Miscellaneous, Where's the Salsa and Have You Met My Family? A humorous morning at EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

DTM Jim D. started us off with a series of randomly selected topics.  Moreover, we found out that...

* TM Marie refers to online shopping as order, disorder and reorder.

* TM Chris pats her back and moreover, she becomes more tecchie every time she teaches someone how to turn off their phone alarms.

* TM Aleta has fully declared herself a perfectionist who likes objectivity versus subjectivity and moreover, she could not care less about doing the right thing, sorry.

* TM BeckyJo's podiatrist lies compulsively with a smile and her screams cleared the waiting room.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Jim said technology makes him lose track of time and moreover, his favorite song is Cher's If I Could Turn Back Time.

* TM Randolph STILL  finds humor in his kids' little game of What Hurts Today So That I Don't Have to Go To School.  The key word is STILL....

 * I, Ana, find that it's best to give it up whenever I get one of my bright ideas that have left me with a bloody forehead in the past.

* DTM Jim D. has been a reactor, rather than an actor, for most of his life, amd moreover,  life has taken him wherever it has taken him.

Along came the prepared speeches...

* I, Ana talked about the culinary delights of growing up Spanglish and moreover, I survived its cardiovascular repercussions.  I Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM BeckyJo introduced us to her freckled Hawaiian family who scuba dived in the murky pond of a local Polinesian restaurant.  She Won Best Speaker Award.

Moreover, we had some great evaluations...

* TM Chris laughed heartily at my speech and moreover, she would have REALLY  enjoyed it if I had only shown my face above my notes.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

* TM Aleta commended TM BeckyJo for her hand gestures (to be toned down to prevent Zoom crashes) and her vocal variety.  Moreover, she suggested a better camera angle that points above the speaker's neck.

The Word of the Day was

MOREOVER, adverb

(not to be confused with MOREEVER, or EVERMORE, as in "Lenore, evermore" of poetic fame)

As a further matter; besides

Example:  Glass is electrically insulating;  moreover, very seldom do I often hereinafter refer to the aforementioned;

The link to the recording:

https://youtu.be/4HYs6WIhAGc

See you next week!

Ana I.

Evermore Recap Writer

Earth Day, Sincerely Faithful and More Will Be Revealed - a meeting of visionaries at EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

TM Marie launched us with quotes from legendary Sir David Attenborough.  We were soon to discover that....

* TM Jim G.'s underwater videos have revealed all sorts of creatures, large and small, which are immersive and subversive.

* TM Aleta cherishes the natural world and lives off her crops to avoid the many illnesses caused by artificially intelligent store pricey produce.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Randolph wants his grandkids to be able to see elephants in the zoo and hopes the wooly mammoth returns to save the planet.

* TM Paolo brings nature to his children, who now automatically report Italian cigarette-butt litterers to the carabinieri, the Polizia and the Polizia Municipale for their disposal.

* TM BeckyJo is a self-declared minimalist who still uses soap from 1970 and more or less believes that less is more.

* DTM Jim D. has learned discernment about food portions which led to significant weight loss and is currently cheating with chocolate ice cream.

* TM Chris definitely consumes less by living in a 21 inch camper with no electricity but plenty of magnolia trees in bloom all around.  She detests MacMansions.

We had some visionary prepared speeches today. In an unprecedented tie, unbroken by our non-practicing tiebreaker,  both speakers won.

* TM Emmanuel pondered the meaning of fidelity, sincerity, authenticity, objectivity, loyalty and other ity-ending words and concluded that truth simply requires connectivity.  He Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Pamela stated that life keeps moving as we keep moving and she has evolved into a visionary gardener, birder, reader who specializes in microlepidoptera - use of moth balls is strictly verbotren, you Nazi moth killers out there!  She Won Best Speaker Award.

The Word of the Day was

VISIONARY, adjective

Thinking or planning the future with imagination or wisdom.

Example:  Truth though distorted are words I create, today the parting, tonight, tonight, at the peak of your visionary mountains.  (Sung to the tune of Visionary Mountains by Manfred Mann).

Here's the link to the recording:

https://youtu.be/bwHuhrGMSAk

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Visionary 

Potential Choices, Getting Old and The Order, Disorder and Reorder of Today's World

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

TM Jim G. got us pondering about how things might have turned out under other circumstances.  We discovered that...

* TM Tom would be a country & western singer clad in a golf outfit dealing with HOA board meetings with a banjo on his knee.

* TM Marie revealed herself as a daredevil who would whitewater raft, ski and hike any mountain, climb any hill, and return to Cinco Terra in Italy in a heartbeat.

* TM Paolo's best friend was the elementary school bully who became his best friends and they even shared girlfriends (Es Amore!!).  Sadly he died 30 years ago, leaving a huge void in Paolo's life.  He Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Pam realized that she wants to try exotic foods while scuba diving, no more and no less.  No jumping out of airplanes for her, no siree!!

* TM BeckyJo has finally understood that it takes a mallet to soften a dead alligator into the texture of a filet mignon.  She will not try to cook one again, that's for sure!

We had two great prepared speeches...

* DTM Mary Helen pointed out that symptoms of becoming old are the repetitiveness of life, we can no longer remember the name of our teenage idol, nightsleep is shorter and napping is more frequent.  What keeps us young is starting over - at springtime or on our birthday, not when we're tipsy on New Year's Eve, and while we still have something to say.

* DTM David confirmed our suspicions that, like many other organizations, Toastmasters is very disoriented about rules and regulations for Online, In-Person and Hybrid meetings.  Erratically is the name of the game.  If we stay online-only, we will not be orphaned from District 47, though.

And we had some great evaluations...

* TM Jose, just landed from Spain in the midst of a Florida monsoon, praised DTM Mary Helen for her ease and comfort when delivering a speech, her vocal variety, her hand gestures and connecting with her audience with a universal theme.  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

* TM Aleta profusely thanked our Guest Speaker DTM David for enlightening us to the fact that Toastmasters International's policy on types of meetings is clear as mud.

The Word of the Day was

SERENDIPITY, noun

Events that happen by chance in a happy and beneficial way.

Example:  It was through serendipity that I ran into my French high school friend - we met in The American School of Madrid - at my parish church  in Fort Lauderdale, 20 years after having lost touch with each other.  Neither of us had any previous connection to Fort Lauderdale.

See you next week!

Serendipituosly yours,

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Quotes, Learning To Not Know, Heckle City - a morning with gumption at EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

TM Chris enlightened us with quotes from famous and not-so-famous people.  We were soon to discover that,,,,

* DTM Jim D. rises early to get those hot cinnamon buns, forget the worm!

* TM Tom firmly believes that chocolate makes the world go round.

* TM Astrid agrees that life is a daring adventure although at 7 am mentally it's mostly nothing.

* TM Jim G. tries to go with the flow so he doesn't get bent out of shape as easily.

* TM Pam remembers growing up with her squooshy grandmother and her rigid grandmother - and they were only in their 50s back then!! She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Randolph's best learning moments have been after putting his hand on a hot stove as a young child ignoring his mother. Now he watches his kids do the same thing.

* DTM Mary Helen ponders why doing nothing is hard since she always seems to be doing nothing while doing something and going somewhere but ending up anywhere.

Regarding the prepared speeches...

* TM Marie explained that she used to be an expert in everything but she has realized that with not knowing comes learning and keeps you from getting stuck in the muck of your having to unlearn what you had made up anyway.  She Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Aleta showed us what courage is:  grace under pressure.  She managed a difficult audience and did not take it personally.

And then came the evaluations...

* TM Tom sincerely apologized for being such a natural-born heckler and marveled at how the role came so naturally to him.  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

* TM Randolph was absolutely positively comprehensively inspired by TM Marie's gumption in revealing how she empties out her mind of thoughts and other needless objects.

The Word of the Day was

GUMPTION, noun

enterprise, initiative

common sense, horse sense

Example:  It takes a lot of gumption and lacks a lot of gumption  to ride a saddleless horse.

Here's the link to the recording:

https://youtu.be/EGwP2FgtC0c

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Writer