Our VPE, Ng Kin Foong, CC, was acting
President for the meeting, and said that we should forgive the people
in our lives, but sometimes, we forgive everyone but ourselves (I
have the opposite problem). And also that he wants to show greater
appreciation to his parents, eg when he works late, his Mum will call
him and tell him to wake her up when he reaches home, so that she can
heat up the (dinner) soup for him.
The first Prepared Speech by
Toastmaster Chan Chee Wai (CC P2), was entitled “Charity”. It was
about his adventures while volunteering in Bangladesh and Thailand.
He told stories of the Bangladeshi people dying on the streets due to
hypothermia, and some Thai people eat only rice, raw chilli and soup.
The second Prepared Speech was by
Toastmaster Jack Chu (CC P4). The title of his speech was “What do
you mean?” and it was about people saying the same thing, but
having different intentions. Another example Jack gave were the
differences between men and women.
Last but not least, Toastmaster Ray
Oh's Speech (CC P7) about SCUBA Diving. Ray began his speech with the
question: “What does the acronym SCUBA stand for?”*
Ray then proceeded to show us that a
set of flippers, diving mask and BCD (Buoyancy Control Device, not
“Big Chicken Dinner”, “Bad Conduct Discharge” or “Binary
Coded Decimal”) doesn't really cost much, and an oxygen tank with
regulator costs only SGD 5 to rent. With a fatality rate of only 1
out of 200,000, SCUBA diving is safer than skydiving or parkour.
During the break, when I went to speak
with my mentor Coen Tan, ACS, ALB, he said, “Bro, I'm so glad
you'll be staying with us another year. When I read the news I
literally shouted” and then he proceeded to kiss my right shirt
sleeve. There are mentors, and then there's Coen, someone who is so
demonstrative of his love. I was so stunned I didn't know how to
reach. Thank you, Coen!
(My Employment Pass was not going to be
renewed for next year- but here at the Miracle Factory, miracles DO
happen; my boss appealed and got my EP renewed for 2 years!)
This being our Christmas meeting, we
had games. Everyone wrote on a small sheet of paper their names, and
answers to the following 5 questions:
Christmas to me is....
What industry am I in?
3 things I want for Christmas
3 things I want in life
My pet peeve
The fastest person to correctly guess
the name of the person, based on his/her answers to the 5 questions,
won a MARSHMALLOW STICK! Woohoo!
In the 2nd Round of the
game, the person who guessed correctly had to pretend that they were
the person described on the paper, and act or talk like them.
Yet again, our Table Topics segment was
most interesting: our Table Topics Master- Chong Cheng Lee, DTM,
wrote “GIFTS” on the white board, and gave actual gifts
(non-Daiso) for everyone who took part. The letters each spell a
quality that Cheng Lee has in abundance, and she feels compelled
(compelled!) to 'share' them:
Generosity
Initiative
Flexibility
Tolerance
Sensitivity
After the meeting ended, we proceeded
to the achievements of our latest 5 CC s (Competent Communicators) –
June Tan, Tan Mingjian, Nui Thantong Bang-on, Gladys Tye and Peter
Koh, with a Chilli Crab Dinner.
-Carl Wong,
Vice President, Public Relations
*Self-contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. I learned it from my Dad when I was in Primary School. I didn't understand the meaning of the word "apparatus" (I would call it "thing" or "device" today), but the fact that the first letter of every word spelt out the word "SCUBA" was amazing for me.
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| Best Evaluator- Tan Mingjian, CC |
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| Best Table Topics- Yew Runbin, ACS, ALB |
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| Best Prepared Speech- Toastmaster Chan Chee Wai |
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| Newly-crowned CCs: June Tan CC, Nui Thantong Bang-on CC, Gladys Tye CC, Tan Mingjian CC, Peter Koh CC |
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| A Heart given by a visiting Guest |
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| Heart given by a Guest |
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