The Final Curtain Call

I didn't know much about Hugh Lee! I didn't see any of his theatrical works on stage when he was alive. I was touched when I read about his philosophy about theater and life from the news after he passed away early Tuesday morning, July 2nd. Hugh talked about three elements in life, i.e., imagination, humor, and love. I took interest in knowing more about him.

I signed up for his funeral service on the internet because I was curious about the unprecedented funeral of its own kind. After I arrived at the funeral venue at the Flower Expo, I passed the security check, I found my seat (row 14, number 70).right before the sound track equipment. It was a seat of a panoramic view. On the windy morning, I saw huge posters of Hugh Lee flying in the air. Yes, he was with us.

The Final Curtain Call Memorial Service of Taiwan troupe founder Hugh Lee took place at ten o'clock at Flower EXPO Hall this morning, July 18th. It was full of laughter and tears. The memorial service started with President Ma Ying-jeou's commendation award, followed by three videos of Hugh Lee legendary life and farewell speeches of Hugh's wife, daughter and son on the stage. Nearly 3,000 people participated in the farewell gathering, I was one of them. Even I couldn't stay till the end as I needed to rush to MOFA Toastmasters club meeting at 12 noon.

I was so happy that I made it to say goodbye to Taiwanese Theater Master Hugh Lee at the last minute. I shall see his master piece Can Three Make It? with my lady Toastmasters on Chinese Valentine's day, Tuesday evening, August 13th. Better late than never!

The Biggest Super Lotto in Taiwan History

Toastmaster Gavin Chen was the first-timer Tabletopics Master at Grand TMC Meeting Wednesday evening, July 17th. He prepared five up-to-date Tabletopics questions for Helen, Billy, Yoland, sharen and me. And I won the best Tabletopics speaker award!

I was so thrilled when Gavin called upon me to answer the last question,what if I won the super lotto of 23.6 billion NT dollars*, what I would do! It was not the first time I answered the kind of question, it became easier one time after another.

With a big smile on my face, firstly, I invite members and guests at the Grand's meeting to travel around the world. A joy shared is a joy doubled. Then I set up a fund to help those in need. In stead of giving money away, I lend the money to those who has a business proposal in mind. I follow the Microfinance strategy proposed by Nobel Laureate Muhummad Yunus**. Last but not least, I reserve one third of the fortune for the Toastmasters International founded by Dr. Ralph Smedley.

After I got home, I saw a movie "It Could Happen to You (1994)",  about a police officer (Nicolas Cage) who promises to share his lottery ticket with a waitress (Bridget Fonda) in lieu of a tip. I was impressed by the good Samaritan police officer and I was happy for his fortune in love.

PS:
* The sole winner of the super lotto walked away with 19 billion dollars net after tax Friday evening, July 19th. The lucky number is 1, 2, 6, 12, 30, 36, the 2nd area number is 3. I am curious about the story of "It Could Happen to Him or Her"!
** Toastmaster LJ Lamb supplied me with The Myths Behind Microfinance, recent revelations about Muhummad Yunus in the alleged misuse of $100 million by the Grameen Banks.

Shanghai, Taipei

Upon the invitation of incoming President Mike Yang of Leadership Village (LV) Toastmasters Club, I joined the club officers discharging and Installation ceremony at Tatung University this evening, July 16th.

LV TMC is regarded the Toastmasters graduate school in District 67, featuring the highest percentage of DTMs and past district governors. LC TMC meets once a month at an awesome room equipped with state-of-the-art telecommunication facilities. Toastmasters Toshio Yada (矢田敏雄) and Yoshikazu Kawakami (河上悅和) from Bashamichi Advanced TMC, District 76, were on-line to join the first Video-TMC meeting via skpe this evening.

During the first half of the meeting, District 67 LGM Caroline Kiang was the sole prepared speaker. She gave a dramatic talk using the Advanced Manual--The Entertaining Speaker. She used 6 minutes and 58 seconds to deliver a dramatic story about a couple separated across the Taiwan Strait since 1949.

She opened her speech with a young female protagonist Jennifer singing "Nightlife in Shanghai 夜上海" gleefully, who just came back from a romantic trip in Shanghai. Then Jennifer told a story about her grandfather Steven, a solider came to Taiwan in 1949, leaving his pregnant fiancee behind with his best friend Robert. After his early retirement, he ran a noodles shop in Manga (萬華), working hard day and night to support his family. After work, Steven drank Kinmen kaoliang and sang "Arrest Susan 蘇三起解" to curb his nostalgic emotions. Upon Steven's request, Jennifer visited Shanghai with a green pouch (an exchange token of love) in hand, she ran into the grandson of her grandfather's sweetheart on the street. Jennifer's serendipitous encounter with her half-brother connected Steven and his sweetheart after 60+ years. When Steven told his sweetheart, "I always have you in my heart", his sweetheart replied, "your love is my final destination".

Caroline delivered her speech with excellent vocal variety by singing a popular Mandarin song and a famous Peking opera. She used the green pouch to enrich her body language and facial expressions. The contents and structure of her story were witty and full of twist. My suggestions for her dramatic talk would be to change her speech title from "Shanghai, Taiwan" to "Shanghai, Taipei". In her story, she had prelude, five scenes, and epilogue. She could take advantage of extra 30 seconds to add more dramatic dialogues to balance with the narration to achieve the best entertaining effect.

On early Tuesday morning, July 2nd, the Taiwanese Theater Tycoon Hugh Lee passed away at age of 58. He left with us three elements in drama and life. They are humor, imagination, and love. Caroline Kiang's prepared speech was of humor, imagination, and love. It was a blissful and demanding task being her evaluator. Being an amateur actor, I enjoyed her dramatic talk, so did the audience, I believe.

Many congratulations to Mike Yang for shouldering the challenging responsibilities of the most Avant-garde TMC in District 67. And thanks to him for being my evaluator of Speech Evaluator, Project 1, CL Manual. Also thanks to Caroline Kiang for inviting me to be her evaluator and prompting me to remove the dust on novels of O. Henry on my bookshelf.

A Leap of Faith

The moment I walked into Room 428, I was given a copy of two B4 pages of a Toastmaster magazine article by the incoming President Charles Teng. The title of the article is "Poise in Politics—Diplomats hone their language sills in Taipei club". It was written by MOFA Toastmasters Club's outgoing President Wei-ling Chen, published in Toastmaster Magazine July 2013.

It's been more than two years since I last attended MOFA's meeting. I was more conscious about what to wear as an Area H1 Governor today. I selected a beige business suit to look professional and authoritative. I put on  a pair of flat beige color canvas shoes, so that I wouldn't look too tall. It felt good to be underdressed and to be less invisible once a while. Still I was called upon by Tabletopics Master Charles Teng to answer the first tabletopics question. All four tabletopics were surrounded around the incoming International President George Yen.

I was asked, "What would you do if you were George Yen as the IP 2013-2014?" Wow, from an Area Governor to the IP, it was a very long ladder to climb! It is a long journey but easy! Nevertheless, I was thrilled to be given the chance! Lewis Wolpert's chilling little book on old age "You're Looking Very Well" prompted my first thought. I talked about the importance of wealth and education for senior citizens to live well. Being the world's biggest non-profit education organization, the Toastmasters can develop more programs for the third age. In addition, we can't neglect education programs for college students. Fortunately, I was not asked to give an impromptu inaugural speech in George's place!

"Rome is not build in one day, neither is a toastmaster developed in one day", I opened my evaluation of Toastmaster Howard Chien's C-10 Speech "A Leap of Faith". Howard demonstrated how he transformed from an introvert to an outspoken in Toastmasters in less than a year. His sincerity and good command of the English were his strengths. I encouraged him to apply rule of three by giving three stories to build the climax of his achievement of CC to inspire the audience.

MOFA has talents! District 67 has talents. Taiwan has talents. It was my impression about MOFA meeting today. It was a productive meeting today, featuring one prepared speaker's C2 speech and two prepared speakers' C10 speeches. At the very first meeting of the new fiscal year, MOFA got one DCP point. Being Area H1 Governor, I'm proud to have MOFA in my area. And I vow to perform my duty to the best of my abilities to make MOFA a President's distinguished club in 2013-2014 when George Yen serves the International President.
 
Many thanks to outgoing President Wei-ling Chen for two boxes of super-delicious macarons. I was lucky to have one as I sat in the front row. I picked up the pink one with raspberry flavor, it melted into my mouth the moment I had my first bite. Wei-ling just came back to MOFA after delivering a baby daughter. She delivered her farewell speech to echo the theme photo of the day is "A New Life".

After the meeting, I walked along the Kaitakelan Boulevard. I saw a big Royal Poinciana Flame Tree in full blossom. With a bamboo broom by the pavement serendipitously, I reached high to collect five matured pods in the air. As much as I was contented with the productive meeting at MOFA, I was thrilled to make eco clothes hangers from the huge pods in front of MOFA for my wardrobe!

A Grand New Beginning

At the first sight of President Sharen Chan, you are impressed with her graceful demeanor, so was I when I first saw her in Grand two years ago. When Sharen delivered her inaugural speech at Grand's Installation Ceremony Wednesday evening, July 3rd, I couldn't help wondering if she was Kate Middleton in disguise, the Duchess of Cambridge. Sharen won the hearts of the audience with her sweet smile by vowing to lead Grand to be the President Distinguished Club in her term.

Grand's Installation Ceremony 2013-2014, 38th Anniversary, as well as House Warming Party took place at the new meeting venue, Catholic Sanipax Socio-Medical service & Education Foundation. It is right across Roosevelt Road from Cardinal Tien's Institute. The address is 8F, No. 245, Section 3, Roosevelt Road. Many thanks Helen Lin for finding the new sweet home for Grand.

Upon the request of Past President Gina Cheng, I helped her prepare Salad Nicoise with the ingredients of boiled King Oyster Mushroom, Chicken Breast, Eggs. To our surprise, it became the most popular dish on the table. Both Gina and I love French Cuisine, maybe we can jointly prepare more mouth-watering appetizers for Grand's regular meetings in the future.

It was a gathering of grand families, Past President Arlene Chen was seven month pregnant, Past President Annie Chou brought her first grader son, Past President Helen Lin brought her kindergarten twin daughters. In twenty years, they will become Toastmasters!

Many congrats to hardworking outgoing President May Hwang for winning Grand Select Distinguished Club in District 67 2013-2014. We gave her a big round of applause, hugs and kisses, and a special photo album at Grand's Installation Ceremony. Helen and Gina came up with the wonderful idea of Grand President's Photo Album and it'll be definitely become one of Grand's traditions from now on!

After the ceremony, it was a quarter to nine, still early. I invited a few members to hang round. We gathering in a circle to mimic three animals (elephant, giraffe, monkey) in a group of three. No matter who was called upon, the center person must mimic the animal head, the side persons must mimic hands and feet. The popular warm-up exercise of drama class worked well to build teamwork among members. Maybe we should try more group games before or after the regular meetings in the future.