| If you were suppoed
to... |
By: Cute Cuddly
Coach
I walked into a crowded room of Rotarians and
Anns last Wednesday. "Why are there Ann's
here?" I asked myself. Oops, it must be
Ann's day, and I forgot my Ann! I was, at first,
a little disoriented when I saw this explosion of
color bobbing up and down which can only be First
Ann Tessa. Seeing the Sea Princess made me double
back, is this really morning or am I attending
some evening affair? Nope it was our regular
breakfast meeting; you could see it in the
reflection of the bright sunlight on the Sea
Princess' blue sunglasses.
One cannot begin to talk about Ann's day without
describing the First Ann's ensemble. After all it
was a great honor to have her with us so early in
the morning, an honor that is accorded by her to
almost no one. Let's begin from the top. Our
first Ann came in a wig with a delightful array
of shocking colors of perhaps around 8 radically
different hues. Her wig is the exclusive
"Clown Edition" available at National
Bookstore, but manageable only by the First Ann,
who has both chutzpah and style. Most women who
have the chutzpah have no style; others can only
manage a Tagalog word that sounds like it. The
latter are Alvin's type of women. Our Sea
Princess donned stylish blue sunglasses that
complimented her blue short sleeved polo shirt,
tucked out over beautifully fitted white slacks.
To round off her ensemble, she stood on red
patent slip-ons that gave just the right touch.
Our First Ann was indeed a delicious fashion
plate. May the colors of her wig multiply.
I must say I am very proud to have the Sea
Princess as our First Ann. I do enjoy her weekly
articles, portions of which our editor has the
temerity to censor. Shame on you, Chuck! We can
only have one butcher in the Club! She was
working very hard last Wednesday, going from
table to table following up the replies t her
survey, talking to folks, and in general
spreading her sunshine all around the room. Our
youthful Sea Princess, who just turned 22, is one
fantastic First Ann. To her I say, do invite me
your own resthouse/vacation house/log cabin in
Tagaytay Highlands that Mon President will
purchase for you as a reward for your wonderful
efforts.
Other Ann's present that that day were Ann's
Becky Co, Beta Palomar (with Bert Mendoza), Ying
Villanueva, Sandy Abad Santos, Gina Lagos, Carla
Chuatico, Crispy Laurel, Melissa Romualdez,
Marides Puyat, Arlene Litonjua, Veronica Yap and
Tess Moreno. We had our regular visiting
Rotarians who attend 80% of their Rotary meetings
with us, David Reynolds (RC Manila) and Doc Jun
Abello (RC Mandaluyong). There was also this
stranger, Alvin Co, who was being a stranger to
me, as he was not talking to me that morning. He
just waddled around the room like a speechless
turkey. I wonder why.
The meeting was called to order by our vivacious
First Ann with a "Hi everybody!" And
wonder of wonders, the room had eight full
tables! That morning, we probably had the largest
number in our Club's history of members and Ann's
attending a regular Wednesday morning meeting. I
sing praises to the leadership of Pres. Dennis,
may he remain one more year. Charter change
anyone? Incoming First Ann Carla was our
moderator and what a great moderator she was. She
was really so into it and kept the room riveted
to the podium. This was not due to her hubby's
threateningly imposing figure, but to Carla
lively handling of the meeting. Ann Beth Palomar
led the invocation, national anthem was led by
Ann Becky Co who didn't sing it because hubby
Alvin gave her the wrong words and Ann Gina Lagos
introduced the visiting Rotarians and guest. Ann
Tess Moreno was our fine master and she fined all
those who didn't bring their Anns one hundred
pesos each, Alvin, who takes pleasure in
harassing me, insisted that Tess fine me five
hundred pesos. Of course, Alvin was ignored but
he's use to that. For the committee
announcements, incoming Pres. PKC made a
headcount of those who plan to go to Baguio for
the annual RGFFP Golf Journey sometime on the
third week of January. Twenty-four (24) members
raised their hands. You can already tell what
kind of attendance we will have on the third week
of January.
First Ann Sea Princess returned to the podium for
the President's time, with anxious hubby hovering
nearby. Was he acting as a Board of Censors? What
can she possibly say that you might find
inappropriate? As it turned out, the Sea Princess
only commented on how we love golf so much and
reminded the Ann's to turn in their responses to
her survey questionnaire. She also invited us to
a Halloween party on October 22 where we are all
required to have a costume or mask of some scary
fiend in the night. Those who do not come in a
costume or mask will be penalized or will be
provided with one. Alvin, however, does not need
any fiendish mask and can come as himself. The
Sea Princess made a few more announcements, which
I was unable to note as I was distracted by her
hovering hubby.
As expected, hovering hubby, exercising the
powers of the Presidency, grabbed the mike from
the Sea Princess. This is a feat that may be
performed only by professionals and is not to be
repeated at home. The President gave a whale of
an award to IPP Miguel. Actually a trophy with a
whale was given to IPP Migs; the Pres. Was
apparently unaware that Mig's cousins refer to
IPP Migs as "the Whale". Ann Marides,
on the other hand, wondered allowed if the whale
figurine was a sperm whale. The President also
wanted to honor those who completed additional
Paul Harris Fellows and awarded their pins and
medals in a simple ceremony. These generous souls
were IPP TR Mohan and FP Alvin Co who both just
earned their third stones. This means that the
two already have four Paul Harris Fellows. FP
Bobby Roxas with his first Paul Harris Fellow
followed them, and he will also soon have four.
Finally, there was Tony Yap who donated two Paul
Harris Fellows and is thus entitled to one stone,
plus he named his Ann Veronica to be his
beneficiary. This gives us another Ann as a Paul
Harris Fellow. A little trivia: PP TR and FP
Alvin are currently the members with the most
Paul Harris Fellows in our Club. Good going TR!
The guest speaker who was introduced by Ann
Marides, was no other than Susan Callo Medina,
the TV celebrity whose travel shows are the
favorite of Alvin who thinks Susan's shows are
better than sex. Susan started with several
quotes, two of the most memorable statements are
"All of us need wilderness in our
lives," and "travel must be an
adventure." Susan's talk took us to Cebu and
Bohol to see whales, dolphins, tarsiers and
diving to Davao, Zamboanga, Lake Sebu in South
Cotobato and Lake Lanao, to Zambales and to many
other exotic places. She gave tips on what to
see, where to stay, and what to do but none on
what Alvin likes to do best. Her talk was truly
interesting and gave all the Ann's present a good
idea of where to drag their husbands. Not much
golfing sports in her talk though. If you want to
know more you should have attended. No point in
asking Alvin, he was not listening to the speaker
as usual.
The meeting ended at around past nine with Ann
Carla quoting from St. Agustine: "The world
is like a book and if you don't travel you only
turn a page." It was indeed a wonderful
quote to end such a great meeting. Thank you
Carla.
The end.
|
|
|
