To live and die - Escape Home to NYC, Part 2, Day 3

Magnet #1184 - Die in Manhattan

My sister bought me this fantastic Mad Men magnet, and I can't think of any other truer sentiment for the End of the World.

Or Rapture.

Or End of Days.

Or Apocalypse.

Or whatever it is.

Or wasn't.

All things considered, there wasn't any other way I'd rather have spent the last day on earth, than Saturday morning cartoons, diner breakfast for lunch, dragging a friend to the NY Public Library's Centennial Celebration and showing him around one of my favorite buildings in town, giving the same 5-cent tour to another friend who's lived here most of her life and never been inside, discovering a new (to me) Cuban restaurant serving $6 Happy Hour Mojitos (so going back!), and some late-night shopping at Macy's.

Yep, a little tv, food, architecture, history, fun and friendship.

Best day ever, and quintessential New York.

Seriously. If the End of the World had happened while I was drinking those Mojitos last night? I'd have been perfectly content.

Now, we just have to wait til October.

Or you know, 2012, if you're Mayan.

Bearly making it - Escape Home to NYC, Part 2, Day 2

Magnet #1183 - Yosemite Bear


How cool is this bear magnet that my friend brought back for me from Yosemite?! Superdupercool.

Even cooler? The bear spins around. I don't quite get it, but it does. And it cool.

Day 2 in NY has me sitting in a temp office cube, a far cry from Yosemite's open spaces. I'm hoping it was just the caffeine, but it's so weird being in an office setting right now, particularly after not being in one for the last nine months.

Once, I used to have this cuteboy assistant account executive who sat over the wall from me for a couple of years. A few weeks after he left for bigger, brighter things, he said to me, "You know what I miss? I miss hearing your giggles over the wall."

It's something that I'd forgotten about myself. That I have the (possibly crazy) talent of entertaining myself with absolutely no one around me, entertainment which leads to a lot of giggles. A lot of the time. Yes. I'm THATcrazychick in the corner cube, amused by everything and no one.

I remembered it a couple of weeks ago, when I drove yet another account executive nuts, as he kept asking what was so funny.

You know what? Haven't a clue what it was, but I pretty much guarantee you it probably wasn't as funny as I thought it was at the time.

It never, ever is.

eta:
By the way, just to go back to bears for a second. Every freakin' day across the South lately, it feels like we keep getting bear sighting stories. I think they all know I'm on the lookout for my very own bear, and are showing up in every place that I'm not. Just to taunt me.

And, since I'm on the bear kick - I posted this before, but I don't think I embedded the actual video. My favorite sleeping bear scene of. all. time. Following by my new favorite sleeping puppy scene. of. all. time. Both of which came from one or the other or both sisters.


SLEEPING BEAR:



SLEEPING PUPPY:

I'm goin' up - Escape Home to NYC, Part 2, Day 1

Magnet #1182 - Christina's World

Headed to NYC today for another quick trip home while my dad's recuperating. Yes. Insert all the regular squees of, dare I say it, JOY, here.

If you get over to the MoMA, definitely check out Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World. I was gonna do a whole blogpost about it, but after I listened to the curator podcast of about it, it was pretty clear that I wouldn't be able to do it justice.

Suffice to say that this piece is one of Wyeth's most recognizable, and is of his neighbor, a woman stricken with polio, meant to be inspirational, rather than sad.

As for me, this painting always makes me think of the opening scenes of one of my fave movies ever, SpaceCamp, where babyAndie's sitting in the grass, looking up at the stars as John Glenn passes over her. (The 2-min mark below.)

Lately though, it's represented all the farmland I have to drive through in NC, before I ever get to a single real stoplight. Seriously, it's getting to the point where I almost don't stay stopped at stoplights, so used to momentary (but complete, duh) stops at stop signs, am I.

The truth is? I love it. Much as I complain, I love driving through rural NC - with all its cows and horses and goats and donkeys and more cows. Wait, did I mention I pass a lot of cows? Well, I do. Pass a lot of cows. Cows, I say.

It's a gorgeous countryside this time of year - with everything blossoming and lush and green and with moderate temps, etc. Honestly, it's not til you get to the urban jungle of NYC that you realize how lovely NC really is.

Mind you, on my first day back home in NYC today, I realize, I'm still a helluva lot more comfortable walking or training or bussing to my destination on concrete sidewalks - even with cars who don't necessarily slow down at intersections at all.

Pretty boys, pretty...castles

Magnet #1181 - The Consort

Whoa. Probably should have labeled this one NSFW, though really, it's not all that bad. Really.

It's another one of the magnets my friend brought back from the Romantic Times convention last month.

I know, right?

I think I've said it before, but it's one of the reasons I miss publishing. Or, really, my little Loveswept cube, where behind me sat stacks and stacks of manuscripts and galleys full of happy endings.

And everywhere else, were pictures of the cutest cuteboys of the cute, the models we were using for our cover art. Best part of the job, sifting through lookbooks and cuteboy collections looking for appropriate pretty boys to adorn our covers.

I know. Terrible objectification of men. I won't lie, it was a bit like Playboy (Playgirl?) without the full-on nudity or the articles. We didn't even get to learn if they liked long walks in the rain or reading sociology in their spare time. We just matched the boys up to the manuscript description, picked 'em for their pretty looks, and moved on to the next month's covers. (Mind you, I also had to pick pretty girls, too, but honestly, it was not nearly as engaging.)

Fun stuff. A far cry from all the business-to-business corporate stuff I deal with nowadays.

Still, I would definitely think twice about reading this book in the subway - truth be told, I tend not to read my romance books on the train to begin with, when they show even the slightest of skin. I did it a few times, but man, it's awkward when you're reading a love scene and realize that the dude next to you is reading it, too. Ewwwwwww.

Of course, now, I'll be wondering exactly what books those people are reading on their secretive eReaders across from me on the train. Hmmmm.

And possibly, ewwwwww.

With the birds

Magnet #1180 - Queensboro and Brooklyn Bridges

From yesterday's underwater access points, to two of our bridges high off the water - I figured I'd just minithon the other of my BNT magnetset from Fish's Eddy.

One of my favorite things to do in the city is walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, from one end to the other, stopping along the way to check out the amazing views, looking between the planks at the water and/or cars below, reading all the plaques by the caissons, and imagining all the freakin' work that went into building such an astounding bridge.

Oh, and it doesn't hurt that there's some really good pizza at Grimaldi's, or chocolate from Jacques Torres, and the really cool Brooklyn Bridge Park waiting on the other side. (Clearly, there's more to do in Brooklyn, but I'm saving some of it for an Explore Brooklyn Day, hopefully soon. Hmmm, maybe this Saturday. And yes, there's an Escape Home to NYC sequel in the works - yay!)

The Queensboro Bridge, (aka, the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge or even, the 59th Street Bridge) on the other hand, I can't even remember if I've been across. I must have, right? I mean it's a major thoroughfare! I just know it's the bridge that's right beside the Roosevelt Island tram - everyone knows it - it's the tram where Spider-Man saves Mary Jane?

Yep, that's another fun thing to do in the city, especially, if you're my mother. It's her thing. She loves making everyone take the tram to the island, pop a quarter on the bus and ride it around the little island enclave, and ride the tram back. She seriously loves it.

In fact, I'm going downstairs right now to show her this Spider-Man/LEGO video below, because she will. love. it. And say, "When can we go again, Joy? Can we go there again when I go back to NY, Joy?



eta:
Hah. I was wrong.

Mom: "That's smart! You should do that! Without copyright infringement, of course. I just love riding that thing - it's so exciting!"

With the fishes

Magnet #1179 - Lincoln and Holland tunnels

Hey, did ya'll know that the Holland Tunnel (which connects downtown Manhattan to Jersey City) was supposedly the first underwater vehicular tunnel in the world when it was built back in the 1920s?

Ugh, can you even imagine slowly put-putting through the dark hole in the ground as one the first cars traveling through it?

And I didn't realize that the Lincoln Tunnel (which connects midtown Manhattan to Weehawken), was built as a WPA projects in the 1930s. Apparently, nowadays, the tunnel supposedly hosts more commuters via the bus routes into Port Authority than the trains do running into Penn. That seems weird to me, at least until you walk around the smoggy floors of the PA, waiting for the buses, that's when you believe it.

When we were little and on roadtrips, we used to love all the tunnels we'd pass through on our way to our destinations. The ones through the mountains meant we were halfway to Chicago. The ones under the Hudson meant we'd reached New York City.

And every time, my mother would yell, wake up, girls, it's the tunnel!

That's why I was excited when a friend bought me this superdupercute BNT (that's Bridge & Tunnel for the rest of America) magnet set from Fish's Eddy.

They've always held a certain fascination...as they do when you're little. Even now, as I pass through either the Lincoln or the Holland, I'm a little more alert, always looking around, watching the lights as they pass, the curves of the ceilings, the little walkways for the workmen, the lights of the cars ahead. It's still pretty cool.

The best story, though, is when we roadtripped with the BFF up to NYC, when we were in seventh grade. And we had told her all about the supercool Lincoln Tunnel, that you have to go underwater - under the Hudson River! - to get to NY. The only trouble is...we got her so excited to see the tunnel, it was a huge letdown for her when she couldn't actually see the fishes in the water.

Apparently, she was expecting a Sea World-esque see-through type tunnel. Oops!

When you're smiling...

Magnet #1178 - Eeyore

I smile a lot. No. I mean, really. A lot.

Someone posted a Facebook photo album this weekend, and don't you know - every damn photo, I'm laughing like a damned hyena. (Mind you, there was wine involved, so thank goodness the photos aren't worse than what they could be, but yeah, I was a pretty happy camper that night.)

But, even without wine, I'm generally a pretty smiley chick. You have to be to keep the doldrums at bay, and to get through whatever it is you have to get through.

I mean, look at Eeyore here. It's why I picked him up at that street fair last week, cuz he's one of my faves. He knows. Sad about the world, but somehow he's still got a sad little smile on his face.

Some of my old colleagues used to get superticked off at me because even when I'd be delivering bad news, somehow I'd still be smiling. I can be pissed off as hell and still be smiling.

In fact, that's how you know there's trouble, when I can't muster up a smile for you. When that happens, just shut up, back away slowly and don't make any sudden moves. And give me some space.

Sooner or later, I'll be smiling again. Maybe not at you, but surely, at something.