Orders Of The Day: A Bit Of Bragging

As anyone who is into noticing this kind of stuff will note, I have been posting/plan to be posting twice a day in the first and third weeks of this month and once a day in the second and fourth weeks.

Just a little bit of bragging in this post. I'll leave that for the end though. Yesterday being Valentine's Day my second post of the day dealt with that (V-Day that is). So this bit of "Toastmaster Talk" had to wait for today. Here goes ...

First of all, yesterday I was the grammarian. I offered myself up for the job sort of last minute after I found I wasn't on the agenda at all for the entire three weeks that are listed at one time.

Since I did this late in the evening before the meeting, I didn't really expect an email response so I didn't check my email before leaving for the meeting. As it turns out I got one as of exactly 10:00am.

I knew this ahead of the meeting only because I decided to go to the main library to print out copies of a really cute page or so of sayings about love by 4 to 8 year old kids that I came across through a fellow blogger in the blogger coffee shop.

I decided to check the email just to see if I got a Toastmaster response but not expecting one. After all, the page of sayings was saved in my hotmail "office". I love that you get the Windows Office setup for email.

I found out I was to be Grammarian and that I was also to pick the Word Of The Day. Normally, at my old clubs, it went without saying that the two went together but I had noticed this wasn't always so at the Kossowan Club. So I was surprised.

Not just surprised but a little off-guard because I was quickly running out of time since I got a bit later a start that morning than I'd planned. Then to add to the time crunch, the library "lost" my printing credits. Then the printer acted up.

And so it went. When I realized I needed a word on paper and A.S.A.P. I went to one of the two main desk area and got some comment card slips - the perfect size to write the W.O.D. on. Then to find a felt pen. That was the challenge.

I tried both desks. Finally, after it was clear I wasn't going to be finding a black felt and I literally had no time to spare (it was apparent I would likely be about five minutes late - which I was) I used the green highlighter I was lucky to get.

So I write out two possible words and high-tail it out of the library and walk the several blocks to the convention center. Down three really long escalators and I'm finally there. About five minutes late as I said before.

I sit down just minutes before my duty is announced. Thank God. So luckily when they ask for the word and I point out that I do in fact have one but the Toastmaster will have to find a way to affix it to the lectern, the tape just happens to be handy.

Of course, I don't get off totally unscathed. PK himself reminds me when I give the said word to the TM for affixing that I should define it. I point out I barely had time to find it. LOL. I tell them they can define it for themselves.

Seems to have worked. Probably because the word I picked was passion. Easy enough to use I thought. And so it was. I think all but one person used it. The only one not to use the word was a guy whose first language wasn't English so I can understand.

Well, as you can see by the thoroughness of this recitation of the meeting so far it shouldn't surprise you that my grammarian report was very thorough as well. So much so that I did a kind of weird report.

I properly listed the 1-1/2 uses of language that I found "off" for lack of the correct term. Then I gave 1 or 2 quick examples of "good" usage. Then I listed off everyone who I had made a note of in my lengthy report (which turned out to be all).

I then told everyone listed (as I said that turned out to be all) to check the grammarian sheet I filled out for their instances of interesting language and explained my method of noting things as it was a bit here and there. LOL.

It worked out though, as about half the people in attendance did exactly that and came by to check out which words/phrases they used that I happened to personally find to be interesting.

I also got a Table Topic. It was my fellow inductee Jeremy's first time as Table Topic Master. He did a pretty good job. The fact that I got a bit of a "softball" topic was nice too. He asked me about my my favorite t.v show.

This actually related in some way to Valentine's Day. I think it was through a reference to his wife (his Valentine of course) and her obsession since having their young son who is their first and only child. The obsession: reality tv. LOL.

So anyway, I smartly refrain from thanking him for giving me "an easy topic". Had I said that I probably would not have the following to brag about. I ended up sharing Best Table Topic honors with Walter. Who oddly enough, I voted for. LOL.

I brag about this because, my first week at the PKC club (my one week as a guest before immediately jumping into joining) I got Best Table Topic speaker. I chalked that one up to being the guest however. So this was nice. A "real" win. Well partial.

Carmen