WORLD WIDE PARTY 2004
Helen, Elizabeth, and Janette DavisThe girls and I cheered summer's arrival with milk and cookies. In celebration of the first day of summer, and hopefully the last of the spring rains which have tried to drown us the year, we had started on the replacement of our house roof!
Lloyd and Yvonne Penney
This year's World Wide Party in Toronto was a bit more of an event than it's been in some years.that's because the 21st of June fell on a Monday, and coincided with the regular fannish Third Monday pubnight held in the west end of town. We put out the notice that Third Monday was also the night of the 10th annual World Wide Party, and we held our breaths.
And attendance was a little higher than usual. Fifteen of us gathered at Orwell's Pub (established 1984) for the usual pubnight, and the WWP. Those in attendance were Lloyd Penney, Yvonne Penney, Rob Sutherland, Catherine Crockett, Ajay Bhushan, Andrew Specht, Sarah Ennals, Nina Quinn, Irwin Tan, Lisa Truant-Tan, Dan Evens, Chris Ellis and Drew Mathers. Right at 9pm, we toasted to those present, those absent, those friends yet to come, and friends who have passed on. Most in attendance seemed to prefer Rickard's Red, but diet Coke was my usual imbibe of choice.
Strangely enough, we don't stay at the Third Monday as late as we used to.possibly a symptom of getting older. We were headed out by about 9:30pm, to get ready for work the next day. As always, it was a good get-together, and I hope the stories of this year's WWP carry on the tradition.
Lloyd Penney
Jonzid
Have you heard of the miles long cylinder that supposedly shadows one of Mars' moons in it's orbit? I think the aliens swat our primitive gizmos when we get too close, thus the high number of failures. The "sonar" mission you speak of went awry because of that. Even more proof is in the high success rate of missions to Venus by contrast. The aliens aren't camped there and have no moon to hide behind. Success for unmanned missions to the Moon ran about 50 percent, splitting the difference. I guess the aliens cut us some slack on those because the Moon is so close we wouldn't buy every mission failing whenever it went 'round the dark side. ;)
World Wide Party 2003
We've gotten out of the habit of partying hearty when it comes to the World Wide Party.we've found it difficult to create enthusiasm for this event in other groups. Nonetheless, it's worth the observation. We attended a party Friday night, and we encouraged others to observe the World Wide Party tonight.we can only hope they did. Saturday was a busy day.the Farmers' Market up the street, buying the weekend papers, traveling about doing a few errands, watching the news about last night' s release of the fifth Harry Potter novel, and the resulting Pottermania.a very busy day. When 9pm came around, our "party" was our usual quiet get together, toasting fandom with a cold glass of diet cola. We toasted friends here, friends absent, friends to come (especially at our local Worldcon this year) and friends absent and gone, especially Harry Warner Jr. Our numbers are smaller every year; our fandom is smaller as well. Yet, with modern traditions like the World Wide Party, our numbers may be smaller, but we are closer together. May this continue for a good long time; we believe we will need it more and more. Our compliments to science fiction fandom as a whole, no matter the interest; we all have the common interest of the fantastic to bind us. (As an aside.a while ago, Torcon 3 Housing Director Murray Moore made an interesting announcement online.Benoit Girard has made a room reservation for Torcon 3. It will be a pleasure to welcome him back to this fannish insanity.) Lloyd and Yvonne Penney June 21, 2003World Wide Party 2002
This year, our plans for celebrating the World Wide Party went a little for naught. Yvonne and I were planning on attending a party hosted by David Clink in his condo in Thornhill, Ontario. (David is Robert J. Sawyer's brother-in-law.) We had planned to go and indoctrinate those assembled into the intricacies of the World Wide Party, but Murphy intervened.
The both of us had to work late on that Friday, and after a week that saw far too much stress and far too little sleep for the both of us, we both arrived home that night not in the best of moods, and Yvonne had a splitting headache. So, we reluctantly called David and made our regrets known, and said that we'd make it out to his home the next night. (It's a weekend-long party.)
So, all this work-related nonsense left us tired and longing for a little quiet and relaxation. When 9 pm came around, instead of being at a raucous party, we alone toasted friends here, friends absent, friends to come, and friends gone. We are especially thinking of friends like George Alec Effinger, Bruce Pelz, Adam Ufholz and Annette Lotz. Our numbers continue to dwindle, and we remember especially those who have left us before it was their time. (David did say he'd try to remember to toast fandom, and prodom, too, at 9 o'clock.)
We made our toast with a little caffeine-free Diet Coke, and a big bowl of cappuccino frozen yogurt. Exciting, hm? Long gone are the days when we could pull an all-nighter on Coke and chips. Not long after our own little World Wide Party, we hit the sack early. And today, we feel much better for it. (All the better to party at David's tonight!)
Lloyd and Yvonne Penney
6/22/02
Somewhere in the Caribbean....
Steve and I were on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, watching the dark storm clouds gather on the horizon. We were headed back to Miami at that point. We had just eaten dinner, and were watching the sun set over the bow of the ship. I raised an imaginary glass to my very real friends.
Helen Davis 6/02