An Octogenarian Toastmaster from New Zealand

An octogenarian Toastmaster from Dunedin came visit me in Taipei this afternoon. It took him 28 hours to fly from Dunedin to Auckland, Singapore, Taipei. At age of 82, Norton Moise set his foot on Formosa for the first time. He was excited about his two months journey in northern hemisphere, with Taiwan the first stop, followed by Japan, Alaska, California. Norton is an American Kiwi, a retired professor in Physics, a well-known artist, and a veteran toastmaster in New Zealand.

When Norton Moise showed up at the exit of the CKS International Airport at 2PM, Toastmasters Alex Hsiao (another octogenarian) and Gina Lin of Success Toastmasters Club and I were much relieved. Norton smiled at us, took out his newly brought digital camera and took a shoot of us three immediately. When I asked for the sand Norton promised to bring to Gina, Norton realized that he forgot to put the sand in his luggage. Being a collector of sand of the world, Gina was not disappointed because Norton promised her to send the South Pacific Ocean sand as soon as he finished his extensive journey at a cost of US$15,000 dollars.

After picking up Norton at the airport, we gave up the original plan to show Norton Cihu Mausoleum where the late Presient Chiang Kai-shek's remains were placed, because of the heavy rain. In stead, we drove all the way to Taipei to visit CKS Memorial Hall and saw the change of the gurads at 4PM.

We stayed at Norton's room for an hour to chitchat after we accompanied Norton to check in his hotel. Norton's eyes were flooded with tears when he talked about two important persons in his life, Ms. Beulah Shoesmith, who taught him math in high school and his grandfather who taught him to play chess. At six, we had dinner at a Japanese restaurant in the neighborhood. I taught Norton how to say "I love you" and "You are beautiful and sexy" in Mandarin, so that he can flirt around when there is an opportunity. It has been a lovely day with an octogenarian Toastmaster from New Zealand, enthusiastic in science, arts, and flirtation.

Norton will be the guest speaker at the first gathering of Hsin-Tien Advanced Toastmasters Club. He is going to talk about his encounter with a little boy who was also born on the taxi on the way to the hospital. Norton has an IQ of 180, is a genius in Mathematics. He shook hands with Albert Einstein in person when he was 16 and made up his mind to study Physics from then. Being a certifed stock broker, Norton knows the stock game well. While everybody is losing money form stock market during the financial crisis early this year, Norton made a fortune on the contrary. Come ask him how to get rich tomorrow evening.