Clubs

I have never been much of a joiner. I'm a loner and I like it that way, but there have been the rare occasions where I have joined clubs and even started clubs. Like the Rock Collecting Club I started when I was in grade school. That didn't last very long. I soon got bored of not finding any exciting gems like diamonds and emeralds. I really thought I could find them in Southwestern, PA. Then there was the Nancy Drew Book Club. That lasted much longer. I even made check out cards to put in my Nancy Drews. Could explain why I am in the library profession now.

I came across these two clubs in my wonderings. The first one is the American Name Society. I found this when I received the latest issue of A Common Reader catalog. I absolutely love this catalog. I've been receiving it for years and have purchased a few books when my budget allows for such fun. The catalog had a listing for the book, The Secret Universe of Names: The Dynamic Interplay of Names and Destiny by Roy Feinson. This book is about the meanings behind the names given to us. Since I've been interested in people's names I placed this on my book wish list. In researching this book a little further, I found out that the author is a member of the American Name Society. Their website says that they were founded in 1951, they have journals about the study of onosmatics (study of names and naming practices). I thought, okay, a high-brow linquistics club. Then I saw how they have a Name of the Year Contest. The winners for 2004 were the movie Fahrenheit 9/11, the host of the Daily Show, Jon Stewart, born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz and lastly Al-Quaida (Al-Qaida, Al-Qaeda, etc). What fun.

On another note I found that there is an Ernie Els International Wine Club. Now for those of you who may have never heard of Mr. Els-he's a professional golfer. He teamed up with Wine.com and started a wine club. Membership includes receiving two wines each month, food pairing suggestions, a personal letter from Ernie relating his golf and wine experience, golf tips, 15% discount on reorders of the featured club wines and a one-year subscription to Golf Digest.

I would love to include links for the clubs,etc. that I mentioned above, but I am still trying to figure out how to do that so please hang in there with me.