Halloween, Bat Crazy and Raven Galore - an eerie meeting at EarlyBird Ghostmasters!

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

Offshore ever more, TM Jose launched us down eerie pathways....(pun intended).  Aghast, we soon learned that...

* TM Aleta (aka Bugsy Malone irredemption) stuffed herself with pillows and overdosed on sugar while dressed as an innocent tramp in her rural childhood.

* TM Paolo's childhood was Halloween-deprived but he had 100 times more fun than the Halloween a'plenty childhood of today's kids.  Long live tiramisu!

* TM Val depletes the candy shelves of her local stores so her tree-filled brick-facade home will not be toilet papered and egged.

* DTM Mary Helen became a candy hoarder early on in childhood and could care less about political or celebrity costume lookalikes.

* TM Tom's sugar high is provided by sexy revealing dream girl, Elvira.

* TM Emmanuel is scared of carved pumpkins, eerie costumes, skeletons, spiderwebs and candy, but Halloween's one redeeming quality is pumpkin soup.

* I, Ana, no longer decorate my home as there are no kids in my neighborhood but spent my childhood years in Havana dressed up as a zebra for Halloween.

* TM BeckyJo,  in cognito, is scared of driving in the dark.  We all ought to be scared of her driving in the dark. Her favorite costume is as an Italian dinner.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Chris revealed that her scary creature of the night is none other than her husband- and the raven that follows them everywhere in the RV.

Along came the prepared speeches and we were to learn that...

* TM Marie was hell-bent on dispeling our fears of bats, on International Bat Week.  Only .333333% of bats drink blood - but boy, are they thirsty.  They have bellybuttons and have good vision.  But they're eerily crazy for sure. She Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Jim G. delighted us with a rendition of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven.  Leonore, Leonore, to the core and nothing more, except for the raven with psychedelic eyes.

Along came evaluations...

* TM Tom confessed that after hearing TM Marie's speech, his new heroes are bats, those cuddly self-grooming mammals with opposable thumbs.

* TM Paolo loved the delivery of The Raven although he asked for subtitles next time.  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

TM BeckyJo evaluated the entire meeting and gave it a gold star but would not reveal where COGNITO is.  More will be revealed.

The Word of the Day was

EERIE, adj.

Strange and frightening

Example " Kid ghosts sit around campfires telling eerie human stories."

Answer to the riddle "Where do deviled eggs come from?"  is:  FROM EVIL HENS!!

Link to the recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLVzQJdo6Bg

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Ghostamzayas Writer

Pre-Halloween, Parenthood and These Boots Are Made For Walking - a writhing morning at EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

DTM Jim D got us into the swing of things with creepy recollections of Halloween...We discovered that...

* TM Marie was the attention-hoarder Blue Bird of Happiness at her son's elementary school and her son, in turn, became an unhappy ignored Ninja.

* TM Jose and his hippy friends starred in their own Halloween comedy caper in the humorless Halloweenless country of Spain (in the 70s) and almost got arrested.  He Won Best Table Topics Award. 

* TM BeckyJo's wildest costume was as a boxer - to conveniently cover a black eye.

* TM Pam loves treats and has signed up for a birthday freebie of hot bacon popcorn - which sounds more like a trick.

* TM Randolph is getting ready to go trick-or-treating with his kids - at his wife's command- and sad to neglect the trick-or-treaters who regularly count on him dishing out candy for them.  His wife rules, though.

* TM Tom's former wife used to hand out cooked spaghetti dipped in cold water and passed them off as worms, to the squealing delight/horror  of the neighborhood kids.

* I, Ana, created outrageously common average unspooky decorations and left the creativity to my daughters.

Along came the prepared speeches...

* In an amazing Icebreaker, TM Manny revealed to us that parenting is absolutely traumatic with generous measures of pride and joy sprinkled therein; and that insanity is definitely hereditary - we get it from our kids.  He Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Aleta is in the midst of a strict training regimen to shed the spare tire in her midriff and time travelling via Sony Walkman as she sings "Pretty Woman, Walking Down the Street...." (sung to the tune of "Pretty Woman").

As far as evaluations go...

* DTM Jim D. praised TM Manny for his formidable Icebreaker and for using up the timing requirements to the very last second, all with a captivating smile.

* TM Paolo was so motivated by TM Aleta's confidence and inspirational talk that he was last seen walking to Miami Airport to catch the next flight to Italy.  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

The Word of the Day was

WRITHE, verb

To twist body or a bodily part, usually in pain.

Example:  The Beatles's first hit was originally called "Twist and Writhe" and later renamed  to honor the resulting sound effect "Twist and Shout".

Here's the link to the recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuqF5WQn9qM

See you next week!

Ana

Recap Writer

Influential pictures, Around the Track and Pearly Whites - an intuitive morning at EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

We inducted our newest member, TM Emmanuel - welcome to EarlyBirds, Emmanuel!

TM Aleta got us thinking about influential photographs of momentous times.  We soon found out that...

* TM Val wanted to know what lunch the construction guys sitting on a beam at 15,000 ft of altitude were having.

* TM BeckyJo stated the world has once again lost its collective mind and one person needs to stand in front of those tanks in Tianamen Square again.

* TM Paolo wants to keep the oceans blue so Earth pictures taken from the moon will still have that peak of the camera quality to them.

* New TM Emmanuel reflected on the atomic explosion over Hiroshima/Nagasaki and the scary nuclear threats that are being hurled around today. He Won Best Table Topics Award.  Bravo, TM Emmanuel!

* TM Tom would have liked a marine instead of a squishy sailor to kiss the unknown girl on Broadway to celebrate the last South Pacific performance.

* TM Randolph likened the despairing women with a child in their arms to a Bible story with a happy ending.

* DTM Jim D. marveled at how laborers toted bricks on their shoulders like feathers even before the invention of franchise gyms in our country.

As far as prepared speeches...

* TM Pam took a race driving course for no reason other than to awaken her attention deficit lethargic disorder and to prove to herself that car spinning is lotsa fun.  She Won Best Speaker Award.

* I, TM Ana, asserted that Scottish highlanders in the 17th Century did NOT have beautiful smiles, except in Hollywood.

And then came evaluations...

* TM Val wanted to know, first and foremost, where did TM Pam get her raingear.to go around the race track.

* TM Chris told me in no uncertain terms to read my (funny) speeches at reading school.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

The Word of the Day was

COUNTERINTUITIVE, adj.

Contrary to intuition or common sense, but nonetheless sometimes true.

Example:  An honest politician is truly counterintuitive but also supercalifragilisticexpialidotious.  

The link to the recording:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI75bsvuTK8

See you next week!

Ana

Recap Writer

Fav Movies, Straight & Wavy, Humor in High Places - a somewhat discombobulated morning at EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

I, Ana, led with Table Topics about our favorite movies.... We found out that

* Returning TM Astrid started watching horror flicks at the tender age of 6 and has become a fan of Friday the 13th (now rated G) for life.

* TM Paolo is an absolute fan of gangster movies to the detriment of old "spaghetti westerns"; give him Pacino and DeNiro if only he (and the rest of us) could distinguish between the two.

* TM Tom liked The Entertainers and their slapstick humor which had cars flying over bridges and other hilarious occurrences.

* DTM Mary Helen delighted us in a duo with TM Chris about washing that man right out of their hair.  Ah, those beloved musicals....  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Jim G. loved Tron, the first CGI (computer graphic imaging) movie, a precursor to the CT-SCAN and the MRI. His all-time favorite is still Flash Gordon.

* TM Val was forever impacted by the restaurant scene in When Sally Met Harry and she's been Sleepless in Macon ever since.

Then came the prepared speeches...

* TM Jose (aka Miguel) inspired us to buy his hair beauty business in Spain after we bleach that gray right into our hair, like in Fame of Phones.   He Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Aleta regaled us with humor, quips and one-liners of our past Presidents, and taught us the valuable skill of how to diaper a baby like it's a baseball field.  

As far as evaluations go...

* TM Pam was enthralled to be grayishly fasionable au naturel as she is not willing to add one single  penny to the staggering $500 billion a year hair product industry.

* TM Tom praised TM Aleta's nicely woven story and asked her to cut the flushing of the toilet part to meet the time requirements.  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

The Word of the Day was

DISCOMBOBULATE, verb

To confuse or disconcert; to bewilder

Example:  In Toastmasters we learn not to let hecklers discombobulate us when we're speaking in public.  Pathways allows us to practice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsCIqX3YJQU

See you next week!

Ana

 

National Something Day, There's Always Two Sides to a Story.... an interesting meeting at EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Friends and Guests,

First Time TableTopic Master Val gave us plenty of food for thought...  And we discovered that....

* TM Marie's life is a musical and at all times she breaks into song.  There's no intermission!

* TM Aleta would never, ever, ever, leave herself behind.  She is her own best self-entertainer.

* DTM Jim D. relishes that delish caramel macchiato - make it decaf, please, to keep him at a manageable energy level.

* I, Ana, would rather be a rottweiler than a toy poodle, and I need a dog mirror to ascertain my size compared to those yappy little daring rats.

* TM Chris confessed that she married TM Jim G. mostly because of his 4-letter word last name. Her river rafting stage name is Yoyonoise.

* Returning TM Astrid would target the young in a Register to Vote campaign if only politicians weren't such scofflaws.  You're back in the swing of TM, Astrid!

* TM Jose, aka Mad Max, accepts water as rent payment, in his frequent time travels.  Where's Thunderdome?  He Won Best Table Topics Award.

* Guest Emanuel loves all kinds of fruit - except pineapple, which makes him dizzy.  Life is good when you are eating fruit.

* Guest Aziz would put a banana on his sooty chimney and get a monkey with a broom to sweep it squeaky clean.

Great job with Table Topics, TM Val!

We heard two versions of the same speech:

* He Said (DTM Jim D.) He belongs to an eating club with a riding disorder known as Harley D, and had to fly to Dubai to visit the local HD dealership.  "A happy wife is a happy life."  He Won Best Speaker Award.

* She Said (DTM Mary Helen D)  Dubai and Abu Dhabi are like Vegas on steroids and discovered that uncovered toes have no sex appeal in the Emirates.

As far as evaluations go...

* TM Chris praised DTM Jim D. for his excellent vocal variety, especially when LOOSELY describing the euphemistic Customer Service.  She Won Best Evaluator.

* TM Marie loved hearing both sides of a story, DTM Mary Helen's being the one with the most joie de vivre, DTM Jim D.'s being the one with the most Harley.

The Word of the Day was 

SCOFFLAW, noun

A person who flouts the law

A person who flouts rules, conventions or accepted practices.

Example:

We at Toastmasters learn how to be well-spoken scofflaws.

Below is the link to the recording

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

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Scofflaw

Autumn, Hear Ye! and Karaokeville - an entertaining morning at EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

TM Pam made us think about the autumnal equinox, set to happen precisely tonight at 9:22 pm (give or take).... and now we know that...

* TM Marie doesn't want to say goodbye to the summer (sung to the tune of Cliff Richards' 1965 "I Don't Want To Say Goodbye To the Summer").

* TM Val is set to clean up her back yard, restain the deck and prune the lillies... as soon as next summer arrives on June 22, 2023 at precisely 9:22 pm (give or take).

* TM Chris has been waiting 5 years (as Jim is her witness) to eat caprese salad with homegrown basil in direct defiance of local grocery stores.

* TM Jim G. hibernates on lobster, sprinkled with a few bugs and doused with a generous dose of honey and oats.  Yummmm.

* I, Ana, know for sure it's Fall when the inside temperature of my Igloo remains at a steady below freezing temperature and I must wear two scarves instead of one.

* DTM Jim D. innoculates himself with Dr. Jack Daniels and vintage Dr. Francis Ford Coppola while verifying the different colors of snow bird license plates (Je Me Souviens)  He Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Aleta used to display Halloween decorations to show off to her friends -  who have since moved to Florida with the others (Je Me Souviens)  She's planning a Zoom video tour to impress us.

* Returning TM Astrid, aka Asteroid, plans to hibernate in Miami Beach.  Enough of those winters in NYC.  (Je Me Souviens).

* Guest Emmanuel hopes to overcome public speaking anxiety in Toastmasters.  We're much better than Lexapro!!

And along came the prepared speeches...

* TM Val pondered whether the hearer hears what they hear here or does the hearer say what the sayer hears?  That, my friends, is the ultimate question.  She Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Chris dances salsa while she cooks (.09% of the time) and she and TM Jim sailed all the way to the UK on a flotation amphibious controlled Recreational Vehicle while Karaoking Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

As far as evaluations go...

* TM Jim G. liked TM Val's parables - a heart murmur is cured with a hot mama.  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

* TM Aleta admired TM Chris's talent for multimedia and praised her Johnny Depp-inspired role in the home video of Pirates of the Atlantic.

The Word of the Day was

MONIKER, noun

A nickname for a person.

Example:  Benedict, a monk from the 6th Century, became known as Benedictine Liqueur after a few experiments in the monastery cellar.

Here's the link to the recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUNHn1NXlcY

See you next week!

Ana I.

Moniker Writer

A charismatic meeting

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

DTM Mary Helen inspired us with old sayings from our charismatic younger days.    We found out that...

* TM Pam has till end of September to unpack a mystery out of mind box from 3 moves ago which is no longer out of sight in the southwest corner of her office.  She'll tell us what she finds, possibly a Key Biscayne dissecated half-Cuban iguana.

* TM BeckyJo says all we need is a boys' band in lieu of a pool table to keep the devil away from having a workshop in our idle brain.

* TM Marie plans to be sorry rather than safe by flying to Turkey to have a United Arab Emirates (UAE) triple-decker sandwich.

* DTM Jim D. asserts that money does grow on trees in Oregon, Washington State and Alaska, where sales to lumber companies make lotsa, lotsa money.

* TM Aleta gifted Habanero peppers - and a stomach pump - to her priest prior to Bible study as a demonstration of 'practice what you preach".

* TM Chris modestly stated that she and TM Jim G. think alike with their great minds - for example, they both want seltzer simultaneously - a clear mark of genius.

* I, Ana, related that a picture is indeed worth a thousand words - my indelible picture is multiple plastic bags chock-full of US dollars hanging in Argentinians' backyard trees as a strategy to sidestep out-of-control inflation and banking corruption.

* TM Tom's curious cat has trained him to watch the cat's favorite tv miniseries at night.  He Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Jim G. is an early bird every Thursday when he's in town and has yet to find a single worm for appropriation.  Instead, he is now Club President by acclamation....

Along came prepared speeches...

* TM Aleta gave a very touching icebreaker about her late Pops, who taught her many things, for instance, beef and poultry do not originate in  plastic packages at the supermarket but instead, start off as real farm animals.   Who knew???  She Won Best Speaker Award.

* I, Ana, talked about dual realities: every story has many sides and my reality may be real or perceived, but one thing is true, I'm always at different levels of right.

Regarding the evaluations...

* DTM Jim D. encouraged TM Aleta to spread some of her frozen energy to the rest of us while looking straight at the camera and to please wear red for her next speech. He Won Best Evaluator Award.

* TM Tom loved my pronunciation of the Spanish poet RRRAAMMOONN DE CAMPOAMORRR and asked me to kindly get rid of my cheat sheet for next speech, it shows in the camera for goodness sakes!

The Word of the Day was

CHARISMA, noun

Compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others.

Example:  The opposite of emotion, devotion and charisma is.... MARISMA!!  (Spanish for swampy areas of the Guadalquivir River)

Recording link for today's meeting - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW7GbJpWBZo

Here's the link to the Gulds'  photo album https://photos.app.goo.gl/zfNy2LyNrErmtRnLA

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Assorted Table Topics, Fun and Done and Strange Bedfellows - another "peak of the week" at EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

Polifacetic TM Randolph set the tone with impromptu impromptus.  We found out that...

* TM Tom's cat obeys his cat's coup d'oeils and follows instructions from The World According to Cat.

* TM BeckyJo signed a pre-nuptial with her broke soon-to-be-husband so he could collect $50 more as a married man.  Oh to be young and wild and free again!

* TM Aleta misses the afternoon humidity in Fort Lauderdale when she did not have to use facial humidifier lotions.

* TM Val would love to watch her prudish aunts squirm while talking about sex in Family Feud.  

* TM Marie would take a sunscreen spraying booth and her magic Kindle on a deserted island and call it paradise found!

* I, Ana, ask God to guide me during the day when I wake up and then all bets are off as soon as my feet touch the floor.

* DTM Mary Helen sleeps soundly on the back of DTM Jim's Harley, preferably with her own pillow in tow.

* TM Pam's youngest child impersonated cranes, snakes, lobsters and other creatures as a tiny toddler.  Insanity is hereditary - we get it from our kids!!  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

Along came the prepared speeches....

* TM Aleta remarked that timing is of the essence - the speaker must allow for pauses, applauses and guffaws so as not to blow past the alloted time.  She Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Marie reminisced about some of the strange bedfellows we've had in EarlyBirds - including but not limited to "The Massacre at the Gateway Theater in Fort Lauderdale" while wearing marbelized tie-dyed shirts by one of our former members.

As far as evaluations go...

* TM BeckyJo praised TM Aleta for being so engagingly funny and for taking funny on the road in whatever adventure she's sharing.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

* First time evaluator TM Val praised TM Marie for helping her, Val, immerse herself in the speech and experience the joy of blowing popcorn with a leaf blower during a cinematic massacre.  Great job, Val!

The Word of the Day was

ANOMALY, noun

Something that deviates from the normal, from what is standard or expected.

Example:  A boring EarlyBirds meeting would certainly be an anomaly.

Here's the link to the recording:

link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc6MQ4_SC1w

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Odd Idioms and Loving Tributes - Love is EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

I, Ana, got us thinking about idioms.  We came to learn that...

* TM Jim G., zooming in from Bexhill-on-Sea, UK, right next to Stratford-upon-Avon and north of Surrey-on-Thames, cannot for the life of him jolly well figure out what a dime a dozen means, since a dime is 10 and a dozen is apparently 12.

* TM Chris stays away from rotting kettles of fish because the smell takes her breath away in a very fishy way.   She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Randolph pondered that a caboodle is something with wheels and the whole kit must be the wheel of fortune.

* DTM Mary Helen has no idea of the price of onions but it's brutally impacting their budget because she cooks them every single day.  Onion allergy sufferers need not visit.

* TM Marie reflected that people need to be responsible for the animal in their life (may include -but not necessarily- their spouse) to avoid barking up the wrong tree.

* DTM Jim D. is considering that a blowtorch may help straighten out a Spanish bull's horns.

Along came the prepared speeches...

* TM Tom reminisced about the days of yellow hip huggers in MIami Springs until he got trapped into loving ownership of a camouflaged Shih Tzu, purely descended from a Lhasa Apso and in reality a loving tiger.

* TM BeckyJo lovingly recounted the many adventures of her creative Dad, including building a silver Taj Mahal in their front yard,  and the counterinsurgency measures of her Code Enforcement whistleblower Mom.  She Won Best Speaker Award.

As far as evaluations go....

* TM Marie praised TM Tom's story within a story, with vivid language, varied vocal variety, deep vulnerability and a reminder of the importance of Cracker Barrell.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.  

* DTM Jim D. was impressed with TM BeckyJo's vocal clarity, perfect diction and her uncanny ability to make us reflect about taking the long and winding road to start a rolling food truck business.

The Word of the Day was

LOVE, noun 

An intense feeling of deep affection ; a great interest and pleasure in something.

LOVE, verb

Feel deep emotion for someone or something

Example:  Falling in love with love is a curious thing - sung to the tune of The Power Of Love. by Huey Lewis and The News.

Here's the link to the recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igfcO2KQAzk

Stay tuned for more!  See you next week

Ana

Recap Writer

Zany Table Topics, Speech Preparation and a 5 to 7 minute life story - a resilient morning at EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Friends and Guests:

TM Aleta led us in very original, zany "What Else Could This Be" visual table topics.  We corroborated that some of our members are quite sadistic.

* TM BeckyJo sees a harmless chair as a torture device to off the elderly under the guise of Yoga, Pilates and the like. If you're over 80, don't move to Oregon with BeckyJo!  Just sayin....  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Val uses umbrellas as rain collectors and disappears in the upside down virtual world.

* TM Tom uses golf tees to pick his teeth, clean his ears and shove it up his grandkids' noses to get their attention.

* TM Marie uses paper clips to pop locks and get into her yoga class clandestinely.  Everything to become a serene yogi.  Yeah, right.

* TM Pam's grown sons haul their drunk friends around in wheelbarrows, in a game of bar hopping USA.

* TM Chris removes the base from a lalique lamp and uses it as a hat at the Kentucky Derby on Easter Sunday, while trying to find an electric socket to light it up.

* TM Randolph's kids convert melon ballers into an ice cream scooper for dolls, a helicopter ride and other multifaceted uses - all within several minutes.

* DTM Mary Helen uses her gazillion trophies as mosquito collectors to drive away the possums and raccoons partying in her back yard.

* TM Jim G. uses the sands of time as an arcane celebration to move antique furniture.

* I, Ana, used fishing hooks to ensnare boyfriends, later husbands and exercise a catch and release program.

Then came prepared speeches...

* TM Pam was a captive audience to an unprepared, boring, incoherent public speaker.and signed him up for Toastmasters on the spot.

* I, Ana, recapped my life within 5 to 7 minutes and removed my virtual background to avoid disappearing like Val did.   I Won Best Speaker Award.

Regarding evaluations....

* TM Tom praised TM Pam for her well organized, well crafted speech and recommended throat lozenges to avoid a raspy throat.   He Won Best Evaluator Award.

* TM Randolph enjoyed my personal storytelling while wearing a scarf that for once matched my blouse.  

The Word of the Day was

RESILIENT, adj.

Able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions; to bounce back.

Example:

EarlyBirds are resilient; we join on Thursdays from any corner of Panet Earth.

See you next week!

Resiliently submitted,

Ana I.

Resilient Recap Writer

Movie Quotes, Answering The Call and Long Tall Ana, a NON-trivial EarlyBird Meeting

Dear Members, Friends and Guests,

TM Randolph evoked the tricky durability of 80s films by way of memorable quotes.  We soon found out that...

* TM Jose brought us back to maverick crotch rockets and F18 hornets, and eternal youth acquired via devilish pacts.

* TM Aleta recited "How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Grains of Sand" (from E.A. Poe's "A Dream Within A Dream"). She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Marie pined over the song "Stand By Me" and spoke about the incredible commitment that it entails, which is sometimes downright Goofy.

* TM Chris had trouble buying tickets at a post-apocalyptic metro station,  but was rescued by Crocodile Dundee, here in South Florida known as Iguana Dundee.

* TM BeckyJo thinks "First Blood" must be a vampire movie and if arrested and thrown  in a Mexican jail, her friends would definitely smuggle in some chimichangas to her.

* DTM Jim D. missed some movies while climbing the aviation corporate ladder but in case of emergency, he'd wear a back sign saying "Follow Me".

* TM Jim G. talked about "I'll have what she's having" and stated unequivocally that when chemistry happens between 2 people, noise ensues.

We had two prepared speeches...

* TM Tom has childhood memories as a coal miner's grandson and sang John Pine's "Paradise" with guitar strumming punctual DTM Kip.

* I, Ana, told a speech about being "Long Tall Ana" by Chiquito Ricardo, and disappeared into the virtual ether in a game of "Where's Ana?" instead of "Where's Waldo?" I Won Best Disappearing Speaker Award.

And along came the DAYS' evaluations....

* DTM Jim D. praised TM Tom's tribute to DTM Kip, who fortuitously knew the comeback line to most classic songs and had a keen eye to select our EarlyBird Club Secretary. in perpetuity.

* DTM Mary Helen D. liked my ability to turn tall negatives into tall positives and at the height of it all, she evaluated it up to me.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

In loving tribute to DTM Kip, we watched his speech on Mentoring in Toastmasters.  Thank you, TM Chris, for queuing up these speeches for us to learn while keeping his memory alive in the group!

The Word of the Day was

TRIVIAL, adj.

Of little value or importance.

Example:  Huge fines were imposed on those who engaged in trivial pursuits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPaykVd1Gw4

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Writer 

Either/or

Either/Or, Then/Now, Never/Always - an impeccable day at EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,  

Impeccable as ever, TM Jim G. led us down a world of either/or.  We found out that...

* TM Marie believes that " What the World Needs Now, Is Love Sweet Love" (sung to the tune of What The World Needs Now Is Love Sweet Love) to end hunger.

* I, Ana, would much rather dangle frozen in a broken skilift than hover in a sardine can of a broken elevator.

* Ever the fashionista, TM Paolo would rather be Uomo Ragno because the outfit is very colorful and cheerful and he likes climbing up vines.

* TM Val would rather lose her keys than her un-backedup cellphone.  She has now signed up for a Geek tutorial on backups.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* Ever the rebel when given 2 choices, TM BeckyJo must pick a third - not x-ray vision, not hear-plus, but invisibility- to do both.

*TM Aleta did not consider being blinded by the light when spontaneously looking straight into the inexorability of the sunrise. 

We had two outstanding speeches from impeccable speakers...

* TM Chris calmly and serenely taught us how to make our pictures depict a world of sharp contrasts, bright colors and eternal youth. It's called ambiance, ambiance, ambiance and adds je ne sais quoi to wrinkles.

* DTM Mary Helen made a public announcement that appearances can be deceiving so always choose heaven no matter what, and are we going to overcome our deep loss and tweet on as the impeccable EarlyBirds that we are?  Yes, we are!!!  She Won Best Speaker Award.

As far as evaluations go....

* TM Pam praised TM Chris for her seamless, impeccable, sparkling Toastmaster speech  and Pam is now undertaking a beautifying project from her grandfather's archaeological photo treasures.

* TM Randolph thoroughly enjoyed DTM Mary Helen's heaven and hell example - which went along the lines of his earlier joke of the day.  He also liked her expressiveness, hand gestures and awesome pauses. And mostly her pink lipstick.  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

In loving tribute, we played a video of the late DTM Kip giving an impeccable icebreaker about coming to terms with uncluttering.

The Word of the Day was 

IMPECCABLE, adj.

(said of behavior, performance, appearance) in accordance with the highest standard of propriety.

Example:  EarlyBird members display impeccable Zoom etiquette at all times.

Here's a link to today's recording.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taw3-1SJJu8

And here's a link on how to make yourself look 30 years old in photos,  especially if you are 30 years old.

Here's a whole 45 minute Geeks YouTube show: https://geeksontour.com/2022/02/228-how-to-beautify-your-photos-with-the-free-snapseed-app-for-ios-and-android/login

See you next week!

Ana 

Recap Writer

Lottery, Kid Mindfulness and Men Caves - an accentuated morning at EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

TM Pam had us consider what we would do if we won a billion dollar in the lottery.  We found out that...

* TM Aleta has never been motivated by money but heck, she's now running to the store to buy a ticket, just in case...

* TM Chris won the lottery the day she was born to a loving, caring mother who taught her everything there is to know and more!

* TM Val is stopped by nothing in doing what she wants - learning, serving, inquiring.  Quilting, line dancing, writing - Zoom is the way to go!  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Tom is masterful at shortcuts although time and again he's shown that they don't work.  He is opening a Lost & Found Department in his own home.

* TM Randolph would definitely share 8 Million Pounds Sterling with a British gentleman but his motto, like Buddha's,  is "trust but verify".

* I, Ana, have no idea how financing the government with the lottery works, except I know such financing would get corrupted, just like everything the government touches.  My motto for the day is "accentuate the negative".

And then came the prepared speeches...

* TM Marie demonstrated a mind-blowing bubbles excercise that alters our Hippocampus (the name of a Madrid discotheque in the 70s), and Amygdala so that children end up with less gray matter and finally start behaving.

* DTM Jim Day used lotsa wine, roses, chocolates, ice cream and countless cruises to build an Extended Stay Man Cave in 7 years.  He Won Best Speaker Award.

As far as evaluations go....

* TM Chris accentuated TM Marie's impeccable multi-tech-tasking in one meeting, mission accomplished!  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

* TM Randolph is starting to build himself a man cave and has hired DTM Jim D. as his general contractor.

First-time AH Counter TM Val caught all  AH and UM offenders and reported them.   As a first-time JokeMaster, she taught us how to break traffic laws and get away with it.  Good job, TM Val! 

Tech Tip of the Day:  TM Chris showed us how to move the gallery view from one side to the other when screen sharing is taking place, how to eliminate the gallery view altogether or how to just leave the speaker in plain sight.

The Word of the Day was

ACCENTUATE, verb

1. make more noticeable or prominent

2. focus attention on

3. call attention to

Example:  In the midst of turbulence, it's wise to be a contrarian and accentuate peace.

Here's the link to the recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4MdKbW2bZ0

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Writer