Half of 2014 was gone and things had gotten even crazy! In the month of July, I joined the second Toastmasters Club family, Penang Toastmasters Club. I had been visiting the club as a visiting toastmaster for more than 6 months and finally decided to be part of them. Why? I love their culture – focusing more on a member’s development instead of whether or not the club achieved Distinguished Club and onwards. They celebrate more on any member’s achievement instead of the fact that the club gained a DCP point.
I made my trip down to Kuala Lumpur. I finally had a taste on this famous sashimi that my Point One Group had been talking about. The shop serves fresh sashimi and it is not expensive at all! Where is it at? Taman OUG! You gotta check it out! Since I stayed longer during this trip, the cyber boyfriend brought me to taste loads of nice food and I also made a new friend. I stayed longer than planned so I could hang out more with him. Oh, guess what? I saw the pissed off side of his and it was spine-chilling. Do not ever ever mess with him, okay?
It was my very first time to receive Best Evaluator award in MEF Toastmasters Club’s meeting. It did boost my motivation to take part in the coming Evaluation Contest.
Also, I finally gave my fourth project speech after 6 months. I stopped giving speech because I did not get any good encouragement from the previous evaluators. I guess evaluators really play an important role. You may risk a member not giving a speech for such a long time. My case is one of the great examples. However, since I had joined Penang Toastmasters Club, I would like to see what they could offer me. That was why I gave my fourth speech, which, in my personal opinion, is the hardest project to do. Probably I set high expectations for myself. I requested Papa Gerald Green to be my evaluator and little did I know I would win The Best Speaker during the meeting. Thank you.
July was a crazy month. Why did I say so? It was full with Club’s term end appreciation and installation activities as well as Club’s contests. One of the Wednesday, I attended Dell Dynamic Toastmasters Club’s Appreciation and Installation Dinner and after that I rushed for BM Bigfoot Toastmasters Club’s Humorous Speech and Speech Evaluation Contests. One of my good friends was competing in Speech Evaluation Contest. Therefore, I wanted to be there to give him a support. Boy he did not disappoint me. He won! Congratulations!
Last year, I celebrated my Raya in Kuala Lumpur. No exception for this year! And I had another happening trip in Kuala Lumpur. You can read all about it here.
July ended with Raya holiday and August started with MEF’s Appreciation Dinner. It was a great day as before the dinner, some of us went for a karaoke session. Though there were not many activities during the dinner, we had great company – each other! I believe everyone had a good time so, good job to Eng Wah who organised this dinner.
It went on to MEF Toastmasters Club’s Humorous Speech and Speech Evaluation Contests. It was my very first time to take part in a contest. I competed in Speech Evaluations and trust me, I had many great contenders. I managed to grab third prize though. Surprisingly I was neither disappointed nor upset. I was more motivated! Who was the champion? It was my good friend, Gurmeet! So he had already swept away two champions in two clubs. Nice.
Coming to the end of August was an even bigger Toastmaster event waiting for me, International Toastmasters Convention 2014, woohoo! I was really lucky as I had a company training on the day before the first day of the convention. Therefore, I went down to Kuala Lumpur with my manager instead of the initial plan. Unforgettable event happened that night but I will not go into details about it.
Anyway, the convention was really an eye-opening event. I was inspired by all the speakers and learned a lot from everyone. The stay was greater with right company – Chee Teng, David, Gurmeet, YS and Mike! We complement each other really well so, those 5-day stay turned out awesome. We even had a surprise birthday celebration for Gurmeet. Those who were not close to him were so worried that he would find out. I reassured them that Gurmeet is not that smart to find out. So mean of me. However, I was right! It was so freaking obvious but he did not realise. There were a number of funny moments that only us will understand.
Now I am looking forward to Semi Annual Convention in Petaling Jaya this coming November.
That was how I ended my August. What about September?
Well, I started September with me being the Toastmaster of the Evening for MEF Toastmasters Club’s first meeting in the month of September. I choose Gratitude as the meeting theme. The reason behind was thanks to the cyber boyfriend, I realised that many people no longer show their appreciation and gratitude to those who had helped them. Therefore, I see that it was essential to remind everyone that we need to be thankful and show our gratitude to people around us.
Also, in that month, it was my very first time to compete in the Area Level. Why was it not Gurmeet? Well, he swept another champion trophy in Penang Toastmasters Club. Yes, Gurmeet sapu-ed all the trophies. Since Chee Teng was not able to make it for the contest, I was sent to represent MEF Toastmasters Club in Area Level. Sadly I did not get any placing. This time I was disappointed. Truly disappointed. And only to realise that my contenders are all very strong especially Yi Xian. I witnessed his evaluation in Division Level and he really blew my mind. Now I felt fortunate to have competed with him in the Area Level.
All Toastmasters and nothing on work?
Be patient. Yes, my workload sort of quiet down. Yes, there was this one event that my Company had. We were to help up the team that came from the HQ to run the day. I was only able to join them in the morning as I had to head down to Ipoh in the afternoon. To Ipoh for what purposes?
To attend Division H Joint Installation Luncheon as well as Division H’s Humororus Speech and Speech Evaluation Contests. I was the emcee for the luncheon and then the photographer for the contest. Being an emcee that day was truly stressful. Why?
There was no script at all! I am serious! No script. At all. Therefore, I had to unleash my impromptu speech during the luncheon. Guess what? I did an excellent job! I am glad I managed to handle the flow of the events well and also, managed to get everyone hyped during lucky draw session.
I received a feedback from our Division Governor that I should consider being an emcee outside. I told him that I would take up the opportunity whenever it comes to me. God is good. Just when I finished the whole day event, I called Francis Ooi back. He called me earlier but I was not convenient to talk to him. He told me that a friend of his is looking for an emcee at her wedding dinner and therefore, he wanted to recommend me. He said he had seen me speaking and think I am good. Let me tell you, Francis Ooi is well-known by everyone to be a strict Toastmaster. If he praised you, it means that you are really good and he saw something in you!
I was really delighted! Firstly, being praised by Francis Ooi. Secondly, being offered an opportunity to be an emcee.
I ended my September with catching up with my ex colleagues. It has been a long time since we last met. Therefore, we had a lot of catch up to do. We even roughly made a plan for our next trip. Bukit Merah, yes? Let’s do it!
Since 2014 is coming to an end soon, I believe there are many great things awaiting me to experience. I am really looking forward to it. I am really positive about what are coming at me.
Bring it on!
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