” Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things ”
For this meeting which I hosted as the Toastmaster, I chose this song and this topic today, to remind us of the crucial importance of collecting “Favorite things” to lift oneself and others on darker days when “the dog bites and the bees sting”.
I was ably assisted by WeiHu, Timekeeper and Jinendra, Grammarian. The word of the Day was ” Exhilarate”.
Three speakers shared their favorite things:
In ” My Top Three Favorite Things”, Ahmad related his love story with caffeine, mathematics and comedy. His first love started as a child and grew with his aptitude solving quadratic equations, which led to him landing in Seattle for higher studies( much higher, a PhD) and coming to the realization that comedy was joy; all of it: sit-coms, improv and now, stand-up. Quoteworthy quote: ” It’s a terrible year of my life, why not do stand up comedy?” Why not indeed? Makes total sense
In “Teachers, Toastmasters and Communication” Sarah shared her findings , from Toastmasters, about her communication style. She aptly illustrated her findings with concrete examples of supportive and initiative communication. Supportive communication: thank you notes to parents when their students did something good. Initiative communication: why dressing up as Joseph Mc Carthy -and staying in character- the whole day to enliven her US history lesson. Sarah is a dedicated educator, full of ideas and passion for her students. They are so lucky to have her. Quoteworthy quote: ‘ Be yourself, everyone is bad at being someone else”. Makes total sense.
In” Caffeine”, Jong explained the negative and positive effects of caffeine. It was hard for us, at Seattle Sunrise, to even hear of the negative effects of such a vital elixir, but we tried to keep an open mind as we listened. An excess of caffeine will dehydrate, cause sleep deprivation, among other ills. However, consumed in moderate amounts( up to three cups a day), caffeine will awaken, increase your attention span and help you through odious and boring chores. Caffeine also has anti-oxidants and, wait for it, apparently, also reduces your chances of contracting Covid by 10%!
Quotable quote by Ketan ( evaluating Jong): ” I shut my ears during the first part, so I know nothing about the adverse effects of caffeine”. My feeling exactly!
Isabella led a simple and fun round of table topics about ” Your favorite thing”. Weihu was voted best Table Topic and Lara and Traci tied for best Evaluation.
What are your favorite things? What makes you happy? Try to spend most of your life collecting your favorite things, these moments of happiness; like fireflies in a jar. May these fireflies brighten your way on darker days.
Our next meeting is July 24th.
What do Mauritius Island, fashion design, Vaclav Havel, Poutine and the Emerald City have in common? Me! All these ways have led me to ( drum roll...) the Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters where friends and great speakers are made! I look forward to sharing my stories with you!
