So long, David

It's rainy the day you had the last breath Friday, July 11th. At Golden Ladies lunch gathering, Lydia told us you were admitted to ICU due to septemia, the situation was not optimistic. I told Lydia secretly that I'd dreamt of you the week before. We went mountain climbing and you fell from the cliff and died of heavy loss of blood. At night, I was notified by Michelle that you passed away.

I forgot when and how we got to know each other in Toastmasters, but your smile seemed to be your trademark. Whenever I needed help from you to entertain Toastmasters from Japan, you never turned me down. You even invited me for afternoon coffee once at a cozy cafe' on Mingshen East Road, remember? Our little secret!

It's sunny today. More than two hundred toastmasters friends attended your funeral service in Taoyuan Thursday, July 31st. When they saw the huge photo with your big trademark smile hung high on the altar, tears flooded in the eyes of your friends. Everybody missed you, a sunny and supportive big brother. Lydia, Kate, Michelle joined the chorus to sing "Thee in Me" and "Amazing Grace" beautifully. It was a touching and solemn toastmasters gathering.

On the way back from Taoyuan to Taipei, we had an impromptu tabletopics session in memory of you on Chartered Bus One. Toastmaster Daphne Wang, Charter President of Fu-jen University, was the topics master, Toastmaster Fannie Liu, Charter President of Soochow University, was the timer. Moses Mo from Galaxy, Soy Chen from Art Class, Incumbent Area C1 Governor Jeffrey Huang, and IPP Irene Tsai from Galaxy were tabletopics speakers. Mike Yang made the closing remarks before we arrived in Taipei. Twenty toastmasters stayed for the second party for an hour and a half at Milk King near Chung-shan MRT station.

Dear David, we were sad to see you go, but you are gone to share with your new friends your love of arts and beauty in another world. Thank you so much for brining so many toastmasters and friends together on your last day on earth.

趨勢科技示範例會前奏曲

今天下午我打扮的光鮮亮麗，從頭到腳都是紫色系列，不到三點半就抵達位於敦化南路二段一九八號的趨勢科技公司，參加該公司舉行的第一次演講會示範例會。由於示範例會的召集人丁海華最喜歡紫色，而且是她兒子公司的首次例會，我當然竭盡所能與她搭配，讓她臉上有光啦！

從昨天放鳳凰颱風假開始，我就努力地在家背稿子，今天下午在新店文化中心值班時還演練了許多遍，然後興高采烈地出發，希望今天下午的演講能贏得滿堂彩，並期昐趨勢科技演講會能儘速成立。

三點半到了趨勢科技公司八樓，接待小姐沒聽說今天有任何演講會的通告，打電話給公司的公關部門，也回說不知道有這回事，我在會客室苦等到四點，沒有任何一位演講會友出現，到底發生了什麼事呢？難不成鳳凰過境，災情嚴重，所以示範例會取消了嗎？左等右等，還是沒人來，我只好死心。回家打開電腦看示範例會通告，地點對、時間對，但日期不對，八月十九（星期二）的示範例會，我今天就跑去了，真是迫不及待！

PS: I was notified by Trini that the demo meeting had been postponed by TrendMicro infinitely a week later while I was planning to change my topic from "RISE" to "A Blessing in Disguise".

~~~~~~~~R.I.S.E~~~~~~~~

Two decades ago, I was like you, you, and you, being invited to a toastmasters meeting not knowing what toastmasters had to offer. Twenty years later, I am standing here to tell you one of the greatest joys in my life, that is being a toastmaster.

I joined Grand Toastmasters Club in 1986. I believe some of you were just born, some of you were in elementary school at that time. I finished my graduate studies in the US, returned to Taipei, worked for the government. I fell in love with toastmasters at the first sight. I loved meeting with people from all walks of life, people with quality, people of energy.

People come and go, employees come and go, so do toastmasters. New members come and old members go. But, I stay because Toastmasters offers many communication and leadership training programs. And I love to be a non-stop learning machine till the day I expire.

Ten years ago, I became the Charter President of Kyoto Toastmasters Club when I was an exchange student in Kyoto. I made many Japanese friends. The older I become, the more I enjoy energetic, enthusiastic, non-stop learning toastmasters friends. They are like my family members to laugh and to grow together.

If you could please take a look around you and pick up a leader! Is leader born or made? I say leaders rise and shine upon others. Serving as the club officers in Toastmasters trains us to rise above self. The core values of RISE of the Toastmasters International guide us to the respect for the individual, integrity, service to the member and excellence.

Life is but a rollercoaster, sometimes we are up, sometimes we are down. When you are down, think of toastmasters, think of the RISE of sun to give light to people around you. Now all toastmasters, please all rise and repeat after me. The mission of a Toastmasters club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.

So, that's me!

"Sex and the City" became the theme of July gathering and took precedence over reading. Who would mind as long as we all had read all the articles assigned?

It was Sherry's motion when the Vogue Taiwan June 2008 featured the hottest movie in summer. She has become our beacon in getting fun and chitchatting over the headlines of the world. Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte have four different yet vivid characters. Their dressing styles also depict their professions and tastes. Sherry was eager to label every goldie with these four modern and sophisticated Manhattan ladies. Is it possible to do so especially when viewing from the different culture and perception of relationships and marriage?

Before talking about "Sex and the City", I must say every time our gathering brings us something new and bizarre. It did even more this time, hustling and bustling at the beginning to get things in order; learning headwrapping with some fashion tube cloth; modeling ourselves in fashion and posturing before the camera; tasting gourmet food; exchanging afterthought on articles; chitchatting over "Sex and the City"; wrapping up to call it the day, etc. Not a minute of quietness! I was much ecstatic over the very different and unusual gathering we plotted.

It's the longest reading gathering which lasted from 9:30AM to 4:30PM, though as usual not every one of us stuck to the last minutes. We gathered at Linda's home in WuGu first. Linda has a big family, they are all hospitable to make all of us feel so warm and welcome. Her home is spacious that we can stretch our arms and legs fully, and the snacks she prepared always lured me.

Incredibly, Kate brought my favorite sweets – chocolate. After trying on the interesting and fashionable hairwrap cloth brought by Irene, we ascended to the 4th floor to visit a couple of young and talented fashion designers who happen to be Linda's lovely daughters and just started their brand name "Me" in the fashion market. Undressing, dressing, giggling, peeping, laughing, posturing, we couldn't be happier teasing each other. When it was time for lunch, no one seemed to feel like moving. What an exciting and crazy moment!

Pity that Michelle was absent this time. Yet to our delight, we had Virginia, a truly young and very passionate photographer who we envy very much for she has set her feet in all beautiful spots in Taiwan that she knows of. She caught every exciting moment with her precision camera that stirred up completely our wild nature. Without her, the gathering won't be such fun!

After the mess, we headed to the restaurant Bear House run by Linda's daughter-in-law. The sweet juicy fruit on the house, heavenly made delicious dishes made our mouth water. We have photos taken by Virginia to prove they are genuine. I plumped myself by overeating and nearly tore my dress.

After lunch Kate, Irene and Lydia had to leave early to attend other business. The later reading was preceded by three goldies. I'm afraid we need another page to minute it. We spent the last hour talking about "Sex and the City" again. Sherry resolved to define we seven golden ladies by the four characters of the TV series or the movie: Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha.

If it leaves me to tell, I would say based on dressing styles: Irene & Sherry echoes Carrie– versatile and loud; Kate and Lydia echoes Charlotte – classic and exquisite; Michelle echoes Samantha – candid and professional. Based on characters: Linda echoes Miranda – decisive and organized. As for me, let me keep it for myself.

Lastly, I'm delighted to say our gathering is getting more and more versatile and thought provoking. What's next? Who knows! Too many possibilities, it's still early to say. By Trini Ding, DTM

Toastmaster Magazine Reading Gathering in July

Sex and the City is the theme of this month's reading gathering. Anything I put on from head to toe had a label, from Christian Dior 2008 big shades Sunglasses to my favorite Marks & Spencer's underwear, so that's me, another woman indulged in labels and love at the other side of the world!

Being an early bird, I was the first to arrive at Linda's factory. So I had plenty of time to talk about my thrilling resurfacing experience with 1064nm laser irradiation. Upon my college classmate Leslie's invitation the day before yesterday, I walked into her brother-in-law's beauty clinic in Hsin-tien to give myself a chance to look younger and brighter. Even though, nobody could tell the immediate effect, but I'm convinced to have regular laser treatment in the future.

When all golden ladies arrived, we went upstairs to discuss with two young and promising fashion designers to work on our own T-shirts. They are Linda's daughters. They just started their e-business in fashion this year. While satisfying our buying desires, we were pleased to have the chance to talk to designers in person. They met all our needs and every golden lady bought something. I like their label, "so that's me". Indeed, we are what we wear, aren't we?

After the first time DIY shopping, we moved to Bear House Restaurant owned by Linda's daughter-in-law. Linda ordered 10 dishes for a total of eight of us. There went my one pound a week weight reduction plan instantly. The food was delicious and Linda prepared two big plates of fresh grapes before lunch, four big plates of watermelon and pineapples for desserts after lunch. Who would want to READ after so many exciting activities?

Virginia, Irene, Kate and Lydia left first after lunch for other urgent engagements. Trini, Linda and I hung around to complete our reading activities of the month till 5PM. We read four assigned articles by Kate diligently, 1. Promoting Environmentalism by Julie Bawden Davis, page 8; 2. Ready to Blow a Fuse by Pat Mott, page 10; 3. The Never-Ending Question by R. J. Stove, CC, page 14; 4. How to Make a Singaporean Laugh by Eric Feng, ACS, page 24. We spent most of time sharing our experiences how to control our tempers at home and we were determined to refuse to give others the power to get us mad.

After doing the homework, Linda, Trini and I changed the topic to Sex and the City. We tried to categorize seven golden ladies into Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda. Guess who among us is like Samantha and who is like Carrie? Do you agree if we conclude that Irene is like Charlotte and Lydia is like Miranda? No matter who's who, we are pleased with our small reading group. We shall feel like single girls with lots of love like the four in Sex and the City! Cheers, golden ladies!