Impatient for Spring – Meeting of February 25, 2017
Posted by Paula L.
Our theme for this last meeting of the month was “ Impatient for Spring”. With more snow on this week-end’s weather forecast, Brett S., our Toastmaster, expressed a shared longing for less rain and more spring weather . The word of the day,” Boisterous” was introduced by Jon K.
Yanyan B was the first speaker with her speech titled : Good Fortune or Misfortune?”. For her CC project # 6 (Vocal Variety), Yanyan chose to tell a Daioist tale illustrating how life changes from one moment to the next, from fortune to misfortune and vice versa. The story of the farmer whose horse runs off, then comes back with more horses, whose son becomes lame as a result of a riding accident only to be exempt from conscription was punctuated with exclamations of “ Such bad luck! “ and “ What good fortune!” , Yanyan concluded her speech by summarizing the teachings of this fable. She pointed out that the farmer had been detached and tranquil in the face of change. “ We cannot control what happens, but we can control how we react.” Wise and appropriate words for our time.
Julie S was our second speaker. For her CC project #4 ( How to say it), Julie took us back in time when she lived in Washington, DC. In her speech titled “ Life in Washington, DC”, Julie, a native of Alexandria,North Virginia, shared the highlights and drawbacks of living in the Capital. Julie shared fond memories of free week-end visits to the many museums in DC and fun culinary expeditions for the best “ hole in the wall “ food joint. The only downsides of living in the Capital, according to Julie, are the weather -either hot and humid in summer or rife with ice storms in winter – and the four hour traffic jams. What’s a girl to do when she’s stuck in traffic with nary a good hair day? Move to the Pacific Northwest! We’re so happy you joined Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters, Julie!
In her CC project #5 (Your body speaks) speech, “ From Dublin to London” our third speaker,Cara S. shared lessons learnt from a whirlwind backpack tour across Europe. Using descriptive, lively and humoristic language, Cara and her two sisters took us across seven European countries. Despite Cara’s admissions that the cadence was exhausting, the general feeling was that a memorable time was had by all and life long lessons learnt during their European adventures; one of which involves clapping in self cleaning bathroom in France!. Looking back, Cara’s advice to the audience was to listen to the advice of friends and family and ask for help because so that you do not have to clap unnecessarily.
Our last speaker of the day was Kathy M, presenting CC project #3(Get to the point) . Her speech titled “ Be Smart and Lose your New Year’s Resolutions” described a journey which started with last year’s failed New Year’s resolution to go to Macchu Pichu. Lessons learnt and a strategy to tackle resolutions successfully. Kathy made an effective and convincing presentation of how to use SMART effectively. By being Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely in our resolutions, we can achieve our goals more effectively. We know that Kathy will make it to Macchu Pichu the next time around!
Aleli M. led our table topics session.
Our evaluators were Paula L, Marti M, Kikki N and Sanjiv K. Tom B. served as our general evaluator. Marti was voted as “ best evaluator”.
Our next meeting is scheduled for 3/ 11.
