Military Quotes, Bikers & Beer, Tadpole Ralph - a great morning at EarlyBirds

Dear  Members and Friends,

What an exciting morning!  We inducted our new TM Val into the Club.

We held highly contested Club Elections.  After tough campaigns, the following members got elected into the corridors of power:   New term begins July 1.

President - TM Randolph

VP Ed - DTM Kip

Secretary - TM Tom

Treasurer - DTM Jim D.

VP Membership - DTM Mary Helen

VP Public Relations - TM Ana

Sargeant-at-Arms - TM Marie

Commemorating Memorial Day, I (Ana) led Table Topics with military quotes on leadership, teamwork, courage and humor.  We soon discovered that...

* DTM Jim D. rides the thunder in his bike and is very close friends with FHP.

* TM Val firmly believes that motivation derives strictly from a well-delivered sales pitch.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Paolo reminded us that disturbing an erring enemy is like letting fettucini cook in its own water - you stand back and watch.

* TM Marie compared military preparedness to being an Ah Counter.

* TM Randolph expects challenges in the road less travelled from an easy yesterday.

* DTM Kip invoked ceremonial fires as merely advancing in a different direction.

Along came the prepared speeches...

* TM Scott gave us a rubber sided down Part II of his bike ride through Blue Ridge Breweries and liquid loaves of bread.  He Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Tom (aka Zorba the Greek on La Strada) campaigned for Ralph the Tadpole who led us as a bullfrog and confirmed that all change is followed by chaos.

As far as evaluations....

* TM Marie praised TM Scott for exuding enthusiasm, bikes, beer and fun and no cracked ribcages.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

* DTM Kip marveled at how the Tadpole to BullFrog analogy fits into so many organizations.  

The Word of the Day was

APEX, noun

Peak of something, highest point of something.

Plural:  apexes or apeces

Example:  The Apex of an octopus is to join other octopi and avoid becoming fried calamari.

Here's the link to the recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jmm7yAz4Mo

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Improv, Speech Contests and Brain Freezes - all in a day's work at EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Friends and Guests:

Always a master at innovation,  DTM Kip led us with an intro speech about the Rules of Improv.  Who knew there were any??  It turns out improv is as premeditated as it gets...

Then he led us in improv Table Topics.   We found out that...

* DTM Kip's wife gives him a light breakfast which prompts him to head to his favorite grocery store in search of mystery meat to feed his hunger...

* I, Ana, select low salt mystery turkey and head for my car to eat it to gather energy for endless errands to be completed;

* TM Scott overcomes mystery meat indigestion by heading for Costcoooo, where shopping is the REAL pleasure...

* TM Aleta instead heads to Pam's Club where shopping is truly a chimera...

* DTM Jim D. eats tofu in disguise and shoots iguanas, which by the way taste just like chicken...

* TM Jim G. backpacks it down the hill to the Italian market, where road signs are only suggestions and hand gestures prevail.

* TM Paolo says forget big grocery chains in Italy, simply listen to the calls for "Pesce fresco, insalata fresca" and make it a family event...He Won Best Table Topics award.

* Guest Val will start food shopping at the international market, where turkey smells like turkey and not like mystery trypto-cellophane.

* TM Pam became DTM Kip's improv wife who sends him out to float around the universe while she engages in mystery activities at home.

In the prepared speeches...

* TM Paolo reminisced about his off-the-charts adrenalin rush while soaring like an eagle and riding a gondola at the speech contests.

* TM Tom had a brain freeze, was rescued by improv mentors and grew where he was planted.    He Won Best Speaker Award.

Regarding Evaluations....

* TM Pam encouraged DTM Kip to re-tell his speech and join Miami City Ballet as an improv primo ballerino.

* TM Scott marveled that TM Paolo's contest prize was transformation into mic checker expertise.  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

* TM Aleta officially appointed TM Tom name successor of legendary actor John Fayne.  

The Word of the Day was

CHIMERA, noun  (Kye-mee-rah)

An illusion, improbable

Example:  Today's EarlyBird meeting was decidedly a good chimera.

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

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Writer 

Tall Tales at EarlyBird

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

We dove straight into our Tall Tales, after having vouched that they are 100% true:

* I, Ana, told about the Spanish Avian-fluent orphans who turned out to be heirs to the throne and stopped the Witches' Union from picketing to become Owls.

* DTM Jim D. flew in a psychedelic Alaska Air plane to meet his bike buddies and Gertrude The Moose rode one of the motorcycles while chased by a big brown Alaska bear.

* DTM Mary Helen bought a GPS-driven Magic Carpet in Istanbul after smoking lotsa hooka and flew with her hubby back to the good ole USA. 

*TM Marie confirmed that time is a tall tale, the Sun does not rise and does not set and she is a confirmed shape shifter of the third kind.

* TM Tom's cat has Cuban inclinations and after a brief interlude in Catfish Dewey's flew the Days' Magic Carpet to Tropicana, smack in the heart of Havana.

* TM Aleta knew a homicidal lumberjack named O'Malley who couldn't find the hidden moneybelt of the cook he murdered while being chased by a Pennsylvania black bear.

We then had a sequential Table Topics Magical Mystical Tour,  which sounded like this....

* Hookas open up the appetite and take us to the castle where the queen languishes (Kip) and eats lovingly prepared 800-person paellas  (Jose), eaten with McDonald's fries by a certain wife and kids whose mouths are on saffron-induced fire (Randolph), topped with oozing mozzarella of sexy burrata (Paolo), complemented by black beans, pork chunks and plantains (Ana), landed on a deserted island with hungry shipwrecked survivors (Mary Helen), flown to Havana by a cha-cha dancing cat (Tom) arrived in her backyard with an unstable connection (Aleta), pieced as a family hooka party on both coasts (Val) and joined by a vegetarian moose named Gertrude who instantly became a carnivore (Scott).

Another fun morning at EarlyBirds!

See you next week,

Ana

Recap Writer

Here's the link to the recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-24ugLenLQ

Cinco de Mayo, Last Icebreaker, Leadership and Motorcycles - a varied morning at EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

I started us off with Cinco de Mayo topics.  We found out that....

* TM BeckyJo has every type of hat except a red hat and a purple dress.  She's out buying herself a sombrero right now.

* DTM Mary Helen has multifaceted capes - blankets, pillows, layers- and will acquire a soft Mexican poncho to double up as a bedspread.

* TM Aleta displayed her donkey pinata but will now buy a companion parrot pinata to pay homage to the day.

* DTM Jim D. likes the Arizona cactus flower, a flora variety we now learned thrives in Windermere.

* TM Marie has frequent standoffs with her cat, who has learned to act Mexican and she likes red hot chili peppers to sweat the toxins off.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* DTM Kip eats chili pepper necklace beads that his wife surreptitiously shoves on his chimichanga entree.

In the area of prepared speeches...

* TM Carmine gave a sentimental icebreaker about the various stages of his life's journey - from the asphalt jungle to a soon-to-be Wandering Monk in a travelling van.  He Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Tom described several leadership types - pragmafist, Stuart Loyalist and diplomatic corps, and only made a brief reference to his cat.  He ceded time to DTM Kip to rally the troops for Tall Tales next week.

* TM Scott is descended from a long line of biker dudes and practices self-filming on a motorcycle while swaying in the wind of his Grandfather's Mountain.

As far as evaluations go...

* DTM Kip officially nominated TM Carmine as our Resident Holy Person and made a call to action to zoom in to EarlyBirds to deliver more swan songs.

* TM Carmine encouraged TM Tom to continue honing his skills as a personal, interesting, effective storyteller.  

* TM Marie praised the humor in TM Scott's speech about the Gang of Three Biker  Brothers and wonders how TM Scott's wife finds time to do anything else besides scanning his life insurance policy.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

The Word of the Day was

APHASIA, noun

Loss or impairment, inability to recall words resulting from a brain injury.

Example:  Bruce Willis is suffering from aphasia and may eventually  DIE HARD.

Next week is our Tall Tales meeting!

See you then,

Ana I.

Recap Writer