Miscellaneous, Where's the Salsa and Have You Met My Family? A humorous morning at EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

DTM Jim D. started us off with a series of randomly selected topics.  Moreover, we found out that...

* TM Marie refers to online shopping as order, disorder and reorder.

* TM Chris pats her back and moreover, she becomes more tecchie every time she teaches someone how to turn off their phone alarms.

* TM Aleta has fully declared herself a perfectionist who likes objectivity versus subjectivity and moreover, she could not care less about doing the right thing, sorry.

* TM BeckyJo's podiatrist lies compulsively with a smile and her screams cleared the waiting room.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Jim said technology makes him lose track of time and moreover, his favorite song is Cher's If I Could Turn Back Time.

* TM Randolph STILL  finds humor in his kids' little game of What Hurts Today So That I Don't Have to Go To School.  The key word is STILL....

 * I, Ana, find that it's best to give it up whenever I get one of my bright ideas that have left me with a bloody forehead in the past.

* DTM Jim D. has been a reactor, rather than an actor, for most of his life, amd moreover,  life has taken him wherever it has taken him.

Along came the prepared speeches...

* I, Ana talked about the culinary delights of growing up Spanglish and moreover, I survived its cardiovascular repercussions.  I Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM BeckyJo introduced us to her freckled Hawaiian family who scuba dived in the murky pond of a local Polinesian restaurant.  She Won Best Speaker Award.

Moreover, we had some great evaluations...

* TM Chris laughed heartily at my speech and moreover, she would have REALLY  enjoyed it if I had only shown my face above my notes.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

* TM Aleta commended TM BeckyJo for her hand gestures (to be toned down to prevent Zoom crashes) and her vocal variety.  Moreover, she suggested a better camera angle that points above the speaker's neck.

The Word of the Day was

MOREOVER, adverb

(not to be confused with MOREEVER, or EVERMORE, as in "Lenore, evermore" of poetic fame)

As a further matter; besides

Example:  Glass is electrically insulating;  moreover, very seldom do I often hereinafter refer to the aforementioned;

The link to the recording:

https://youtu.be/4HYs6WIhAGc

See you next week!

Ana I.

Evermore Recap Writer

Earth Day, Sincerely Faithful and More Will Be Revealed - a meeting of visionaries at EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

TM Marie launched us with quotes from legendary Sir David Attenborough.  We were soon to discover that....

* TM Jim G.'s underwater videos have revealed all sorts of creatures, large and small, which are immersive and subversive.

* TM Aleta cherishes the natural world and lives off her crops to avoid the many illnesses caused by artificially intelligent store pricey produce.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Randolph wants his grandkids to be able to see elephants in the zoo and hopes the wooly mammoth returns to save the planet.

* TM Paolo brings nature to his children, who now automatically report Italian cigarette-butt litterers to the carabinieri, the Polizia and the Polizia Municipale for their disposal.

* TM BeckyJo is a self-declared minimalist who still uses soap from 1970 and more or less believes that less is more.

* DTM Jim D. has learned discernment about food portions which led to significant weight loss and is currently cheating with chocolate ice cream.

* TM Chris definitely consumes less by living in a 21 inch camper with no electricity but plenty of magnolia trees in bloom all around.  She detests MacMansions.

We had some visionary prepared speeches today. In an unprecedented tie, unbroken by our non-practicing tiebreaker,  both speakers won.

* TM Emmanuel pondered the meaning of fidelity, sincerity, authenticity, objectivity, loyalty and other ity-ending words and concluded that truth simply requires connectivity.  He Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Pamela stated that life keeps moving as we keep moving and she has evolved into a visionary gardener, birder, reader who specializes in microlepidoptera - use of moth balls is strictly verbotren, you Nazi moth killers out there!  She Won Best Speaker Award.

The Word of the Day was

VISIONARY, adjective

Thinking or planning the future with imagination or wisdom.

Example:  Truth though distorted are words I create, today the parting, tonight, tonight, at the peak of your visionary mountains.  (Sung to the tune of Visionary Mountains by Manfred Mann).

Here's the link to the recording:

https://youtu.be/bwHuhrGMSAk

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Visionary 

Potential Choices, Getting Old and The Order, Disorder and Reorder of Today's World

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

TM Jim G. got us pondering about how things might have turned out under other circumstances.  We discovered that...

* TM Tom would be a country & western singer clad in a golf outfit dealing with HOA board meetings with a banjo on his knee.

* TM Marie revealed herself as a daredevil who would whitewater raft, ski and hike any mountain, climb any hill, and return to Cinco Terra in Italy in a heartbeat.

* TM Paolo's best friend was the elementary school bully who became his best friends and they even shared girlfriends (Es Amore!!).  Sadly he died 30 years ago, leaving a huge void in Paolo's life.  He Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Pam realized that she wants to try exotic foods while scuba diving, no more and no less.  No jumping out of airplanes for her, no siree!!

* TM BeckyJo has finally understood that it takes a mallet to soften a dead alligator into the texture of a filet mignon.  She will not try to cook one again, that's for sure!

We had two great prepared speeches...

* DTM Mary Helen pointed out that symptoms of becoming old are the repetitiveness of life, we can no longer remember the name of our teenage idol, nightsleep is shorter and napping is more frequent.  What keeps us young is starting over - at springtime or on our birthday, not when we're tipsy on New Year's Eve, and while we still have something to say.

* DTM David confirmed our suspicions that, like many other organizations, Toastmasters is very disoriented about rules and regulations for Online, In-Person and Hybrid meetings.  Erratically is the name of the game.  If we stay online-only, we will not be orphaned from District 47, though.

And we had some great evaluations...

* TM Jose, just landed from Spain in the midst of a Florida monsoon, praised DTM Mary Helen for her ease and comfort when delivering a speech, her vocal variety, her hand gestures and connecting with her audience with a universal theme.  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

* TM Aleta profusely thanked our Guest Speaker DTM David for enlightening us to the fact that Toastmasters International's policy on types of meetings is clear as mud.

The Word of the Day was

SERENDIPITY, noun

Events that happen by chance in a happy and beneficial way.

Example:  It was through serendipity that I ran into my French high school friend - we met in The American School of Madrid - at my parish church  in Fort Lauderdale, 20 years after having lost touch with each other.  Neither of us had any previous connection to Fort Lauderdale.

See you next week!

Serendipituosly yours,

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Quotes, Learning To Not Know, Heckle City - a morning with gumption at EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

TM Chris enlightened us with quotes from famous and not-so-famous people.  We were soon to discover that,,,,

* DTM Jim D. rises early to get those hot cinnamon buns, forget the worm!

* TM Tom firmly believes that chocolate makes the world go round.

* TM Astrid agrees that life is a daring adventure although at 7 am mentally it's mostly nothing.

* TM Jim G. tries to go with the flow so he doesn't get bent out of shape as easily.

* TM Pam remembers growing up with her squooshy grandmother and her rigid grandmother - and they were only in their 50s back then!! She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Randolph's best learning moments have been after putting his hand on a hot stove as a young child ignoring his mother. Now he watches his kids do the same thing.

* DTM Mary Helen ponders why doing nothing is hard since she always seems to be doing nothing while doing something and going somewhere but ending up anywhere.

Regarding the prepared speeches...

* TM Marie explained that she used to be an expert in everything but she has realized that with not knowing comes learning and keeps you from getting stuck in the muck of your having to unlearn what you had made up anyway.  She Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Aleta showed us what courage is:  grace under pressure.  She managed a difficult audience and did not take it personally.

And then came the evaluations...

* TM Tom sincerely apologized for being such a natural-born heckler and marveled at how the role came so naturally to him.  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

* TM Randolph was absolutely positively comprehensively inspired by TM Marie's gumption in revealing how she empties out her mind of thoughts and other needless objects.

The Word of the Day was

GUMPTION, noun

enterprise, initiative

common sense, horse sense

Example:  It takes a lot of gumption and lacks a lot of gumption  to ride a saddleless horse.

Here's the link to the recording:

https://youtu.be/EGwP2FgtC0c

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Random topics, Youth and IPhones and SCUBA - manifest morning at EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

DTM Jim D made us manifest our true feelings about random topics.  We soon learned that...

*   TM Emmanuel's Dad is his model and reference and allows him to blatantly ignore Ancestry and its maze of connecting dots.

*   TM Pam does not want to impose her historical beliefs on produce and finally figured out that a carrot is nothing other than a loquacious speaker!  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM BeckyJo once practiced vehicular airlifting to pickup a distracted friend's airline ticket in time to get the friend on the flight, once and for all time!

* TM Aleta admits that pigs have good lung capacity to oinc and she tried to put lipstick on a pig - her ex husband(s) but you know how that ended.

* TM Tom accepts little white lies if he's the little white liar but condemns them if he is the one being little white lied to.  

* I, Ana, would put Sixties Top 40s hits as a ringtone on my phone if only I had the manifest capacity to be techie savvy.

* TM Randolph thinks Fort Lauderdale is the ultimate tourist attraction and alas! a Gazillion Manifest Spring Breakers heard him.  As I see them chugging beer, I ask myself why should I pay for their student loans - do you ask yourself that question too????

Along came the prepared speeches...  We had a special treat today with a Guest Speaker all the way from Italy...

* TM Marilena delighted us with the eternal manifest dilemma of parents worldwide - succumbing to pressure from adolescent kids or accepting that insanity is hereditary: we get it from our kids.  She Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Chris told us about flying, floating, meditating, exploring new worlds and seeing elephant fish in tutus, weightless and stressless.

And then came the evaluations...

* TM Tom praised TM Marilena for starting with a question, the call to action and the fact that alone we are a drop but together we are an ocean.  Overwhelmed parents of the world, unite!!

* TM BeckyJo enjoyed TM Chris for her masterful skill, her engaging style and her expertise with visual aids.   Long live Nemo!!  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

The Word of the Day was

MANIFEST, adj or verb

adj - clear or obvious to the eye or mind

verb - display or show by one's acts or appearance

Example:  It's not always manifest whether manifest is an adjective or a verb.  It's simply manifest!

Manifestly submitted,

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Prominent Women Quotes, Water and More Water - a fluid morning at EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

TM Marie inspired us with famous quotes by notable women.  We quickly found out that...

* TM BeckyJo is afraid of us, the rowdy, unpredictable, wild, ubiquitous EarlyBirds.  She'd much rather be burnt alive like Joan of Arc - ok, not quite.

* DTM Jim D. had a schoolteacher who was ubiquitous - both a blessing and a lesson all rolled up into one!  She trained him to, later in life, be able to serve 500 pancakes in a recordbreaking 6.5 minutes...

* TM Aleta lives her own life with great love - no small deed, indeed!

* TM Chris regrets not having found out more about her Mother's life and particularly about her Mother's jewelry.   She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* DTM Mary Helen realizes that hindsight is intelligent and still has lots of things to understand and not fear....  Hey, it is what it is....

* TM Pam loves her family very deeply and would just like to have a quick meal with Helen Keller to borrow some child rearing techniques.

* TM Paolo understands that victory is waking up, walking outside and enjoying life itself.  Things don't happen to you - they happen for you!

* I, Ana, try to display generosity toward others starting at home, although I don't always succeed.  Did Amelia Erhart wear Depends on her solo flights?  That is the real question.

* TM Randolph removed his Dad coat and became a kid while on a wild ride in Thrill Park, Orlandoland.

Regarding our prepared speeches...

* TM Tom startled us with the statistic that we humans are 60% water and soon we will be drinking canceriferous water taken right out of the underground aquifer.  Insider tip:  Buy shares of Evian... straight from the canceriferous Alps!!  He Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Jim G. introduced us to Muck Diving, aka Goo/Sediment dead coral remnants where hairy frog fish, flamboyant cuttle fish, blue ring octopus, decorator crabs and other exotic millimetric critters abound.  Insider tip: buy shares in Nauticam Underwater camera company. 

As far as evaluations go...

* TM Paolo suggested that TM Tom center the camera angle and avoid the confusing winding road of Pathways although it was all said with great vocal variety.  He Won Best Evaluator Award. 

* DTM Mary Helen praised TM Jim G. for his astuteness in telling us that the popular Muck Diving is available in Riviera Beach, Florida, which will save all of us thousands of dollars flying the unfriendly skies. .  Insider tip:  Buy shares in magnifying lens companies.

The Word of the Day was

UBIQUITOUS, adj.

Yoo-Bik-Wi-Tuhs

Existing or being everywhere, especially at the same time.  Omnipresent.

Example:  Humor is ubiquitous at EarlyBird meetings.

Here is the link to the recording:  

https://youtu.be/jR0AuBVwWq8

See you next week!

Ana

Ubiquitous Recap Writer 

St Patrick, Age Is A Number and Maewyn Succat - an unduplicitous day at EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

TM BeckyJo corroborated history's duplicitous nature when she revealed that St Patrick's real name was Maewyn Succat (St Patrick is catchier), his meanderings are dubious at best and he wasn't even canonized.  He did, however, invent green beer.

We also learned that...

* TM Tom is a tough Irishman who believes in elves and is meagerly forgiving because mercy droppeth from heaven smack onto the middle of a football field.

* TM Paolo burst our bubble by stating that spaghetti is Chinese, pizza is French and Italy's national dish turns out to be corned beef pizza.   It's all in the marketing!  He Won Best Table Topics Award.

* DTM Mary Helen asked TM BeckyJo to take it back, take it back, the Irish DO NOT like pork, she will not stand for this duplicitousness.

* TM Astrid is Puerto Rican and as such, proudly confesses that she's never even heard of St Patrick  but she absolutely knows there's always a duplicitous agenda behind it all.

* TM Randolph works a lot because kids are expensive but some day he will earn gold by singing and writing songs for other artists.  (Note from the EarlyBirds:  He will succeed, too!)

* TM Emmanuel would go to Russia and China in a yellow submarine and feel just like a fish in water.

* TM Chris pondered if there's any other kind of party but an Irish party and her favorite memories are of dancing on crutches at an Irish pub!

In our prepared speeches...

* Guest speaker TM Tim proved to us irrefutably that the key to success is to avoid Irish traffic lights on Tipperary Hill in Syracuse, NY.  He Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Pam revealed that St. Patrick was best friends with Roman tyrant Coroticus who invented green beer to unclog corotid arteries.  The details are lost in the mist of history.  

As far as evaluations go...

* TM Randolph praised TM Tim and asked him to buy the Camera Angle instruction book recently published by our own TM Paolo.

* DTM Mary Helen marveled at TM Pam's ability to debunk a duplicitous saintly myth in 5 to 7 minutes, much longer than the time it takes to gulp a mug of green beer.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

The Word of the Day was

DUPLICITOUS, adj.

Given to or marked by deliberate deceptiveness in behavior or speech.

Example:  Sometimes we're attracted to duplicitous snake charmers because they are, well, just good marketers.

Here's the link to the recording:

https://www.youtube.com/

See you next week!

Ana I.

Duplicitous Recap Writer

50s, Icebreaker and Be Delightful - travel at the EarlyBird speed

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

TM Pam led us with interesting topics revolving around 50, the magic number.  We soon found out that...

* DTM Jim D. wants to keep the $50 bill exactly as it is, with Ulysses S. Grant in full mode time travel.

* TM Emmanuel marvels at couples who make their 50th wedding anniversary - that's what life and love is about!

* TM Jim recently experienced the 50s Golden Age of TV by streaming Sea Hunt with Lloyd Bridges on TM Chris's I-watch.

* TM BeckyJo plans to be a fiery redhead at the tender age of 80, vibrant and minus any pesky grays.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* I, Ana, don't believe in the motto Get Rich Or Die - although I've pretty much lived a comfortable life most of my life, so I'm just spoiled.

* TM Tom is glad he's past 50 because at 50 he didn't know Toastmasters or EarlyBirds and can't fathom life without them.

* TM Aleta voted multiple times for TM Pam to attend her 50th Homecoming College Reunion where everyone will recognize her without having to even wear a name badge.

And then came the prepared speeches...

* TM Paula delighted us with a descriptive self-introduction about her geographic moves and spiritual journey.  Excellent icebreaker, Paula!

* DTM Mary Helen relived her anguish at losing her handbag at the start of The Way (El Camino) but finding it thanks to the benefits of the tourism industry. She Won Best Speaker Award.

As far as evaluations go...

* TM Chris was wowed - as were we all- at TM Paula's vocabulary richness which escapes most native-born gringos.  Paula's speech encapsulated the essence of her being, the yin and yang.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

* TM Paolo repeatedly asked DTM Mary Helen why didn't she incorporate pizza and lasagna meals on her tale of the Camino?  What happened to Italy??  Grazie Tutti, Prego!

We were seniorly confused between the (2) Jims and we swapped people's last names, but other than that, the meeting traveled smoothly.

The Word of the Day was

TRAVEL, noun

go from one place to another, over a distance of some length.

An object that moves, typically in a constant and predictable way.

Example:  To travel or to teletransport - Elon, Elon, what musk we do???

Here's the link to the recording

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOrYDea8q0g

See you next week!  Spring Forward on Sunday March 12!

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Light Quotes, The Mighty Quinn and Pathways - a morning of prerogatives at EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

TM Paula launched us off with thought-provoking phrases...

* TM Aleta finds the hilarious perspective in most things, simply because she's a hilariously perspectiveely personality.

* TM Pam agrees that there's comedy in contradictions.  She's always exactly right and her husband is always exactly wrong - and that's comedic all right. She Won Best Table Topics Award.

* I, Ana, have thought "that is a curious reaction" plenty of times in my married life and have decided to say nothing and say it often.

* TM Paolo explained that if he has said what he meant, it would simply be La vita es bellissima... la vita es bella.... la dolce vita.... and then the luce rossa stopped him.

* TM Tom said that humor is a sophisticated tool of the mind and St. Patrick's Day is coming, dear Mc Anythings.

* DTM Mary Helen has been suffering from acute language commingling syndrome, whereby Spanglish becomes PortuGerman.  Tudo ben, tudo bon.

* TM Randolph asserts that the way to tell the story is when his mind is made up, please don't confuse him with the facts.

* TM BeckyJo proposed to conduct our next EarlyBirds meeting in Portuguese to support DTM Mary Helen's linguistic derangement syndrome.

* DTM Jim D. has been contaminated by the linguistic syndrome and now thinks in Russian and counts in Croatian.  He and DTM Mary Helen are headed straight for linguistic marital counseling.

* TM Emmanuel does not want to sound too serious but cannot help it although internally he is doubled over with laughter.

And then came the prepared speeches...

* TM Tom, aka The Mighty Quinn, wonders where the lions are, but remembers that everyone's beneath the trees, feeding pigeons on a limb, and when Quinn the Eskimo gets here, all the pigeons gonna run to him...  He Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Pam motivates others to do her bidding.  From Pathways she has learned to read instructions, follow directions, end at the beginning and upload it all to the cloud.  If her reach exceeds her grasp, what's a heaven for?  (But I digress)....

As far as evaluations go...

* TM Randolph likes TM Tom's teaching style of speaking and is all for bushes covering the water treatment plant eyesore.  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

* TM Paolo commended TM Pam for her pause, projection, pitch, performance and suggested she avoid swinging in her seat.

The Word of the Day was

PREROGATIVE, noun

Right or privilege

Example:  It is our prerogative to be funny or serious, depending on our mood of the moment.

Here's the link to the recording...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVRYAOz6stI

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Writer by right and privilege

Volte face, High Speed AVE, Starting Over - a self-debating kind of morning at EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

TM Aleta led us In a volte face, volta faccia, voltio radical Table Topics with a Twist,  We proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that we are nothing but a bunch of flip-floppers.

* TM Randolph loves kitties, dislikes kitties, loves kitties once again, all within a minute and a half.

* TM Paula cherishes chocolate, dislikes cream-filled chocolates, adores warming up with a cup of hot chocolate.

* TM Astrid loves Walmart, despises Walmart's employer abuses of employees, loves to shop for ANYTHING at the supercenter.

* TM Paolo looooves to have breakfast at Denny's at 3 am surrounded by distinguished diners, is appalled even driving in front of Denny's, only ending up fine dining at the nearest one.  Mood swings are his forte.

* I, Ana, love a vase of flowers, am grossed out by having the change the putrid water from the vase after a few days, love the flowers again except when petals land on the floor and must be swept away.

* DTM Jim D's favorite activity is a red wine degustation, although sometimes too much of a good thing is too much of a good thing, and one must pay for the joy in the morning, but drink up is the motto for today.

* DTM Mary Helen loves green, especially the color of money, fantasizes of flashing a wad of $1 covered up by one single $100 bill for effect and decides not to be greedy and showoffish all within the allotted time.

* TM Tom recognizes that public speaking is a fearful activity but when overcome it brings us closer to others although open mics have gotten more than one in trouble.

* TM Marie praises runners for enjoying the outdoors although she prognosticates hip and knee replacements before the age of 40 and a successful runner is one who avoids being mugged on the path.

* TM Jose recommends eating Big Macs 3 times a day for 365 days in a row as a weight reduction plan although it must be downed with a good glass of wine or beer mug to melt away arterial clogging and taste is the same at any establishment in the world.  He Won Best Table Topics Award.

Along came the prepared speeches....

* TM Jose educated us about the speed-train system in Spain where you can get anywhere real fast - if the train fits through the teeny tiny tunnels.  

* TM Aleta has honed her success story speech about being  Dropped Like a Hot Potato/Rebound Like A Triumphant Irish Rose to unimaginable levels.  If only we could find a contest for her to participate in!  She Won Best Speaker Award.

As far as evaluations...

* TM Tom praised TM Jose for his mastery in organizing a speech where we all learn something and incorporating the fact that sometimes trains just don't fit (and then you must acquit?)  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

* DTM Jim D.assured TM Aleta that if she goes through it, she will grow through it.  Even if it's an Intergalactic Contest, by golly she will participate!

The Word of the Day was

VOLTE FACE, noun

VOLTA FACCIA, noun in Italian

VOLTIO RADICAL, noun in quasi-Spanish

Turning around, to face opposite direction.  Abrupt and complete reversal of attitude, opinion or position.

Example:  

I had a volta faccia in Stromboli, where the volcano erupted and the dish was created - not to be confused with a calzone.

Here's the link to the recording:

https://www.youtube.com/

See you next week, U-turners!!

Ana I.

Recap Volte Face

Topsy-Turvy, Gregarious Casino Royale EarlyBird Meeting

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

It was definitely a gregarious meeting today - out-of-sequence sequence and an extraordinary abduction.  We officially welcomed new Toastmaster Paula M. into our midst!  Welcome, Paula!

* Our self-admitted over-committer, TM Aleta, inspired us with her tale of her Casino Royale Dead Money project - the final stretch on her road to DTM (Don't Time Me)..  She is scholarship chair, secretary, parliamentarian, tractor fixer, snow-plower, fire stoker who defines herself as adroit in managing 24 rogue actors.  She Won Best Only  Speaker Award. 

* Immediately -if not sooner- evaluated by TM Paolo - who displayed his usual gregarious enthusiastic self and roguely defied any time constraints.  He Won Best Only Evaluator Overtime Award.

And, last but not least, we had RomCom Table Topics.  We found out that...

* TM Marie thinks if a girl has 9 goats and her fiance has 1 goat, she needs to look for a goatier guy - they're usually found dancing the Sirtaki in Santorini or Mykonos.

* TM Paula stated that therapists would be jobless if patients simply applied the motto "Snap out of it" to their lives.  Think of all the money people would save!!

* DTM Mary Helen wants the fairy tale - people to follow her script and behave as they should.  If they did, it would be a reality tale, not a fairy tale.

* TM Pam forbids her husband to have a heart attack at least until her personal trainer gets her in tip-top shape to take care of him.  So there!

* TM Aleta, ever a fan of old movies, agrees with the adage that divorce lasts forever, till death do us part.  Except for crazy people who marry the same person twice, when there's soooo many people on Planet Earth.

* DTM Jim D's parents were married for 60 years and gave each other symbolic Valentine Day cards throughout their resilient years of marriage.

* TM Randolph discussed self-awareness with his daughter to make her more aware of potentially suspicious surroundings.  He Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM Tom has given his heart to heartless women, and concluded that he should have written the movie script for "Say Anything" (1989) and he would have at least gotten a pen!

The Word of the Day was

GREGARIOUS, adj.

social, sociable, fond of company

Example:  Extroverts are gregarious, introverts are ungregarious.  The world's population is polarized on this pesky little adjective.

Here's the link to the recording: 

https://www.youtube.com/

See you next week!

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Remarkable phrases, a drifter fish and artificial speechwriting - all in a day's work at EarlyBirds!

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

First-time Topic Master Paula adroitly gave us plenty of food for thought.  We were to discover that...

* TM Aleta indeed chose to let it go after removing the me from blame which left her with only bla bla bla and then building a life beyond her wildest imagination!

* TM Chris misses RV travel where she exercised her superpower - doing nothing without having to exert herself as air travel forces her to do.

* TM Paolo made the best decision by joining EarlyBirds two years ago because he loves it loves it loves.  Ti voglio bene! E amore!

*TM Tom dazzled us with his je veux etre habile dans ma tache avec la commission municipale alons enfants de la patrie le jour de gloire est arrive.

* TM BeckyJo's funny duckling streak was inherited from her odd duck mother and partly circumstantial - breaking her patella while unadroitly training the house cleaner.

* I, Ana, spent my whole senior day yesterday unsmiling and trying to get senior verification with a Malaysia-located non-English speaking call center verification team member of a certain telephone service provider.  I Won Best Table Topics Award for most confusing Table Topic.

* TM Emmanuel got such a long topic that he could not tell the beginning from the end and had to refer us to his earlier invocation about love.

And then came prepared speeches...

* Our guest speaker, TM Joshua, told a tale about a fishspeaking kayaker and his maladjusted friend fish who got eaten up by jonathan livingston seagull and had an awakening about acceptance of life on the reef.  He Won Best Speaker Award.

* TM Chris's artificial intelligence-created speech took us on a 46-hour journey to the most pristine diving on Planet Earth and we all now invoke our superpower of doing nothing from sheer teletransport exhaustion.

As far as evaluations go....

* TM Jim G. praised TM Josh for his good command of fish language.  Jim adroitly lobbied for votes and...you guessed it.    He Won Best Evaluator Award.

* TM Tom was surprised, like the rest of us, at the sudden twist of events and finding out that a certain Chat GPT wrote TM Chris's speech!

General Evaluator TM Paolo - inveterate  and professional maniaco de la moda - adroitly counseled  TM Joshua to sexily slightly open the top buttons of his camicia for the contest and... he's got it made!  As effective as lobbying for votes.

The Word of the Day was

ADROIT, adj.

Clever or skillful in using the hands or mind; having or showing skill and cleverness in handling situations.

Example:  Our collective goal as US citizens is to adroitly avoid paying taxes through the roof while simultaneously adroitly avoiding legal consequences for our adroitivity.

Here's the link to the recording:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXCAg0IlIVQ

See you next week!

Ana

Adroit Recap Writer

Next Best Thing After Chat GPT

International Idioms, Fashionistas and Wild Obsessions - an emphatic morning at Early Birds!

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

First-time Table Topics Master, TM Maria, dazzled us with visual international idioms, most of which no one ever heard of!  We soon learned that...

* TM Jose dislikes cucumbers but sees himself as alternating between Cool Hand Luke and Raging Bull (a legend in his own mind).  He Won Best Table Topics Award.

* TM BeckyJo became her best Eyetalian version and emphatically stated that with or without holes, we can always have donuts.  Cara mia!!

* TM Randolph was not too keen on breaking fast with an onion - unless it's sandwiched into a quarter pounder at his favorite burger shack.

* Guest Paula likes to slide in on a prawn sandwich as a voluntary responsible participant in the surfing contest of her life.

* TM Tom dislikes hair on his teeth but does not cease to be amazed by the Dutch and how they build cities underwater.

* TM Emmanuel can't wrap his throat around swallowing a camel, even a baby one.

* TM Chris would not tie a bear to anyone mostly because the bear would be unhappy.

* TM Marie is happily married to a gourmet cook but the downside is that all her cheeks are getting bigger and bigger.

Regarding prepared speeches....

* TM Astrid reminded us that dressing is symbolic and only those under 40 should attempt nude dressing in dopamine colors under the overall metaverse.  She Won Best Speaker Award.

* I, Ana, recounted my love affair - NOT- with wild animals and my broken promises not to ever gossip again.

As far as evaluations go...

* TM Randolph was amazed at TM Astrid's speech, its subtleness, what lies beneath and her quest to deflect avatars.  He cautioned her to keep her distance from the camera.or face the risk of falling through zoom time.

* TM Chris thoroughly enjoyed my zany descriptions of the Wild Wild World of Montana Moose and Goose.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

The Word of the Day was

EMPHATIC, adj.

Strong and clear without any possiblity for doubt.

Example:  Our self-introductions today were unfalteringly emphatic.

Here's the link to the recording:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH0dwHlK4r8

See you next week!

Ana

Recap Writer