It was an enjoyable and fun filled Valentines Day meeting in
place of our previously planned dinner meeting
The on time call to order and a introduction of the Chairman
belied the fact that Wendy Trusler was one of our newest members
that got the meeting off to a great start.
Neville Cohen as the Chairman commented on the Valentine Days
theme for the evening.
Real and unconditional love was often conveyed by simple acts
such as a baby’s smile or the unsolicited hug from a young
child. The many small acts of help, friendship and love between
partners throughout their lives endured long after the
chocolates were eaten,
Joanne Renfer the Wordsmith in her end of the meeting report
found that the word of the day “Venerate” had been use quite a
few times, recalling as well many picturesque phrases she heard
throughout the evening.
Ruth Sol the Wizard of Ahs tracked our Ums and Ahs but some how
in spite of her diligence only delivered a limited amount of
fines for our ever-hungry piggy bank.
Wendy Trusler returned to the lectern to provide more inspired
comments on Valentine’s Day.
Wendy liked the whole ambiance of the day that she and her
husband loved to celebrate. Being creative was the way to add
spice to this pleasant occasion.
Anne Marie Deluise clearly understood her role was to keep the
meeting on time which she did with alacrity maintaining it
exactly as called for in the agenda. Timing is an important
aspect of our meetings but the occasional use of discretion as
in the case of a guest speaker is thoughtful and polite.
Jim Sinclair as always an intrepid Table Topics Master really
added spice to the Table Topics session He submitted that his
topics would be personal but he did suggest that speakers could
lie.
He encouraged us in this outrageous suggestion by proposing that
the teller of the tallest tale could become the winner.
The subjects were personal ranging from a first date to the
first kiss and to bad dates, surprise, surprise as the Table
Topics evaluator Dave Stewart later commented nobody seemed to
lie. All the speakers told real life stories. Except Omar Hung
who was suddenly elevated to a heart surgeon and had to find a
way to make his fictitious role sound plausible. It was not that
we are such an honest bunch, said Dave. It is just very
difficult to make up a lie on the spot standing at the lectern.
I believe he is right but it all made for a highly enjoyable
table topics session in which all participants provide well
planned speeches for most of their allotted times.
Toastmaster Omar Hung took over after the refreshment break with
a well-scripted Valentine days comments and a customary toast to
“Enduring Love”
Omar is always performs his roles in a consummate manner he is
well prepared and is then able to add some thing extra to his
role and in this case to his introduction of the speakers.
He introduced Don Ekroth whose prepared speech was Titled “Music
on the Brain” Omar listed the objectives which were amongst
others to “Research and Present an Abstract concept” in a clear
and interesting manner.
It was an interesting and enlightening speech which Don in his
usual eloquent way told us that research had established that
music enhances the learning process “ What if I told you, you
could accelerate your learning of a subject 10 times faster if
it was coupled to music” Apparently the 16-17th century Baroque
music form with it 60 beats to the minute was as Don submitted
found to be the most suitable vehicle to activate both brain
lobes. Considering that the Baroque form was the stimulant for
art, literature, architecture and sculpture he provided us with
much food for thought.
It was Omar with his one, two, three musical jingle that
confirmed the influence of music had on his learning of English
as second language
The next introduction was to welcome our guest speaker Kevin
Lynch from the Logos Toastmasters Club
Being originally from Ireland Omar cleverly borrowed an Irish
greeting “ Cead Mile Faite” “A hundred million welcomes” Kevin
was so taken aback that he forgot to respond “ Go Raibh Mile
Maith agat”
“A Million thanks” He later corrected the omission by email
We were then wrapped in smiles and laughter when Kevin gave his
Division winning speech that carried him on to the District 21
Humorous Speech Contest “ Je ne sais quoi “ was the title which
ended up in his Irish lilt as Gin+ Saki + Quoi a new “Eau de
Cologne” that he as an aspiring entrepreneur was introducing to
the market. Reduced from $800.00 the regular price to a one time
$50.00 a shot for our club members.
Powerful enough to attract French girls when delicately placed
behind each ears but recommended to be layered on their heads by
balding men like Dave Stewart or drunk straight from the bottle
by venerable older men like the Chairman.
Li Ying Koa who is always on target in her evaluations provided
useful and friendly suggestions for Don who agreed he had missed
out on one or two aspects of his very interesting talk and felt
he could have improved some aspects if time had permitted him to
play some baroque music to illustrate his point.
The meeting ended with a full and concise general evaluation by
Jill McCormick who obviously enjoyed her evening and in addition
to complimenting all participants was able to offer some useful
advice for improvement.
Once again Dave Stewart won the evaluation award (he should now
be able to paper his house with all the Red ribbons he has won)
while the winner of Table Topics was our 2nd time guest Gordon
Nielsen.
Club 1085
