TM Contest in times of Covid19

Ginny and Imp check out the cedar chest of blankets

Today while on social isolation I harvested another pan of miner's lettuce, blanched and froze it. I suppose this should be a habit since I will enjoy the stuff much later.
Most of the day I thought about and prepared for the Toastmaster's contest at 5:30. Since I was the only competitor in my section, all I had to do was ensure that I stayed within my time limits, but I really wanted to do as well as I could. I am especially interested in the difference between speaking in person and speaking through Zoom. I have come to rely on body gesture and audience feedback, but working on a laptop for people mostly watching on these small screens feels very different. I contemplated replacing my largest gestures with images but the work of flipping between the Zoom performance window and the other window seemed likely to interfere with timing, at least until I get better.
I decided to rely on cramping the key gesture in, and otherwise using facial expression by coming closer to the camera. Most of the speakers stayed farther out so we could see their bodies, but this didn't seem to improve the performance.
I also used information from the Darren LaCroix presentation at the last District conference, as followed up in free lectures from Stage Time University. In particular, I re-wrote my speech so that I was not the hero; I introduced my guru John The Anthropologist (remembering my 1st father in law), and also gave more character to Uncle Terry as he told he little story.
I feel I succeeded (at least I did not go overtime) but I really want feedback. I'll ask my friends who attended.
---
Also today I got a call from one of Cyril's clients, asking for a referral which I gave. Later I got a call from Cyril about a buddy of his from 40 years back, who needed a place to stay while his home was cleaned of mold. I think Cyril wanted something else of me, but I immediately offered Kiara's room, and that has worked out. At first I felt regret because it's hard having strangers in, but on the other hand I feel good about sharing the space and if I'm eventually going to rent it out I'm going to have to learn to deal.
I would have moved back in there myself, leaving the blue room for a rental, but for Kiara's reasonable concerns about Arthur peeing when he's angry. Well, I'll deal.