had the ability to turn off Niagara Falls on holidays and national emergencies...but it looks like I've already done that here. Still a great story.

But, here's another one - apparently, back in 1848, there was an ice jam upriver, and the flow stopped for several hours. People were able to run out on to the riverbed! Neat.

Feels like the falls are something that everyone should do once in their lifetime. There's three of them, really - the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls and then the Canadian Horseshoe Falls, but everyone just knows them as Niagara Falls.

I do love visiting them, because they're so freakin' massive, and like the Grand Canyon, it just gives you a little perspective on our little place on this planet.

Ride the Maid of the Mist tour boat, and it's even more apparent that humans are just specks on this earth.

Which is odd, given how much of an impact we have on it.

*I just stole Niagara's tourism site tagline. Heh. Shameless.

There'll be another Carolina victory

Magnet #346 - Basketball Hall of Fame Joy

So I tried to look up who had more folks in the Basketball Hall of Fame - Carolina or Duke.

Then I saw this headline from SI.com, and thought, eh, who cares. Hehehehe. In the words of one of my guys at work, good win.

Of course, it's that same guy who faithfully reports the Carolina scores to me after every game. I always feel bad, because I'm a big Tar Heel fan, but I rarely watch the games.

Here's why: When I started watching the game, the score started to plummet, and Dook was up at the half. Then I skipped the rest of the game, and we won 101-87.

See how much power I have? I know! So, that's me, takin' one for the team.

If you have a chance, definitely head up to Springfield, MA, for the Hall of Fame. It's a terrific building, but also, a really great set up. It's kinda like the Guggenheim - you just take the elevator up to the top, and the work your way down the chronological order of the inductees. I love looking at the memorabilia from the players and coaches. Make sure you go with enough time to spend, and with no kiddie distractions.

A bit pricey, but worth going if you're at all a basketball fan.

Oh! And since you're in the neighborhood, definitely check out the nearby Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden and the museums surrounding it.

Manic Monday

Magnet #353 - Joy

There are those days like today, when the commute is wonderful.

Where you catch every elevator, every train, every connection, and even every elevator on the other side. Where people cooperate and don't lollygag, and no one's pushing or shoving. And where even the loud talkers aren't around.

Those days should be celebrated.

And then you get to work, and it's crap. But whatevs, man, I had a lovely commute this morning.

Of course, there's something telling when your commute in New York City is the highlight of your day.

JOY-ful!

Magnet#342 - Joyful Heart

So like I said, I've been in an intro- and retrospective mood lately.

I was saving this magnet for some cheerful news, but my sister saw it, and it reminded her of our piano teacher Mrs. Louise Pinnix, who always used to call me "JOY-ful!" in her fabulous Southern accent - which I will always hear in my head for as long as I live. (She used to call my sisters, Tiger. I'm convinced it was just to keep from having to tell them apart. Heh.)

The three of us took piano from her for more than a dozen years each, and besides piano, she taught me words like mazurka, and alla turka, and gaddabout, and about people like Tchaikovksy and Bartok.

She was ever the consummate minister's wife, leading pilgrimages to the Holy Land every so often. And, I'm sure that job gave her the patience of Job, because we were all such a handful.

She'd enter us in state contests, make us recital each year, and gave us funny little composer busts every year for Christmas. And she scolded me all the time for not practicing, something I absolutely hated doing.

Which is funny, because I was the one who begged for lessons when I was five. And man, she loved telling everyone how this precious little girl (me, of course) learned how to play the piano by practicing on the kitchen table, before my parents bought our upright.

With three of us taking lessons at a time, that meant spending our free hour at her house each week, working on homework, reading or playing outside. Or better yet, hanging out with Mr. Pinnix back in the den, watching The Andy Griffth Show. He'd get started heating up their dinner, and even now 20-odd years later, I can still remember the smell of dinner cooking, while I sat on her easy chair, re-reading their old Readers Digests.

She was an amazing woman, and we were extremely lucky to know her and have her in our lives. She's probably upset with me up there, knowing that I won't play the piano now, but I've a feeling a lot of what she taught me was more valuable than middle C, anyway.

Without peace, there is no joy*

Magnet #307 - Joy to the World

What?

I couldn't resist.

Have a very, merry Christmas!


*That's what our priest said tonight at Midnight Mass. He used to be Baptist, and is now Catholic. It makes for a very Baptist preachery sermon now and again. We like to call him John the Baptist.

What? His name is actually John!

Stick a wreath on her, she's done

Magnet #294 - Holiday Joy

What is it about company gatherings that makes me drink too much, too fast, and on an empty stomach?

Possibly more to come. Let's see if today yields any ramifications from yesterday's fun.

Small update: Yes. It could have been much worse. Thankfully, I have the best boss in the entire world.