Stay Together

I'm Turing 55!

My heart was filled with excitements before I arrived at Grand this evening. I carried Grand's banner safely back from Shanghai. Being the first member to the meeting venue, more than 30 minutes in advance, I cherished a quiet moment putting on the make-up to celebrate my birthday with Granders two days in advance!

When the Tabletopics Master Carrie Chiang asked me if I believed things would happen in our dreams. Of couse, I did! It is actually a habit of mine to prepare for my dream before I go to bed every night. Taking learning a foreign language for instance, I would study the lesson for one or two hours before I call it a night. So that, in my dream, I can ruminate what I learn during the day. And I had had a dream about cutting a birthday cake in front of Grands the day before, my dream came true this evening. It was all about the will power.

During the intermission, Carrie brought a birthday cake to the lectern, President Erin Ke played 「Stand by Me」 by John Lennon on her laptop upon my request. John Lennon and I were born on the same date. John Lennon would turn 70 if he was still alive. When I asked members to hold hands together in a circle to sing along with John Lennon around the candle-lit cake, I was touched by the warm moment. After we sang 「Happy Birthday」 song, I blew the candle and made a wish in public. I wish I could celebrate my 60th birthday at Grand’s 40th anniversary party. Every member will be invited to have fun on me!

As a language evaluator, I enjoyed a feast of language courses this evening. Grand’s walking dictionary Victor Lee served Word of the Day. He spent ten minutes elaborating on the alphabet A from its origin to the usage of A in English language, such as birds of 「a」 feature, the tribe of 「A」mazon warriors. Joel Wright gave his 2nd manual speech in Mandarin about the advantage of being a polyglot. Tina evaluated Joel’s speech in Mandarin accordingly. The bilingual meeting at Grand became more stimulating and entertaining.

At the end of the first meeting in October, we posed together for a group photo with me holding the empty colorful box of birthday cake. Many thanks went to Carrie for preparing a delicious cake for us. Many thanks went to Granders standing by me on a wonderful and unforgettalbe evening. I shall be turning 55 Saturday, October 9th! I'm feeling high!

Grand's Indoor Outing Chez Gina

A dozen members signed up for Grand's outing to Hwataoyao—Botanical Graden, Ceramic Studio & Wood Kilns, arranged diligently by MVP Sally Wang was forced to be cancelled in the end, due to the failure to meet the minimum reqirement of 20 visitors per group. PRVP Gina jumped at the chance to receive Granders to her lovely home for an afternoon party, Saturday afternoon, October the 2nd.

The fun and relaxing home party started at 2PM sharp with a full table of seafood salad, nigini, pizza, and beverage from Costco. Gina, Erin, Joel and I were the early birds, followed by Jimmy and his wife, Ashley and her boyfriend, Tina, Nite, Angela! Gina, as always, served as the best hostess in town to offer us a superb afternoon with lots of food, friendship and joyful time!

After Erin, Joel, Ashley and her boyfriend left early for other engagements in the evening, we hung around chez Gina for another hour or so before we took a group photo together. It is said that there's always one apparel short in a woman's closet! Not for me this time at Gina’s home party. I put on a beautufil silk dress I bought at Hung-chou Airport on my way back to Taipei from China the week before. Didn't I look young and sexy?