Just One More Week!!

How hard is it to put together a Scrabble party?  It is very hard but by george I think I’ve done it.  Please no more cancellations!!  Inae Bloom bowed out yesterday so Fern Tausch has taken her place.  I therefore had to make a division change putting Fern in Div B and moving Tom Titus to Div A.  Sorry Tom, I had to do it..  Karen Sturm is on the waiting list but I do NOT want any more cancellations or there will be severe penalties to the offending party.  And PLEASE arrive at 10:30 so we can set up the gifts and food on the appropriate tables so we can start promptly at 11.  There will be  plenty of prizes awarded at the end of each round so I am hoping we will finish by Tuesday so we can all get to the Club on time…

Friday was another huge success.  We almost reached our all time high but it was very nice to see Rick Duncan and Bill Lapinski again.  Newcomers Debbie Bloom and Donna Dwaileebe had a great time.  I hear that Susan Rice will be making her inaugural appearance next Friday and we should have another new player this coming Tuesday and another one 2 weeks after that from Meetup.  For those of you who love meeting new people and making new friendships, Club 34 is the place to be.

I cannot tell you how much fun we will have next Sunday.  What a great idea it was to have one of these parties every 3 to 4 months!!  Don’t forget the parties Gretchen Cowan has also as the fun never stops at Club 34.  Then there is SuperScrabble once a month hosted by Maliha.  Scrabble has taken on a life of its own and what a big part it is in all of our lives.  I think Club 34 can run on autopilot now so maybe I can start studying again and start focusing on my own game.  Wouldn’t that be nice!!  See all of you Tuesday..

 

David Poder, Director

Advertisements

June 23!!

We had another successful showing last Friday.  In fact, I may have to close the Friday sessions!  We are running out of space.  Another new member made her inaugural appearance on that day.  Vicki Marx is a dog trainer from Aliso Viejo.  I first met her last year at another local Scrabble club.  I must have made quite an impression.  She remembered me and joined Meetup a few months ago.  I finally persuaded her to show up last Friday.  She had a great time..  The meetup site is getting active again.  I have been told another new member will be coming next Tuesday, Kay Mitchell, so we will be excited to meet her.  What I have been impressed with is that recent newbies such as Vicki and Rick Duncan as well as Debbie Bloom are not really newbies after all.  They come to Club 34 with some skills already in place.  This Friday Rick Duncan returns after a 3 week vacation to Boston as well as Debbie Bloom and Donna Dwaileebe.  So we should have quite a turnout..

When I started this adventure 5 years ago, I was hoping to expand the Club but felt as if I would be finding only  brand new players to the Club scene.  That has been mostly the case but every now and then a new member shows up who has a lot of potential.  I have seen these players like Tom Brown and Lou Block.  But Inae Bloom is another creature.  I first met her at Bruce’s club 3 or 4 months ago.  She beat me by ONE point.  I could tell right away that she was a serious new player with the  potential of becoming a very strong one.  I was correct with my assessments of Inae.  Last Tuesday she swept through the field going 8-0 beating myself and Bruce twice apiece.  She captured $7 for her efforts.  I could not be happier for her and for Club 34 to have such a fine new player in our fold.  When Richard Stein left  for Seattle last year, I knew that would be a terrible blow but Inae has helped soften that loss.

Due to the strong efforts of Amnon Meyers, the Club statistics are now current.  Go to our website and you can find our stats thru May 31.  Thanks again Amnon for your hard work.  I hope the stat reporting will be easier in the future as all of us will take part in more accurate score keeping.  I know we will.

June 23 is right around the corner.  Club 34 will have its second party at the Rancho del Rey Mobile Homes clubhouse in Huntington Beach, the current residence of Joanie Scafuto.  This is a Club 34 event, not a Blankheads function as previously reported.  Only active members of Club 34 have been asked to attend with few exceptions.  We have 22 players with 3 divisions already set.  All food and drink assignments have been made.  We will start the games promptly at 11am so I ask everyone to show up at 10:30 to arrange your food items and give me your gift-wrapped gifts so I may place them on the assigned table.  That’s right!  Every player has been asked to show up with a gift of some value.  There will be many categories for each game; lots of prizes to be won.  The winner of each division will get a $25 IHOP gift card at the expense of yours truly.  Needless to say, there will be plenty of food so I suggest that you starve yourselves throughout the week.  And lots of prizes!!!  This will be quite an event.  There will be 3 divisions with 6 players in div A, 8 players in div B and C.  And they are as follows:

Div A–David Poder, Paul Trachtenberg, Gretchen, Lynn Gunn, Tom Brown and Inae Bloom.

Div B–Jeff Polan, Najat, Renee Kahn, Debbie Bloom, Tom Titus, Beth Byrne, Pat Reed and Esther Kisich.

Div C–Joanie, Inge Weinfeld, Maliha, Susan Rice, Jane Crane, Kim Corrick, Lou Block and Rick Duncan.

There will be 7 games, no King of the Hill.  There will be repeat games in Div A only because we only have 6 in that group.  I hope I have not forgotten anything.  See you all tomorrow, next Tuesday and on June 23.

 

David Poder, Club Director