Toastmaster Magazine Reading Gathering in June

I left home in the rain. I arrived home in the rain. The reading gathering in June took place in the rain again at Lydia's grand mansion, a luxurious and convenient location for everybody, Friday evening, the 8th of June. I did not attend the May gathering in the rain because of my flu. I was elated to catch up what I had missed last time

Irene, Michelle, Lydia and I met for dinner at Hi Sushi, a conveyor belt sushi restaurant before the reading. A huge variety of sushi on color plates passed our table on a rotating conveyer belt that wound through the fancily decorated restaurant. I sat next to the belt and couldn't resist the temptation to gorge them all. Civilized Michelle ate only cooked dishes, we therefore had not only the mouth-watering selections from the belt, but only many delicious dishes from the kitchen. By the time the table was full of empty plates of the consumed delicacy, we left with our stomach satisfied to proceed to the next session.

Skin Caring workshop was scheduled after dinner. Cecilia, the beautiful wife of Harrison Lee, DTM, showed us how to care our ultimate layer of beauty with her company Mary Kay's products. Be beauty but skin deep, beauty is the ticket to the world of rich and famous. If money is all for men, so is beauty for women. No wonder women would do everything for beauty. From costly and painful surgery to laborious beauty care, women endure all. The more beautiful the woman is, the worse she becomes obsessed with the superficial and ephemeral beautification process which could and would occupy her entire time, energy, thought, and life. After all the first impression offers no chance to those who have less for others to further explore the inner beauty refined through constant reading.

The lengthy reading was the third activity in row. We didn't end discussion of May issue till eleven o'clock. Trini talked about "Speaking of Science--How Toastmasters helped me sharpen my skills and start a foundation to help others" by Erika Ebbel. Being an elementary school English teacher, Trini shared with us her ambition to charter a English Speech Club in her school and ended up being exhausted teaching many classes a day at school. Irene led us to discuss "Talking to Teens--Teenagers are the original tough crowd. This is not an audience for the faint of heart or the unprepared" by Patrick Mott. As a caring mother of two, Irene used her personal stories to exemplify her interactions with her kids. Michelle elaborated in details "Simple Steps to Writing a Fantastic Speech" by Charles W. Buffington III.

Time was getting late. The momentum was still high to sustain to the fourth session--Karaoke Challenge. Most golden girls sang a couple of old songs of the 70's to get ready for the Chrismas show in December. At midnight, we left Lydia's place with up-lifted spirits in all.

As always, I had a splendid time meeting with the golden ladies for hours reading Toastmaster Magazines. I don't mind getting caught in the rain, on the contrary, I cherished the blissful blessing to submit to the power of the nature. It is ominous that the rainy season began one month later than usual, an aftermath of global warming. Sherry