Anemic pandemic, curmudgeons and polls - a fun Early Birds meeting!

 

0:00​ Start 19:06​ Table Topics 45:07​ Speaker 1 - Aleta Richmond 52:28​ Speaker 2 - Chris Guld - How to do Polls in Zoom 1:12:42​ Evaluations

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

TM Pam embarked us on a dreamy world of a dissipating pandemic where you can actually stop insiding and start outsiding.  What a concept!  And so we learned that….

 

• I, TM Ana, was welcomed into my first home with icy pipes in a Chicago suburb by some friendly lady neighbors with a tray of homemade frozen cookies.
• Since Spain is always “different”, the lockdown only allows family members into the home, so he’s waiting for my flight from Florida to arrive.  In the meantime, he spends his time at bars and cafes, where non-family members are allowed in tables of 6.
• Soon-to-be Early Bird TM Paolo Italianly said “Non tutti I mali vengono per nuocere” (“no hay mal que por bien no venga” in Spanish) (“every storm cloud has a silver lining” in meteorological English) and his has been that he has spent the year on Toastmasters Zooms and Early Birds Club is the finalist!!
• TM Lorena has recently discovered that supermarkets don’t sell life so she is urging everyone, instead, to fly the friendly skies to visit family and friends.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.
• DTM Jim D. has not gone to restaurants or weekend outings during the past year and as a result he has become extremely rich.
• Guest TM Hannah marveled that this time of seclusion has allowed us to take up old hobbies which we could not pursue when we actually had a life.

 

And then came the prepared speeches…

 

• From her satellite dish outpost, TM Aleta is leading a volunteer a women’s professional organization whose motto is “Anything worth doing is worth overdoing” and which mostly refers to eating and talking.   To boot, this completes her Level 5 project in Pathways.  She Won Best Speaker Award.
• Self-appointed DTM (Dinosaur Toast Master) Chris G. explained that the key to creating polls is to have clout with the Zoom account owner.

 

As far as evaluations go….

 

• TM Tom praised TM Aleta’s simple, concise and constructive explanation of what it’s like to herd female cats.
• TM Joe commended TM Chris for using plain English to take us down technological rabbit holes.  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

CURMUDGEON, noun

 

A cranky old person – often loveable underneath it all.

 

Ex. Early Birds Club is instrumental in removing curmudgeonry from the most curmudgeon-proficient of us.

 

 

Link to the YouTube recording: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmsS78wklqk

 

 

See you next week!

 

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Quotable quotes, HOA Hedges and Networking Follies - a fun morning at EarlyBirds

 

 Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

Commemorating Black History Month, TM Marie raised some notable quotes.

• TM Joe often exudes confusion due to shyness and coaches no less than 125 rowdy kids that propel him onto his field of dreams.
• TM Paolo doesn't limit himself by the limited imagination of others and that's what successfully landed him in Miami 25 years ago, and counting….
• TM Lorena confirmed that timing is always right when you're taking care of yourself and not concerned about others.
• TM Carmine asked us to hold fast to our dreams and help each other fly.  He's tired of hanging out with turkeys.  He Won Best Table Topics Award.
• TM Chris is made to feel that what other people say or do is mostly not worth remembering. 
• TM Pam thinks character is power when you have time to use it – certainly not when raising kids and surviving.  Now she's finally thriving.

 

Along came the prepared speeches…

 

• TM Tom felt like the out spoke (no pun intended) of the wheel but an angel who shall remain nameless (for now) steered him into becoming President of his HOA.  Tom is currently focused on Hedge Trimming for Pathways.
• TM Jeff wrote a letter to a legendary favorite coach who taught him to eat the breakfast of champions! He Won Best Speaker Award.
• DTM (Dinosaur ToastMaster) Kip, speaking from a Honda Dealership on the Bay just north of Key West, gave us a 3-minute crash course on storytelling for non-profits.

 

As far as evaluations go….

 

• DTM Mary Helen revealed she is the angel protagonist of Tom's speech – or was it perhaps her twin?  Tom's HOA adventure is irrefutably called Hedging your Hedges.
• TM Joe exuded vulnerability revealing how TM Jeff's speech touched him at his core and, once again,  stirred up his lifelong addiction to the Jets.   He Won Best Evaluator Award.
• TM Pam praised DTM Kip for coming out of the dark (to the tune of Coming Out of the Dark by Gloria Estefan) and reflecting on his latest – never last - networking event.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

EXUDE, verb

 

1. To ooze out
2. To display conspicuously or abundantly.

 

Ex:  If a sticky substance abundantly oozes a pine tree smell, it's definitely a scented candle.

 

TM Chris took a poll about creating polls and the results surpassed polling expectations.  Now a speech is in the imminent future (ie next week).

 

Below is the link to today's recording:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KRL-lpm4fQ

 

Ana I

Recap Writer

 

Dual realities, Optimism and UFOs - an esoteric EarlyBird meeting

 

TM Carmine started us off with the lighter side of idioms. We came to find out that….

• TM Lorena is beginning to trust that the light at the end of the tunnel is beautiful daylight, not an oncoming train as she had previously thought.
• Guest Dianne confirmed that in order to straighten out those pesky wrinkles in shirt collars, you must strike while the iron is hot.
• TM Jose bites more than he can chew at every meal but pulling a thumbnail sketch out of hat at an interview landed him a lucrative job.
• I (TM Ana) burn my bridges and shoot myself in the foot as part of my favorite daily activities.
• TM Paolo compared table topics to skydiving and when the red timing light strikes, he upset the dot dot dot without losing his adrenaline rush. He Won Best Table Topics Award.
• TM Jim D. confirmed that you break new ground when you fail to open the parachute on a red timing light or run into the train when chasing the light at the end of the tunnel.

And then came the prepared speeches….

• I, TM Ana, stated that dual realities are just one big fat lie invented as a marketing campaign by the lenscrafters chain. I Won Best Speaker Award.
• TM Aleta revealed that -as suspected by our group- she is an eternal optimist who finds the donkey in the you-know-what… in the divorce, what were you thinking???
• DTM Kip asserted that he just got off a flying saucer and became a consultant who gets paid to give people esoteric choices about their devices. His Pathways advice is for fun and for free.

As far as evaluations go…

• TM Pam asked me to spend a little cash and get better lighting and to put down the dang prop gently to avoid giving the audience an earache. She Won Best Evaluator Award. Besides that, she loved the speech….LOL (eerily reminiscent of “Mrs. Lincoln, besides that, did you enjoy the play?”)
• TM Marie commended TM Aleta for her cheerful disposition and her ability to make a sno-cone out of a blizzard of multi-marriages.
• TM Tom asked DTM Kip to stop fluttering his eyes and declared his undying friendship to this friendly martian.

The Word of the Day was



ESOTERIC, adj.

Understood by only a select group of people.



Example: The word esoteric stuck TM Carmine in a spinning wheel between Esoteric and Exoteric. As much as he tried, he just couldn’t get unstuck. Will he move on by next Thursday??? (To be continued…)



The link to today’s recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPvLM6nKQkg





See you next week!



Ana I.

Recap Writer

From the horse's mouth to the Andes to blurred backgrounds - a fun morning at EarlyBirds

 

On this frigid South Florida morning, TM Tom started us off with the most obscure idioms he could possibly find. We learned that….

• I (TM Ana) live in a tropical igloo and I exercise being as cold as charity because I have cold hands and feet.
• TM Carmine repeatedly stated “I am that I am” calm it strong which clearly proves that he has been reading Dr. Seuss again.
• DTM Mary Helen believes where there’s muck there’s brass, although her sink is stainless steel but the muck is there in her dirty dishes.
• TM Chris has lots of bright ideas while hubby Jim carries them out, which proves the devil is in the details. She Won Best Table Topics Award.
• TM Jim is always right in carrying out a certain someone’s bright ideas to later be told he’s wrong, so he knows he simply errs on the right side. It’s comforting.
• 
  
• TM Marie ran out some of the clock with laughter (new Table Topics trick) and tells the circling vultures ‘not the dickie bird!’.

And then came the much-awaited Icebreaker….


TM Lorena told us about her breakneck-paced childhood in oxygen-deprived high altitude Quito and her move to the US at age 19, where she became free to breathe normally again at 13 ft above sea level. She Won Best Speaker Award.





And our second speaker was none other than one of the Club’s favorites…


TM Pam is sticking to her New Year’s Resolutions of recent-past-wearing Not Your Mother’s Jeans to presently-wearing Your Mother’s Jeans to imminently-wearing Your Daughter’s Jeans. The secret to success is in the LGOreos!! (pronounced Ligorious)



As far as evaluations went….

• TM Jeff was impressed with TM Lorena’s icebreaker for its organization, conciseness, clarity of delivery, eloquence, purpose. Besides that, please tell us, did you like the speech, TM Jeff? He Won Best Evaluator Award.
• TM Aleta confessed that TM Pam is one of her favorite speakers because the light bulb has to want to change if the therapist is going to be any good, and for the reminder that hope is not a plan and we must actively deter increasingly snug jeans.

Technical Tip: Use a blurred virtual background so your dishes can stay dirty indefinitely.



Moral of the Meeting: Avoid adverbs and put your punch into your verbs. We will all take this blurred message today with us wherever we go (from the kitchen to the living room, for most of us).



The Word of the Day was



FAVORITE, adj.

(Origin: from the Latin Favoritus)



Preferred, favored



Example: All of us think we are a certain someone’s favorite. Hah.



See you next week!



Ana I.

Recap Writer