9 June 2009
Word of the Evening: SPARKLING (ebullient, effervescent, scintillating, smart, witty, bright, brilliant, gleaming, glowing, radiant, shimmering, shining)
Did you just say no sparks? Absolutely wrong. Read the word of the evening again. Sparkling. A simple word isn't it? (don't know if you noticed, but sparkling is synonymous to ebullient! oops..there we go again!) And what better way to have a sparkling meeting than to have Lucas Ng as the TME! (haha..yes, some of you may know...we had a really good, sparkling time..Lucas can be heard "sparkling away" every time he speaks!!!) XD
The evening's SAA was Ong Siew Ming, calling the meeting to order at 6.45 pm. Bushra takes seat as Timer, Allan Ma handling the Ah Counter, Samuel Fo responsible for Table Topics, Muthu Kumar as Table Topics Evaluator, Vithiya taking Grammarian notes, and Grace Chong as the General Evaluator.
Fast forward.. Table Topics! Sam lived up to expectation and had another interesting twist to the session. Instead of drawing out papers, volunteers were to draw out items from a box! Hmm.. First to rise to the challenge was Wang De Xin who spoke on Online Games. Then it was Stephen Fernando whose lucky hands picked a packet of campbell soup. Of course, he has to talk about Campbell Soup! And it gets better from here... Amy Li then found herself a packet of Colgate plax staring at her.. Haha..yap, she had two minutes to share her story ... "Colgate plax is one item that you ought to have..it freshens your breath...etc etc" XD. The fourth participant, a first-timer Tan Boon Chuan from the Law School picked an item in green. A popular and one of the essential nutritious drink, 3-in-1 Milo!! We found out that the guy here doesn't really like Milo though.. :D Great job, Boon Chuan! Lastly, we had another first-timer, Gan Siaw Ching from the Secretarial Studies braving herself to the front, confidently until ... she saw the item in her hand. Her jaws dropped. Daia washing powder!! Ouch..even for me, this is gonna be tough but she did well, at moments flipping the tiny packet up and down seeking for more to speak on! Smart!!
Looking eager on the other end from my table was Muthu Kumar waiting impatiently for Lucas to finish his "sparkling" introduction of the Table Topics Evaluator. Then he rose and stepped up to the lectern. With a fierce look, he suddenly ... smiled, a big one.. =D and began sharing his opinion on the participants' performance earlier. Well done! A quality evaluation from the incoming VPPR of SCTMC.
Humour time! Open to the floor, Sam was "cheered" his way to the floor with a simple joke. Sze Yue (hehe..that's me..XD) then went out and shared another one. Stephen Fernando decided not to miss out on the fun and hurriedly churned out his famous KFC joke. Haha...heard that for like the tenth time already.. but the point is..ITS STILL FUNNY WHEN HE SAYS IT!! Gosh.. :P
And off we went for a short break...to savour 'the curry that was spilled' Hee... Delicious AND Sparkling!!
We continued to sparkle the night with an assignment speech by LIM SZE YUE with his 4th project from the Specialty Speeches manual. Objective - Read Out Loud. He delivered his speech extracted from a book entitled Drinking Coffee, Telling Stories and Making Money by Sim Quan Seng and Stephanie Sta Maria.
GRACE CHONG then took the stage with a short talk on The Education Program, briefing the audience on the basics of Toastmasters journey. It was timely as we had a few newcomers who I'm sure benefited and understood better on the achievements that they can look forward to. Grace conducted the session in a two-way communication style, throwing questions to the audience and receiving answers. This is when we had so much fun...almost everyone trying their best to "sparkle" in every sentence we used. First, it was Grace, then of course.. (kiasu XDXD) Lucas, then Sze Yue, Allan, Sam, Kumar, Vithiya... DANGER, Laughters everywhere!! Hahahha.. SAMUEL FO was then invited to give a demo Icebreaker speech and did a brilliant 4-minute speech, full of wit, vocal variety and appropriate body gestures. Whenever he stands in front of the audience, he seems to have the sparkle in his eyes. Cool, huh? :D
General Evaluator, Ms GRACE CHONG continued the ebullient mood with the General Evaluation session. ACB Joshua George was called upon to deliver his evaluation on Sze Yue's speech. To sum his evaluation, it wasn't one of the speaker's best performance. :( All roleplayers then delivered their report for the night, followed by the general evaluation of the meeting by Grace Chong. And oh by the way, Lucas' eyes were sparkling when Vithiya delivered her report. She lost count of the number of "sparkling" the energetic TME used. Sooo expected.
President wraps up the meeting, with a quick airtime slot by Sze Yue, as usual, reminding the audience of the meeting's report and the blog. "Those who are still not on my mailing list, please stay back for a moment. I need your sparkling email address" :D
That's it for 9 June 2009 meeting! What a spark it has been!! :D
Next meeting: 23 June 2009. Same time, save venue.
See you there!
Have a Cheerful and Lucky week ahead! Cheers!!
Prepared by,
LIM SZE YUE
VPPR
Monday, June 15, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Battle of the Sexes
District 51 recently held one of its biggest event at Wisma WIM on 27 May 2009 and it was an absolute BLAST!
The Organizing Chairman, Mr Dominic Gerard Joseph had organized the Great Debate or better known as the Battle of the Sexes. The title of the debate:
In the 21st Century, Men Are Less Reliable Than Women As Leaders!
For the motion (The Women Team)
1. Kiang Fanng Pyng (Captain)
2. Meera Raman
3. Chew Sher Ling
4. Kay Fong
Against the motion (The Men Team)
1. Lee Swee Seng (Captain)
2. G. Subramaniam
3. G. Jayam
4. Jon Tan
Alright. So, which one of us were there? There were in total 6 of us from SCTMC. Bushra, Maya, Muthu Kumar, Lucas, Amy Choo and myself made a trip there to see for ourselves how great the debate actually is. At 6.30 p.m. we treated ourselves to the special nasi beryani served there. The organising chairman then delivered his opening address at 7.30 p.m. and the nights' highlighted debate began at 8 p.m. sharp.
The ladies were up first, with Kay Wong standing her ground on women as the more reliable gender when it comes to leadership. Then, Jon Tan from the men's team took the stage. And the roles switched to Chew Sher Ling, G.Jeyam, Meera Raman, G.Subramaniam, Kiang Fanng Pyng and last but not least, Lee Swee Seng. Now, all 6 of us came to this event without any idea of the speaker's capability. I personally have only seen Lee Swee Seng delivered a speech in TLI but the rest of the names were unfamiliar to me and I am sure, unfamiliar to most of SCTMC members. However, all 8 speakers were accomplished and competent speakers and their performance supported that. It is truly an eye-opening event. The speakers seem to blend in humour with so much ease and truly winning the heart of the audience of around 100.
Bullets were being fired. Salts were being rubbed on open wounds. Snipers attack. Chemical warfare between the teams.. Men are less reliable!! No, women are less reliable!! Look at the global credit crisis we're in. The leaders of the companies were men! The Great Depression..World War... And the men's team rebutted, confine your arguments to only year 2000 - 2009. No empirical evidence were shown! Men are equally reliable if not better than women... We also heard the issue of IQ and EQ being brought out...the qualities of leadership were explained by both teams to their favour. Statistics were flinging in the air..
Phew..you thought it was tense? Not at all. It was indeed a Battle of Wit. Not a single speaker failed to crack the audience into laughter. And seriously, it was super super funny. Well planned speech and delivered to perfection. "Men are like advertisements. Their promises are never true!" XD XD "How does a man not doing the house laundry got to do with leadership?" "You married the wrong man lah!" LOL!!!
Yap. It really was a splendid exposure towards a higher level of communication skills. Watching them perform, I realised that I am still far far away from being on par with these fellows..but I will be there, we will be there...one fine day! Hee~
That's a wrap from me!
Oh, i forgot. Guess who won the debate?? Haha..I suddenly feel like being naughty and not release the results to you all yet. I'll post the answer...say, next week? Haha..naughty right?:P Try finding out from other sources if you can. In the meantime, Ladies and Gentlemen, what is your say? Shall we have a simple debate on the similar title here?
Drop in your arguments. Debate style.
In the 21st century, Men are Less Reliable Than Women As Leaders.
Are YOU for the motion or against it??
Until next week,
Cheers!
LIM SZE YUE
VPPR
15 June 09 - Result..Men Team won
The Organizing Chairman, Mr Dominic Gerard Joseph had organized the Great Debate or better known as the Battle of the Sexes. The title of the debate:
In the 21st Century, Men Are Less Reliable Than Women As Leaders!
For the motion (The Women Team)
1. Kiang Fanng Pyng (Captain)
2. Meera Raman
3. Chew Sher Ling
4. Kay Fong
Against the motion (The Men Team)
1. Lee Swee Seng (Captain)
2. G. Subramaniam
3. G. Jayam
4. Jon Tan
Alright. So, which one of us were there? There were in total 6 of us from SCTMC. Bushra, Maya, Muthu Kumar, Lucas, Amy Choo and myself made a trip there to see for ourselves how great the debate actually is. At 6.30 p.m. we treated ourselves to the special nasi beryani served there. The organising chairman then delivered his opening address at 7.30 p.m. and the nights' highlighted debate began at 8 p.m. sharp.
The ladies were up first, with Kay Wong standing her ground on women as the more reliable gender when it comes to leadership. Then, Jon Tan from the men's team took the stage. And the roles switched to Chew Sher Ling, G.Jeyam, Meera Raman, G.Subramaniam, Kiang Fanng Pyng and last but not least, Lee Swee Seng. Now, all 6 of us came to this event without any idea of the speaker's capability. I personally have only seen Lee Swee Seng delivered a speech in TLI but the rest of the names were unfamiliar to me and I am sure, unfamiliar to most of SCTMC members. However, all 8 speakers were accomplished and competent speakers and their performance supported that. It is truly an eye-opening event. The speakers seem to blend in humour with so much ease and truly winning the heart of the audience of around 100.
Bullets were being fired. Salts were being rubbed on open wounds. Snipers attack. Chemical warfare between the teams.. Men are less reliable!! No, women are less reliable!! Look at the global credit crisis we're in. The leaders of the companies were men! The Great Depression..World War... And the men's team rebutted, confine your arguments to only year 2000 - 2009. No empirical evidence were shown! Men are equally reliable if not better than women... We also heard the issue of IQ and EQ being brought out...the qualities of leadership were explained by both teams to their favour. Statistics were flinging in the air..
Phew..you thought it was tense? Not at all. It was indeed a Battle of Wit. Not a single speaker failed to crack the audience into laughter. And seriously, it was super super funny. Well planned speech and delivered to perfection. "Men are like advertisements. Their promises are never true!" XD XD "How does a man not doing the house laundry got to do with leadership?" "You married the wrong man lah!" LOL!!!
Yap. It really was a splendid exposure towards a higher level of communication skills. Watching them perform, I realised that I am still far far away from being on par with these fellows..but I will be there, we will be there...one fine day! Hee~
That's a wrap from me!
Oh, i forgot. Guess who won the debate?? Haha..I suddenly feel like being naughty and not release the results to you all yet. I'll post the answer...say, next week? Haha..naughty right?:P Try finding out from other sources if you can. In the meantime, Ladies and Gentlemen, what is your say? Shall we have a simple debate on the similar title here?
Drop in your arguments. Debate style.
In the 21st century, Men are Less Reliable Than Women As Leaders.
Are YOU for the motion or against it??
Until next week,
Cheers!
LIM SZE YUE
VPPR
15 June 09 - Result..Men Team won
Saturday, May 30, 2009
SCTMC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2009/2010
Yap! Ladies and Gentlemen, SCTMC had the Annual General Meeting on 26 May 2009 at 5.45 p.m. Venue: English Language Activity Room, Stamford College, Jalan Barat.
Before persenting to you the incoming committee members, let's take a look at the current EXCO members first. It has been a tremendous term with this team of 8 and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of them for the support given to me as the VPPR as well as the support shown towards the members of the club. Thank You!
SCTMC Executive Committee 2008/2009
President: Joshua George, ACB
VP Education: Grace Chong, CC
VP Membership: Muthu Kumar,TM
VP Public Relations: Lim Sze Yue, CC (ACB soon...:D)
Secretary: Marina Lu Yan, TM
Treasurer: Steven Chan, CC CL
Sergeant-At-Arms: Samuel Fo, TM
Immediate Past President: Priscila Low, ACB,CL
And NOW, the incoming leaders!!!
President: Grace Chong, CC
VP Education: Samuel Fo, TM
VP Membership: Allan Ma, TM
VP Public Relations: Muthu Kumar, TM
Secretary: Gina, TM
Treasurer: Carmen Khoo, TM
Sergeant-At-Arms: Vithiya, TM
Immediate Past President: Joshua George, ACB
There you go! Congratulations to the new Executive Committee of 2009/2010!! This is a great team and I am sure the results for the next term would be an outstanding one. All the Best!!
Chees,
LIM SZE YUE
VPPR
Before persenting to you the incoming committee members, let's take a look at the current EXCO members first. It has been a tremendous term with this team of 8 and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of them for the support given to me as the VPPR as well as the support shown towards the members of the club. Thank You!
SCTMC Executive Committee 2008/2009
President: Joshua George, ACB
VP Education: Grace Chong, CC
VP Membership: Muthu Kumar,TM
VP Public Relations: Lim Sze Yue, CC (ACB soon...:D)
Secretary: Marina Lu Yan, TM
Treasurer: Steven Chan, CC CL
Sergeant-At-Arms: Samuel Fo, TM
Immediate Past President: Priscila Low, ACB,CL
And NOW, the incoming leaders!!!
President: Grace Chong, CC
VP Education: Samuel Fo, TM
VP Membership: Allan Ma, TM
VP Public Relations: Muthu Kumar, TM
Secretary: Gina, TM
Treasurer: Carmen Khoo, TM
Sergeant-At-Arms: Vithiya, TM
Immediate Past President: Joshua George, ACB
There you go! Congratulations to the new Executive Committee of 2009/2010!! This is a great team and I am sure the results for the next term would be an outstanding one. All the Best!!
Chees,
LIM SZE YUE
VPPR
A Winsome Smile
Whoa! What a week it has been!! I've got loads of updates for you guys.. But first..
26 May 2009
Word of the Evening: WINSOME (sweetly or innocently charming, engaging, lovely, fascinating)
The nights event kickstarted with a sumptious dinner that had everyone displaying their winsome smile while tucking in. The SAA, Mr Michael Chan (Hilton TMC) calls the meeting to order at 6.45 p.m. Then, the charming President, Lim Sze Yue ;P, standing in on behalf of Mr Joshua George welcomes all present and delivers his presidential report. Ms Gina was at the helm of the meeting, assuming the role of Toastmaster of the Evening. She led all present to a brief introduction of the Toastmasters International club and also introduced her team for the night. Muthu Kumar as Timer, Allan Ma as Ah Counter, Deborah Hoe as Table Topics Master, Amy Choo as Table Topics Evaluator, Lucas Ng as Grammarian, and the General Evaluator is none other than Mr Joshua George.
Table topics time! In my whole journey with Toastmasters, I have never seen such an interesting table topics session. Seriously!! Think I'm bragging? Well, read on and find out for yourselves. Ms Deborah Hoe led the session with a winsome twist. We usually have to volunteer ourselves to take up the challenge of impromptu speaking right? Today, we don't have to. We usually sit at our own places as the session was conducted right? Today, we all sat in a circle. We Never had a music playing along the session right? Today, we had YMCA song blasting from the laptop! "I said young man,....." And a gift at the very end? Wow.
So, what exactly happened was..something like a musical chair. A parcel was passed along the circle as the music is being played. When the music stops, the person who is holding the parcel automatically "volunteers" to be the speaker. The topic will be unwrapped from the yellow parcel. Lucky number one was Bushra who looked "stunned" when the music came to a halt. However, the student from Yamen did an excellent job in speaking on My Dream Career. The music continues.. And it hits Muthu Kumar next! What Do You Enjoy Doing?? Mark his word, you all. He says he enjoys not listening to his friend's advice and loves going against the odds. It got me thinking, a winsome attitude or a foolish choice? Hmm.. Lady luck then decided to smile upon Gajendran, a handsome gentleman from Help University TMC. He took on his given speech title, Where Do You See Yourself in 2 Years Time? in the most steady manner I've ever seen. In 2 years, the man hopes to be a graduate lawyer, coming back and taking a plunge in the local politics scene, aspiring to sort out the mess we have here. Music plays..music stops. And Michael Chan speaks. He told us that he wants to be financially free and be able to retire in Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years? Yes, you can do it, Mr Michael!! The play button was hit and the parcel moved around once more. As fate would have it, the most talkative person in the club got the honour to speak. And that is our club's president, Mr Joshua George!! XD "In 10 years time, I would love to see my wife and I running a self-sustaining orphanage. It has been our dream to help the kids..." 5 speakers and you thought the session would wrap up? Nope. The music continues..and in fact, the session was so enjoyable that nobody objected to a 6th speaker.. Until it came to my hands..then Lucas'. Stop. Ms Deborah came to him and said all good things must come to an end, and as she unwraps the parcel..this book is for you, Lucas! *Ish..wasted lah, I silently whispered* :D Excellent, excellent session. We definitely experienced a whole new meaning towards table topics. Great job there, Ms Deborah and thank you very much!! XD XD
Aiks, much has been said of the table topics. So, I'm gonna keep it short on the evaluation. Amy Choo took the stage with her ever adorable evaluation of the 5 speakers. Then, humour was..erm awkwardly humourous! With Sam Fo and Muthu Kumar making their presence felt. And off we go to a short break...
Assignment speeches time! We had TM VITHIYA, a young, energetic, young, smart, young lady who amazed us with her Ice Breaker speech entitled, Me, Myself and I. For the record, this girl is fondly known as Maya among her friends. So, what did we found out about Maya? She is a Stamford student pursuing a Diploma in Mass Communication (correct me if I am wrong..) and can you belief this.. She is in the midst of penning down her life in a book, soon to be published! And she's only 18!
GAJENDRAN was next with his 9th project from the C&L Manual. Objective - Persuade With Power. The man brought the audience to the world of smokers with his speech entitled, Recipe For Disaster. Mix nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide concentration, put it in your mouth and there you go! A simple recipe for your disaster! That was the opening to his speech..very catchy isn't it? He went on to persuade the audience to stay away from smoking and for us to encourage our loved ones to stop smoking, if any.
LIM SZE YUE then took centrestage with his 3rd project from the Specialty Speeches Manual. Objective - Sell A Product. He had the audience listening to his sales talk on a seminar workshop known as 50 of Your Communication Problems Answered! The "product" was tailored for fellow toatmasters or anyone who would like to improve their communication skills.
General Evaluator, Mr JOSHUA GEORGE was then invited to the floor to lead the session. Assignment speech evaluators were Samuel Fo for Maya, Amy Choo for Gajendran, and Deborah Hoe for Sze Yue. All three gave encouraging feedbacks to the speakers as well as points to strengthen on. The roleplayers then delivered their reports followed by the general evaluation by Mr Joshua, ACB.
President, Sze Yue, took over and gave his closing remarks. Among others, he persuaded the members to attend a District 51 event, The Great Debate to be held the following day and received tremendous support from them. All 5 tickets we had were sold! We were even short of one... Hee~
That's a wrap from me! Thank you all for coming as well as for following up with this update.
Next winsome meeting: 9 June 2009. Same time, same venue.
Looking forward to your presence.
Up next, the SCTMC Annual General Meeting..who's the incoming EXCO Committee members??
Have a great week ahead! Cheers!!
Prepared by,
LIM SZE YUE
VPPR
Quote of the Evening: COMING HERE TODAY IS TRULY AN EYE-OPENING EVENT!
26 May 2009
Word of the Evening: WINSOME (sweetly or innocently charming, engaging, lovely, fascinating)
The nights event kickstarted with a sumptious dinner that had everyone displaying their winsome smile while tucking in. The SAA, Mr Michael Chan (Hilton TMC) calls the meeting to order at 6.45 p.m. Then, the charming President, Lim Sze Yue ;P, standing in on behalf of Mr Joshua George welcomes all present and delivers his presidential report. Ms Gina was at the helm of the meeting, assuming the role of Toastmaster of the Evening. She led all present to a brief introduction of the Toastmasters International club and also introduced her team for the night. Muthu Kumar as Timer, Allan Ma as Ah Counter, Deborah Hoe as Table Topics Master, Amy Choo as Table Topics Evaluator, Lucas Ng as Grammarian, and the General Evaluator is none other than Mr Joshua George.
Table topics time! In my whole journey with Toastmasters, I have never seen such an interesting table topics session. Seriously!! Think I'm bragging? Well, read on and find out for yourselves. Ms Deborah Hoe led the session with a winsome twist. We usually have to volunteer ourselves to take up the challenge of impromptu speaking right? Today, we don't have to. We usually sit at our own places as the session was conducted right? Today, we all sat in a circle. We Never had a music playing along the session right? Today, we had YMCA song blasting from the laptop! "I said young man,....." And a gift at the very end? Wow.
So, what exactly happened was..something like a musical chair. A parcel was passed along the circle as the music is being played. When the music stops, the person who is holding the parcel automatically "volunteers" to be the speaker. The topic will be unwrapped from the yellow parcel. Lucky number one was Bushra who looked "stunned" when the music came to a halt. However, the student from Yamen did an excellent job in speaking on My Dream Career. The music continues.. And it hits Muthu Kumar next! What Do You Enjoy Doing?? Mark his word, you all. He says he enjoys not listening to his friend's advice and loves going against the odds. It got me thinking, a winsome attitude or a foolish choice? Hmm.. Lady luck then decided to smile upon Gajendran, a handsome gentleman from Help University TMC. He took on his given speech title, Where Do You See Yourself in 2 Years Time? in the most steady manner I've ever seen. In 2 years, the man hopes to be a graduate lawyer, coming back and taking a plunge in the local politics scene, aspiring to sort out the mess we have here. Music plays..music stops. And Michael Chan speaks. He told us that he wants to be financially free and be able to retire in Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years? Yes, you can do it, Mr Michael!! The play button was hit and the parcel moved around once more. As fate would have it, the most talkative person in the club got the honour to speak. And that is our club's president, Mr Joshua George!! XD "In 10 years time, I would love to see my wife and I running a self-sustaining orphanage. It has been our dream to help the kids..." 5 speakers and you thought the session would wrap up? Nope. The music continues..and in fact, the session was so enjoyable that nobody objected to a 6th speaker.. Until it came to my hands..then Lucas'. Stop. Ms Deborah came to him and said all good things must come to an end, and as she unwraps the parcel..this book is for you, Lucas! *Ish..wasted lah, I silently whispered* :D Excellent, excellent session. We definitely experienced a whole new meaning towards table topics. Great job there, Ms Deborah and thank you very much!! XD XD
Aiks, much has been said of the table topics. So, I'm gonna keep it short on the evaluation. Amy Choo took the stage with her ever adorable evaluation of the 5 speakers. Then, humour was..erm awkwardly humourous! With Sam Fo and Muthu Kumar making their presence felt. And off we go to a short break...
Assignment speeches time! We had TM VITHIYA, a young, energetic, young, smart, young lady who amazed us with her Ice Breaker speech entitled, Me, Myself and I. For the record, this girl is fondly known as Maya among her friends. So, what did we found out about Maya? She is a Stamford student pursuing a Diploma in Mass Communication (correct me if I am wrong..) and can you belief this.. She is in the midst of penning down her life in a book, soon to be published! And she's only 18!
GAJENDRAN was next with his 9th project from the C&L Manual. Objective - Persuade With Power. The man brought the audience to the world of smokers with his speech entitled, Recipe For Disaster. Mix nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide concentration, put it in your mouth and there you go! A simple recipe for your disaster! That was the opening to his speech..very catchy isn't it? He went on to persuade the audience to stay away from smoking and for us to encourage our loved ones to stop smoking, if any.
LIM SZE YUE then took centrestage with his 3rd project from the Specialty Speeches Manual. Objective - Sell A Product. He had the audience listening to his sales talk on a seminar workshop known as 50 of Your Communication Problems Answered! The "product" was tailored for fellow toatmasters or anyone who would like to improve their communication skills.
General Evaluator, Mr JOSHUA GEORGE was then invited to the floor to lead the session. Assignment speech evaluators were Samuel Fo for Maya, Amy Choo for Gajendran, and Deborah Hoe for Sze Yue. All three gave encouraging feedbacks to the speakers as well as points to strengthen on. The roleplayers then delivered their reports followed by the general evaluation by Mr Joshua, ACB.
President, Sze Yue, took over and gave his closing remarks. Among others, he persuaded the members to attend a District 51 event, The Great Debate to be held the following day and received tremendous support from them. All 5 tickets we had were sold! We were even short of one... Hee~
That's a wrap from me! Thank you all for coming as well as for following up with this update.
Next winsome meeting: 9 June 2009. Same time, same venue.
Looking forward to your presence.
Up next, the SCTMC Annual General Meeting..who's the incoming EXCO Committee members??
Have a great week ahead! Cheers!!
Prepared by,
LIM SZE YUE
VPPR
Quote of the Evening: COMING HERE TODAY IS TRULY AN EYE-OPENING EVENT!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
One Moment
I HESITATED AND REGRETTED
As I was walking home the other day, I saw an old woman sitting on the pavement. Her clothes were worn and stained, and her face was smudged with dirt. Her white hair was matted and plastered to her scalp, it must have not been washed for a long, long time. She was sitting on a pile of flattened cardboard boxes. She had a kind face, but it looked worn and tired.
As people walked by, she would held out a frail, shaking hand and pleaded, "Money for food, please?" Most just passed her by; some gave her disgusted looks. Some put small change into her hand - at that, she smiled, bowed her head, and softly said, "Thank you".
I reached into my pockes and felt for coins but all I found was a five ringgit note. A thought came to me: Why not make the old lady's day by giving her a fiver? But it was a fleeting thought - soon gone. I kept searching for loose change until I finally found 20 sen - but by then, I had walked some distance past the old woman. I looked back, and she was looking at me with bright hope in her eyes. She had seen me searching for my pockets and was obviously hoping that I would give her something. But it was only 20 sen! I felt bad, and, reluctantly, I turned and walked on. I could imagine her downcast and dissapointed face as she looked at my retreating back. Not many people had given her anything; every sen must have meant a lot for her.
I couldn't forget the old lady that day. I could have just given her the five ringgit that I had. I almost did, why did I stop? I could have just turned around and walked a few paces back to put some money in her hands, why didn't I? I had the money, and it is not like I couldn't spare it. It might have made the old lady's day. It could have bought her a meal that would have warmed her at least once during long cold days on the streets. She looked so frail and weak...
I decided to find her again the next day and give her some money. Enough for a warm drink and meal, perhaps even a change of clothes. I walked that way again - but she was not at her usual spot. The next day, I walked the same way again, but again she wasn't there. This went on for a week, and at last I gave up and thought that perhaps she might have moved elsewhere. Perhaps the people around here had not been as charitable as she had hoped. I certainly hadn't been.
I have not seen the old woman again; I am not sure where she is now or how she is doing. What I do know is that I had missed a chance to do a good deed. I should have done what I'd felt was right to do at that moment.
...
Fellow readers, this article entitled One Moment is published in Starmag, Sunday 17 May 2009 HEART & SOUL and is written by C.H. Cheah. The reasons I decided to put this up on the blog are:
From a Toastmasters point of view, this is an example of how you can craft your speech as if you are bringing the audience into the scene. The article is written with a strong hint of vivid words, so descriptive that the readers can visualise what they read. Let's assume it is a delivered speech, I personally feel that it is a speech with a strong message (Project 2 C&L), a specific purpose (Project 3 C&L), powerful word choice and arrangement especially with vivid words (Project 4 C&L), provides ample room for body gestures (Project 5 C&L), vocal variety (Project 6 C&L) and with further variations, could add up to persuade with power and inspire the audience as well! (Project 9 & 10 C&L). Further dissect the article and I'm sure you will discover interesting words and sentences that you could make use and brighten the Grammarian's day!
There you go! Honestly, the next reason prompted me to share this article with you. I read it this morning and felt that anyone could relate to it. I guess we all had the experience of hesitating and regretting it later on. I had met a few people like the old woman in the story, occasionally, when I left my office, whilst walking to the nearby bus stop. And I certainly hadn't been as charitable as I hoped I had been now.
Hmm..a thought to ponder eh? Feedbacks welcomed.
Cheers!
LIM SZE YUE
As I was walking home the other day, I saw an old woman sitting on the pavement. Her clothes were worn and stained, and her face was smudged with dirt. Her white hair was matted and plastered to her scalp, it must have not been washed for a long, long time. She was sitting on a pile of flattened cardboard boxes. She had a kind face, but it looked worn and tired.
As people walked by, she would held out a frail, shaking hand and pleaded, "Money for food, please?" Most just passed her by; some gave her disgusted looks. Some put small change into her hand - at that, she smiled, bowed her head, and softly said, "Thank you".
I reached into my pockes and felt for coins but all I found was a five ringgit note. A thought came to me: Why not make the old lady's day by giving her a fiver? But it was a fleeting thought - soon gone. I kept searching for loose change until I finally found 20 sen - but by then, I had walked some distance past the old woman. I looked back, and she was looking at me with bright hope in her eyes. She had seen me searching for my pockets and was obviously hoping that I would give her something. But it was only 20 sen! I felt bad, and, reluctantly, I turned and walked on. I could imagine her downcast and dissapointed face as she looked at my retreating back. Not many people had given her anything; every sen must have meant a lot for her.
I couldn't forget the old lady that day. I could have just given her the five ringgit that I had. I almost did, why did I stop? I could have just turned around and walked a few paces back to put some money in her hands, why didn't I? I had the money, and it is not like I couldn't spare it. It might have made the old lady's day. It could have bought her a meal that would have warmed her at least once during long cold days on the streets. She looked so frail and weak...
I decided to find her again the next day and give her some money. Enough for a warm drink and meal, perhaps even a change of clothes. I walked that way again - but she was not at her usual spot. The next day, I walked the same way again, but again she wasn't there. This went on for a week, and at last I gave up and thought that perhaps she might have moved elsewhere. Perhaps the people around here had not been as charitable as she had hoped. I certainly hadn't been.
I have not seen the old woman again; I am not sure where she is now or how she is doing. What I do know is that I had missed a chance to do a good deed. I should have done what I'd felt was right to do at that moment.
...
Fellow readers, this article entitled One Moment is published in Starmag, Sunday 17 May 2009 HEART & SOUL and is written by C.H. Cheah. The reasons I decided to put this up on the blog are:
From a Toastmasters point of view, this is an example of how you can craft your speech as if you are bringing the audience into the scene. The article is written with a strong hint of vivid words, so descriptive that the readers can visualise what they read. Let's assume it is a delivered speech, I personally feel that it is a speech with a strong message (Project 2 C&L), a specific purpose (Project 3 C&L), powerful word choice and arrangement especially with vivid words (Project 4 C&L), provides ample room for body gestures (Project 5 C&L), vocal variety (Project 6 C&L) and with further variations, could add up to persuade with power and inspire the audience as well! (Project 9 & 10 C&L). Further dissect the article and I'm sure you will discover interesting words and sentences that you could make use and brighten the Grammarian's day!
There you go! Honestly, the next reason prompted me to share this article with you. I read it this morning and felt that anyone could relate to it. I guess we all had the experience of hesitating and regretting it later on. I had met a few people like the old woman in the story, occasionally, when I left my office, whilst walking to the nearby bus stop. And I certainly hadn't been as charitable as I hoped I had been now.
Hmm..a thought to ponder eh? Feedbacks welcomed.
Cheers!
LIM SZE YUE
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