* TM Chris is proof positive that no pain, no gain is a truism and she is soon-to-be prouncing and hopping around on her brand new knee!
* TM Marc finds that it's always darkest before the dawn in an astronomical sense, especially when he does a crack-of-dawner to join EarlyBirds!
* TM Randolph is unsure when to throw caution to the wind and when to act with prudence, he is going to google it.
* TM Gail admires the Gulds for throwing caution to the wind, embarking on a seafaring adventure and spilling the beans about it!
* TM Marie thinks ladders are an endangered species, soon to be replaced by drones. She Won Best Table Topics Award.
* TM BeckyJo's off-her-rocker teenager was brought back to the recliner by her off-her-rocker Mom.
* DTM Mary Helen thinks well begun is half done, expecially when making banana cupcakes.
We then segued into our prepared speeches...
* TM Pam firmly believes in random acts of kindness to them/they/she/her/him and especially to her frenemy husband, in a striking evolutionary move ahead of neanderpoliticals.
* TM Aleta, our very own version of Casey Kasem's Top 40s, succumbed to DTM Mary Helen's 35-year pleas and after wishing she could turn back time, decided to update her Spotify playlist. See attached link for your musical enjoyment. She Won Best Speaker/Singer Award. (Here is the spreadsheet of all her songs.)
Along came evaluations....
* In a topsy-turvy turn of events through no fault of her own TM BeckyJo praised TM Pam's timeless speech, delivered with smooth transitions, easy flow and vocal variety, evoking BeckyJo's cousin who thinks she's off her rocker.
* TM The Tom admired TM Aleta's way of connecting music to her life and making great pauses from one title to another. He Won Best Evaluator Award.
The Word of the Day was
SEGUE, verb
To proceed to what follows without pause or hesitation.
EarlyBirds is a fun way to segue into the rest of our Thursday.
TM Chris led us in a Daoist inspiring Invocation about Letting Go.
*TM Paolo incited us to stop acting like chickens and join the Mile-High Club. He Won Best Speaker Award.
*TM The Tom told us the rest of the story about the Airport Advisory Board bully who became the Hospital Noise Abatement Challenger. He Won Best Speaker Award.
* TM BeckyJo led us in Round Robin evaluations...
* TM Gail thought both speakers were the ultimate raconteurs.
* TM Marie praised TM Paolo for his passion and TM The Tom for his eloquence. She Won Best Round /Robin Evaluator Award.
* TM Aleta soars like eagles and faces up to bullies.
* TM Terri liked TM Paolo's energy and TM The Tom's emphasis.
* DTM Mary Helen is going to read the referenced Awareness book again.
* TM Ana discovered she is hard of hearing...
* TM BeckyJo praised TM Paolo for reinventing himself and TM The Tom for reinventing the bully.
TM Terri led us in miscellaneous slides of Table Topics....
* TM Marie indicated that she wears her heart on her sleeve, not in her hand. It's all a matter of perception!
* DTM Mary Helen said glittering city lights remind her of telenovelas where the maid always elopes with the owner's son and lives unahappily ever after...
* TM Aleta told us through chattering teeth about the heavily weighted snowy branches in her icy driveway where the pizza delivery guy skidded his way to the door.
* I, Ana, reminisced about Lake Titicaca in the Bolivian Andes and Lake Michigan, in the icy shores of Chicagoland. I Won Best Table Topics Award.
* TM Gail has taken many pictures of lighthouses while growing up by the sea, cherished memories of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
* TM Pam is an easily diverted time waster who currently spends her precious time contemplating kitten watercolor painting techniques. She promises to stop.
* TM BeckyJo used to play 'red light, green light' with Sunday school children and concluded that boys are wiggly and girls are staid until they discover boys and become wigglers too.
The Word of the Day was
RACONTEUR, noun
A person who tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way.
Example: In Toastmasters we become witty raconteurs and effective public speakers. Yes, sireeee!
DTM Mary Helen evoked our musicality with lines from Elton songs...
* TM Chris is still standing, and after a 50-year-old injury in a black diamond ski run, is getting a new knee while enjoying a good joint.
* TM Randolph was dating his wife, forming a music group, preparing for college and starting to realize that he didn't know everything, all at 17. He Won Best Table Topics Speaker Award.
* TM Aleta looks presentable from the waist up because she knows that, besides her hips, the camera never lies.
* TM Pam pondered who she'd be if she were you and you were her or they/them were us/ours and who is she anyways, she wonders when she wakes up every morning....
* TM Paolo would like to feel the love tonight although with (2) bambini in bed it's easier to feel the love in the house and the morning pandemonium. This too shall pass...
* The Tom mused that yes, he should have sent flowers at times - there's always an opportunity to be softer. Ahh... the powers of hindsight....
* I, Ana, had a wild and crazy night at a joint Billy Joel/Elton John concert many moons ago and with a cold heart left my commitments behind.
* TM Jim G. reflected on the circle of life - the birth of his son, the death of his father and hopes there's still another chapter to fill...
* TM Marie considers us all dear friends, although she only sees us in the zoom squares, but she fully believes we are all real people.
We heard 2 interesting speeches today...
* TM Marie distinguished between helpful Flora pasta labels and childhood adhesive labels - ie shy, butterfingers, accident-prone, clumsy, chatterbox - which we carry through life until we are baptized in the Jordan River, Epcot Center, USA.
* TM Terri had a college dorm experience at age 50 in Kent, England, where she pierced the veil of time in Greenwich Village and traversed to AM/PM to meet Geoffrey Chaucer sitting in the Mermaid Chair at Land's End, currently a mail order clothes catalog. She Won Best Speaker Award.
And about evaluations...
* TM The Tom thanked TM Marie for taking him back to childhood bullying to parlay himself into a purposeful, loving, being loved human being. He Won Best Evaluator Award.
* TM Paolo praised TM Terri as a captivating teacher with great vocal variety and asked for a map marked with an X to find the Mermaid Chair.
The Word of the Day was
PARLAY, verb
To bet
To exploit successfully
To increase or otherwise transform into something of greater value.
For example: His gambling addiction was parlayed into a successful career in Finance with a day job in Congress.
Next week, January 23, is our Club International Speech Contest. Area Contest will be held on March 8 in Davie, Florida.
TM Marie gave us FFT (food for thought) with certain ideas....
* TM Randolph practices more understanding of simple gestures and states that smiles dress us up. He Won Best Table Topics Award.
* TM Pam, loves hand-written notes and recently found 3 misplaced and unsent written thank you cards from her 1900s wedding. Ohwell....
* TM Paolo admits that the pillars of old, sincere friendships are unmovable and enhance reconnecting.
* TM Marc reflected that having a sense of belonging is not instantaneous and must be built up. Tricky, not easy but well worth it!
* DTM Mary Helen collects notebooks as powerful reminders of who she used to be, her feelings, goals, dates, musings.
* TM Aleta first joined EarlyBirds in 1980 and some of its pioneer members made a deep impact on her and lift her soul, week after week.
We heard (2) powerful speeches...
* TM The Tom talked about Gatsby's Dilemma ,,, "and so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." Old Gatsby, Old Sport.
* TM Thoroughly Modern Chris suggested we get a Google account and visit mymaps.google.com to place markers (oh ever so easy) on past trips, future trips, present trips, imagined trips, color coded, with infrared insights, while Thoroughly Old Fashioned Chris disposed of 4 old papers in a treasure trunk. She Won Best Speaker Award.
Regarding the evaluations...
* DTM Mary Helen praised TM The Tom for a well-organized speech that was relatable whenever she undertakes a task and ends up reading an old book, dragging a sack of ash behind her.
* TM Paolo was so enthusiastic about The G's future many times around the world cruise that he almost jumped out of his Zoom square and became an in-person evaluator in front of our very eyes! He Won Best Evaluator Award.
The Word of the Day was
ACRONYM, noun
Abbreviation formed by taking initial letters of words in a phrase and creating a new word that is pronounceable.
For example: SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus); NASA (National Aeronautical & Space Administration); RADAR (Radio Detection & Ranging); YOLO (You Only Live Once), FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).
Attention Please!! Acronyms are not to be confused with Initialisms - here are some Senior Citizen Texting Codes: ATD (At The Doctors), BFF (Best Friend Fell), BTW (Bring The Wheelchair), BYOT (Bring Your Own Teeth), FWIW (Forgot Where I Was), GGPMBL (Gotta Go, Pacemaker Battery Low), GHA (Got Heartburn Again), IMHO (Is My Hearing Aid On?), LMDO (Laughing My Dentures Out), OMMR (On My Massage Recliner), ROFLACGU (Rolling On Floor Laughing And Can't Get Up)
Our International Speech Club Contest will be held on January 23, 2025.
TM Jim G. led us in single-word topics. And as we now know...
* DTM Mary Helen practices gratitude every day of her life - especially considering how privileged our lives are.
* TM Marie admires our adventurous fellow Toastmasters and wonders if she will have the courage to be who she truly is in 2025. Yes, Marie, you will!
* TM Terri believes that travel equals discovery, inspiration, innovation and renovation. An inward interior design of transformation!
* TM Randolph achieves growth through self-evaluation, for which he uses the Pathways evaluation forms.
* Guest Debbi concluded that as she gets older, her potential becomes more obvious and she reaches out to grab it! She Won Best Table Topics Award.
Along came prepared speeches...
* I, Ana, elaborated on various definitions of happiness versus joy versus delight versus musical renditions. Conclusion: "Don't Worry, Be Happy" (to the tune of "Don't Worry, Be Happy" . I Won Best Speaker Award.
* TM Pam decided to get rid of bad habits by decluttering "a box a week is not for the meek" and she is not joining Quitters Day, no sireee....
Regarding evaluations...
* TM Jose stood up for the occasion and challenged me to look at the camera, not at the squares, and to stand up to improve gestures. He Won Best Evaluator Award.
* TM Aleta praised TM Pam's sincerity and challenged her to work some more on the pesky technology of sharing screens and other mysteries of zoom.
The Word of the Day was
POT-POURRI (noun)
- A mix of dried flower petals, leaves and spices to create a scent.
- A collection of various things.
Example: Pot-pourri elicits a highly controversial pronunciation challenge between green-gos, who correctly pronounce it POW-POURRI, Hispanics, who incorrectly pronounce it POT-PUREE and the clueless, who pronounce it OLLA PODRIDA.
Our Club International Speech Contest will be held on January 23, 2025. Dust off your speeches, locals!
