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.