JANUARY 13, 2012

TOASTMASTERS CLUB 1841

FRIDAY <> JANUARY 13, 2012 KISSIMMEE UTILITY AUTHORITY

CALL TO ORDER:  RON SZASZ

TOASTMASTER OF THE DAY – CHRIS HAMMOCK

THEME: “I’M A FAN OF … FRIDAY THE 13TH!!!”

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PRESIDENT’S REPORT, HEATHER SZASZ

NO GUESTS TODAY

 

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INSPIRATION AND PLEDGE – PAM LEONARD

“We are all what we repeatedly do.  Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.”

ARISTOTLE

 

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PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS

 “LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING”

TOASTMASTERS TRAINING TAKES PLACE SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 2012 AT LYMAN HIGH, RONALD REAGAN BLVD, LONGWOOD @ 8:00 A.M.; COST $10 PER PERSON PAYABLE AT THE DOOR.

 

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WORD OF THE WEEK – MAIRA DURAN

“QUIN-CUNX”

ARRANGE IN GROUPS OF FIVE

 

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FIRST SPEAKER – RON SZASZ

SPEECH # 8- 5-7 MINUTES – COMPETENT COMMUNICATOR MANUAL

“WHAT’S IN A PHOTO?”

What’s in a photo?  How many of you have taken photos that you want to remember?  I love to take pictures.  I’ve always wanted to have a “good” camera.  My first cameras were used.  I finally purchased a “good” camera.  There are many things you can do with a camera coupled with great software that comes on computers today.  The combination allows you to be very artistic.  Here’s a great example of a blue heron who is about to fly away because I scarred it a bit.  If you’ll notice that the is a nice shadow of this bird.  Then there is the action oriented photo like this one of the bird in flight.  There are some tricks in photography; you can actually make things stand still.  You can make water stop in mid-air.  I try to plan ahead with my photos.  When you look at some of the photos the pros do, you are in awe.  I love sunsets and sunrises.  There is something glorious about both.  I would like to be able to actually take sequence photos of sunrises and sunsets.  It’ said that when the sun hits the water a green flash appears; I’ve never witnessed this.  As you know, I am heavily involved with dogs and dog training.  I love action photos that we do with all our animals.  Dogs have found a way to defy gravity.  In this photo it looks like the dog is floating in mid-air.  Software can enhance a photo like the dog in mid-air.  There’s also a new affect called the “miniature affect.”  This photo actually makes the dog look like miniature dog.  Photos allow you to do many things.

 

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SECOND SPEAKER –FRED MOORE – (8-10 MINUTES)

SPEECH NUMBER 8 – THE ENTERTAININ SPEAKER

“SEX, MONEY & BIRTHDAY PARTIES:  THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A MAGICIAN”

 

When people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them I’m a magician.  They usually ask me what instrument I play.  Many people immediately think “birthday parties.”  Some people don’t like magicians because they don’t like to be fooled because they feel like they are stupid.  A lot of magicians weren’t good at sports and they weren’t smart enough to join the chess club.  I was shy and I kept to myself and magic helped me to get out of my shell.   At age 16, my high school counselor told me “good luck with that” when I told him I wanted to be a magician.  You can learn magic several ways.  I learned from another magician.  You need to practice the affects.  You can do it in the mirror all you want but until you get in front of an audience to get stage time you won’t get good.  That means lots of birthday parties for free while you’re making a living “working a real job.”  When you finally get good enough to get paid, you will work with an agent.  When you need them, they’re not there.  When you don’t need them, they’re everywhere.  A lot of people watch a magician and they hope you fail so they can find out the secret.   Everyone says they want to know the secret but they really don’t because the sense of wonder disappears.  When you know the secret, it’s easy to do.  (Magic dance act/visual… he turned a yellow hankie into an egg.)  I’m going to break a cardinal rule… it’s a fake egg.  (Here it is again in sloooooooowwwwwww motion….)  When you know the secret, all the magic is taken out of the show.  Just experience the magic; let yourself be a kid again… and you might experience a little real magic, like this fake egg being real (cracks the egg).

 

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TIMER REPORT- PAM LEONARD

BOTH SPEAKERS QUALIFIED

 

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TABLE TOPICS – TONY MORELLI

Sandy Geroux…   I was a cheerleader for … well, never in my life, not in a traditional sense.  I was in the band and I played e-flax alto saxophone.  When the cheerleaders were working the sidelines, we worked ours in the band.  We admired the cheerleaders and all the things they did but we had our own way of cheering, which was tooting our own horns.

 

Michael Aun…   Blah, blah, blah…

 

Nancy Street…   I screamed at the top of my lungs but not in sports… perhaps in other areas.  I don’t scream until you cross me or until you hurt somebody.  I used to attend the Osceola High School football games and I occasionally could get into a game but when they won them all won year, I lost interest.  I occasionally scream at my dog when the dog gets too close to an alligator at the edge of the water.

 

Shon Coleman…   I think ceiling “fans” are cool.  I’m a general contractor and I get the ceiling fan question.  I hate to take them down because they are heavy and awkward.  People are fooled by ceiling fans.  They move the air around and it causes the thermostat to kick, costing you more money.  I looked up “quin-cunx” and I learned about dice.

 

Pam Leonard…   The music I liked as a fan were the beach boys and all the bee-boppers.  I also liked classical music and jazz.  Music has taken a back seat in school.  Music can help you with math and other subjects.  Even the local talk shows on public television have stopped playing jazz.  Nothing was more appalling than a cell phone that goes off in the middle of a symphony.  The conductor actually stopped the performance!

 

Mary Lee Gill…  I hate all pro sports.  They’re all greedy.  When I moved to Indiana, we had to pick a team so we chose Purdue, whose colors are gold and black.  The next door neighbor told us you need a “twitter” which is a sweater that is made for two.”  My husband was taller than me but then so are most children.  Even a pigmy is taller than be.  When your hubby jumps up, you jump up too.  We were the only people at Purdue wearing this garb.  We both looked like caterpillars!

 

Annie Yan…   Actually, I don’t eat stadium food because I’m not a big fan of football games.  I once went to a University of Florida game and the seats are tiny.  When something good would happen, everyone would stand up but I had no idea why.  I am a fan of music but I’m not a fanatic.  Some fans collect things like Elvis’ toilet! 

 

Priscilla Villarreal…   I wouldn’t really like to dump Gatorade on someone, especially when it’s twenty degrees outside is kind of stupid to me.  I suspect that’s a woman’s point of view.  I don’t particularly appreciate sports but I do go watch my husband play softball twice a week.  When he comes home, all he does is complain about his aches and pains.  Maybe I should throw Gatorade on him.

 

Maira Duran…   I love all sports but I’m a big fan of the New York teams.  Baseball is exciting to me because of the drama of the game of a player hitting with men on base.  I enjoy the games in a “quin-cunx” style.  I did play women’s softball.

 

Bill Snyder…   When I check my sugar in the morning, I don’t just see scarlet, I also see gray.  I’m a big fan of Ohio State football.  I had great seats at the stadium on about the 30 yard line.  One of the things that bother me is the emphasis on just winning.  When coaches like Jim Tressell and Joe Paterno get pushed to the brink on recruiting, it causes them to skirt the rules.

 

Neil Allen…   The teams I support are “kids.”  When I see the kids out playing, I look for the underdog, the ones people don’t recognize.  I watched the coach of my daughter’s swim team and the swimmers all responded differently to the same coaches’ advice.  One would learn from the situation and the other was suffering from “stinking thinking.”  It was all between their ears.

 

Pamela Hall…   When my voice gave out from cheering, I yelled so much that I lost my voice and my friends and husband were all so pleased.  My husband even baked a cake.  Everyone celebrated because Pamela was finally quiet for a day.  I couldn’t give up that easily so I went on line to study the possible remedies.  Slowly I got my voice back after trying several remedies.  The one that worked was simply “rest.”  It took a full day to regain my voice and I haven’t had to rest since.

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TIMERS REPORT: PAM LEONARD

Everyone qualified.

 

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BREAK TIME

MASTER EVALUATOR – GWEN FIX

EVALUATING RON SZASZ – LARRY MATTERN

 

Ron’s presentation today was to get comfortable with visual aids and to display them with ease and confidence.  The things you asked me to pay special attention to were flawless.  Visual aids are a tough one.   I took a Fred Pryor course once and they said if you’re not well practiced, then NEVER use visual aids.  You were flawless with yours, passing the photos around which allowed you go get us involved.  You are animated and your voice modulation is up and down.  The only negative was you tended to work my side of the room (because I was your evaluator).  You mentally caught yourself working my side.  It was the best speech I’ve ever seen you do!  Great job!

 

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 EVALUATING FRED MOORE – NEIL ALLEN

 

Fred’s presentation today makes you feel privileged to be a part of this talented club.  Fred’s job was to deliver an after-dinner talk on a specific theme.  You did that nicely!  You got my attention of bringing out your little box, which fascinated me and wanted me to know what was in it.  But you didn’t rush to your box; instead you set the state for it and moved along at your pace.  You attracted our attention and you concluded on a high point.  You used lots of humor and drama and a nice combination of both.  You challenged us:  You think you want to know the secret, but you really don’t   I loved the way you showed us your trick in slooooooooowwwww motion.  You intertwined everything in a very smooth fashion.  If you were to do this in a longer format, consider a second trick with audience participation.

 

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TIMERS REPORT- PAM LEONARD

ALL EVALUATORS QUALIFIED

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AH / GRAMMARIAN – PRISCILLA VILLARREAL

I had two ah’s, Pamela Hall had some ah’s, Pam Leonard had one, Ron Szasz had some, and even Nancy Street had one.

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WORD REPORT – PRISCILLA VILLAREAL

“QUIN-CUNX”

ARRANGE IN GROUPS OF FIVE

Fred, Ron, Sandy, Tony, Chris, Michael, Maira, Shon, Gwen and Larry used the word for the day at least once.  Tony led the way with five.

 

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JOKEMASTER

Bill Snyder told a Catholic joke…

 

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CLOSING AWARDS – SHON COLEMAN

TABLE TOPICS WINNER: MARY LEE GILL

BEST EVALUATOR:  NEIL ALLEN

BEST SPEAKER:  FRED MOORE

 

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