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.