Best Prepared Speech: Gladys Tye, CC
Best Evaluator: Andrew Chen, ATMB, ALS
Best Table Topics: Shirley Lam
Club President kicked off the meeting
with a story. Once upon a time, there was a millionaire who was
explaining how he got rich. “My father gave me 20 cents. I used it
to buy an apple, polished it, and sold it for 40 cents. The next day,
with that 40 cents, I bought 2 apples, polished them and sold them
for a total of 80 cents...” His audience was on the edge of their
seats. “Then my uncle died and left me a huge inheritance. And
that, ladies and gentlemen, was how I became a millionaire”
Hey, don't throw the keyboard at me.
You knew that was coming. Whoever heard of an Apple Millionaire?
Our club was also graced with the
presence of Raphael, a 10-year-young boy who seems to have all the
qualities of a great Toastmaster, however he's too young to join. He
did, however participate in Table Topics.
The first Prepared Speech was by Gladys
Tye, CC. She was presenting an Advanced Speech from the Storytelling
Manual, but we had to guess the title from the speech content, and it
was only revealed at the end of her speech. It was the story of two
sisters, Ah Lian and Ah Huay (the story has been localized for a
Singaporean audience), who were kind and nasty, respectively, and
their mother. Ah Lian had to fetch water from a well. She met an old
lady who asked her for a drink of water. After Ah Lian gave her the
drink (and the extended conversation), she got herself into trouble
because she was late. However, pearls started dropping out of her
mouth whenever she spoke (these were real pearls, not the bubble tea
kind). Long story short, her mother wanted Ah Huay to have the same
gift (why anyone would want TWO daughters with pearls coming out
their mouths is beyond me- you'd have to wash and dry the pearls
before selling them, and set up a Pearl Sales and Marketing
Department, collect money, set up and maintain websites, etc), but
since Ah Huay was cruel to the lady (who now looked very pretty, like
Jessica Alba) she had frogs coming out of her mouth each time she
spoke. If I were Ah Huay I'd keep my mouth shut. Or sell the frogs to
Biology students. There was a happy ending for Ah Lian, but not for
Ah Huay or her Mum. Can you guess the title of the speech? Hint: it's
about what came out of the sisters' mouths.*
The second speech was by Carl Wong, CC.
His Advanced Speech was from The Entertaining Speaker manual,
entitled “I Wish I Had a Wife”, taken from a 2001 Korean movie of
the same name. Carl spoke about being introduced to a 1-year-old wife
(yes, that's what really happened), the story of the Korean movie
that he chose, and how things were not as easy as 'spouse shopping',
ie buying a spouse from a supermarket. Also Carl shared his criteria
for a wife, which was met by groans of agony from the audience: Kind,
Loving, Intelligent, Sexy, Beautiful, Understanding, Tall and
Humourous... but acting on advice from his married colleague, he has
modified it to only 2: must speak English, and must be a Toastmaster
(well having a great sense of humour and looking like Jessica Alba
won't hurt)
The third speech was by Toastmaster Joe
Wan. His P5 speech from the Competent Communicator manual was about
his experience in Japan. He and his wife were having their honeymoon,
and decided to try a Syabu-syabu Japanese Buffet (thin beef slices
that were cooked quickly in boiling water). Since the cost was only
3,900 yen, they thought it reasonable and ordered it. But then they
saw it (cue Mr Bean theme song and light shining from above, on the
menu)- Kobe beef, one of the most expensive beef ever (my friend told
me that they play music for the cows, feed them beer and massage the
cows. No kidding. But he called it Wagyu Beef). Again, long story
short, Joe saw that the bill amount seemed more than he had
anticipated (27,000 yen), talked to the manager to get a discount,
and got charged for the Kobe beef 'at cost' (10,000 yen total). One
Toastmaster even had the cheek to ask (jokingly) for the restaurant
name, so that they could attempt the same stunt again.
The fourth speech, by Richard Lam,
ATMB, CL, was about “Choices”. He elaborated about how he had
decided to uproot his family and relocate to Bangkok 15 years ago,
stepping up to a challenge. He and his wife Shirley Lam joined a
Toastmasters Club to mingle with other English-speaking expatriates
in Bangkok, and that's what made him the amazing Toastmaster that he
is now.
The final speech by Coen Tan, ACS, ALB,
was entitled “The Choice” (singular, this time, and preceded by
“The”; the similarity with Richard Lam's speech was the title and
how choices made at pivotal points in their lives have altered them
greatly, but otherwise the 2 speeches differ greatly). Coen began by
imitating his secondary school Additional Maths teacher in Sec 4:
“You're a disgrace to the school! You're lazy! You don't give a
damn! You don't care!” (Methinks you need to read The Secret and
learn about the Law of Attraction, teacher)
Then Coen talked about how he confessed
his love for the girl that he liked, asking her to be his steady
girlfriend. “You're a nice guy, Coen” (Oh, that usually doesn't
end well). “I like you... as a friend”
Coen articulated the voices in his
head: “LOSER!! FRIEND ZONE!” But he remembered something his
mentor taught him (and I, in turn, learned from Coen): “You can
close your heart in fear, or open it in LOVE” And that, dear
friends, is how Coen came to be with his current girlfriend.
Till next meeting, Check buffet price
lists and open your heart in love!
Carl Wong HL
Vice President of Public Relations
*Answer: Pearls and Frogs
 |
| Happy Birthday too youu... |
 |
| February babies! |
 |
| Blowing out the candle |
 |
| Cutting the cake |
 |
| What enthusiastic singing and photo taking |
 |
| You can see Raphael standing next to Shaun |
 |
| Preparing the Yu Sheng |
 |
| The Lou Hei |
 |
| We got more Yu Sheng on the table than on our plates |
 |
| Linda Huang, CC; Coen Tan, ACS, ALB; Gladys Tye, CC; Zhuo Shuzhen, ACB, ALB |
 |
| Our youngest speaker!! |
 |
| Best Prepared Speech: Gladys Tye, CC |
 |
| Best Evaluator: Andrew Chen, ATMB, ALS |
 |
| Best Table Topic: Shirley Lam |
No comments:
Post a Comment