Wisdom of the (S)ages, Non-Brutal Communication and Great Relationships, a fun morning at EarlyBirds

 Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

TM Carmine started us off with some wisdom for the (s)ages.  We thus learned that…

 

• TM Aleta was surprised by her rapacious dog Bogart who last night said to her, amid a cloud of cigarette smoke  “We’ll always have Paris”… She brought him to Toastmasters instead.
• I (Ana) confessed that after 39 years of marriage and 4 months of confinement,  it’s best not buy too much Miracle Gro for character defects, they have taken on a life of their own.
• TM Pam almost went the extra State when she missed an exit and instead of Gainesville, almost ended up in Georgia.  How’s a GPS to know the difference between two Gs???
• TM Joe conceded that he doesn’t act his age and gladly so because he doesn’t intend to, either.  He’s determined to continue growing young.
• TM Tom asks himself every day “What the kale is kale?” Here’s the good news, Tom.  You’re not alone - most of us do, too!
• DTM Mary Helen often ponders what her life may have been like had she made different mistakes.  The possibilities are endless.  She was not a good teenager and she does not consider herself a good oldager – so what’s next?  She is already working on a sequel to her unwritten memoirs.
• TM Jeff vehemently refuted the idea that millennials will write history with misspellings and no punctuation.  What is autocorrect for?
• TM Marie revealed that being an adult is realizing that you are Santa Claus. There’s nowhere else to turn.  Christmas is her favorite time of the year although it makes a deep hole in her pocket.   She Won Best Table Topics Award.
• TM Jose holds frequent staff meetings with the committee in his head – he calls the meeting to order, he listens, he answers himself. Lately he tries to bounce things off like-minded people who corroborate that he needs to emphasize the adjourning portion of the meetings.

 

 

In the prepared speeches….

 

• TM Joe has worked long and hard on Pathways to discover his communication style – it has now evolved from sarcasm and boredom while listening to others to dry humor and motivational one-liners.  The fashionable  face masks have helped Joe  to suppress yawns without getting noticed.  He Won Most Improved Speaker Award.
• TM Jeff shared his best advice for a successful relationship:  Get a dog that doesn’t shed while dancing the Roomba.   He Won Best Speaker Award.

 

And then came evaluations…

 

• TM Marie commended TM Joe for his clever way of making this Pathways project appealing and fun for the rest of us, thanks to his use of humor and his vivacious Italian hand movements which remind her of her husband. She Won Best Evaluator Award.
• DTM Kip gave a few tips to TM Jeff about making his speech less analytical and more of a kneeslapper with the use of a Furminator, starring a young Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

RAPACIOUS, adjective

1. Having or showing a strong or excessive desire to acquire money or possess things.  Greedy.
2. Living by killing prey, especially in large numbers.
3. Taking things by force; plundering.

 

The meeting recording may be accessed here:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwQXM6VUACM

 

 

See you next week!

 

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Headlines, Never in a Million Years and Zoom Tips - a lively morning at EarlyBird Toastmasters

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

Ever the multitasker millennial, newly inducted President, birthday boy and Topic Master Jeff started us off with media headlines:

 

• TM Carmine gave his unique interpretation of declining jobless rates which, as a faithful reader and follower of the Fake News, he unequivocally attributes to skewed reports from the only fair, balanced and unafraid one.
• TM Astrid is moving back to Florida in August so she is postponing her planned preliminary visit in July to avoid the mandatory quarantine dictated by a certain tv personality with a Cuomo surname.
• DTM Mary Helen remembers the long lines at the gas pump during the mandate of a certain peanut farmer and is enjoying the current low prices with no lines, although she does worry about keeping oilyTexans employed.  She also reported that lately, her vehicle gets  3 months to the gallon.
• Visitor Area Director Jonathan marveled at artificial intelligence, namely a certain facespiralnotebook site which knows everything about us. He urged us to be cautious with our posts to avoid having them come back to bite us in the derriere.
• I, Ana, gratefully acknowledged the priceless fact that I will not be present at a Florida theme park’s reopening – strict rules or permissive rules notwithstanding- and will sit comfortably in my air conditioned home while young parents weather the scorching heat (wearing face masks, to boot) and interminable lines to please their unpleasable, screaming, strung out offspring.  I Won Best Table Topics Award.

 

And then came the long-awaited prepared speeches:

 

• TM Jose practiced reinventing himself waaaay before it became trendy an, while under the impression that he was joining a toy industry giant, instead he became an avid tourist providing furniture to perfectly coiffed technology wizards who demanded overnight deliveries for their agricultural irrigation systems.  He Won Most Improved Speaker Award.
• TM Chris gave us a practical demonstration of Top 8 Tips for Using Zoom. All of us discovered buttons we didn’t previously know were there.  In this mindset, she then took us on a psychedelic trip down the tunnel of mirrors.  She Won Best Speaker Award.

 

In the evaluations…

 

• TM Tom praised TM Jose for his genuine personality magic which totally transcends the screen and looks forward to future speeches with lots of Spanish words pronunciated in Spanish.   He Won Best Evaluator Award.
• TM Pam thanked TM Chris – speaking for all of us- for the demonstration speech with integrated questions and giving us a chance to practice on screen.  She suggested to limit the tips to 3 instead of 8.  That’s the limit of what most of us can handle in one session….

 

The Word of the Day was

 

UNIQUE,  one of a kind, unlike anyone. 

 

Dates to Remember: 

August 13 – speech evaluation contest

August 27 – humorous speech contest

 

Link for the YouTube recording  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbUowniYeQc

 

See you next week!

 

Ana

Recap Writer

Campaign Slogans, Early Bird Beginnings and Looking Ahead - another innately fun EarlyBird meeting

 

Dear Members, Friends and Guests,

 

It’s Happy New Year at Toastmasters!  We celebrated by inducting our new officers and bidding a grateful farewell to the outgoing.   Our returning TM Jose was welcome back to the Club with raucous applause by a cheerful crowd.

 

I, Ana (sounds like I, Claudius) launched Table Topics with popular campaign slogans from the 50s and 60s.

 

• TM Joe is grateful that his wife and daughters don’t leave home without their phones and their surgical masks, rather than their credit card, it causes less of a dent in his wallet and prevents panic attacks.
• TM Marie loves paper towels, the quicker picker uppers, because she has a bulimic cat.
• TM Jose reminisced about the friendly skies, when flight attendants were actually friendly although some planes in certain countries were glued together with gum.
• TM Tom enjoyed finger-lickin good fried chicken while flying friendly skies with pressurized cabins that kept him from exploding.  He won Best Table Topics Award.
• DTM Kip carries a stain stick with him everywhere because he experiences a strange phenomenon where food, paint, dirt, dust and other particles fly through the atmosphere and adhere to his clothes.
• TM Pam lost the bet of eating only just one potato chip a long long time ago so what’s the use anyway? We will all just get larger sweat pants.  Confinement may become permanent because the alternative is ugly.
• TM Chris likes slogans to be truthful and to say that Coca Cola is the real thing is clearly beyond the pale.  She will just continue to teach old dogs new tricks, whether they take issue with the canine comparison or not.

 

In the prepared speech….

 

• TM Aleta conquered surrounding chaos and noise in the rural diner where she reminisced about her early times in EarlyBirds.  She may be preparing to unfazedly delivering speeches to angry mobs, which seems to be the order of the day.   She won Most Improved Speaker and Best Speaker Award by a landslide.

 

As for the evaluation…

 

• TM Joe praised TM Aleta for her composure amidst chaos, which reinforces why we’re in Toastmasters anyway, to learn to nonchalantly French press coffee when all else fails.   He won Best Evaluator by a landslide.

 

Tech Tips:

 

• In an unexpected turn of events, a baffled TM Guru Jim had to admit that for him, like for the rest of us ungurus, technology has a mind of its own and some days those buttons just don’t seem to work.

 

Incoming Prez’ TM Jeff launched a discussion about the future of the group.  Several ideas were presented and will be followed up.  Exciting times are ahead for EarlyBirds.  If you want to know more details, come to our next meetings!!

 

The Word of the Day is

 

INNATE, adjective

 

Belonging to the essential nature of something.  Inherent, native, inborn.

 

Example:  She has an innate sense of rhythm.

 

YouTube Recording link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rgxXDwnE5U

 

Visit our Facebook page and LOVE what you see

 

https://www.facebook.com/EarlyBirdToastmaster

 

See you next week!

 

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Useless Fun Facts, Bloggers and Stuffed Sausages on Pathways - another fun morning at EarlyBirds

 

Dear Members and Friends,

 

TM Marie started us off on a fun ride down the fun path of useless information. 

 

• I, (Ana) am easily horrified by the Nature Channel at Jim D. and Mary Helen’s home where the cat tortures a gecko before eating it in front of their very eyes.
• TM Aleta wistfully reminisced about rainbows and lollipops, so tied in with her overall love of nature.
• TM Tom waxed poetic with “heart of gold and lots of sorrow, that’s the one that looks for tomorrow”…  luckily he picked well when he came to EarlyBirds.
• TM Jim G. concluded that he is not an attraction to the other sex – fatal or otherwise.  Hence he’s managed to stay alive and happily married.
• TM Jim D. didn’t have to learn parenting rules from “E.T. – phone home”(like the rest of us)  because he kept close tabs on his only daughter, who was a good kid anyway.
• TM BeckyJo concluded that the thing about ambiguity is that it leaves you not knowing – profound revelation of the morning.  She is convinced though that Butch and Sundance survived the brutal fight. The former moved to Uruguay to eat beef and the latter went on to become an indy film festival.   She Won Best Table Topics Award.

 

Unsolicited opinion from the Recap Writer (one of the perks of this role):  Although Table Topics today were based on classic movies and their changed endings, the actual topics were adaptable to audiences of any age.  So they were perfectly appropriate.  Ah… the tricky durability of celluloid…. Before it all became digital, on-demand and pay-per-view.

 

Then came the prepared speeches…

 

• TM Pam is by now a professional mover… and a professional blogger at Blogger.com.  6weeks2move.blogspot.com; grayhairgapyear@blogspot.com and 12oakdale.blogspot.com.  After all this blogging, she has finally realized that IT’S ALL ABOUT HER!!!  She Won Best Speaker Award.
• DTM Kip has well-oiled persistence muscles and, once again, took us down the labyrinthine but clear as mud path of our beloved Pathways.  Next Wednesday is New Year’s Eve in Toastmasters so the motto is “Pathways For All”.  A virtual celebration will be held at the stroke of midnight.  Login info to follow.  He Won Most Improved Speaker Award.
• DTM Mary Helen told us about her only emotions: hunger and more hunger.  These insatiable emotions are counteracted with wine and chocolate.  She wavers between feeling like a stuffed sausage and wanting to look like Twiggy (a twiggy-like runway model of the 60s with painted-on bottom eyelashes).  Google it:  google.com/twiggy-painted eyelashes.  Please call 1-800-BOMBONS for more information. 

 

In terms of evaluations….

 

• DTM Jim D. praised TM Blogger Pam for her good body language and wants a signed free copy of her (3) blogs-turned-into-books.  Pam reminded him there is no such thing as a free blog-converted-into-a-book lunch.  He Won Best Evaluator Award.
• TM Chris gave DTM Kip First Prize Award for Persistence in Pathways but has ambiguous feelings about 6-month projects in Level 5.  She is persuadable though. 
• TM Aleta clearly remembers Twiggy and following TM Mary Helen’s inspiring idea, is going to try her teenage earrings on herself to see if they fit.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

BEST GIFT

Meaning:  Best Gift

 

 

Link for the YouTube Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3nVJe_CqOk

 

See you next week!

 

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Black History Month, Peace Be With You And I Don't Know - A Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit Of That at Early Birds

 

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

TM BeckyJo inspired us to some impromptu revelations…

 

• TM Jose would definitely like to have a quick, painless death – preferably while enjoying his wife horizontally.  He Won Best Table Topics Award.
• DTM Jim D. is going to keep his rock n’ roll career going as long as his ticker keeps ticking – then he wants to go quickly and painlessly too!
• DTM Mary Helen relished the thought of being a poetess – dressed for the part in velvet and satin robes and lots of jewelry. The challenge is to find the intellect to compose verses about love and justice in the world.  Stay tuned - she’s inspired!
• TM Aleta’s best negotiation took place a few years back when her salary as a mediator was gender-discriminated vis a vis her male counterpart and By Golly she spoke up!
• TM Jeff’s best ever dining experience was one enchanted morning when he walked into a certain Denny’s and met all of us.  Oh Jeff, that’s heart warming – especially since you already won the Presidential election of EarlyBirds….!
• TM Jim G.’s greatest creation is without the shadow of a doubt… his mustache!  His other half, TM Chris, right-sized his ego when she didn’t even notice he had shaved it off for a good long while.

 

And then we had prepared speeches…

 

• TM Mildred educated us about certain Black History facts:  Juneteenth (June 19, 1863) the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Slaveowners intentionally kept this secret from the interested parties for a long time.  Emancipation Park in Houston – purchased by blacks- was the only unsegregated park until 1950 (87 years after it was purchased), and the Rosewood Massacre in Florida back in 1923 was another ignominious event.
• TM Aleta describes herself as a professional peacemaker and inspired us to find peace within ourselves in the midst of chaos by following some rules - essentially, go back to watching soaps on tv and don’t read the papers.  Gardening, meditation and collecting dog hair for fur coats are some good calming practices.  She Won Most Improved Speaker Award.
• TM Chris entertained us with humorous tales of her various  RVs:  Oh Boy, Big Boy and Little Boy, chock full of awe-inspiring pictures of mountain ranges and canyons. In a bizarre twist, the skeleton of a T-Rex pet being walked on a leash by the skeleton of a child kept popping up.  We’d like to think they both died quickly and painlessly while in horizontal positions with their significant others.  She Won Best Speaker Award.

 

As far as evaluations…

 

• TM Jeff commended TM Mildred for her rich speech in heart-rendering parts of U.S. history and Black History.  He suggested she look directly at the camera and avoid fumbling with papers as it might distract the audience from an otherwise exceptional speech. 
• TM Joe praised TM Aleta for her passionate, inspiring speech – like a bridge over troubled waters (sung to the tune of Bridge Over Troubled Waters of Simon Says and Garfunky fame).  He Won Best Evaluator Award.
• TM Carmine was very inspired by TM Chris’s On The Road Again speech and the progression of RV sizes  reminded him of Goldilocks and the Three Little Bears who had a porridge addiction and are currently in a 12-step program.

 

The Word of the Day was….   Yes, you guessed it:

 

INSPIRE

 

1. Urge or ability to do something, especially creative.
2. Breathe in

 

Technical Tip of the Day:

 

A good camera is a good thing to add to your computer.  For more info, consult our tech gurus, who so generously give of their time and expertise.

 

Below is the link to the recording of today’s meeting.

 

YouTube recording http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-SwpWVE4gw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-SwpWVE4gw

 

See you next week!

 

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Rose Petals, Life Bloopers and Rainbow Safety Codes

 

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

TM Jim G. was inspired by June (origin: Juno, the Roman Goddess of Women, who likes roses – especially live ones):

 

• DTM Kip associated the color red to allegedly color-blind bulls in bullfights but mostly reminisced about his faux pas of bringing dead flowers to his beloved, who did not act so belovedly for a while after that. Clueless to the nuances of rose bouquets, he expects female understanding and compassion.  Oh, puhhhleeeze, Kip, cry me a river!
• TM Carmine has bought more flowers to his wife in the past 13 years than he did in his entire previous life of 70 years.  His wife does not hesitate to demand an explanation when he comes back empty handed from a trip to Publix.  “He loves me, he loves me not”….
• DTM Mary Helen is always happy and appreciative to receive flowers and although the color orange represents pride, orange does not become her. However, after doing the pilgrimage The Way, starring Martin Sheen, (El Camino) in Spain, she witnessed the Gay Pride Parade in Madrid and it was definitely an event to remember.
• TM Mildred likened yellow, the color of friendship, to a childhood friend of hers – they have been there for each other in good times and bad, they talk to each other every day, and this friendship has lasted for 69 years, and still going strong!!
• I, TM Ana, issued  many judgments about opulence (symbolized by the color purple)  and concluded that being Nouveau Riche is far better than being Old Poor.  I Won Best Table Topics Award. Since I was also Vote Counter, many in the audience demanded a recount.  Luckily, in Zoom we don’t have to deal with hanging chads…  Pfiuuuuu….

 

Along came the prepared speeches….

 

• TM Joe delighted us with a humorous speech called “My Life’s Blooper Reel” – which started off with what could have aptly been named “My Cousin Vinnie (and Vic)” relating to a morbid fascination the cousins had to learn where toilet contents end up. More recently, his proclivity for bloopers took him to wear cowboy boots on the NYC subway after a downpour.    Guess how that one ended….   He Won Most Improved Speaker Award.
• TM Marie practiced a speech about Parks and Recreation Safety and Security and reminded us that Awareness + Action = Prevention in the face of summer camp.  She took us down a rainbow patch labyrinth of Safety Codes – oh how we miss the good ole days of hiding under your desk to avoid nuclear fallout! She Won Best Speaker Award.

 

As for evaluations….

 

• TM Chris praised TM Joe’s humorous speech which had us all in stitches (no pun intended) and asked him to deliver his next speech sitting on a wrought iron chair with spikes on the seat back to avoid a look of comfty familiarity such as the one he displayed today.   
• TM Tom highlighted TM Marie’s comprehensive, all-inclusive Safety and Security speech which left no color code unturned.  He suggested she toss the notes for the real speech to maintain a steady, laser-like eye contact with her already terrified audience.  It always works.  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

GEST

1. A tale of adventures, especially a romance in verse.
2. Adventure, exploit

 

Register for free to the TM Zoom Conference this weekend and watch expert storyteller DTM Kip talk about the Elements of Storytelling on Friday at 4 pm.  Look for his email. Zoom audience capacity has been enlarged to 1000, so you can still squeeze in.

 

Below is today’s recording.  Thank you as always to our tech gurus, Jim and Chris.  Without their generous help and expertise, most of this would not be possible.

 

YouTube Video Recording https://youtu.be/di-jjuhKsno

https://youtu.be/di-jjuhKsno

 

 

See you next week!

 

Ana

Recap Writer

Seclusion jubilation, Titan Toastmasters, Homebuying 101 and Amiguita, Drop Your Weapons - EarlyBird Zoomers

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends:

 

DTM Jim D. stirred us awake with memories of seclusion while slowly re-emerging with jubilation:

 

• TM Joe has been vigorously doing pushups and situps but his 9-lb weight loss is a result of a professional haircut, aptly named HAIRVID-19. 
• Virtual reality has allowed TM Jim G. to synchronize Happy Hours with friends in other time zones – hey, it must be 5 o’clock somewhere – and besides, you just fall over anywhere in your house without any inconvenient driving, for Covid’s sake.  DUIs have significantly decreased with the advent of Zoom.
• Returning TM Ellen witnessed domestic violence from customers who went Postal at the Post Office – very apropos- and took it outside, the long line of customers following them  – forget shipping the package- to watch the unjubilant couple drive off with the wife sitting on the hood of the car.   Just goes to show the Post Office will always be the Post Office, quarantine or no quarantine.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.
• TM Aleta has lively conversations with her appliances, but she has some heated exchanges with her low bandwidth, unstable wifi computer that are not fit to print.  Beautiful flowers are a good tradeoff, though.
• Guest Terri has a stuffed pet which constantly reminds her she’s not alone.  After years of therapy, she  is considering getting a real pet soon.  Terri has reduced her Ahs by 50% since last week.  Go Terri!!
• TM BeckyJo pondered whether a hermit knows he’s actually in quarantine or not.  One of her friends – and we won’t mention any names – has inspired her to start a new 12-step program for Zoom addicts.
• If she only had the time…. TM Chris knows without the shadow of a doubt that there is simply never never never ever enough time, but that’s because Procrastination is her middle name.  More on that story, later… (pun intended).

 

Then came the prepared speeches…

 

• TM Jeff talked about how fortunate he is to have landed in EarlyBirds, a club that has structure and continuity.  As our incoming President, he is following in the steps of Titans, ie TM Carmine, and will lead the club to a hybrid, all- inclusive world of Denny’s skillets and geographically-challenged  Zoomers.
• TM Lisa compared selling/buying a home to riding a wave. She gave us very practical tips, namely depersonalize, detach, sniff for realtor selfishness, and concluded that just like the old adage “men are like buses, there will be another one in 10 minutes,” so are homes. She Won Best Speaker Award.
• TM Astrid transmitted peaceful thoughts and challenged us to let down our weapon of anger, which no longer serves us, to uncover our pain, sadness and confusion. She Won Most Improved Speaker Award.

 

We had great evaluations…

 

• TM Joe commended TM Jeff for a good speech and pointed out that the Rev Al Sharpton is shorter than he appears in our rearview mirror, so don’t count on him to reach up to high shelves.
• TM BeckyJo spoke on behalf of many of us by praising the cohesion and organization of TM Lisa’s speech. She didn’t have to remind herself to “Be Kind” because it was the opposite of a rambling speech. She Won Best Evaluator Award.
• DTM Mary Helen praised TM Astrid for the passion in her speech, her feelings were in plain sight for all to see, and her self-reflection and introspection shows a lot of jubilation (TM Carmine was in 7^th heaven with all the rhymes and alliterations).

 

An impromptu segment has been added to our meeting regarding Zoom Practical Tips.  Discussion ensued and no definitive conclusion was reached as to whether our camera presence ought to emulate TV anchorpeople or simply emulate British character actors on stage.  Both easy choices. More to follow.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

JUBILATION, noun

Feelings of great happiness

Ex. Queen Elizabeth II recently celebrated her Golden Jubilation (Jubilee?)

 

Please allow me to digress and ramble. In Spain, retirement is called Jubilacion (probable origin: jubilation one feels when retiring)

 

Here is the link to the YouTube recording, https://youtu.be/RxJEv1cobVA

 

See you next week!

 

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Are You Talking to Me? A Seat In Heaven, Have a Compost Day! A fun EarlyBird meeting

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends:

 

Avid photographer TM Chris stirred our photographic memories with intriguing questions:

 

• Returning TM Lisa marvels at how wealthy she would be if for a few decades she had not ordered doubles of pictures of random people she knew for a fact she would never see again in her life.  However, she singlehandedly kept old Eckerd Drugs (precursor of our current drugstores for you millennials in the crowd) in business quite a while longer.
• TM Beckyjo is just not that interested in herself and does not like how she looks on camera.  Selfies are not her forte.  Her forte is taking pictures of packages she ships to prove in Court to the carrier parcel service that packages leaving her premises are immaculate, not torn and tattered as some arrive at destination.  Check your cable networks soon for a TV miniseries called The People vs The Freight Forwarder Turned Vandalizer.
• TM Jose has wedding albums from two weddings in two continents.  He is censored from access to the first.  He has a hair fetish, however, which will cause perplexity and consternation in future generations seeking his family legacy.  Thousands of pictures of all hair, no face.  He Won Best Table Topics Award.
• TM Mildred vehemently states that she is not one for losing pictures.  Phone to PC to folder transfers assure that. Then she prints them and puts them into albums and is now sending her 5^th invitation for family members to come and retrieve their albums.  So far no RSVPs have been received.
• Guest Terri loooves taking pictures although she quite doesn’t know why.  It has progressed into taking pictures of random inanimate objects she casually encounters.   She and her therapist are working hard to uncover the source of this tendency.  Stay tuned.
• TM Jeff reminisced into the very distant past – about 4 years ago- when people took pictures and actually announced to the other protagonists they were going to post them on social media platforms.  Oh, the very idea….

 

Then came prepared speeches….

 

• TM Aleta pondered the wisdom of knowing your audience before launching on a motivational speech.  She indicated she most enjoys self-talk because she really likes talking to intelligent people and hearing what they have to say.
• I, Recap Writer, aka Long Tall Ana, had to give up my seat in Heaven due to an uninhabited confessional whose window screen was below my view. On a positive note, I reached many shelf summits as a good overreacher.  I Won Best Speaker Award.
• Master Composter TM Pam awed us with a well prepared, inspirational Composting speech with a plethora of shared screen graphics.  Composting, she revealed, doubles up as a substitute for many  exercise disciplines.  She Won Most Improved Speaker.

 

And then we had loving Evaluations….

 

• TM Tom enjoyed TM Aleta’s speech and pointed out that it’s not what we say, it’s what other people hear.  As TM Aleta herself realized, it’s not always possible to walk in other people’s mocassins (is that PC anymore?) okay, someone else’s penny-loafers.
• TM Yvonne, a self-defined slow-getter, recommended that I (Ana of Wuthering Heights) pause longer between funnies to give listeners a chance to get it.  She liked the history part and brought up the Yin and the Yang  – as a short person relying on a tall person to reach for those top shelves.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.
• TM Carmine praised TM Pam with an alliteration (TM Carmine’s all-time  highest form of praise), dedication, discipline, devotion.  However, he thinks a “behind-the-graphics switcharoo” may have taken place and a Compost-Speaker-For-Hire gave the speech, as we did not see TM Pam for the duration.

 

 

The Word of the Day was:

 

PRECIPITATE, verb

 

1)To hasten the occurrence of

2)To fall to the surface in the form of condensed water, snow, hail, sleet.  (Condensed milk need not apply).

 

Here's the link to today’s recording

https://youtu.be/oO6FdgdBDmo

 

See you next week!

 

Ana

Outgoing Sargeant-at-Arms

Who Am I? A Young Man's Journey and Zoomland: The Tour - a varied day at Early Birds Toastmasters!

 

D

ear Members, Guests and Friends,



TM Pam – who moved to Orlando in the blink of an eye- launched us off with the colors of the rainbow… We learned that…

• TM Astrid loves RED, to her it symbolizes To Dare, so she’s sporting a RED car and contradicts naysayers by driving like a turtle to avoid traffic tickets, while she posts DARE TO BE ME affirmations on every flat surface she can find in her environs. She Won Best Table Topics Award.
• I, your perennial Recap Writer, mused about the fact that orange is a happy summer color, especially when eating a Navel orange or buying a Florida license plate. Not so much when wearing an orange jumpsuit at the state penitentiary.
• TM Kip is convinced that we currently live trapped in yellow silos – for lack of a submarine – and seeks out people clever enough -in his understanding- to agree with him on everything, including the cacophony found in news outlets.
• TM Aleta is a professed gardener and totally believes that GREEN is the color of immortality and money. She has lovingly tended to her immortal garden. In an intelligent aside, she remarked that she not interested in the political implications of green energy and the future.
• As Van Gogh famously said, without BLUE there is no YELLOW, and being that TM Jose is in the hair care business, he declared that blue is the only color that will remove that pesky yellow hair color we all wear at times. He also pondered the fact that due to Van Gogh’s one-ear situation, he would not have been able to hold up a face mask during the quarantine, would have ended up in an orange jumpsuit with an ankle bracelet trapped in a yellow silo with a cacophony of voices in his head.
• TM Marie thinks of VIOLET as shrinking violets (aka shy people), but in Toastmasters we call become EXPANSIVE VIOLETS by DARING to be while wearing red in our yellow silos.

Next, we moved on to prepared speeches. What a treat we had today!

• TM Mildred delighted us with her Icebreaker “Who Am I?”. A highly-educated, single parent for 30 years, she fondly recalled her first meeting at EarlyBirds, all those many years ago, where she was the only pepper, and where she thrived! Relocated to Orlando in 2012 (is Orlando becoming the new EarlyBird virtual headquarters?), Zoom has made it possible for her to reconnect with us. She Won Most Improved Speaker Award.
• TM Tom’s storytelling skills shone today and he told us the story of a powerful wolf in wolf’s clothing who tried to take Tom’s lamb away. As a courageous shepard, Tom let the wolf know,. loud and clear, that the lady is NOT a tramp! Way to go, TM Tom!
• TM Jim G. inspired us to use Zoom and gave us some very helpful tips and practical ideas to make the best out of this technology that has been thrust upon us. Boomer Zoomers, that’s who we are! (notwithstanding the GenerationXers and Millenials in the room). He Won Best Speaker Award.

As for evaluations….

• TM Chris pointed out that TM Mildred’s icebreaker was very inspirational to all of us. Mildred has already improved various aspects of Zoom technology to be at camera level and suggested she work on her vocal variety and looking more closely at us through the camera. She Won Best Evaluator Award.
• Visiting TM Sarah praised TM Tom for a memorable storytelling speech with descriptive phrases which will remain in our minds long after today’s meeting.
• TM Jeff commended TM Jim G. for his technology expertise and his (and TM Chris’s) generosity in sharing their knowledge with us. Perhaps integrating a story into it would make it more experiential – sort of Zoomeriential.

The Word of the Day was



CACOPHONY, noun



Random, wild sounds that make little or no sense.



Ex.: The committee in my head is loud and produces a great deal of cacophony.



We have a new slate of officers which will be inducted on July 1, 2020:



President TM Jeff R

VP Education DTM Kip B

Treasurer DTM Jim D

Secretary TM Tom

VP Membership DTM Mary Helen D.

VP Public Relations TM Joe G.

Sargeant-at-Arms TM Jim G.



Thank you to the outgoing officers for our participation in making EarlyBirds a fun and interesting club.

Welcome to the new officers and congratulations!



I apologize for not having copied the link to the UTube recording. Totally slipped by the cacophony in my head….



See you next week!



Ana I.

Outgoing Sargeant-at-Arms

Earlybird meeting May 14, 2020

 

Somehow this meeting got missed.

I don't have a recap for it.

I found it to add because it has Chris' "My Yeti" speech.

A Morning of Exaggeration, Embellishment and Outright Lies: Early Bird Tall Tales At Its Best

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,



We dispensed with Table Topics and got right down to Tall Tales. And we learned that….

• DTM Kip is a time-proven meanderer of rural prairies with lonely bulls and no, if you’re thinking this was Spain, you guessed wrong. The setting was none other than manicured landscaped Boca Raton, Florida near an ALF.
• TM Joe had us in stitches with his family summer trip to Canada when he was 14 years old when Sicilian tempers, dropped down pants, mosquitoes feasting on old Uncles’ butts and seeing things that could never be unseen. It’s certainly “a mad, mad, mad world!”
• At the not-so-gentle insistence of his wife, TM Carmine has drank Lysol repeatedly during the pandemic but so far it hasn’t killed him, although he’s squeeky clean inside. His wife has not given up. Stay tuned.
• I told a story of love and betrayal, starring a Cuban couple with very long names, lots of Cuban food, Santeria, infidelity and a happy ending with impotence caused by a Tofu overdose. More will be revealed.
• DTM Mary Helen told us of the difference between her – good natured, sweet, innocent – and her evil identical twin Maureen – excitable, wicked, twisted – who is actually the one who attends EarlyBirds in her stead.
• DTM Jim D. told us about one of his flights on Aeroflot, a Russian version of a Cartagena de Indias bus with chickens and supplemented by lots of free-floating vodka, consumed mostly by the pilot.
• TM Aleta is a consummate repurposer and recycler, using her lab retriever’s hair to spin a yarn and show off a Lab Retriever coat which she uses to light up her home made lint fire starters in those cold Pennsylvania winters.
• TM Tom told us about the Taming of the Crew – his 4 children- during a vacation by car to visit Grandma up north. They barely survived the anarchic fighting and Tom’s wife started him on a Tofu diet ipso facto.

TM Jim G. kept us on time and gave a great general evaluation of the meeting. We had a number of returning EarlyBirds and guests who said they will come back.



The Word of the Day was EXAGGERATE, which needs no further explanation. Lies, lies and more lies.



Below is the link to the recording of the meeting in YouTube.



https://youtu.be/BmrK4TvU5lg



See you next week!



Virtually yours,



Ana

Sargeant-at-Arms