We hope to have our dear Ana back next week, meanwhile, please bear with me as I try to follow Ana's method of recapping our weekly meeting. Chris G.
We started on time after Mary Helen snapped Jim out of his techno-induced coma, and Tom Quinn was voluntold to deliver the invocation. Well-done Tom!
Pam Schrimsher led us in Table Topics with an end in mind. She wants to collect pieces of these mini-speeches this morning to make a promotional video about our wonderful club. She asked that we come up with one word that sums up. We learned that:
- Randolph Bastein just can't quit us. He joined Earlybirds when he needed to get better at speaking for his work. When he got busier at work he figured he could not continue in Earlybirds, but Kip Barkley told him, "Just do what you can." That was 4 years ago and Randolph is a treasured member of our club still today. Inspired.
- Terri Montealegre was hooked by all of the members of Earlybirds but especially Ana, our membership-recruiter-in-chief. Joining Earlybirds has reawakened her early memories - that train really does exist. Fantastic.
- Chris Guld is so happy to have an audience for her stories. It's what gets her up so early in the morning. By the time the meeting is over she is wide awake and Enriched with the Variety of the meeting.
- BeckyJo Bean is looking for a fight, but she's been disappointed. Of all the diversity of opinions and thought represented by the members of Earlybirds we remain surprisingly civil. Even when we met for breakfast - no food fights broke out. Surprising Friendships.
- Tom Quinn misses the in person meetings but is so happy that he doesn't have to brush his teeth or wear pants when he meets with us in our little boxes. He likes us, he really likes us! He says we are the Greatest.
- Roslyn Parker, filling out the membership application as she spoke, has been in and out of Toastmasters for years. After visiting Earlybirds once, she is ready to be committed. She won Best Table Topics award.
Then came the prepared speeches.
DTM Jim Day endures being membership chair for his Harley motorcycle club and he told us how his clubs members are Olympic champions in riding motorcycles from Florida to Homer Alaska without GPS, or motels. We all listened in horror as he showed pictures of people sleeping next to their bikes for only 2 hours as they rode for 22. We're so glad he was telling us about the other people who did this .. not him.
Aleta Richmond decked her co-worker with a 12 foot board as the saw broke the board apart and turned it into a see-saw. Not to worry, the removal of the board revealed a pot of honey worked by a swarm of bees. Not to worry, she had plenty of benadryl and ice for the bee stings. We learned that hex-head construction screws can be removed to allow recycling of the boards to another part of the deck, and leftover railings can be modified and you can save a lot of money by building a deck yourself as long as you are a very talented woman. She won Best Speaker award.
Then came evaluations.
Randolph Bastein lamented the 15 seconds overtime that disqualified DTM (don't time me) Jim Day because he liked this speech so much. Hoka Hey - tell us more. He won Best Evaluator award.
Chris Guld praised Aleta for standing up and putting her whole body into her language and we would never have noticed that we couldn't see her deck if she hadn't said "Sorry."
The word of the day was Encumbered: to be held back, weighed down, overburdened.
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