Serendipity
Serendipity and Liberty Belle (Cambridge, MA October 1994)
an old photo, but my favorite one of the two of us together
Recruitment
Read an article about the annual convention in the San Francisco Chronicle of Saturday, July 15, 2000. Dropped in on the Con that evening and joined on the spot.
Oddly, I believe I learned about the NPL back in 1987 or so, when I was running the Ivy Club of San Francisco, and produced a couple of do-it-yourself treasure hunts in which the teams wrote the clues, then we all drove around San Francisco solving each other's clues. I am pretty sure, if memory serves me, that both Daz and Shrdlu participated in one or more of those Ivy Club treasure hunts. I didn't know them at all at the time, but I remember two things - they wrote gorgeous clues, and they mentioned some puzzle club they were in. Alas, I didn't follow up, so it was another 13 years before I joined.
First Issue: July 2000
Recruits
I gave a gift membership to Ex-pat, my best friend who got married and moved to London, but she was never active, and didn't renew her membership. Sigh.
Recently I met Renidio on the Jeopardy boards and she joined - I hope she'll stick around!
Nom
For many years, one of my favorite pastimes has been playing in treasure hunts. Back in May of 1999 I won a national treasure hunt sponsored by Forbes FYI magazine. That was so much fun, I immediately decided to start producing treasure hunts in San Francisco (www.t-hunts.com).
When I joined the NPL a year later, I came up with three possible noms: de plume, Fiona (my actual middle name), and Serendipity. They were all available, but I decided in favor of Serendipity, because it's basically my favorite word, and relates to my interest in treasure hunts.
According to Merriam Webster, serendipity means “the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.” Technically it doesn't quite fit, because I usually am looking for the things I find, at least in the treasure hunt context! The word is reputed to have been coined by Horace Walpole; more information here: livingheritage.org/three_princes.htm.
I may be the only member of the Krewe whose actual first name, middle name, nom, and exact date of birth, have each been used as movie titles. I narrowly missed running the board: this movie title is soooo close to my last name.
Combinoms
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Offices
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