Going Beyond Gold at Western Maryland Toastmasters!

Thursday night I attended the Western Maryland Toastmasters meeting online. This was my second time attending as my first time was in July, just after the club had chartered at the end of May. While I was attending virtually, the club meets in person at Mr. Toad’s Pottery in Lavale, MD. Lavale and Cumberland are only a 50 minute drive from Somerset and easily accessible from US 40 and I-68. Not too far from where the club meets is the Rocky Gap Casino, where the club had its red carpet celebration last September.

This meeting was the first time I heard two ice breaker speeches and the speakers were husband and wife. There were three speakers at the meeting and they all gave great presentations. I left some nice comments in the chat for all three speakers. The secretary/treasurer closed off the speaking portion of the meeting by taking us on a journey. In the second ice breaker, I learned a lot about our speaker, as he worked different jobs and what life was like growing up in Keyser, WV. Football seems to be as big there as it is in Texas.

At the beginning of the meeting, I gave a little introduction to tell the club who I was. Mentioned by our club president was the Spirit of Toastmasters award that I won in 2020 for my goodwill to the district. The club mentor for Western Maryland (Nate Stephens) also won the award that year. Both Nate and I were part of a Spirit of Toastmasters panel discussion at the Winter TLI in December of 2020.

The Imeses served as Toastmaster (Sharon, club President) and General Evaluator (Gary, Vice President Education). Autumn (Vice President Public Relations) was the Table Topics Master and Timer. I assisted her as Timer during the Table Topics section of the meeting. I’m looking forward to meeting her at the Spring Conference in a few weeks and attending Sharon’s workshop that weekend at the conference. The key to a great conference is staying focused and not looking at social media all the time. However, I want to get my own pictures from the weekend too. Whether or not I meet up with my fabulous sister (Rae), the weekend will be great. She’s busy at her new job and has a lot going on at the moment.

Laurel Highlands Toastmasters and Western Maryland Toastmasters are both competing to make it to President’s Distinguished. For Laurel Highlands, this will be their highest achievement yet. At the present time, they are Select Distinguished. For Western Maryland, to get it as a first year club would be a big achievement. This is the first club in the area since the 1990’s when a corporate club in the area disbanded. Western Maryland Toastmasters is the first community club in the area. Our club president knows we can become President’s Distinguished at both clubs. She will be our Program Quality Director in the new Toastmasters year beginning July 1. I enjoyed being a guest at the meeting and getting to do Table Topics, being one of three participants. I won’t be at the Laurel Highlands meeting on April 22. But I am looking forward to gracing Johnstown with my presence online in what will be a big Toastmasters week for our District, culminating in the Spring Conference that weekend.

Going for the Gold at Laurel Highlands Toastmasters!

Tuesday Night may have felt cold outside but inside it was warm at our Laurel Highlands Toastmasters meeting. Recently, I sent my completed Dynamic Leadership (finally!) after starting it almost five years ago. Blame it on DTM burnout, discouragement during COVID, and taking a while to get used to attending virtual meetings. That was the case from Spring 2020 to Summer 2021. Giving Laurel Highlands my Level 5 helps them get closer to their goal of being a President’s Distinguished club. At this meeting, I was one of three speakers and for me, the last one for level 2 in Presentation Mastery.

In my speech, I talked about one of those people in my life who served as a mentor to me. I couldn’t resist talking about Mr. Clougherty, as he changed my life for the better and helped me to become more social. He became coach for the high school swimming and diving team during my sophomore year and asked me if I wanted to become a manager. It would be a great opportunity for me and it would help me build relationships and grow as a person. I took some time to think about it and after some pushing and prodding, I was on board.

All of our speakers gave great presentations. Ryan talked about some of the remarkable things in his life, and Gary used the word LEADERSHIP to form other words. All speeches fell with the five to seven minute time limit. Sharon had our new members (Cosmas and Helene) give a one to two minute impromptu speech about themselves and why they joined Toastmasters. Cosmas is new to our club but belonged to Toastmasters in South Korea. He had a great story to share.

We had a great turnout on Tuesday night with over 12 people in attendance (two of our members were online). Both of our new members were from Morgantown and work for WVU. I like that our club is reaching out to West Virginia University now and that it continues. Speaking of Fayette County, I’d like to see us reach out to Nemacolin Woodlands as well. While we’re experiencing success at Laurel Highlands, I think Greensburg is due for the same as well. Maybe the Cutie’s speech needs to be given at my home club. They are within a five minute walk from the courthouse. Also, I should give the “Everything is Cancelled, or is it?” talk at Laurel Highlands. It would get some laughs and I use some of the talents of our members and put them in the speech.

The meeting ended with sandwiches catered to us from a local business in Connellsville. It was a sandwich tray, and we also had some sweets, and soda to drink. We are definitely going for the gold at Laurel Highlands Toastmasters, as per the theme from last night’s meeting. I’m going to complete my Level 2 and send that to the club, so that can build towards them getting President’s Distinguished.

Our amazing president brought a microphone to the meeting and hoped we would use it while speaking at the lectern. Due to the amount of feedback it was getting, we had to use it while it was off. While I spoke, I used the microphone. That has since inspired me to want to buy of my own to use while preparing a speech or even reading one of my personal blog posts out loud.

Our next meeting is April 22. I will not be in attendance because I am attending the Johnstown Toastmasters meeting via Zoom. Their club and South Hills Toastmasters meet on the same night as Laurel Highlands. Visiting other clubs (in person or virtual) is one of the things I like to do as a Toastmaster and it helped me win a Spirit of Toastmasters award in 2020.

Where You Lead I Will Follow, That’s What She Said

Later this week begins the rewatch for two iconic shows that got most people through the pandemic and the events of 2020. Gilmore Girls got me through part of that crazy time as I started it before COVID-19 even made the news. Knowing what that a pandemic was coming and we’d be staying safe at home, I’d have started it in the Spring when we were in full lockdown mode and watched it through the Fall. Because, Gilmore Girls and Fall go hand in hand.

I started watching the Office in early 2022, finding it on Peacock. I must have missed the memo to catch it on Netflix during the pandemic. Like that little whimsical show set in a fictional Connecticut town, the Office also had its cast of characters and an A-Z list of quotes and things synonymous with the show. Unlike Gilmore Girls, I did not start the Office during COVID and I did not watch it the whole way through. There are seasons that most fans don’t like (season 6 for Gilmore Girls; the last two for the Office when Steve Carell departed the show) but that won’t stop me.

Along with the Office, I have two books that really talk about the show, written by the actors who were on it. Office BFF’s is written by the same women who host the popular Office rewatch podcast, Office Ladies.

Michael Scott is the World’s Best Boss while Lorelai Gilmore is the World’s Best Innkeeper. The Office put Scranton on the map while Gilmore Girls has me wanting to appreciate small towns and call them my Little Stars Hollow (I’m talking about you, Ligonier). Scranton to Stars Hollow (er, Connecticut) also makes for a good road trip. Just three hours between the two with New York City in the center.

Should I skip season six of Gilmore Girls this time or just go with it? Maybe I make some fan fiction to replace that season like I did when I wrote about what would happen if I made some other changes while at Slippery Rock. What’s my reaction to the last couple years of The Office going to be? Is Will Ferrell or James Spader the world’s worst boss?

When the weather warms up, I’ll be spending an afternoon (or a few hours) in Ligonier. Maybe I’ll have my Emily Gilmore book with me as I watch the cars go by in the Diamond. One of these days coming up, I’ll be sitting in Cuties, enjoying some Spring coffee and watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix.

Today, I went to Cutie’s as I was excited to try their new In Bloom Spring menu that debuted yesterday. Unfortunately, the Spring Market that was planned for yesterday didn’t go because of the rain. Bible Study begins in a few weeks though and I am excited for that. Like last year, it will be every other week. By now, the baristas know me pretty well, and the one who waited on me suggested the Cadbury Egg Latte. That may be on my coffee radar later this week (with a side of Gilmore Girls season one). Today I got the Cutie Cannoli Latte (and it gave me serious Marie Barone vibes like the lasagna I had this week). Coming up next month, the Fluffy Bunny Peep, and next month, the Oreo Dirt Frappe and Blueberry Cheesecake Cold Brew.

Greensburg’s already thinking ahead to Summer with the upcoming Night Market and Vintage Market. It’s amazing to see how much these markets have grown since they began and how they benefit the city. The Night Market has many more dates now than when I first went, and the Vintage Market does good business as well. I’ll try to make it to a few in 2025.

Time to close off the blog with a public service announcement and that is that Social Media is not real life. What you see on the socials always comes with a side of what you don’t see off screen. Comparison is the thief of joy. Only ever compete with who you were yesterday. Even though my blog is just a personal blog and not a business , I feel the same way too. It doesn’t help when I feel my life isn’t as interesting as most influencers I follow on Instagram either. But we’re all human and while we may be cute in the front, we’re definitely chaos in the back. I used a post from my favorite coffee shop as inspiration.

Mental Health Deja Vu?

This April started out the same as the last one. Wet and the rivers look as if they’re going to flood again. This weekend once again brings the chance for heavy rain and thunderstorms and that will be followed by snow chances early in the week, though it won’t be much. Temperatures are looking like lottery numbers, at least this weekend and early next week. Alas, such is Spring in Western Pennsylvania. You just have to dress appropriate for whatever day you’re going out. I’ll be going to the gym a few times this week as well as Connellsville.

While this weather is deja vu, this is what you come to expect in April in Southwestern PA. Spring is just doing its thing, and that means rain and a little wet snow. Eventually, warmer air will win out for good and we’ll be spending more time outside.

While I’m beginning this blog by talking about the weather, today’s post is more about mental health. I hope this Spring isn’t deja vu as the weather has been. What I mean by that is the last few years around the time, my emotions have played with me.

In 2022, I was adjusting to my new job at Giant Eagle but at the same time I was feeling ghosted by my biggest supporters in my fashion journey. Eventually I found a co-worker who encouraged me to live my truth in my fashion journey. I suppose that it’s partially my fault as I shouldn’t rely on others for approval. I dealt with adversity for a good part of 2022 before things turned around later in the year. My family and I became very familiar with Children’s Hospital during the summer of that year as my aunt made that place her second home due to my cousin’s health issues.

2023 saw a lot more of the same as 2022. We spent half the year going to and from Children’s to visit Benny. This year was a wave of emotions for all of us as we didn’t know when he would be coming home. It was a Spring that brought devastating wildfires to Canada. The plumes of smoke made their way down to our area making for milky white skies instead of sunshine most days early in the Summer. The lack of sunshine also took its toll on my mental health.

Nothing could be as bad as the attacks on the LGBTQ 🏳️‍🌈 community over the Bud Light Ad featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The right wing talking heads were all up in arms over Bud Light and who Dylan was identifying as. I almost wanted to give up my journey because of what everyone on TV was saying, but eventually I went back to being me. I talked to Mr. Clougherty and he told me I had nothing to worry about. At Summer TLI, I did my thing, rocked my cheetah scarf and Coach purse and was encouraged by my Toastmasters friends not to change for anyone. At least Benny got to experience some time at home that summer before it was back to Children’s in October.

I feel the way I do in the Spring before my mood improves in the Summer and Fall months. While ‘22 and ‘23 presented their challenges, I feel that 2024 was the biggest hurdle for me to clear.

2024 still took us to Children’s, though this time Benny had the surgery that would reveal the light at the end of the tunnel. For me, last year brought with it excitement as I planned to attend the first in person District conference in five years. The Spring brought continued disappointment for me as I continued to feel the need to explain myself. In 2022, I felt ghosted. In 2023, I felt attacked. Last year, it was feeling ignored and unloved. It kept me from enjoying the Spring Conference and even Summer TLI. These feelings of despair lingered into the summer. But like the summer before, I got out of that valley of darkness and had a great autumn season, despite the outcome of the presidential election.

Late in the summer of 2024, I grew in my Toastmasters journey and started to do better at keeping track. I started speaking more at the meetings, scheduling speeches every three weeks between my two clubs. I began to love myself more. Easier said than done even in 2025. Last Spring and Summer felt like the Philadelphia Eagles’ slump in the late 2023 season and foreshadowed their early 2024 season before they got on a roll and won the Super Bowl. This Spring, I’m going to enjoy life at the Spring Conference, nor will I check my phone as often. I’m going to feel confident in my own skin, and continue to embrace my style.

This week I have some Cutie’s trips planned as I am looking forward to their In Bloom Spring menu. I’ll also be visiting Western Maryland Toastmasters, and I’m going to go back to church just in time for Palm Sunday. The wind is at my back and I’m going to enjoy every second of my wonderful life, as well as enjoy rewatching The Office and Gilmore Girls.

Fueling my Toastmasters Spirit in April!

On Sunday, we celebrated Mom’s birthday at home. The spread consisted of chicken, coleslaw, potato salad, and potato wedges (picnic food). For dessert, we had Texas sheet cake with ice cream. We had a small family gathering with my Somerset relatives. Mom was blessed with nice springtime gifts, including gift cards to Panera Bread and Arona Road Greenhouse, and a solar light that she can put outside. Once the warmer breezes prevail over the colder winds, Mom and Dad will be out there planting their flowers and cutting the grass.

Big things are happening in Toastmasters this month with the Spring Conference scheduled for the last weekend of April. Laurel Highlands is growing and gaining new (and one returning) members. Laurel Highlands and Western Maryland recently achieved Distinguished status and we are pushing for Presidents’ Distinguished at Laurel Highlands. This month I will be making online visits to other clubs including Western Maryland as well as Johnstown. The latter will be the Tuesday before the conference and part of a busy week that includes the DEC meeting. Next Thursday I will be attending the history making Western Maryland club.

In 2025, I’ll be celebrating some anniversaries and milestones as well as talking about some memories not so pleasant. This summer marks 25 years since I graduated high school (June) and began college (August). I started at the Hiram G. Andrews Center before moving on to Slippery Rock a few years later. This December marks 20 years since I graduated from college. I’ll be celebrating that milestone this Fall at Homecoming. I managed to luck out this year because Homecoming falls on the week that I am on vacation. Five years ago, we were quarantining and staying home due to spread of the global COVID-19 pandemic. What are some hobbies you took up while staying safe?

This week, I’ve felt a little less stressed and devoted time to other interests without feeling overwhelmed. I’ve made a little more time playing Switch and I’ve been enjoying some Super Mario 64 this week (I have a cartridge with Super Mario 3D games on it including Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy). I’m trying to make less and less time for social media. Not so much less time on the socials, but less time trying to get attention on Facebook and Instagram. Anytime I don’t get likes I get depressed and that’s what plagued me for a good part of the Spring and Summer last year. Attention is one hell of a drug and it is addicting. It makes me feel like my journey isn’t worth it, but shouldn’t it matter that if I like it, that’s all that matters then? Easier said than done. When summer comes, I’d like to take some more time to swim or be outside. Maybe tomorrow, I’d like to get my camera and snap a few pics around town. I’d like to have some more pics on my frame that are my own and not someone else’s photos. I’d also like to take some more time to try on and post some outfit pics.

Finally, we held our Greensburg Toastmasters meeting this evening. We met online as our Zoom Master and Club President was unable to attend. She gave us a great Table Topic that I used for the session (I doubled up as Toastmaster and Topicsmaster). The topic was to ‘tell us about one of your best times in Toastmasters’.

Most of us referred back to 2019 to answer that question, the last normal year we lived before the pandemic changed our lives forever in 2020. I talked about my visit to the Cranberry High Noon club in December of 2019 and how they made me feel very welcome that day. I had just started my blog a month prior and received my Distinguished Toastmaster award in October.

Our speaker gave his second ice breaker speech for his new path. We welcomed a returning member back into the club and a had a visit from our Area Director. Her visit was successful and we made her feel welcome. At the end of the meeting, I talked about the upcoming conference at the end of the month and what all is included. I also highlighted club officer training and officer nominations for the 2025-26 Toastmasters year. Our next meeting is in two weeks on April 16.

Spring Baking Championship Is In!

Well, it took four years but, I am getting into the Spring Baking Championship. I started in mid-March with the latest season premiere, as the show has been on since April of 2015. Since 2021, I’ve been a regular viewer for the Holiday Baking Championship as well as the Halloween installment that airs in September and October. Halloween will take a back seat this year as I try something new instead. Jesse Palmer hosts the Spring Baking Championship and like former teammate Michael Strahan, Mr. Palmer keeps busy. Jesse also hosts the Bachelor and the Bachelorette. On Monday’s show, the bakers made cheesecakes and madeleines. I learned something new that night and that what a madeleine is. So far I’m enjoying this show. I’m also going to check out Buddy vs. Duff which ran for three seasons on Food Network from 2019-2021.

I was a little lax on podcasts in March, not enjoying the rewatch podcasts as much as I did in February. It was a bump in the road and I’ll be back. I’m looking forward to Monday’s Pod Meets World when they interview Nick Bakay (who was the voice of Salem on Sabrina The Teenage Witch). I know a lot of people who named their cats Salem in the ‘90s. The Office Ladies podcast from Wednesday was amazing and the show is back on my list to be watched. That along with a rewatch of Gilmore Girls, beginning around Easter week. Hey, Scranton to Stars Hollow isn’t a bad road trip either. They both get me away from the craziness going on in our world right now.

The Division Contest run is over and I was appreciative of the time off (I had Friday and Saturday off three weeks straight but not this past weekend). Despite missing yesterday’s contest, I still enjoyed myself and was able to hear some great speakers at the other contests I was able to attend. Some of the contestants will be moving on the District Contest on April 26, thus completing the slate for the upcoming speech contests. Yesterday in Division D, Bakery Square’s contestants competed in the Tall Tales and International Speech contests, among other clubs in Division D. I attended this contest in 2019 and 2022. Yesterday’s event was held in Downtown Pittsburgh at BNY Mellon.

After weeks of waiting, I received my long-awaited book in the mall that chronicled the Philadelphia Eagles’ 2024 season. This past season was fun to watch, unlike the previous one. While the Pittsburgh Steelers would disappoint in the end, the Eagles would ride their much improved defense and amazing running back to an amazing playoff run. The Eagles came off a lackluster end to the 2023 season, which included a wild card loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The start to this season wasn’t good either. It paralleled how I was feeling for most of the Spring and about half the summer (it’s complicated so don’t ask). Watching the newly acquired Saquon Barkley on TV rack up yards and challenge a 40 year old record for rushing yards was fun too.

I’ll be finishing the John Hughes book very soon as I’m now at the end of his life, so around 2009 which is the year he passed. I look forward to my new season of reading and also growing spiritually again. Time to close off the blog by talking up Toastmasters.

While the dues are due period is coming to an end, we sit back and count down the days until the Spring Conference which is less than a month away. There’s still plenty of time for us to attract new members to our clubs. In the last blog post for March, I’m taking a few minutes to celebrate two of our clubs that just made Distinguished. Laurel Highlands Toastmasters just made Distinguished and looking to aim higher (we want to go for Presidents’ Distinguished). I will help when I complete my next speech which wraps up Level 2 in my Presentation Mastery path. Today, I also read that Western Maryland Toastmasters also became a distinguished club themselves. The club is just under a year old (they chartered at the end of May 2024). For them to achieve this goal is a testament to the hard work of the members and officers in the club. I plan to visit on April 10.

The Dinner Series is Back!

Thursday night marked the return of the monthly dinners that I have with Mr. Clougherty. We’ve done this tradition regularly since 2013 and aside from the few times we met on a different day, it’s always been a Thursday night. The swimming season ended early and so Kevin was free to meet me for dinner. I wanted the first dinner of the year to be at Kings. I left a nice review on Yelp and may return during the Lenten season to try another fish dinner. I ordered the shrimp dinner while Kevin got the K-Boy. We both had Apple Pie for dessert (I had mine with Cinnamon Ice Cream)

I felt that it was appropriate to start with Kings in memory of founder Hartley King, who died at the end of January at the age of 91. Kings locations were everywhere in Pittsburgh at one point and at its peak had over 30 locations. The sale of the company in 2015 was a sign that the restaurant wasn’t going to expand and eventually many of the stores we grew up going to closed their doors. They either sat abandoned, or they became a convenience store or different restaurant.

We made plans for 2025, and next month we will meet on the eve of the Spring Conference at Primanti’s. Also included this year will be Olive Garden, Hibachi, and Eat’n Park. I’m thinking about Texas Road House (Kevin has never been there) but I’m not sure yet. Hibachi might be our June destination. Last year, I celebrated my aunt’s birthday there as well as AB’s birthday so I may do the same myself. Before and during dinner, we have our usual talking points like the swim team and the sorry state of the high school. I need to remember to let the stale ones go, like my college years. I also talked about Toastmasters and said a few things related to the upcoming Spring Conference. It was hard to leave politics at home, but I did it. Last time we met before the presidential election. I’ve been accepting the outcome even though I don’t want to. Even stuff I agree with, I just ignore because it’ll get me wound up. Perhaps my John Hughes/Brat Pack book would have made better dinner conversation as Kevin was a young adult and student at IUP during that time. It would have been cool to talk about the Breakfast Club with him.

During this most recent two day off stretch, my heart was set on going to the local Christian bookstore and I did so Thursday afternoon. I’d been away for a while but stopped in for a little bit before I went to meet Kevin and found some good deals. One of them was a book that recently came out which was written by Christian music artist Rebecca St. James and her husband. I read her mother’s book a few years ago on my Kindle and I enjoyed learning about her life growing up both in Australia and adjusting to life in America. I recently learned that her brothers make up the band For King and Country.

It’s been a slow process, but my heart is beginning to come back to God. I attended the Bible study at Cutie’s a few times during the summer and went to Community Methodist Church in Harrison City. For a stretch during Lent in 2023, I also went back to Cornerstone. I am excited for the first Bible Study of the year at Cutie’s at the end of April (it’ll be a nice end to the Spring Conference weekend for me). I also bought a book for $5 written by a Presbyterian pastor. As I prepare to finish my John Hughes book, I look forward to this new season of reading in my life and getting back to church at some point this Spring.

I spent part of my Friday morning at Cutie’s picking my last drink option on the Lucky You menu before it switches over next Saturday to the In Bloom menu. While there I got a picture of the beautiful window display courtesy of @vjenningsart that is definitely in bloom for Spring. My Lucky Girl Latte was good even though it was missing the literal cherry on top. Understandable because the new menu will be making its debut next week.

Finally, the countdown to conference is on as we’re now less than a month away. My mood has greatly improved from last year and my “journey” is better when I’m not craving that drug known as attention. I’m more quiet about it now and whether or not I’m getting compliments, I should still be accepting of myself regardless.

Our Laurel Highlands and Western Maryland Toastmasters president has an amazing session planned during the Spring Conference and I’m going to make this part of my conference plans. I’m excited for the upcoming election of our District officers as well. After being a Toastmaster for nearly 15 years, I still have an appetite for learning something now at conference, meeting, or club officer training. I wasn’t sure that 2025 was in my plans last year, but I’m glad it is now.

Let’s Do This!

Celebrating Distinguished Status at Laurel Highlands Toastmasters!

What does the word distinguished mean? To be respected and admired for excellence. Synonyms for distinguished include: important, grand, imposing, and magisterial. That was the theme at our Laurel Highlands Toastmasters meeting last night.

The meeting started a few minutes late as we awaited the arrival of our president and vice president. But we got going really quick. Our jokemaster had us laughing with his riddles. At the beginning of the meeting, the Toastmaster confirms roles to make sure everyone is ready to go. If we need to double or triple duty, we get it done. A Toastmaster wears many hats. We also read the mission statement at the top of the agenda.

Laurel Highlands and Western Maryland Toastmasters are battling for who gets Distinguished first. I just heard the news that one of our members will be coming back, getting us our three members we need to qualify for Distinguished. My next speech should complete my Level 2 requirements and I will be giving that to the club. We have a chance to make Select Distinguished as well, as long as we’re giving speeches and submitting our education awards. Western Maryland meets tomorrow night and they too are close to being a Distinguished club. They chartered last Spring, just behind DuBois Toastmasters. I was going to visit this month, but pushed that back to April.

It was a family affair last night as our three speakers were all related. All of them gave great speeches including Jeniffer who displayed her art as part of her speech. These three speakers will evaluate at the next meeting on April 8, as Gary, Ryan, and I come up and deliver our speeches. Officer elections will also be happening soon.

We got a nice group picture after the meeting ended. We also celebrated the Imeses on their second wedding anniversary with a smorgabord of fruit, cupcakes, and brownies, as well as water. Here is the picture of our little Laurel Highlands family.

Our Toastmasters club has members whose faith in Jesus Christ is strong. While religion and politics aren’t subjects we normally discuss in Toastmasters, it’s nice to see that we carry this distinction at Laurel Highlands. I still believe in God but have been away from the church since the Fall of 2021 (save for a few visits in between). After three and a half years away, I’m getting interested in God once again and finding a church. There is a place in Greensburg (in the city) that I may go to when I have a free Sunday morning. It was recommended to me by a fellow Toastmaster.

Upon giving my speech on Cutie’s a few weeks ago, I have some of my members interested in going there for coffee. I was even asked about the Bible Study which is starting up at the end of April. It’s amazing that a speech about a local coffee shop in Greensburg has carried a lot of weight, even to people in Fayette County and Western Maryland.

Finally, this weekend wraps up the Division run of the speech contests in District 13 as Division D’s best will compete for a spot in the District contest in April. I won’t be there in person as my schedule has changed this week. But, I will be there in spirit and I know that social media will be buzzing with pictures from the contest. Whomever wins on Saturday, I look forward to hearing on April 26 at the Spring conference!

Division Cutie Speech Contest!

Saturday morning, I was on my way to my third speech contest in as many weeks. The Division C Tall Tales and International Speech contest was held at United Presbyterian Church in Blairsville. Just like the previous two divisional contests and February’s area contest I attended which was held in Johnstown, this one did not disappoint.

Division C has 19 clubs including some that have recently chartered in the last year like DuBois and Western Maryland, and is made up of four areas. The Division stretches from north to south and west to east. In the Tall Tales and International Speech contest, seven contestants from four areas participated. Area 21 was represented by Johnstown and Allegheny Mountains. Area 22 was represented by Penn State Pingers, Nittany, and DuBois (which chartered last April). DuBois meets on the first and third Wednesday, just like Greensburg Toastmasters. Area 23 was represented by Arconic and Ambassadors, and Area 24 was represented by Monroeville and BPMI.

The winners of the Tall Tales contest were our area directors for the Area 23/24 contest on March 7, 2020, the final speech contest in our District before everything shut down the next week due to the COVID 19 pandemic. We fist bumped and bumped elbows when coming up to speak because we weren’t sure if we’d spread the virus or not. That day felt like the closing days of the 1994 major league baseball season which would be impacted by the players’ strike that cancelled the World Series that Fall.

Sure enough, a week later, upcoming speech contests and the Spring conference would soon be postponed due to the fast spread of the virus into the United State. March 11, 2020, was the day that COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. It felt full circle as they were our contestants on this day and they will be the ones representing the district on April 26 at the District contest. We shared bits and pieces of that day, before and after the contest.

It felt good to be back at United Presbyterian Church, as one of my fellow members from Greensburg said to me. We held our Achievers Toastmasters meetings there at the beginning of the 2019-2020 Toastmasters year, before we were forced to hold online meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a very nice church in the heart of downtown Blairsville.

All the contestants gave great speeches and we had a few surprises as well. Some of these speeches I heard for the second time. The top two in each contest will represent their clubs in the District Tall Tales and International Speech Contest on April 26 during the District 13 Spring Conference. I was on the fence about attending this upcoming conference because of my mood last Spring. It was the first time I attended in-person since 2019 and while the venue was great (close to the casino), I was feeling down because of some mental health issues I created for myself. I had my Toastmaster friends with me at the conference but I was feeling unloved and nonexistent elsewhere. I was still feeling unaccepted in my journey as well, and I couldn’t accept myself.

Those feelings lingered into the summer and impacted my Summer TLI experience as well as my vacation. I came into that week off excited, having my early birthday dinner at the Olive Garden on a very hot June day. I set myself up for disappointment because of those same feelings of doubt and that distracted me from having a good time and learning more. I could excuse lack of sleep, but I wish I could have just enjoyed myself, at least at the onset of my vacation. Fortunately, things would turn a corner as the summer went and transitioned into Fall. At Winter TLI, my mood was much improved and I was on cloud nine after all of the compliments I received for my style. I also had a better time and learned a lot from the speakers and the sessions.

Coming up this week, opening day 2025 as the Bucs take the field in Miami with their Cy Young hopeful on the mound. Mr. Clougherty and I reconvene our Dinner Series at Kings and we’ll highlight the Buccos. I “attended” church this morning at ACAC (not my first time) and hope to visit a local church in Greensburg soon. I’m ready to get back into it.

Laurel Highlands meeting this Tuesday. I plan on giving them some more awards so they can become Distinguished.

Everything is Cancelled, or is it?

Last night, at my Greensburg Toastmasters meeting, I spoke about what things were like during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Downtown areas felt like ghost towns, and commuting on the Parkway was a breeze. Shopping malls were closed and events and weddings coming up were also canceled. You could still have a ceremony, just not a big one. Due to the spread of the virus, it was recommended to stay at home and stay safe.

For me, the layoff was just one of the major turning points I’d deal with over the next year. Eventually, I would be exiting my old job but that wasn’t on my mind in the spring of 2020. While working at Giant Eagle and hospitals meant you were an essential worker, I was non-essential at WIS.

While we were on orders to socially distance, stay at home, and wear a mask whenever we went out, it was also important to know that not everything was canceled. This made up most of my speech.

My speech started out on a down note but talking about those things that weren’t “cancelled” made it very uplifting. The only thing missing from my speech was some animated gestures. I was given the option to redo this, as the same project or as a different one. If I give it at Laurel Highlands, I’ll substitute some of those terms for things not cancelled (thinking Cheesecake is not cancelled).

During that time, I thought about what could have been. We all did. No one expected this to come and do the damage that I did. I spent a few those days early in the COVID lockdown making multiple road trips to Ligonier and even Johnstown and the Hiram G. Andrews Center. Summer was dramatically altered, though we didn’t feel it quite as much at home.

I found shows to keep my occupied. During the pandemic, the Office was one of the most viewed shows on Netflix, thus making the former show popular once again. I started Gilmore Girls before the pandemic, so I was well into the show’s seven year run by the time everything shut down in March. When Toastmasters suspended in-person meetings, I attended meetings online through Zoom. Some of those were Cranberry High Noon and Earlybirds. Others included Next Step, Dawn Patrol, and North Hills. I also took part in the meetings doing Table Topics. Our contest season ended with the area 23/24 contest in Oakmont on March 7 as the next week all hell broke loose. We soon learned that all divisional contests and the District conference were going to be postponed. I started a Financial Peace University course through my church the week that everything shut down (I even planned to drive myself to Boardman and Hermitage for work events just to attend this event in the evening). It would be postponed for at least the two weeks that Cornerstone was closed so that the facilitators could figure out how to run the course online. We returned to a condensed version of the program in April, doubling up lessons if we had to in order to meet the deadline.

To quote Dave Ramsey, this was a time in our lives when we lived like no one else. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for good in the Spring of 2020.

Closing off this blog, I’ll be starting my Stars Hollow Rewatch after Easter and will do all seven seasons once again. Will I enjoy it knowing what I know now? I also plan to have a list ready for watch for holidays and Fall. At least this time, I’ll watch it during the Fall unlike 2020 when I started in Winter and finished in the Summer with the Day in the Life. Maybe I’ll watch the four-part mini series on Black Friday. I plan to start Kelly Bishop’s memoir and reread Talking as Fast as I Can around Conference Week as well. I might even watch a few episodes of the show at Cutie’s (headphones in) or in the Little Stars Hollow I like to call Ligonier (or another perfect Hallmark town).

The Monday after the Spring Conference marks the return of the Cutie’s Bible Study and I am definitely looking forward to it.