I attended my ninth Cranberry High Noon meeting this afternoon. This includes six in person meetings as well. Before I elaborate on today’s meeting and look ahead to Friday’s milestone blog. Let me tell you a little bit about myself.
This is my 98th blog on the Stylish Traveling DTM. The milestone is coming very soon and I’m excited to share it with all of you. One thing I want you all to know about me is that, in addition to Christian and Country music, I am also a fan of late 90s pop music. That includes boy bands. It all started in early 2000 when I bought both Backstreet Boys albums (self-titled and Millennium). I am also a fan of 98 Degrees and Nick Lachey. I wish I’d have attended that concert in Spring of 2001 because I would have enjoyed myself. Then there was that My2K tour in summer of 2016.
My country music CDs came today as well as some books that I’m interested in reading. I’ve made the switch over to country music in the last few weeks. It started with Rascal Flatts and Martina McBride and then moved on to Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. I’m into the classic country but one of these days I’ll get into the modern country hits. What better to make use of my CDs than take a road trip and listen to them on the way? All of them are gems. Funny little story but “Carlene” by Phil Vassar was the song I woke up to my first morning at college in August of 2000. It still sounds good 20 years later. My mom used to have the Collin Raye CD and I got hooked on it during my college years. Now on to today’s Cranberry High Noon visit.
Today’s Cranberry High Noon meeting almost didn’t happen. I wasn’t feeling it and didn’t want to be a burden. Like every meeting before today’s that I’ve attended, it was a blast. The theme today was Welcome Guests! I know I’m always a welcome guest at this chapter and every other Toastmaster club I visit. The Word of the Day was Genial. The members of Cranberry High Noon are very genial. My last in person visit in December definitely exhibited these traits. Every Toastmasters club should follow this example.
Dipali Gupta served as Toastmaster and introduced the role players. They gave a description of their roles. Afterwards, Dipali introduced Rashmi Tavate as the first speaker. Rashmi spoke from the traditional manual. Her speech was from Communicating on Video, titled “CHN TV, Where Positivity Never Ends!!!!”. Rashmi interviewed Dipali on her “show” and the subject was homeopathic medicine and all things COVID 19. One of the questions that was brought up was “How are folks handling the quarantine?” and “How long before the vaccine comes in?”. Dipali talked about ways to stay positive. For me, I’ve been staying positive by blogging, taking walks, and having a routine in place. I shower every morning, find time to grow spiritually by reading the Bible and something inspirational, and rock a nice outfit instead of lounging around in sweatpants all day. I’m also watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix. One piece of advice that Dipali had was to cut down on the amount of news you watch every day.
If CHN-TV was a real channel, I’ll definitely take a job there. I’d love to produce or report for them. CHN-TV… where positivity never ends!!! I love visiting this club and I love my Cranberry High Noon family.
Judy Wang was second up and her speech was titled “21 Day Habit”. I learned from her speech that it takes 21 Days to Make or Break A Habit. Let me elaborate on my routine which has become my habit. Since I’ve been off, I usually wake up around 7:30. I get some breakfast (which is a bagel or cereal 🥣 and my usual cup of coffee ☕️). I need my coffee like I’m Lorelai Gilmore. I then either spend time with Jesus in his Word and with an inspirational read or I shower first and get dressed. Most of you have been wearing your favorite sweatpants or gym shorts, I was lounging for the first part of my layoff. After I took my second layoff and heard a good speech from Christina in my Achievers club, I followed her lead. I put together a nice outfit and rock it all day. For me, that’s a colored V-neck top and jeans, but sometimes I’ll throw in a leather jacket and boots 👢)
Judy gave some great tips to create a good habit or break a bad habit. Can you form a good habit in less than 21 days though?
Both speakers did an exceptional job with their presentations. Now I’m really glad that I decided to come to today’s meeting. It only gets better with every visit. I look forward to the next time I can make an in person visit).
Rahul Bagal served as Table Topics master. He had six questions prepared for those who were interested. All six contestants did really well with their answers. The messages they conveyed were of good use too. “You get knocked down, but you get up again”; Learn to be courteous of others”; If you don’t report someone for performing something illegal, I feel you are going to be held accountable for letting that person get away with murder.
Our evaluators did well and gave great feedback. A lot of positive energy in the speeches. Speakers were attentive. Tina Kramer commended Judy for being very genial in her speech and for giving useful information. She offered good suggestions for improvement as well. In her evaluation of the meeting, Diana Lomelin suggested we could improve on greeting our guests. But after nine visits I’m not a guest anymore. I’m a member of the Cranberry High Noon family. Tina Kramer went over education awards in the club. Ale Perez completed her level 2 in Effective Coaching, Shawndra Holmberg completed her level 3 in Visionary Communication, and Tina Kramer completed her Presentation Mastery Level 5, and Dynamic Leadership Level 1. Earlybirds has helped out too with her successes. A speakathon is coming up soon in the club.
Let’s talk about 💯. My blog on Friday will cover my tour of HGA from May of 2000. It’s 20 years since I graduated high school and started college. The school is still special to me despite its faults. I still remember taking a tour of the place all those years ago. Since it’s Mother’s Day weekend, I’ll talk about how my mother had a hand in planning my future. Why did we decide that this was the place for me to go instead of say, WCCC?
I’m also going to hit on some past Mother’s Day memories that I have. We’ve had many traditions over the years and many fun picnics. It’s not the same now that we’ve lost many loved ones and we’ve all grown up and started families of our own. I’ll take you to my favorite places and show you some of our games we used to play.
Remember to live your best life this week. Be your best you. ROCK out because you are worth it. Sometimes in life you will get knocked down. It’s your job to get back up again. Be courteous of others. If you feel something is wrong, don’t do it even if it makes you the laughingstock of the group.
Collage coming soon for 💯 blogs.
Bye everyone. ❤️ you. X’s and O’s. Stylish DTM.
Stylish 🍒 