Thankful: Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters November 26, 2016 meeting

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Andy

Write-up by Paula L.

The theme of this post Thanksgiving Saturday meeting was “Thankful.”

Tom B. opened the meeting at 7:30 by welcoming all members and guests. He then smoothly transitioned the meeting to the Toastmaster of the day, also Tom B. who expressed thanks for the amazing contribution of all the committee members: Andy K., VP of Education, Nicole S., VP of Membership. Marti M., VP of Public Relations, Aanya LT., Treasurer, Preston K., Secretary and Jung K., Andrew H., and Yanyan B., Sergeants- at-Arms.

Tom introduced his helpers : Dean as the Grammarian and Aleli as the Timer. The word of the day was “Actual.”

The first speaker was Scott C., a long time member. Scott was working on CC project #6- Get comfortable with Visual Aids. Scott made a very effective power presentation titled “ Three Essential Tools for Woodworking.’ Have you ever wondered how the pieces of furniture you see in a furniture store are put together? Well, so did Scott. And he went a step further by taking a woodworking class! Scott informed us that furniture wood was not just any wood that could be purchased at Lowe’s or Home Depot. The wood that is used in furniture making comes from a few specialized stores. The wood that you can buy there is “ hit and miss” in that the surface is not necessarily even. Scott went on to share three commonly used tools that are used to even out the wood and to cut it . These tools are the joiner, the planer and the table saw. Scott used precise language and relevant pictures of the different tools and stages involved to make an effective case for woodworking classes. For me, the most convincing argument for woodworking classes is the beautiful table base that Scott built! Thank you Scott!
Speaker number two was Yanyan B. Yanyan was working on CC project #3: Get to the Point. Yanyan’s speech titled “Remembering my Grandfather” was a repeat speech.
Yanyan opened her speech with a powerful quote by Mitch Albom: “Love is how you stay alive, even after you’re gone” to introduce the powerful memories of her loving grandfather. Born in a mud hut on the banks of the river Yangtze in 1933,” Guan Chou,” which means “ Big Tree,” was named after a very big banyan tree that grew by the house. Being the first born of thirteen brothers and sisters, he had to drop out of school at age 8 to go to work and help the family. He stepped up unfailingly to support and help his family with love, humility, hard work and a perpetual smile. Like the big banyan tree, he provided shade to his family and his community. Yanyan highlighted three of the many qualities of her beloved grandfather:
1. a man of intelligence, curious, hardworking and innovative who taught himself many new things such as rice farming, construction of earth ovens, green tea production. No task was ever too big or too small for his talents, whether that be as the head cook of of many village weddings, or repairing his grand kids’ backpacks or bikes.
2. a man of positive energy who touched all with a warm heart, an ever present smile and a generous welcome. He showed compassion and unconditional love to his wife even though she was challenging to live with.
3. a man of courage who spoke up against wrongdoings and in his battle with cancer. Even though his body was just skin, bones and a protruding stomach two months before he passed away, he remained positive and creative, devising a special contraption so that he could pull himself out of the bed and not be a burden to anybody. He did not complain.
Yanyan concluded her speech with a quote by Cicero “The life given us, by nature is short; but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal.” Fourteen years after he passed away, her grandfather is still with her, inspiring and influencing her every day.
Thank you for sharing the memories of this wonderful man with us, Yanyan.
Speaker number three was Dr Ken B. with a back pocket speech about how he prepared for a humorous speech contest, by not preparing for it and ending up getting the first prize. Ken illustrated his plan to succeed which was to dedicate some time each day over a few weeks to attain the goal of preparedness. As the weeks ran out, he found himself adjusting the plan by increasing the number of hours needed over a shorter and a shorter period of time until the day before the contest. Despite his firm intentions to cram all night, he ended up having drinks with friends the night before instead. Despite the inner monkey voices telling him that he would fail, and delivering his speech on autopilot, Ken went on to deliver a winning speech!
His parting advice to the audience: Prepare! Don’t do as I did!”. Thanks for stepping up with an impromptu speech Ken. Prepare is what most of us will have to do because we do not have your talent for off the cuff speeches.
The last speaker of the morning was Andy K. For project #4 of the Humorously Speaking Manual, Andy chose a most personal topic: his hair, to be more accurate, his lack of hair. In his speech titled “ A hair raising story”,and using pictures from his personal archives, Andy took us back in time to the roots of his decision to “euthanize “ his hair. It all started the day Andy was born: bald! According to him, hair took a while to grow. By the age of three though, Andy was a sweet blond little boy whose hair was cut (badly) by his loving mother. In spite of that, his hair would look fairly good until about the age of 8, when his hair started getting weird and wavy. It went all downhill from there and the “bully buffet “ years set in with bad hair, glasses and buck teeth. Andy broke his mother’s heart in high school when he decided to go to SuperCuts to get an $8 haircut. In his high school yearbook, Andy sports a great haircut, which he attributes to months and months of airbrushing work. Ensued a California period with long locks on the beach, then a job with a conservative law firm and a last minute disastrous hair cut by his wife the night before he was due to start work. Then, in 1993, a revelation: the buzz cut, which did not look too bad. Coincidentally Andy’s best friend who then lived across the country also chose to solve his bad hair problem with a buzz cut around the same time. The big breakthrough came in 1998-99 when Andy decided to go to a Halloween as Tyler Durden from the film “ Fight Club” and shaved his head. He looked at himself in the mirror and liked it for the first time. He’s never gone back. Sporting a bald head has many advantages: savings in shampoo, conditioner, dates. Andy did end up getting happily married again. This must have been partly because he sports that bald look so well! Thanks for the trajectory of a successful choice of hair do in a most entertaining speech, Andy!