Christmas movies, Inner Photo Organizer and A Visit From St Nick - a great EarlyBird meeting

 TM Joe started us off with vivacious Christmas-related Table Topics. We

discovered that...

* TM Paolo has disconnected the tv for his progeny and instead, they
do family Table Topics around the tree. The 1-week-old newborn has
vivaciously wailed for the Disney Channel to be reinstated into the home.
* TM BeckyJo was completely taken aback at the notion that there is no
Santa Claus. All these years she has been trying to sell Santa on a board
game she invented and has not heard back. She will definitely approach
Matel.
* TM Marie proposed to her son the idea of giving a gift to his noisy
neighbors and received a grumpy grinchy resounding NO.
* I, TM Ana, recalled a boss who turned down my brilliant negotiation
approach of keeping my salary and benefits while slashing my workhours by
half to fulfill his wistful remark that he would pay me double if only he
could. He wasted a golden opportunity.
* TM Tom looks for a wonderful life ever since watching the movie of
the same name from the basement of his grandpa's home. He Won Best Table
Topics Award.

And along came prepared speeches, and oh, what amazing speeches we had -
it's all in the G family!

* TM Chris vivaciously displayed her multitasking inner child photo
organizer on the IPO Freudian Scale and introduced us to her Magic Attic,
where photos are date sorted by artificial intelligence. Piece of cake!
She Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Jim surpassed his prior renditions of A Visit from St Nicholas,
with back visual images and a description of the origin of this 200-year-old
poem.

As for evaluations....

* DTM Mary Helen admired TM Chris's professional mastery which makes
organizing 25 million photos - in Chris's own words - "as easy as 1-2-3".
She Won Best Evaluator Award.
* TM Carmine thoroughly enjoyed TM Jim's rendition of A Visit From St
Nicholas, which he has heard before and wants to hear again and again.

Overall, aside from having a great time, we reached several profound
conclusions:

1) People just don't use enough adverbs
2) What's a selfie without a bomber?
3) It's imperative that we enunciate the ends of words
4) We all need to find our Magic Attic to store our shoeboxes.

The Word of the Day was

VIVACIOUS, adjective

Lively in tone, conduct or spirit

Below is the link to the recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbjUVUcY1PQ

See you on January 7th!


Ana I.
Recap Writer

Team Turkey Reports Back, of Mice and Mentoring and Virtual Virtuosity - a great meeting at EarlyBirds!

 TM Carmine prepped us for the upcoming Table Topics Contest with 2-word Table Topics.  It became clear that…

 

• TM Jeff is writing a book titled “Life According to Golf Supersedes Pesky Imperfection”.   We EarlyBird members all want a signed copy.
• DTM Mary Helen pondered about hoax versus reality and concluded that she’s living in a universe of parallel reality.  So there.
• TM Denis cheerfully stated that the pollution party is coming to a screeching halt and we will all drown in a cesspool disinfected by ample reserves of Jack Daniels and Johnnie Walker.
• TM Jim prefers to talk about women’s rights versus women’s lefts and is looking forward to a matriarchal parallel universe.  We know he’s sleeping in the big bed tonight, Bada Bing Bada Boom.
• I (TM Ana) try to discard the heavy suitcase of punishment that I sometimes carry along because the subject of my unforgiveness is usually dancing at the Bada Bing Bada Boom nightclub and lounge.
• TM Marie said despair is self-inflicted, the unexpected surpasses all expectations and happily concluded that hope is indeed eternal.
• TM Chris said power is often not accompanied by justice – or else what’s heaven for?  In an unexpected Book Club-inflicted detour, she took us to the Presidential Palace in Santiago de Chile, bombed to smithereens along with Salvador Allende in 1973.  Bada Bing Bada Boom.
• TM Roosevelt chooses wealth over poverty, but is well aware that wealth does not equate happiness – just look at happy shirtless kids under mango trees in Port-au-Prince and those jumping off the towers of high finance in Wall Street when the Dow goes down.   He Won Best Table Topics Award.

 

We heard some excellent speeches….

 

• TM Pam regaled us with the good, the bad and the ugly - her fantasy of a Thanksgiving/Birthday celebration with her scattered progeny.  Lessons learned:   cranberry cement over crackers is now a trendy appetizer, your chronically unpunctual offspring are chronically unpunctual and  the smell of roast turkey overrides Covid hypochondria.  She Won Best Speaker Award.
• DTM Kip’s Harry Potter/Dickensian boarding school and if nothing else, his trusted mentor Professor Hogwart Donnelly fully prepared Kip for his legendary annual Halloween speech with a smoking cauldron of New Ageism.
• TM Aleta survived the obstacles in her otherwise virtuous virtual arbitration hearing while her dog Bogie, like the late actor who bore the same name, was totally strung out on prescription drugs.

 

As for evaluations….

 

• TM Tom marveled at TM Pam’s air of command and organization while herding family turtles and he, for one,  would never dare be late to her birthday party.  He hopes this will get him an invitation to the next one, in spite of the pervasive Covid miasma.
• TM Denis fully enjoyed hearing about DTM Kip’s college advisor who play-acted historic eras and inspired DTM Kip to persevere in his failed experiments with photocells which naturally resulted in Kip’s lifetime animosity toward hapless Puritans.
• TM Roosevelt praised TM Aleta’s endurance to low bandwidth and encouraged her to always have a “Plan B”, whose name is Jim G (it rhymes), for shared screen expediency and timing requirements.  He Won Best Evaluation Award.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

BADA BING BADA BOOM

Exclamation, North American, informal

 

To do something effortlessly and smoothly.

 

Example:  Watch ineffable episodes of Tony Soprano spending time at his club, Bada Bing, and doling out Bada Boom to those who stray.

 

Here is the link to today’s recording:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc-iMXxBqQU

 

See you next week!

 

Ana I.

Recap Writer

My Way, Hand Gestures and The Proposal - a fun morning at EarlyBirds!

 I, (Ana) introduced Profound Revelations as Table Topics.  Hence we learned that…

 

• TM Marie does have a magical bed where To Do lists get promptly completed… and then she wakes up!
• TM BeckyJo wants to buy a home in Miami formerly owned by a Cocaine Cowboy and find a serious stash of bills buried under a tropical palm tree.   She Won Best Table Topics Award.
• TM Aleta thoroughly enjoys being in the best company – herself, and doing something productive -  I can think of knitting a coat out of dog hair?
• TM Paolo confessed that his favorite activity is sitting on a park bench laughing at joggers – as we all know, laugher is healthier than jogging.
• TM Denis suffered a panic attack at the thought of skydiving and instead got stuck in traffic on the way to Toast of Las Olas.
• Guest Lorena compared her life to falling into the same pothole repeatedly and euphemistically called it experience.
• TM Jim G. blames the pandemic for his morning drinking but still manages to keep accurate time at the group.  Hey, it’s five o’clock somewhere, especially with Zoom!

 

We heard some outstanding speeches from the renowned “Jingston Trio”…

 

• TM Jose took us on an amazing visual travelog to The Way (Pilgrimage Route for foodies to the burial site of St. James- aka Santiago).  Sign up for a tour at Jose’s virtual travel agency!  He Won Best Speaker Award.
• TM Joe made a clear distinction of what can be a friendly gesture anywhere and the same, not-so-friendly gesture in NYC.  It’s just a geopolitical zoning thing.
• TM Jeff succumbed to parental and societal pressure and proposed marriage (he calls it pulling the trigger) to his beloved at Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth.  So far it’s working – we all know it’s all about the design of the ring!

 

As far as evaluations go….

 

• TM Carmine was so impressed with TM Jose’s speech that uncharacteristically, he actually ended up his evaluation on time.  The room was speechless!
• TM Tom praised TM Joe for his wit, his eloquence and his screen share of the unforgettable Gina Lollobrigida. 
• TM Chris lauded TM Jeff for making the decision to propose and in so doing, has lightened the load for some of us – who at times do want to pull the trigger… on The Knot!  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

PANDEMIC, adjective

Epidemic over a large area

 

Ex.  The pandemic has created pandemonium and the idle overuse of Immodium has caused an excess of acrimonium.

 

Here’s the link to the recording:

 

https://www.facebook.com/EarlyBirdToastmaster/videos/3357436951052480

 

See you next week!

 

Ana

Recap Writer

Food, Virtual Arbitration and Robert's Rules - an informative morning at EarlyBirds

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,                                                                                                                                                                           

 

To honor the forthcoming holidays, TM Marie started us off with non-altruistic holiday food topics.  We thus learned that….

 

• TM Jose has bittersweet memories and has long practiced the seafood (aka see food) diet = eats everything he sees.   To uphold American tradition in Spain, two turkeys are on order and he and his wife and their more than 6 friends will soon join the ranks of Covid derelicts.  Shhhhh.
• In what is widely believed to have been a planted topic, TM BeckyJo showed us her collection of black salt from the Himalayas,  Aymara salt from the Bolivian salt flats, purple salt from the Dead Sea and everyone’s all-time favorite -  iodized Morton’s Salt from Publix.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.
• First-time Table Topics participant Guest Alexandra described herself as a party goer who actually stays to do dishes and clean up till the bitter end.  She has already received several Thanksgiving invitations from the group.
• Sipping her favorite morning tea, Guest Lorena receives sweet inspiration about the beauty of life and being alive.  She also revealed she knows an indecisive bee.  See attachment.
• TM Paolo will not be savoring the exquisite tastes of his mother’s cooking in Italy for Christmas due to that pesky virus but mostly due to the impending arrival of his new (soon to be pesky) bambino(a).

 

Along came the prepared speeches….

 

• TM Aleta, the inveterate and prosaic labor arbitrator, virtually conducted a 6-hour hearing involving excessive force and put into context all the tips learned from our resident tech gurus.  More will be revealed.
• DTM Kip reminisced about chaotic Zoom meetings he’s attended lately where Robert’s Rules of Order have been blatantly ignored.  We all need to learn the lesson from Custer’s Last Stance, where Custer got slaughtered because the Mohicans would not second the motion.  He Won Best Speaker Award.

 

Regarding evaluations…

 

• TM Carmine lauded TM Aleta’s vast experience as a speaker and as an arbitrator and insisted on a second speech to be titled  “Excessive force The Sequel”. He’s claiming the movie rights.
• TM Joe loves DTM Kip’s dainty expressions, such as solitary whackjob and cacophony.  Like many of us, Joe is in awe that Kip’s wife has stuck around for 40 years. He Won Best Evaluator Award.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

CONTEXT, noun

The parts of a discourse that throw light on it.

 

Our fun meetings take place within the context of public speaking skill-building.

 

Below is the link to today’s recording:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icCrAUqUyhE

 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  Happy Birthday, TM Pam!!  May you survive the festivities….  And Happy Birthday, TM Carmine! Lots of Scorpios in EarlyBirds….

See you in two weeks!

 

Ana

Recap Writer

Obscure holidays, Greek Life, Teamwork and Around the World in 80 days

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

TopicMaster Jim G. helped us uncover and discover some obscure but highly meaningful December holidays, sadly overshadowed by the commercialism of the better-known ones.

 

• TM Denis – soon formally joining EarlyBirds and already voluntold to multitask – wistfully pondered about a world made of sidewalks lined with fruit trees to feed hungry children.  Then they would all grow up to be well-nourished Applebee’s servers.
• I (Ana) reminisced about crisis days in my past when a good friend would direct me to take relaxing bubble baths – if only to get me off the phone- until she discovered that I don’t have any bathtubs at home.  I am a bathtub-deprived member of American society and my mental health is solid proof of the dire consequences.
• TM Tom vehemently protested against the fact that there is only one single solitary National Cotton Candy Day and bitterly decries being so limited by arbitrary impositions.  He Won Best Table Topics Award.
• Guest Lorena gave us a mouthwatering description of childhood family evenings savoring grandma’s exquisite hot chocolate.  Great job, Lorena!
• TM Marie is baffled by the quandary of making up her mind about which of many projects to take on.   Clearing out her drawers or planting an orchard in her back yard* (*see first table topics).  More will be revealed.

 

We heard some fabulous prepared speeches…

 

• TM Jeff told us that after exerting himself pretending to be who he was not during his fraternity years, Greek Life taught him to be a results-oriented, proud introvert.  Authenticity is the name of the game.  Note from Recap Writer:  Did anyone else notice that he’s also somewhat obsessed with the Masters?  He Won Best Speaker Award.
• TM Pam – a.k.a. Woman of La Mancha - is leading a nearly impossible quest – to gather her family for a conflict-free double birthday party and Thanksgiving Day dinner.  Note from Recap Writer:  I can recommend some good Orlando-area mental health professionals for the aftermath.
• TM Chris led us in a bright and visual map of her life full of adventuresome destinations and she offered to dance the hula for us in the near future.

 

As far as evaluations go…

 

• TM Aleta praised TM Jeff for sharing another part of his life with us and pointed out the adage “To Thine Own Self Be True” by old Billy S.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.
• TM Tom extolled  TM Pam’s loyalty to those now seemingly passe virtues of love of family and of eating pumpkin pie with whipped cream for breakfast.
• TM Carmine highlighted TM Chris’ wanderer soul and looks forward to more speeches about lawful lobster-catching in the non-Caribbean seas.

 

 

 

The Word of the Day was

 

TRADITION, noun

 

A tradition is a belief or behavior passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past.

A component of folklore, common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes, but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings.

 

Below is the recording for the meeting:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTTOiiRRgEE

 

See you next week!

Ana

Recap Writer

Vivid dreams, river of grass and Zoomverse

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

TM Carmine started us off with quotes from Heraclides Ponticus, first cousin of Zorba the Greek (stage name of Anthony Quinn – you young ones, google him)

 

• DTM Mary Helen realized as she spoke that it is in changing that we find purpose.  She always thought it was the other way around.
• TM Pam says much learning teaches understanding – although she thinks she doesn’t need any more learning, only everybody else does.
• TM Jose doesn’t expect the unexpected – the unexpected finds him!!!  Stay tuned for Covid Lockdown, Spanish Style, a.k.a. Who Knows What’s What?
• TM Jim G. works diligently on the content of his character, and mostly has become a character!!  We love you, Jim!
• I (TM Ana) realized that humans are the only species that stumble twice on the same rock (also known as marriage).  I Won Best Table Topics Award.

 

In the prepared speeches…

 

• TM Denis has Melatonin-fueled vivid dreams where the Intracoastal Bridge gets locked in the open position and as a result, TM Denis ends up living in a paradise ecovillage where he is the perennial mayor.   He Won Best Speaker Award.
• TM Tom shared with us a historic story of Henry Flager, who sold land by the gallon.  Then came the Big Bad Sugar Barons and polluted the Everglades and Lake Okechobee.  A lengthy and complicated trial case ended abruptly with the invention of Liquid Stevia.
• DTM Kip transported us to Zoomverse, a land of special lights, action and cameras where we audition for the script called Life in 2020.  We are all listed in the credits.

 

As far as evaluations…

 

• TM Pam loved TM Denis’ theory of the harsh relentless monopolization of elites prior to wealth redistribution but unfortunately his microphone put her in an altered state.   She Won Best Evaluator Award.
• TM Jim G. was amazed to learn that cattails are upright unisexual  perennial plants that emerge from creeping rhizomes, act slowly and repent in haste when used as a food spice.
• TM Marie, along with the rest of us, was catapulted by DTM Kip into Zoomverse and she definitely knows all about gadget lust.

 

 

The Word of the Day was

 

MISCONSTRUE, verb

 

To misinterpret or interpret something incorrectly (intentionally or not).

 

Example:  I have perhaps misconstrued a few ideas in this recap.  Now I leave it up to you to determine whether it’s intentional or not.

Spooky, spookier and spookiest - a ghoulish Early Bird meeting

 Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

I, (TM Ana) launched us off into the supernatural.  We heard that….

 

• TM Pam has been called a witch with another consonant and she takes it as a compliment  – just shows she’s a powerful woman.
• Old wizard DTM Kip fiddles with love potions and his favorite occupation is flirting with damsels in distress.
• TM Joe and wife passed the ultimate test of a marriage – canoeing together in dismal circles.  That’s why they’re still married after 40 years.
• TM Jeff is an unbeliever but his Mother more than makes up for it with plenty of supernatural apparitions of her own on any given day.
• I (TM Ana) was startled at being self-called and hallucinated about a Muscovy duck who invented the preternatural Pumpkin Macchiato of our caloric nightmares.
• TM Carmine knows a few millionaires in Lighthouse Point and was swallowed into the ether before his séance was over.
• TM Marie casts a spell every time she speaks and more than ever today she displayed the dichotomy of a beautiful woman haunted by a canal rat lurking in her midst.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

 

Then came the prepared speeches…

 

• TM Jose talked about healthy conflict resolution where all parties agree to disagree.  Do we want to be right or do we want to be happy?  That is the question…
• TM Jim Ghould gave a beautiful rendition in his baritone voice of The Raven.  Lenore, Lenore, nevermore…. It included a raven in his virtual background.  He Won Best Speaker Award.
• TM Aleta shared about a labor arbitration case where a mean custodian created a hostile work environment through use of a snake … and it wasn’t even Halloween!

 

Regarding the evaluations….

 

• TM Jeff commended TM Jose for his calm, soothing voice and clarity of expression and will use the tenets of the speech to resolve conflict in the weeks to come.
• TM Tom was impressed with TM Jim’s impeccable rendition of The Raven.  It turns out Lenore was the 13-year-old wife (and cousin of E. A. Poe).  “Vice is nice, but incest is best”, the old adage goes.
• DTM Mary Helen nominated TM Aleta for Supreme Court Justice.  I, for one, support the nomination.   She Won Best Evaluator Award.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

PHOBIA, noun

 

An extreme or irrational fear.

 

Example:  Hydrophobia is a fear of water.  Autophobia is a fear of being alone.  Phobias come in multiple flavors and varieties.  Pick your favorite.

 

Several members dressed for Halloween and great fun was had by all!

 

Our perennial guest from South Africa,  Denis M., is joining our club as a member.  Welcome Denis! 

History, Bloggers and Mentoring, fun was palpable at EarlyBirds today!

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

TM Tom started us off with quaint expressions.  We learned that…

 

• TM Marie will build dream catchers to catch evil spirits… just for the devil of it!
• DTM Mary Helen likes to take on a dare if given half a chance, or was it her evil twin who didn’t chicken out?  We never know who’s who.
• TM Carmine thinks we are all pretty as a picture on the screen and marvels at the fact that our Timer (TM Jose) transcends space and time.
• TM Denis just threw out a bunch of old buckets this very week because they simply don’t hold water anymore.
• TM BeckyJo, like her mother did with her, asks her 150 foreign children “What part of No don’t you understand?” and in fact they don’t even understand the question because that’s why they’re foreigners.  “Mirror mirror on the wall, I am my mother, after all”. 
• I (Ana) and all the neighborhood dogs have picked up our ears at the piercing whistling of my husband’s old hearing aids.  Thankfully he got himself a new pair.  I Won Best Table Topics Award.
• TM Aleta pondered whether the inside track refers to planes, trains or automobiles, and after much pondering decided to stay on the inside track of Toastmasters.

 

As for the prepared speeches…

 

• TM Jeff gave us a history of his hometown Portland, CT, once the cradle of brownstone quarries but in more recent times, caved (no pun intended) to the advent of Portland Cement (which originates in the Isle of Portland, UK, not in Portland, Oregon, the latter being nothing more than palpable name plagiarizers of Portland, CT).
• TM Chris has discovered that the secret to success in blogging is not to repeat secrets, so listen carefully, she will only tell you once.
• DTM Kip said mentoring is the palpable dream of Toastmasters’ High Command and differs from New Member Orientation.  The answer is that when the teacher is ready, the student appears.   He Won Best Speaker Award.

 

And then we got to the evaluations….

 

• TM Carmine suggested more passion and vigor in TM Jeff’s fascinating tale of brownstone quarries and shipbuilding.
• DTM Jim D. was at a loss for words because TM Chris’s speech was a perfect oral blog and hence his evaluation skills were palpably superfluous.
• TM Joe thoroughly enjoys DTM Kip’s casual style delivery and will adopt Kip’s philosophy of total contempt for those who disagree with Kip.   He Won Best Evaluator Award.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

 

PALPABLE, adjective

 

A feeling so intense it seems almost plausible

Able to be touched or felt.

 

The camaraderie among EarlyBirds this morning was palpable.

 

Our Tech Host, TM Jim G., informed us that poll voting is anonymous, so let’s not be bashful - we can unabashedly vote for ourselves!!

 

In honor of Halloween, next week is our SPOOKY meeting.   Bring a spooky Table Topics, a spooky Speech, a spooky Evaluation.  Dress up or be your usual self – anything goes.  Seriously,  let’s have some spooky fun!!!

Omens, Conflict, Avian Lessons and Musical Back to the Future - Be Prepared at EarlyBirds!

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

TM Pam launched us off with a series of omens.   We thus learned that….

 

• I, (Ana) no longer believe in salty superstitions and will soon deliver a speech on The Curse of the Broken Salt Shaker.   I Won Best Table Topics Award.
• TM Jeff broke a mirror while remodeling the manatee section of his bathroom and he’s all the better for it.  So much for THAT superstition!
• DTM Jim D. perched in Alaska, not only ponders about Haley’s Comet and the immortality of the crab but actually sees Aurora Borealis from his hotel window.
• TM Jim G. is convinced that the Rainbow’s End is a motel somewhere in Fort Lauderdale, not in Livingston, TX as he previously thought.  He continues to search.
• TM Carmine whistles when he passes the Pompano Cemetery and urges all of us to do the same, especially on Halloween.  It keeps the goblins at bay.  It’s a fact.
• TM Joe has never seen a shooting star, in spite of those crazy family summer vacations of yesteryear when he had to look for his father’s lost car keys instead of looking at the open skies. He’s had a blessed life, though, so this superstition is undoubtedly the exception that confirms the rule….

 

We had excellent prepared speeches…

 

• TM Jose gave us some great pointers regarding conflict – the main one being a that good offense is offensive and  “let’s agree to disagree” works slightly better.
• TM Marie learned some valuable life lessons from none other than her beloved late macaw, Sailor, who could not be fooled by wooden eggs, recovered from her abusive childhood and became happily addicted to fruit cups.  She Won Best Speaker Award.
• DTM Mary Helen regaled us with a musical retrospective starring the twins from Gary, Indiana, originating with Que Sera Sera On A Good Ship Lollipop.

 

As far as evaluations go….

 

• DTM Kip will definitely and unequivocally map TM Jose’s speech to a Pathways Pathway and encouraged TM Jose to deliver the same speech twice which safeguards him (Jose) from finding a new topic.
• TM Aleta praised TM Marie for her heart-rendering tale of her friendship with her beloved pet, Sailor, which contained great life lessons for all of us who don’t have macaws or are mate-confused.
• TM Chris highlighted DTM Mary Helen’s down memory lane musical speech and asked her to incorporate karaoke into it, and more Doo-Wap Doo-Wap.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

The Word of the Day was

 

BE PREPARED

Meaning: Be Prepared

Example:  Be Prepared to take on any role when you arrive at EarlyBird on any given Thursday.  Keep a stack of Crib Sheets handy to face up to any eventuality.

 

Below is the link to today’s recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-WUvjN91ag

 

See you next week!

 

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Idioms, Pathways, Storytelling and Cross-Cultural Labrynths - a fun day at EarlyBirds!

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

Topicmaster Tom started us with American idioms, and we learned that…

 

• TM Pam no longer knows what roughing it means.  Finding a blemish on a lettuce leaf at the grocery store is the closest she comes to roughing it.
• Visiting TM Denis took us on a descriptive sailboat ride on the Atlantic Ocean when cats and dogs started raining during a squall.  He Won Best Table Topics Award.
• DTM Jim D. knows his retirement is over and done with for the 7^th time.  It’s simply an ineffable concept that totally eludes him.
• TM Marie learned to fly to take her mind off her pesky pregnancy.  Her first solo was such an ineffable feeling so her motto became fly by day, fly by night, fly anytime.
• TM Jose is bright eyed and bushy tailed after partying all night because Madrid does not believe in EarlyBird risers.  The sidewalks aren’t even set up until later in the morning.
• TM Joe settles on something because he’s impatient and can’t stand the uncertainty of pondering on issues.  It’s made for some ineffable choices.

 

In prepared speeches….

 

• TM Tom thinks Pathways has an intrinsic design flaw.  They use the term ‘launch’ loosely – and then what?  It’s ineffable but not much more.  Hearty congratulations is what’s missing!
• The undersigned (Ana the Recap Writer) recapped 70 years of life into a 5 minute and 40 second speech.  I’ve had a lot of practice.    I Won Best Speaker Award.
• DTM Kip is an aficionado of Toastmasters, wine, movies and travel.  He’s shed his Southern self-image emerging from a bucket of fried chicken. Instead, he’s become a latte-sipping liberal.

 

As far as evaluations….

 

• TM Aleta praised TM Tom for his motivational determination to decipher Pathways.  She suggested he look more at the camera and use more gestures.
• TM Joe really liked my (Ana)’s speech.  He is now officially a member of my fan club.  Bribery pays.
• TM Pam highlighted DTM Kip’s ability to focus on the internal rather than the external and reminded him it’s not PC to say Injuns anymore.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

INEFFABLE, adj.

 

Incapable of being expressed or described in words.

 

Example:   The word of the day was used very frequently at the ineffable meeting today.

 

We are deeply grateful to our Tech Gurus, TM Jim and Chris G., for battling low bandwiths, internet (and at times mental) instability, dull backgrounds and other minutae and ineffably joining our meeting today all the way from unknown but highly scenic Bushnell, Florida.

 

TM Joe G. will represent us at the Humorous Contest on Saturday October 10 at 9 am EST.   Please show your support and contact our latte-sipping liberal icon in the North Carolina cabin for login info.   Good luck, Joe, and have fun!

 

See you next week!

 

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Wild Rides, Manholes at the Hotel California - an inordinately fun EarlyBirds meeting

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends:

 

I, (Ana) started us off with a few of our favorite things.  We learned that….

 

• TM Jose took us on a wild ride in his first car, a tiny SEAT 600 (the Spanish version of the FIAT 500) otherwise known as a can of sardines that packed up to 7 and all passengers had to get off to push the vehicle uphill and had to walk down the other side of the hill before jumping back in.  He Won Best Table Topics Award.
• TM Priya’s all-time favorite vacation is the staycation, where she dreamily gets in touch with nature, snowy sceneries and enjoys the absolute best company – herself.
• Since the age of 10 or 11, TM Joe’s favorite sport is soccer. He coaches a little league in his city, runs around the field with the young ‘uns and then pays for the inordinate joy the next morning tending to sore muscles and crackling joints.
• DTM Jim D.’s favorite childhood tv show was Howdy Doody Time, full of puppets and zany characters which helped him learn how not to deal with reality- an inordinately useful  skill in his currently stressful job.
• TM BeckyJo recognizes that she is sometimes a self-appointed pontificator to family and friends, although she prefers to call herself an encourager.  She does not inordinately ramble on when the  eyes of the encouraged start rolling backward in their sockets.

 

And along came the prepared speeches….

 

• TM Tom was initially frozen solid about virtual toastmastering but thanks to the kindness of tecchie group members has mastered the art of digging himself out of the technology manhole.  He Won Most Improved Speaker Award.
• TM Aleta described her meteoric trajectory in our club, mentored by trailblazer Virginia Hettinger, who taught her that she could lead this club, although like Hotel California, she could never leave it.  Thus, Aleta remained a virtual member for several decades before virtual was invented.  She Won Best Speaker Award.

 

And finally, the evaluations revealed that….

 

• TM Priya gave TM Tom several practical tips to further enhance his virtual speaking skills and acknowledged the great message of optimism that his speech conveyed.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.
• TM Mildred fondly reminisced about TM Virginia and praised Aleta for displaying that most admirable quality in an incipient (or seasoned) Toastmaster:  being coachable.  It is an absolute must.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

INORDINATE, adj.

 

Exceeding reasonable limits

 

Ex.:  We had inordinate amounts of humor and laughter at our EarlyBirds meeting today.

 

Please click on the link below to listen to today’s recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EdsauX6qVQ

 

 

See you next week!

 

Ana I.

Perennial Recap Writer