Ruth Sol, our General Evaluator, summarized the meeting as
“somewhat subdued”. We chalked that up to an absence of several
members who were required to attend the Area contests (scheduled
on the same night) and final exams, which have also taken its
toll of members, lately. Low attendance is something that
happens on occasion. It brings with it some good news and some
bad news. The bad news - we miss the synergy that a larger crowd
brings with it. The good news - we don’t have to set up as many
tables and chairs (we would prefer the problem of having to set
up more chairs). Undaunted, the 11 members present, soldiered on
with the task of bettering our verbal and listening skills as
per usual and had a very productive meeting in spite of the lack
of bodies.
Lighting up the room with her smile was Jessica Li, who
introduced tonight’s chairman. Gerhard Rentsch, our MC for the
evening and resident M.D., prescribed an antidote for
procrastination. He felt if we reward ourselves for not
postponing our projects that we would accomplish a great deal
more. At this time of year, a chocolate Easter egg might do for
some, for others, perhaps, a vintage car – I know the latter
would work for me, I’m sure.
The word of the night, postpone, was introduced by our
Wordsmith, Parvaneh Bahrami. While English is her second
language, Parvaneh worked hard to count the “hits” and to listen
for interesting uses of language. Her partner in crime, tonight,
was the inimitable Jill McCormick, who, as Wizard of Ahhhs was
to keep Ookpig fat and sassy with fines levied for our verbal
faux pas. To everyone’s astonishment the group must have
procrastinated in making them, as fines were remarkably low.
Lamenting how easy it is to procrastinate filling out those
Infernal Revenue tax forms, our Inspirator, Joanne Renfer, was
quick to point out the benefits of procrastination. When we
postpone tasks, we often accomplish far more things that are fun
and exciting. We also become free to be more spontaneous. For
instance, with all the time she has saved from not doing her
taxes she has had lots of time for skiing, hiking coffee with
girlfriends and kids activities. Tell it to the taxman, Joanne.
Our Jokemaster, Jessica Li regaled the group with a story based
on murder and mayhem and the eating habits of Pandas. Sounds
crazy, but it really worked. It was well researched, well
presented and well received.
Don Ekroth filled in as Timer and reported that he had “not one,
not two, not three, but four tools to help him keep the meeting
on time. The usual tools are lights, stopwatch and bell. The
fourth one, he reminded us, was the agenda, which sets out the
times for the various speakers. Whoodathunkit?
Tabletopics was a hoot because Veronica Marshall (perhaps in
keeping with the theme) put off preparing them until just before
the meeting. In spite of that, she kept the session lively with
her tongue-in-cheek inquiries and her exceptional bridging
comments. The questions centered around the temptation to put
things off and our solutions to that foible of human nature.
This session was like a meeting of the local chapter of
Postponers Anonymous, as one by one we shared the “skeletons”
from our procrastination closets. Mahmoud Moazami bested the
rest for the TT ribbon with his analysis of why we put things
off. He feels that procrastination stems from a fear of failure.
In his role as Toastmaster, Mahmoud later had us toast “To a
Fearless Life” to combat this inadequacy.
The Tabletopics Evaluator, Jim Sinclair, filled out the first
half of the meeting with some comments on our performances. It
was obvious he listens with great care from his astute
observations - giving us a boost of confidence, while slipping
in the odd suggestions for improving. Now, if he’ll just write
his notes so he can read them, he’ll be superlative.
Mahmoud Moazami, our MC for the formal speeches introduced Don
Ekroth’s last speech from the Storytelling Manual, “The Touching
Story”. This performance completes his ATM bronze requirement.
“No Stone Unturned” was the story of Don’s 6year old son,
Matthew, who, in 1986, journeyed to England for a heart/lung
transplant. Don chronicled the trials of dealing with the
disease and the immeasurable aid he and his family received from
neighbours, friends, family and total strangers. A front page
article in the Province newspaper catalyzed a series of events
that would stagger the imagination. It precipitated an avalanche
of public support to help pay for the enormous costs of the
transplant and accommodation expenses while in England literally
poured in – even a Lear jet was offered for the journey. Don’s
speech was to arouse emotion…….. and he delivered. Dave
Stewart’s evaluation proved he was obviously moved and was
understandably short. This was a time when less was more…….
Ruth Sol returned to the club after a long absence and we were
glad to see her back in the swing of things. It was obvious from
her summary as General Evaluator, that she had not forgotten her
listening skills, deftly cheering and cajoling, as needed, to
help us in our quest to improve.
Our congratulations go out to Neville Cohen and Li-Ying Kao, who
represented the club at the Area Contest and to Stuart Manning,
who helped judge the event. The competition was formidable.
While neither placed, they did well to rise to the challenge of
the two contests and the novelty of speaking in a different
venue from the usual. Well done!
There is NO meeting next week because of the Easter celebration.
Have a good holiday and plan to come back refreshed and
rejuvenated at our next meeting, April 24th.
Club 1085
