Peter WEE in Town

Three golden ladies, Trini, Irene, and I joined the clogging workshop with Instructor Peter Wee from Melbourne, Australia this afternoon. From 2:30 till 5:30, we learned five clogging dances, including "Bad Moon Rising", "Cherokee Boogie", "Sold", "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and "All That Jazz". I felt the total sweat of Peter standing next to me for a group photo at the end of the workshop. No wonder Peter is slim and fit.

Even most cloggers are women in Taipei, I believe men can make better cloggers than women. Peter is certainly one of the happy male cloggers. He is full of physical strength and joyful enthusiasm. Peter started clogging in year 2000 when he permanently migrated to Australia. Since 2004 he started to assist Chery (Leader of Bayside Clogging Club) in teaching, where he has been carefully guided to become an advanced clogger and cuer.

During the workshop, I learned the "COWBOY" steps in Australian way, DS DS DS BR(XIF)DS RS(XIF) RS(XIF) RS(XIF), with hands clapping once at BR(XIF) and twice at the last RS(XIF). I also learned many new clogging steps, Slapback, Heel turn, Triple bell, Evita in "Don't Cry for me Argentina".

After the workshop, I was thrilled to have Peter's signature on the workshop syllabus at the dinner party. Peter wrote, "Dear Sherry, keep clogging, keep moving, & keep smiling! ^-^ Peter 21/2/2009" I hope in the future there will be many workshops by advanced cloggers and cuers from abroad. And I hope I can visit Australia Clogging Association Annual Convention in Melbourne, in September, 2010.

Andy WARHOL & I

In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes."~~Andy WARHOL

Andy WARHOL and I have a lot in common. We like money. We like arts. We are expressive. And we are narcissistic. But Andy and I are different in many aspects. He is a man. I am a woman. He lives in the west. I live in the east. But when the world is getting flatter and flatter, Andy and I bumped into each other at Chiang Kai-shek (CKS) Memorial Hall last Friday, February 13th. Andy became part of me, in my life and in my dream ever since.

It was 5:30PM when Toastmaster of the Evening Eric Chou called me to talk about Andy WARHOL for ten minutes at Grand Toastmasters Club this evening. Oh, my God, I had less than 30 minutes to prepare for my talk about the artist whose work ranks No. 1 in the world. I was too thrilled to miss the opportunity, and I took the assignment out of the blue with lots of excitement.

I saw Andy WARHOL Exhibition at CKS Gallery last Friday afternoon, with 20 toastmasters and friends. I was touched by his vivid and colorful images of human beings, plants and animals. His interpretation of common materials around us was stimulating and inspiring. His creativity opened my eyes to see our secular world with a brighter perspective. I just love it!

Everyday I wear pink, yellow, green outfits. Everyday I carry a blue tote bag with a banana and Andy's famous saying printed on it since last Friday. I feel and enjoy Andy WARHOL's spirit, strong and powerful, primitive and original, joyful and blissful, shone over on me all the time. Andy WARHOL exhibition will last till March 29th, 2009. Go see it and get injected with his power, energy, ideas and joys.

Gina's 6th Housewarming Anniversary Party

Gina has a cozy apartment in Chung-ho. Every year she invites Grand Toastmasters Club members to her place for lunch or dinner once or twice. Gina has a sense in interior decoration and cooking. When Gina announced her successful experiment with the salty pork Italian style at our last meeting, I'd been looking forward to the invitation to her sixth housewarming party since.

When Sophia and I rang the bell, Tony answered the door. He came earlier to help Gina set the table. Tony receives education in English for 6 years. His mannerism tells, he is a British gentleman, composed and elegant. We were seven at the table, Arlene, Eric, Arlene, Tony, Sophia, and me praising Gina's hospitality, while taking pleasure in savoring the colorful and mouth-watering dishes in front of us. IPP Annie and her son came join us late for tea and desserts.

After lunch, Sophia and I were in a rush to return to Taipei to greet her guests from Malaysia. Being a stranger in Chung-ho, I relied on the motorcyclists for directions. Just when I caught a target, my mouth shut immediately when I realized that a foreign was gazing at me and Sophia. I was hesitant for a second, but I went ahead and asked him for directions in Mandarin out of courtesy. He shook his head looking innocently. When I switched to English timely and he gave me the answer I wanted with relief. When he asked me where I was from with a big friendly smile on his sunny face, the traffic light turned green. I felt 30 years younger trailing him crossing the ZhongZheng Bridge to Taipei.

Toastmaster Magazine Reading Gathering in February

It was the fist Toastmaster Magazine Reading Gathering of golden ladies in 2009. Nine golden ladies put on traditional Chinese clothes to the auspicious and joyful spring party at Wu-lai Tasty, Saturday, February 14th, 2009. Pamela Yang was on her way to Shanghai, otherwise we would be the perfect 10.

At 10:30 in the morning, nine ladies in four cars met with one another at MRT Hsin-tien Station. Kate Hsu invited Gina Fu and I invited my college classmate Leslie Chen to join us. After Linda parked her car in Hsin-tien, we were on our way to the beautiful aboriginal village in Wu-lai.

As soon as we arrived at Wu-lai Tasty at 11:30, we were in a rush getting powdered and changed to the agreed-upon dress code. The mouth-watering dishes arrived one after another, we took quick photos, changed to causal wear, gulped down whatever in front of us like nine horses, chatted and laughed most of the time, discussed about three articles of Toastmaster Magazine January issue, including A better "I" contact, page 5; Tips from a legendary speechwriter, page 11; Humor can help you through, page 24, assigned by Linda Tseng for a short while. After lunch, we continued our discussion at More Cafe' for another one hour before we called it a Valentine's Day.

Year 2009 opens a new page for golden ladies toastmasters. Firstly, Trini Ding shoulders the responsibility to relay the documentation of golden ladies monthly reading gathering on Exploring Delights and Wonders in Life. Secondly, Pamela takes the initiative to organize a book club among golden ladies to read beyond the Toastmaster Magazine for collective inspiration in depth and width.

On Valentine's day, the reading gathering meant a lot to me. Golden Ladies at age of 50 or beyond have successfully built a supportive reading network. If we follow British philosopher Francis Bacon's advice, Reading make a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man, how about we convert Toastmaster Magazine reading Gathering to Toastmaster Magazine Reading & Writing Gathering in 2010 to make us exact golden ladies?

PS: It's a pity that half of the golden ladies didn't receive the January copies till our gathering.

Haste makes Waste

It was the second time I lost my handbag placed on the front floor of my scooter. It was rainy and chilly after Grand Toastmasters Club's first meeting after Chinese New Year. I didn't stay around for the second party, because I was in a hurry to get home to get prepared for the performance at the nursing home tomorrow morning.

Fifteen years ago, I just came back from France. I was in a hurry to go to my French class at noon, and I placed the Mondi Black Leather Handbag on the front floor of the scooter without having it secured. By the time, I arrived at the language school, my new handbag was gone. I rushed all the way back to trace it in vain. And I missed my French class consequently. Two weeks later, I was lucky to find my wallet with IDs in the mailbox. The fashion handbag was gone, so was my cash.

This evening, I gave No. 5 speech of the basic manual on "Lessons for Women". I brought all the embroidery works I did during the Chinese New Year Holidays to demonstrate the proper conduct for women in old China. After the meeting, I placed them in a Toastmasters Totebag along with a few books on embroidery I borrowed from Hsin-tien Library on the front floor of the scooter. On my way home, before I noticed it, the totebag was long gone.

I rushed all the way back to trace my totebang from Jin-mei to Kung-kuan in the wrong traffic direction (dangerous indeed), then to the meeting venue in vain. I'm not sure if I would be as lucky as before to get the "contents" back. Nobody would know how to reach me, no IDs whatsoever in the bag, except the borrowed books from Hsin-tien Library and my turned off mobile phone.

Being downcast for my careless deed, but not in despair, I'm ready to pay for the lesson. I wish the person who found my totebag could make the good use of the embroidery tools and continue my unfinished embroidery works. I learned the lessons for women and I leaned a big lesson for myself. We can't be too careful!