Taking flight

Grounded in Compassion – the Word of the Day -- , our imaginations took flight with four very engaging speakers this Wednesday.

Djanira, as Toastmaster of the Evening set the mood with the theme of Spring, a time of colour and vitality. She led the session smoothly and with a confident hand.
Maria volunteered a joke about a stutterer who had practiced hard to say only two words well: ‘Vermouth’, and eventually ‘coffee’. And so the waiter goes: With or without milk? Our poor man says: Vermouth!

Ana Villar loves a good challenge. Born ‘fortunately’ on 1st April, she told us why and how we could, like she does, play good jokes especially on two important dates: 1st April (being April Fool’s Day) and 28th December (El Día de Los Inocentes) simply because we could get off without penalties; confess our love without risks; and literally test how much we’re loved with (if you’re a woman)…a pregnancy kit!

Ever felt hounded by Murphy’s Law? Well Liz certainly did. Indignant and dumbfounded by everything that did go wrong on the trip to her mother’s homeland in Sicily, Liz and her friend decided to fight back and have a whale of a good time. For every missed train, closed embassy and soaked clothes, there were eventually glimpses of sunshine and encounters with ‘Italianos guapíssimos’.

Jose Luis opened our eyes to the usability of many things, appliances and interfaces we use in daily life. Better ergonomics, better design and thoughtfulness on the part of creators (of ubiquitous items such as tactile phones) lead to better decisions with less risk or time employed.

How many of us have been swept away by iconic films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner? How many grew up believing that advanced technology would be liberating? Isn’t it enslaving instead: making us lazy, stupid and illiterate? M.A. Garcias led us through such dreams and disillusionment, and left us with a profound thought: Don’t leave it to robots or technology to solve our grave problems (which are of our own making).

As Evaluators, Maria Lozano, Pilar De Obeso, Sonia Rosales and Kai Steinbach shared their insights with keenness and thoughtfulness. They were ably led by General Evaluator Joan Fabregat.

Marisol chose an original Table Topic: Think of a new name for Barcelona Toastmasters. Well, we had pretty good suggestions from Cristine Twarog, Dimitri Uralov (of Prestigious) and Kai who gave us First Barcelona Toastmasters (for we were the first Barcelona club to charter).
Note: We are doing well with additional Monday sessions. The next is Monday 28/03/2011 ASET

Sue