Dear Eagles,
Sometimes you feel that nothing is in your favor and somehow you need to pull it through, and often times it is by the shear power of the Commitment that gets us through the task. Today was one of those days where we had to rely on the commitment more than the normal. For me it started at home when my two little ones were driving me nuts right before the meeting; once I salvaged the chaos situation at home and escaped, in anticipation of bliss, to the toastmasters, we realized that park and rec is closed, and we had to meet in the snack room with the loud, annoying noise from the vending machines as the background, but that did not stop us from having fun. To top it all, even the Old Dublin place where we decided to meet for the drinks was having a play and was not open for the customers, oh, you should see my frustration, but then we did end up at Gaetanos and had a really good time. Yes, commitment was the common factor that pulled us through in all the above three minor obstacles that were laid in our path.
We had another fantastic meeting in an extremely hot room, amidst the constant loud humming, with more than 18 members including a guest. ( I felt at home to be honest :)). Lucy was our table topics master and the theme was the holidays with a twist - the topics ranged from "roof over the head holiday" to the "national ding-a-ling holiday " - the topics were different and that added fun. Sarah broke the record for table topics by giving almost a speech :). That was incredible, which means Sarah you are ready for your icebreaker. Richard as humorist also almost gave a speech which came close to breaking Andrew's record on time:)
We had three prepared speeches tonight. Sonia, with New Year fast approaching, started telling how only 8% of the people who make resolutions succeed and a vast majority fail in keeping the resolutions/promises with in a month. She asked all of us to Get SMART - Specific,Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. BTW, people who make resolutions have 10x more chance of succeeding.
Carlin gave her second speech titled "living with purpose and passion" on how Art Bert through shear determination and will power overcame the quadriplegic state he had succumbed to after an unfortunate road accident right before his marriage. Her speech had several memorable quotes, a couple of them being - " you cannot control the events that happen, but can surely control the response" and the other being " focus on what you have and not focus on what you dont". It was a very good inspirational speech and recommend reading the book "impossible takes a little longer" by Art Bert. BTW, Art now gives public speeches, that i think is really cool.
The third speech for the day was given by Andrew titled " Holy fools" where he talked in great detail about Diogenes, their/his philosophy and how he believed in the minimalistic approach, a method perfected by the monks of the East and slowly spread to the West and by which Diogenes was very much influenced. The speech was good with humor and facts interlaced even though it went a few minutes over time.
After this we headed to Gaetanos for couple of drinks after being turned down by Old Dublin. With 11 members present, we absolutely had a blast. Thanks to all for coming to the meeting and to the few who also joined for the drinks. It was great.
Our next meeting will be at Masters Manna on Dec 17th at our usual starting time of 7.15 pm.
Address: 46 North Plains Industrial Road, Wallingford, CT - 06492
Masters Manna is a non-profit organization catering for the people in need. More information can be found at www.mastersmanna.org. They are in need of underwear and socks for children and adults (especially for plus sizes), so please do bring if you can.
Please do come and please bring in your family members as this meeting is open for the family. Bring in a toy/gift wrapped for young children not more than $10 in value. This is more of a tradition and they become part of the table topics (a tip for the first-timers). Let me be clear, you are under no pressure to bring anything, your presence is most important.
Please do sign up for the roles at www.eagletoastmasters.com, and please do come.
Goodnight and see you all in 2 weeks.
Chandra
Sometimes you feel that nothing is in your favor and somehow you need to pull it through, and often times it is by the shear power of the Commitment that gets us through the task. Today was one of those days where we had to rely on the commitment more than the normal. For me it started at home when my two little ones were driving me nuts right before the meeting; once I salvaged the chaos situation at home and escaped, in anticipation of bliss, to the toastmasters, we realized that park and rec is closed, and we had to meet in the snack room with the loud, annoying noise from the vending machines as the background, but that did not stop us from having fun. To top it all, even the Old Dublin place where we decided to meet for the drinks was having a play and was not open for the customers, oh, you should see my frustration, but then we did end up at Gaetanos and had a really good time. Yes, commitment was the common factor that pulled us through in all the above three minor obstacles that were laid in our path.
We had another fantastic meeting in an extremely hot room, amidst the constant loud humming, with more than 18 members including a guest. ( I felt at home to be honest :)). Lucy was our table topics master and the theme was the holidays with a twist - the topics ranged from "roof over the head holiday" to the "national ding-a-ling holiday " - the topics were different and that added fun. Sarah broke the record for table topics by giving almost a speech :). That was incredible, which means Sarah you are ready for your icebreaker. Richard as humorist also almost gave a speech which came close to breaking Andrew's record on time:)
We had three prepared speeches tonight. Sonia, with New Year fast approaching, started telling how only 8% of the people who make resolutions succeed and a vast majority fail in keeping the resolutions/promises with in a month. She asked all of us to Get SMART - Specific,Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. BTW, people who make resolutions have 10x more chance of succeeding.
Carlin gave her second speech titled "living with purpose and passion" on how Art Bert through shear determination and will power overcame the quadriplegic state he had succumbed to after an unfortunate road accident right before his marriage. Her speech had several memorable quotes, a couple of them being - " you cannot control the events that happen, but can surely control the response" and the other being " focus on what you have and not focus on what you dont". It was a very good inspirational speech and recommend reading the book "impossible takes a little longer" by Art Bert. BTW, Art now gives public speeches, that i think is really cool.
The third speech for the day was given by Andrew titled " Holy fools" where he talked in great detail about Diogenes, their/his philosophy and how he believed in the minimalistic approach, a method perfected by the monks of the East and slowly spread to the West and by which Diogenes was very much influenced. The speech was good with humor and facts interlaced even though it went a few minutes over time.
After this we headed to Gaetanos for couple of drinks after being turned down by Old Dublin. With 11 members present, we absolutely had a blast. Thanks to all for coming to the meeting and to the few who also joined for the drinks. It was great.
Our next meeting will be at Masters Manna on Dec 17th at our usual starting time of 7.15 pm.
Address: 46 North Plains Industrial Road, Wallingford, CT - 06492
Masters Manna is a non-profit organization catering for the people in need. More information can be found at www.mastersmanna.org. They are in need of underwear and socks for children and adults (especially for plus sizes), so please do bring if you can.
Please do come and please bring in your family members as this meeting is open for the family. Bring in a toy/gift wrapped for young children not more than $10 in value. This is more of a tradition and they become part of the table topics (a tip for the first-timers). Let me be clear, you are under no pressure to bring anything, your presence is most important.
Please do sign up for the roles at www.eagletoastmasters.com, and please do come.
Goodnight and see you all in 2 weeks.
Chandra
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