Brooms up!

Magnet #995 - Minnesota

I've always said that I wasn't going to start collecting these state magnets, because I didn't really want (or have space for) all 50 magnets.

The thing is, I have a good handful of them, and I couldn't figure out why in the heck I had these specific magnets: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin (2), Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Colorado. And British Columbia. About a week ago, my cross-country traintrip buddy explained - apparently, I bought them at the Mall of America, and bought all the magnets of the states we were going to touch on our trip. Bingo! (It doesn't explain Oklahoma, but whatevs.)

I picked Minnesota today for the Quidditch World Cup. Yep. You read right. Another reason to love New York, because you can see Quidditch, a Low-Riders parade, and some antiques, all in the heart of Hell's Kitchen.

After yet another visit to the Time Warner Center Dali exhibition, we headed over to the Pier Antiques Show. I've never been before, and it's not like I'm really in the market for anything new, or old as the case may be. There was a whole section of modernist furniture - which I would totally have delved further into, if I had the disposable income to completely redo my apartment. I love that stuff! Uncomfortable as hell, but supercute!

And of course, we checked out all the fun jewelry - both the inexpensive bangles (yay, cute ring!) and more expensive costume pieces. For my part, I also loved looking at all the Royal Doultons, the Laliques, the cranberry glass, the tiny micromosaics, the kitchenalia, etc. - basically all the really cool stuff that my boys Paul Hayes and Alistair Appleton always dug up on Cash in the Attic.

Across the street at DeWitt Clinton Park, all the kids were out for the International Quidditch Association World Cup. Ya'll, I've never read a single Harry Potter all the way through, but even I know that Quidditch involves flying. When I saw the signs at MIT, I was convinced those smartkids had come up with a way to fly. So when we showed up at the park, I was kind of convinced I'd be seeing kids flying around, capes flying behind them. (What, I've seen the movies!)

Well, there were capes and a little bit of cosplay (ok, a robe here and there), and definitely brooms...although no one's invented the flying broom yet. Muggle Quidditch turns out to be a mix of dodgeball, soccer and a bit of football, maybe some handball and basketball. Oh! And definitely broomball...without a skating rink. Still. Fun stuff!

What I can't get over is that almost 50 teams are taking part in the games today and tomorrow from near and far, with uniforms ranging from the homemade shirts of the NYU teams to the snazzy jerseys of the U of Minnesota team, sponsored by OfficeMax. I'm assuming it's like intramurals, but man, those kids were on coach buses all the way from Minnesota (hence the magnet) to Canada's McGill. Whoa.

That's total dedication...to a sport that didn't even exist before 1997. I mean, it's possible that some of these kids are giving up their firstborns, by the looks of their running around with a broom between their legs. Ouch!