Midsummer Jazz Promenade

Four years residence in New Orleans wasn't for nothing. The weekend promenade on Bourbon Street was a ritual and task for me to blend into the southern society in US in late 70's. As a lonely and desperate graduate student at LSU Medical Center, I took refuge at Cafe' du Monde, Pat O'Brien's, and many Jazz bars at French Quarter where I had Jazz in my life for the first time and ever after.

There are many Jazz lovers among Toastmasters. Toastmaster Hiromi Takigawa talked me into visiting Dazaifu to enjoy my last evening at Nishimura Jazz Factory in Kysuhu after District 76 Spring Conference 2008 in Hiroshima. Before we called it a night, Toastmaster Masuo Watari played Jazz guitar and sang his favorite song All of Me to say farewell.

Many thanks go to Toastmaster Irene Chen for informing of the Taipei International Jazz Festival 2008. I was at MACO Taipei to see the second of five consecutive concerts of Midsummer Jazz Promenade on Saturday evenings from June 21st to July 19th. Because of the rain, the open air concert was held indoors. MACO Taipei was packed with Jazz lovers, young and old. The music was great and spontaneous! I like both Jazz groups, young and energetic, full of passions!

With an aim to train myself to understand better the impromptu dialogue between the Jazz musicians live on stage, I walked into Franz and Friends to listen to Ching-tsung Jazz Quartet Sunday afternoon, June29th. The Live House concert was cool. While drinking coffee, I listened to sweet and warm Vocalist Wu Ching. She sang five songs (One Night in the Hotel, Triste, My Romance, Dancing in the Dark, Night and Day) in the first session and five more (Four, One Love Samba, It's Never Entered my Mind, Night & Music & You, Every Time We Say Goodbye) in the second session.

I am very satisfied with my progress in relishing the Jazz a little better during this cool weekend in the rain and I'm planning to listen to another two groups at the Taipei Water Park next Saturday evening, July 5th, to continue my intensive Jazz Training Course 2008. Hope to see many toastmasters and Jazz lovers there! Let's give our support to the young Jazz talents in Taipei City on breezy Saturday evenings!

Toastmaster Magazine Reading Gathering in June

Strolling along Chung-shan North Road, from Section One till Section Eight, takes at least two hours non-stop. Japanese developed the first half of Chung-shan North Road (Section 1, 2, 3) in the first half of 20th century and Americans relayed to develop the second half of Chung-shan North Road (Section 4, 5, 6) in the second half of 20th century. The Filipinos now take charge of the middle of Chung-shan North Road (Section 3, 4) on weekends. For first timers in town, this lush and grand boulevard is a must for fun walkers to know the epitome of Taipei on foot. No other place can better showcase the modern history of Taiwan than Chung-shan North Road.

Toastmaster Magazine reading gathering, organized by Irene, took place at Artco Tea House Friday evening, the 27th of June, on Chung-shan North Road Section One. The European facade Artco Stood out among the Japanese style snack bars on the 8th Alley in Japanese Era. If we could transcend half a century backwards, Artco might have been a geisha house for Taiwanese elite to mingle together. Times changed! And now and here golden ladies had dinner and read Toastmaster Magazine May issue 2008.

Even though Irene assigned only four articles, Notes or Not by Steven L, Reagles, page 10; The Art of Persuasion by Paul Endress, page 18; Silence-the Secret of Negotiation by Liz Tabir, page 20; Get Off the Cow Path by Suzanne Riches, page 22, all five golden ladies read the May issue from cover to cover. Linda and Trini like Better presentations from A to Z by Carol Smith White, because it is useful and applicable. I vote for Notes or Not simply because of the ingenious analogy of Notes and Lilliputians in Gulliver's Travels.

The special musical treat was the highlight after the reading. The duet of Pianist Veronica Yen and Flutist Jennie Lin gave an entertaing and educational Friday evening recital at Artco and won a full house of applause. How lucky golden ladies were to stick around and got the chance to pose with the lovely couple with Toastmaster Magazines in our hands.

Add Colors to Life

"Let's give Golden Ladies a big round of applause for their colorful and joyful clogging dance at D67 Installation Party 2008", the Masters of Ceremonies complimented our opening performance immediately after we walked down from the stage.

"I can't believe they are middle-aged ladies. They are like teenagers in the fluffy square dance costumes, so cute and lovely," whispered one female junior toastmaster. "I prefer the three golden ladies in cowboys costumes, tall and confident," commented another senior toastmaster. "It would be awesome if all golden ladies could wear shorter skirts," one distinguished gentleman toastmaster concluded the short discussion.

Thanks to Irene Chen, Golden Ladies were given the blissful opportunity to perform Bugle Call at an important Toastmasters gathering. All of us put on our most magnificent garb to open the admiring eyes of toastmasters. We were privileged to translate D67 Installation Party 2008 into a memorable event to Add Colors To Life, the theme of District 67 Governor 2008-2009 Marian Hsiao, DTM.

Bugle Call was the first clogging dance seven golden ladies performed on stage together in Toastmasters. Bugle Call is the best clogging dance to show the team spirit of beginner cloggers. It is simple yet powerful to demonstrate the percussive characters of clogging dance when the group cloggers listen to the caller and clog at the same pace.

The debut show of seven golden ladies this evening was marvelous. Seven cloggers remembered the steps by heart from the beginning till the end, except they were caught by overspeeding. Just imagine seven drummers on stage, what if one accelerated, it would be natural that the rest six would follow. When the speed picked up, the spirit went high. The faster the drummers maneuvered the drum sticks in hands, the less likely they could listen to the music. Seven golden ladies ended up sitting on the driver seats to take the full house of toastmasters to a fantasy world at seven different speeds. The audience looked at seven confused and lost golden ladies drivers and experienced the most exciting rollercoaster thrills, I bet they must have felt relieved when we posed for the ending.

Be it clogging, toastmastering, art perfroming, preparation is the key to success. Thanks to toastmasters family, we had the chance to expose our clogging dance under the limelight to excel our clogging skills on stage. After having felt electrified and zestful, we are ready to put on more clogging dance shows in the future to add colors to ours as well as lives of others around us.

Venture to Taichung

Early birds get worms. I wish I were a bird. I could fly high in the sky. I could look far in the distance. I could feel the wind beneath my wings. But I don't like worms, bookworms, clothes worms, even though I am a bookworm, a clothes worm myself. God knows how many books and clothes I've read and procured in the past half century.

At daybreak, I was alone by myself. The snug jacuzi kept me from making an effort to go for a dip in the chilly swimming pool even for a few seconds. I gave up the morning exercise for a total relaxing message in a warm water swirl. My sister Ruth gave me a lift after breakfast to National Museum of Natural Science. I felt like a school girl ready for an exciting field trip when I waited for Virginia and her friends at the entrance.

We started our big day by venturing into the Tropical Rain Forest Greenhouse first. It is free of charge at the moment because the giant, glass greenhouse is under renovation. We were thrilled to see the largest fish of the Amazon River in a 14-foot aquarium. I couldn't imagine how I would react if I should encounter such huge and ugly monsters in the river, probably scared to death instantly.

Pineapples and Good Fortunes have the same pronunciation in Taiwanese dialect. We were lucky to see a free special exhibition of Pineapples (Ananas comosus) and learned many subfamilies of the Bromeliaceae. Science aside, pineapples grew well in the south of Taiwan and used to be the major income of farmers in the middle of 20th century in southern Taiwan in addition to bananas.

Upon the recommendations of museum staff, we entered the newly renovated Hall of Human Cultures. A wooden replica of a water-powered clock, an apparatus for astronomical observation, a celestial globe in the main hall caught my attention. At the tail of a group of school children, I couldn't help raising my hand when the museum guide posed a question to the students. I was curious and I must have looked like a wired adult. It happened again when I stood in front of the boat models behind another group of school children. My mind flew back to 1421 with Zheng He to the Western Ocean, in another minute I was sailing with Nicholas Iquan Gaspard between Tainan and Nagasaki. Then we visited the Life Science Hall for another hour or so. I am impressed with the layout and design of the National Museum of Natural Science. I shall return to see more!

After a quick light lunch, we rushed to National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. It was like a dream-come-true for me to see the Age of Elegance—A Centennial Exhibition of Kuo Hsueh-Hu. I miss the special exhibition at the National Museum of History in Taipei early this year. But, I made it in Taichung. On top of that, it was free. After listing to the prerecorded interpretation of Kuo's works for an hour, I sat at a cozy corner watching the videotape of Kuo's artist life. Then I followed the volunteer interpreter to see Kuo's works for the second time. From his paintings, I learned the good old times of Taipei city. While trying to read his minds from his brushes, I looked for the secret of his longevity through the colorful strokes on canvas.

Virginia was anxious to shot photos at Fun Love Sculpture Park before the sunset. We hopped in a taxi and aimed to savor the famous coffee and pancake with maple syrup on top by the lakeside. On a rainy weekday afternoon, the cafe' was closed and nobody was in the park except the park caretakers. The weekend glory of Fun Love Sculpture was out of sight except those 52 award-winning sculpture masterpieces standing tall under the clouds. No sunlight produced no photos. We got on the bus back to Taipei for a late dinner.

Taichung, located in the center of the west coast of Taiwan, had more to offer than we'd expected, from, National Museum of Natural Science, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts to Fun Love Sculpture Park. Why not reward yourself with an easy day to venture to Taichung for a round trip bus ticket on sale at NT$200 during the weekdays? Just do it!

Ocean Obsess

Gas price is soaring. People around the world are awoken to give the natural resources a second look. Golden ladies can't be exempted from shouldering the Eco responsibilities. We make it a rule to make a move only when the car is full. Five of us got up early to conduct a field study along the North-Eastern Coast of Taiwan in an early summer breeze Thursday, June 5th.

Be Formosans, we have every reason to enjoy the blue water around us. It is our privilege and obligation to befriend the ocean, the beach, the blue sky and the delicious seafood. Today we had four lessons about nature and humanity for nine and a half hours from 7:30 in the morning till five o'clock in the afternoon.

Lesson One, we arrived at Yehliu Geopark at 8:30. After millions of years of exposure to the salty wind, seawater and strong waves of the great Pacific Ocean, the weird erosion of the Limestone featured a theatrical play of the rocks to get hold of our eyes. Each rock has a true story to tell. Plants settle on steep rock cliffs for home. The Nature is sending messages we couldn't decipher.

Lesson Two, we were waiting for the shuttle bus to Dharma Drum Mountain at 9:30. The monastery constructed by Master Sheng Yen is in the hills of Jinshan. After we visited the holy complex dedicated to spreading the Dharma and to promoting Chan practice, we were inspired to show respect to, to preserve, and to protect life and natural resources.

Lesson Three, the visit to Taipower wind power house was phenomenal. Six huge wind turbines high above sky converted the kinetic energy in wind into electricity day and night. At the foot of the big pole of fans roaring in the air, we felt humble and insignificant. When my skirt flied high in the wind suddenly, I felt the power of wind injected into my body. I felt recharged to move on to a new destination.

Lesson Four, the main purpose of our excursion is to enjoy beach and to savor the delicious food at Nania's Sound Restaurant. There is a Japanese saying, 十人十色 (junin toiro), different people have different tastes. Among five of us (Grace, Virginia, Cecilia, Lydia and me), we ordered five dishes, Lobster, Prawn, RibEye, Pickled Pigs Feet, and Lamb Chops. We ended up have a piece of everything in our stomach. After being pampered with coffee and desserts, Lydia, Cecilia and I couldn't wait to indulge ourselves in the blue ocean water. It felt goooooood!

I didn't take a rest before I attended Grand Toastmasters Club's first regular meeting in June this evening. It has been another fulfilling and gratifying toastmasters day.