“Words” Recap 07/08/2009

Today was a full house with 12 special guests from Brazil and Chile. Amy was Toastmaster and the theme was “words”. Amy introduced each speaker as a dear friend. Some dear friends made the trip out to her road-trip competitions once and even twice. Our dear South American friends were nicely integrated into the meeting by John with many visitors getting small speaking parts. The dancing, chanting, the drama, even a wee bit of Brazilian singing as we learned our counterpart to the Texas Two Step – the Brazilian Forró.

For the invocation Robert read a fable about some frogs stuck in a well who thrived/died based on the power of the words they heard from the other frogs. I think it was easily one of the longest invocations on record.

Brendan, Erin and Eric did Table Topics, which were presented, in part, by our out-of-town guests. Erin gave her first speech today and did a job worthy of any pool-hall heckler. In Capital-City form, it was a perfect story, complete with the alcohol. Eric had the good fortune of demonstrating his dance moves with a Brazilian lovely. She swears her toes were not injured in the process.

Have you ever been impressed by someone’s hobbies? Well, Wendy’s a black belt. She gave a fun speech of how she confronted a peeping tom, engaged the police and conquered her fear. Her description of the guy to the cops was hilarious since she based this just on looking at his feet. I wonder what she thinks of my Crocs? If I had to meet Erin or Wendy in a dark alley, I think I would choose Erin, because the worst that would happen is I would get heckled – no bodily harm.

Rey. Oh, Rey. Mr. D. was the topic of her speech entitled “My knight in shining armor.” Dear Mr. D: If you are reading this (and you should) you can make a mop dance sexy, have some great dance floor moves, and entertained scores of ladies each night. You should also know this – we witnessed a very happy lady go on and on and on about you. You must be doing something right. Good job, Sir.

Leanne gave a briefing on GIS, which is Geographic Information Systems. Imagine Google Maps. As usual, Leanne was easy to follow and was impeccably organized as she mapped out her speech. Sorry – I couldn’t resist.

Louis was the chief evaluator with Jenny, Albert, and Patrick in his employ.

I inadvertently forgot to take notes on who the ribbon winners were and would appreciate a followup. Help! I reckon this Toastmaster needs to tone down the clapping and stick to note-taking.