Cupid, Adventures and Smart Homes That Are Not Too Smart - a fun morning at EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Guests, Friends,

TM Randolph started us off with a meaningful Invocation, and we were ready to start our Table Topics contest...

The topic was ADVENTURE.... and as we soon found out...

* TM Veronica stays in Toastmasters to master her hesitation with impromptu speaking and has embarked in this adventure.

* TM Pam's main adventure - at this stage of life - is exactly that, to have conquered another night stayin' alive...

* TM Jose's middle name is Adventure - he began getting into pickles at a very tender age and continued until caution became his second middle initial.  He Won Second Place.

* TM Cristina's life has been a total and complete adventure, seconded since a few years ago by her also-adventurous husband.  She Won First Place.

* TM Randolph's adventure plans includes riding his bike alone and aimlessly until his legs give out - hopefully near a Hyatt Regency.  He Won Second Place.

* TM BeckyJo's childhood adventures included commanding her entire 4th grade to follow her across the street to a park and serving 3 years' detention for it. But... she'd do it again in a heartbeat.

While the votes were being tallied, we had a prepared speech and a disruptive audience.

* TM David told us that "A smart house is not a silver bullet" and, among interruptions, comments and sneers, we realized that smart homes are simply endless set up instructions, compatibility issues, resetting passwords, wifi shutdowns and toilets that don't flush when the internet is down.  So beware of modern technology if you still want to have a quiet cup of coffee on weekends.

As far as evaluations go...

* TM Jose praised TM David's speech and how he handled disruptions... before TM Jose himself was disrupted by a security technician intending to make my home a little smarter but not quite.

Our Word of the Day was

CUPID, noun

A cherub-like entity that throws arrows at people's hearts to allure them into romantic love and otherwise entices everyone to profess brotherly/sisterly love to their fellow humans.

Example:  Cupid played an important role in most couples' romantic involvements.

Overall, our Table Topics contest provided a morning of fun and laughter for us all.

And as they say.... "If it's not fun... it's not Toastmasters!"

Here's the link to the recording....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cawh2Cfo_g

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Writer 

Contest, Inspiration and Is It Fair? - a contested morning at EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

We heard very inspirational speeches...

* TM Marie expressed to us how the most important gifts we receive in life are those invitations we accept....  She Won First Place

* TM Veronica clearly showed us how life happens while we're getting prepared so we must reverse course and take action first!  She Won Second Place

* TM Jose reiterated that we are responsible for our own actions and we need to actively build a healthy life and determine what we refuse to tolerate.

* TM David declared that life marches along and we must not allow any small hiccup to cause upheavals.  That's why he goes to Toastmasters.  He Won Third Place.

* I, Ana, gave a bird's eyeview of life from the shoreline instead of focusing on one finite point in my realm.

* TM Aleta explained to us what a modern pioneer woman is - perseverance, stamina and WiFi!  Go Starlink!

While votes were being tallied, we had outstanding Table Topics led by TM Randolph - is life fair and does money make a difference?

* TM Jose's life indeed changed by the lack of money when he learned to hunt and cook and then as he made more money, expenses always caught up!

* TM Veronica found herself in Costa Rica, 21 years old with no money but she had generous friends who spotted her till she got back home.

* TM Aleta said you can't depend on what you learn in college because life itself is the best teacher.

* TM Pam stated that no, life is indeed not fair, but hey people, learn to be empathetic to those below - it needs to become trendy again.

* TM BeckyJo said it's fair to cut in line if you pay Premium but it's not fair to cut in line for organ donation just because you're wealthy.  No sireeee...

The Word of the Day was 

CONTEST, noun

An exercise to determine one's place in a competition.

Here's the link to the recording:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9wJWefpXwE

Next week, on to Table Topics Contest!!!

See you then!

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Salsa, Salsa, Salsa, Evaluations and Labor Day - a fun contest at Early Birds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

We had our Evaluations Contest today! What a huge success! 

Our Test Speaker, TM Yolanda, delighted us with a fun, upbeat speech about her passionate love affair... with SALSA!  ("The rythm is going to get you, the rythm is going to get you!) (sung to the tune of Gloria Estefan's Rythm is Going To Get You... 

She followed her friend's father's wise adage "If you don't swing the bat, you won't hit the ball!" and she swung the bat and hit the ball all right!  Inspired by the movie "Dance with me" she began as a shy observer and progressed to Salsa Casino, Salsa Club, Salsa Congress, Salsa Competition...

By the end of her speech, we all wanted to sign up for Salsa lessons.

And then came the evaluations...

* TM Pam praised TM Yolanda for the connection between love affairs and dancing.

* TM Jose was enthralled with TM Yolanda's self-assurance and her evolution from bystander to salsa expert.  He Won Third Place.

* TM Christine so related to the light hearted tone of the speech and TM Yolanda's ebullient nature.

* TM BeckyJo was inspired by TM Yolanda's zest for best and vows to create an EarlyBird Salsa Contest at our old Denny's.  We will fly the non-locals in.  She Won First Place

* TM David thoroughly enjoyed the essence of the speech and praised TM Yolanda for overcoming her initial insecurity with an intrepid salsa spirit.

* TM Marie admired TM Yolanda's strong start and non-glare glasses as well as her joyful disposition.  She Won Second Place.

While the votes were being tallied, we had Table Topics about the upcoming Labor Day...

* TM David firmly declared that he will wear white or any color he chooses after Labor Day.   So there!

* TM Jorge lived in South Beach for a while and did not go to any Labor Day Beach Bash parties, thank you very much!

* TM Christine is torn between a backyard barbeque and a picnic because she loves both soooo much.

* TM Yolanda has gone to the beach plenty of times but has not engaged in water sports, boating or swmming.  She prefers to watch the waves from the shore...

Reminder frrom TM Marie, our Treasurer:

Dues are due!  Please go to toastmasters.org and follow clear instructions.  Thank you!

Next week, September 4, will be a standard Early Birds meeting.  The Humorous Speech Contest has been pushed back until further notice.

Next week, September 4, we will have a brief business meeting right after our regular meeting to discuss items of interest.  Club Officers need to be there but everyone is welcome to stay!

Here's the link to the recording:

https://youtube.com/live/JUV4SqUHT8Q?feature=share

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Change and Mentoring - a cognitively rich contest at EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

The recording captured a lively discussion of Jim and Chris G.'s plan to literally embark on an Oddysey and navigate the oceans on a semi-permanent world cruise.  Never a dull moment with the Geeks! More to follow...

The Table Topics Contest Topic was CHANGE.

* DTM Mary Helen wistfully reflected that change is inevitable, scary but at the same time exciting and she hopes to stay in the river of change.

* TM Paolo follows Darwin's discovery that only those who adapt to change survive - and he practices by moving his numerous offspring from one side of the pond to the next.  He Won Second Place.

* TM Chris is breaking free from the forcefield of routine to enhance her cognitive skills aboard the Odyssey (see above).  She Won First Place.

We had a wonderful Level 2 speech from TM Gail, which will propel EarlyBirds on its Gafor Distinguished of the Distinguished Clubs - thank you Gail! - and we also found out that...

* Her first mentor was her Mother, who taught her the (now) useless skills of back then - sewing, crocheting, darning - but instilled in her a passion for learning which led her to (2) PHDs and the road to her Master Mentors, Chris and Jim G., and ultimately embarking on Toastmasters' Pathways journey.  It's come full circle!  You're a great asset to our Club, TM Gail!

TM Paolo evaluated TM Gail's speech....

* He suggested she does not have to thank the audience - the audience ought to thank her! She conveyed powerfully the strong link she has to her Master Mentors and the audience was fully engaged and inspired by her speech.

The Word of the Day was

COGNITIVE, adjective

Related to thinking, learning, understanding.

Italians have difficulty saying cognitive because in Italian, cg is pronounced nye.  Signore, Signora, Signorina.  Vooolare, ooooh, Cantaaaare, Ohhhohhohh

Here's the link to the recording

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqfkWfHr3hE

See you next week!

Loopily submitted (I think they gave me liquid Valium for the procedure, for real)

AI (absent intelligence) or 

IA (In absentia)

EarlyBird Evaluation Contest - What's Your Passion and Winter Activities

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

Contest Chair Marie and Chief Judge Pam proved to be a dynamic contest duo and led us smoothly into the morning...

Test Speaker TM Dori discovered that touching people is her forte, and she put on her own glass slipper with crocheted socks, no Prince required, thankyouverymuch.  Thank you, TM Dori, for inspiring us to take up crochet...

We had some powerful evaluators:

* TM Chris fully related to the speech as she, too, discovered her true passion and made a career out of it (in between cruises).  She Won Second Place Evaluator.

* DTM Mary Helen praised TM Dori for having found her passion and asserting herself in compliance with workplace safety.

* TM Paolo encouraged TM Dori to be more energetic and passionate delivering her passion with excellent pace, pitch and projection and please skip mentioning intro and conclusion.  He Won First Place Evaluator.  Congratulations, Paolo!

* TM Randolph was completely inspired by TM Dori's phrase "Your passion is fundable" and is adding it to his lists of motivational quotes.

I, Ana, led the group in Winter Wonderland table topics.  Who knew that....

* TM Jose classifies his New Year's Eve Celebrations in ascending order by wildest, wilder, wild, barely make it to midnight to eat the grapes.

* TM Terri will be roasting eggplant in her chimney, courtesy of her son The Chef.  EarlyBirds are coming over to partake, for sure!

* TM Gail, a native Floridian, has not had a snowball fight or even dreamed of one, but a brief stint in Albany has made her a Florida heat fan.

* TM Dori went once to the Christmas Boat Parade but did not engage in any bruhaha, although she and her friend were driven home as a precaution.

* TM Chris's idea of a Christmas Spectacular is kayaking down the Fort Lauderdale canals singing Christmas Carols.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* DTM Mary Helen loves substituting ice cream for lack of snowflakes and had a memorable Sober New Year's Eve Party when the moon was in the seventh house and Jupiter lined with Mars.

Our Test Speaker TM Dori introduced us to the Word of the Day

BRUHAHA, noun

Noisy, disorderly confusion

Example:  Ice skating in a frozen lake may lead to cracks in the ice and lots of unnecessary bruhaha.  We Floridians prefer artificial rinks.

Date to Remember:

Next week, December 12, is our Club Table Topics Contest.

DTMs Mary Helen and Jim D. are hosting a Christmas Spectacular at their home on December 18 from 5 to 9 pm.  More details to follow.

Here's the link to the recording:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zfzc_XMTK4

Constantly contestantly submitted,

Ana I.

Recap Writer

What the Dickens, A Purpose-Filled Life - A Vivacious Evaluation Contest at EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

Our Test Speaker, TM Bianca, delighted us with a purpose-filled speech about a purpose-filled life.  The answer?  Love, joy and be a go-giver.  Go-getters please abstain from signing up to be Test Speakers!

Our participating evaluators exceeded all expectations:

* TM Paolo praised TM Bianca's elegance, eloquence and confidence and asked her to step back and redirect the angle of the camera to inspire us more.  He Won First Place.

* TM The Tom asked TM Bianca to show the HOW to attain those goals and talk more about regrets, if any, while standing back from the camera.  The camera distance seems to be a recurring male thing.

* TM Terri liked the logical progression of achievements and the emphasis on spiritual principles that guide us coupled with TM Bianca's vivacious gestures.  She Won Third Place.

* TM Marie highlighted TM Bianca's enriching questions aimed at the audience, suggested she stand up to enhance vivacious gestures and avoid 'gonnas" and the like. She Won Second Place.

While we waited for the Contest Judge to count and recount the hanging chads and votes,  TM Aleta woke us all up with classical quotes from The Second Bard (aka Charlie Dickens) and we were to discover that...

* TM Chris rightly believes that attitude is what makes us perceive the same event either negatively or positively.

* TM Bianca has been bent, broken, reinvented, reshaped, flexed and remolded and the result was a vivacious person who focuses on what she can do.

* TM Terri believes giving is better than receiving and it is our sacred duty to give to the homeless and the poor, but make sure it's an honest charitable organization!

* TM Tom sees the world through the filter he was taught as a boy and agrees that no one is useless if they can lighten someone's load.

* TM BeckyJo shed some copious tears in her life, on the front pew at church, where no one intruded in her tears, and thus she made space for God's grace.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* I, Ana, stated that the trifles of life make the spice of life but the best is not to sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff anyway!

* TM Pam confessed that she is at a mashed potatoes level, not at an ethereal level, and that's the best thing she's ever done.

* TM Marie likes mutual respect when dealing with those who share her blood and those who give and receive her blood.

* TM Paolo could not fan the sinking flame of hilarity with the wing of friendship and pass the rosy wine because he's still recovering from transatlantic mid-aiir imbibing of a good rose on an Alitalia flight.

The Contest was conducted rather smoothly in spite of a few pesky technical glitches, handled seamlessly by our Chief Judge TM Pam S. 

The Word of the Day was

VIVACIOUS, adjective

Happy and lively in an appealing way.

Example:  EarlyBirds Toastmaster is certainly a vivacious group of Thursday morning early risers.

Below is the link to the recording

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZCyaO_8N5g

See you next week!

Ana I.

Vivacious Recap Writer

National Days, Progress Not Perfection, Find Your Voice, Let's March! A libertarian meeting of EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

Our International Speech Contest took off with a great invocation by TM Terri about 

C L A R I T Y !!!

Voting was a real challenge because all our contestants were fabulous!!

* DTM Mary Helen focused on New Year's Resolutions, after concluding that growing up she was a Rebel Without A Clue.... and she still writes grocery lists while riding Uber to the airport.  She Won Third Place.

* TM Chris became a lawyer in flower power Berkeley, handled divorces in Haight-Ashbury and finally found her passion in computer teaching and soulmate TM Jim G.  She teaches while singing a capella.  She Won Second Place.

* TM Paolo related to Roman Cicero and especially the Greek Demostenes, who overcame stuttering and commanded the masses to march into war while eating moussaka and gyros.  He Won First Place and will represent our Club in the February 24 Area Contest.  Congratulations Paolo!!!

While the votes were being counted and recounted (after all, some of us are in Florida), TM Marie delighted us with some National Day table topics.  We discovered that...

* DTM Jim D. reminisces about Vernors' Ginger Ale, Sanders'  Ice Cream and Hot Fudge, but Detroit is waaay too snowy, icy, frosty and coldy for him.  Hello, Florida!  Bye Bye Michigan!!  

* TM Jose thoroughly practiced Know Your Customer while in Sales, but now he's become a Libertarian who hangs up on telemarketers while feeling lots of compassion for them.  Ahhh the joys of retirement!!  He Won Best Table Topics Award.

* I, Ana, a self-designated wordsmith, have a neurotically keen eye for detecting typos and misspellings (except my own) and will emulate TM Marie in reading segments of Roget's Thesaurus every night before bedtime while using one of Roget's slide rules.

* TM Terri likes Dunkin Donuts coffee, not only on National Gourmet Coffee Day but every day - although she is switching to tea for medicinal... oops. meditative purposes.  Her new motto is "It's tea for me!"

* TM Aleta credits her avoidance of yo-yo weight gain/loss to her intensive woodchopping, brush clearing, timber logging, bonfire building, mulch distributing... while doing jumping jacks and cartwheels on her property.  It works!

* TM Ricardo's motto for 2024 is "Avoid Procrastination" and he plans to get started... some time... later... much later.

Our next TLI (Toastmasters Learning Institute) is scheduled online for:  Saturday February 3 in the morning hours.  Login details to be forthcoming.

The Word of the Day was

LIBERTARIAN, noun

Someone who is more culturally liberal than a Democrat, and more fiscally conservative than a Republican.  Methinks.  They believe in a limited role of government.

Example:  Rand Paul and John Stossel are well-known Libertarians who resist the expanding, all-encompassing role of Big Brother in our lives and other aromatic by-products.

The Contest ran very smoothly, the ballot submissions were flawless and our Club moves forward.... Let's March!!!

Here's the link to the recording:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuP0CReLG8g

With a libertarian flavor,

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Table Topics Contest Fondest and Silver Linings - a plethoric euphoric day at EarlyBirds!

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

An exciting Table Topics Contest at EarlyBirds brought a plethora of new perspectives.  Our beloved SAA, DTM Mary Helen, suffered a temporary bout of Psychosis Susceptibility Syndrome, but quickly recovered after a second cup of Java and getting those other voices to agree with her.

A couple of contestants experienced premature ejection from the Breakout Room but were nonetheless able to pretend innocence in front of the Judges. Hear ye! Hear ye! The Court's in session, the Court's in session- here comes the Judge! Here comes the Judge!  (First rap song by Shorty Long in 1968)

Our Contest Master, TM Aleta, and Chief Judge, TM Jim G., aided by his own SELF  and TM Chris as Tech Cohorts, got the contest under way.

The theme was "Now or Never" 

It's now or never

Come hold me tight

Kiss me my darlingw

Be mine tonight

Tomorrow will be too late

It's now or never

My love won't wait

Just like a willow

We would cry an ocean

If we lost true love

And sweet devotion

(sung to the tune of "It's Now Or Never", but I digress)...

We found out that 

* TM BeckyJo exercised her choice of Now or Never... and chose Never.  So there.  She Won Third Place Award.

* TM Marie waxed philosophical about "Regrets - I've had a few... but then again... too few too mention..."  (sung to the tune of My Way by Ol' Blue Eyes). She Won First Place Award.

* TM Jose declared that he is NOW, unequivocally, going to an Asian restaurant for lunch, smack in the middle of the Mediterranean Paradise known as Javea, Spain.

* I, Ana, definitely choose NEVER to engage in thrilling sports such as paragliding, jumping our of airplanes and the like.  Videomatography is where it's at for me.

* DTM Jim D. is laser-focused on travel, travel, travel after retirement.  The time is NOW!

* TM The Tom is a man of action and will take action to be involved in action-packed adventures for the duration of the next coffee break.

* TM Paolo will jump at the chance to do now that which can otherwise never be done.  The decision to move to Italy?  Wait for the Sequel Speech in a few more years.  He Won Second Place Award.

And along came our prepared speech by our newest Toastmaster, Terri M.  Based on a true story...

* After breaking a leg in the mountains of New Mexico, she made it home to Miami where an array of friends, neighbors, sons, acquaintances, bakers, butchers, grocers and strangers equipped her, transported her, fed her, entertained her and made sure she never missed her daily "CORTADITO" (Cuban Cafe Con Leche, which resuscitates the dead, according to Calle Ocho lore).  She Won Best Speaker Award (as well as new member fastest  to hop on the Pathways track).

* She was evaluated by TM Marie, who thoroughly enjoyed Terri's  motivational speech and has already signed up for a Cuban Cantina (weekly meal plan) to be delivered right to her door, including CORTADITO.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

The Word of the Day was

PLETHORA, noun

A large or excess amount of something.

Example: Some EarlyBird members joyfully take on a plethora of roles for the successful completion of the agenda.

Here's the link to the recording: 

https://youtu.be/NTngZ_W2L0k

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Writer