12th Meeting 2012-2013-Christmas Themed (18 Dec 2012)

Dear Fellow Toastmasters & Friends, 

 

"We wish you a Merry Christmas..... We wish you a Merry Christmas.... and a Happy New Year....!!"

... And Ladies and Gentlemen, was how our TME Santa Rina - Eilvane Chieng started the evening with her guitar and outstanding singing skills, and got everyone belting to the well known Christmas Carol, immediately warming up the room and got everyone geared up for what became a zestful Christmas Joint Meeting between KKTMC and KK Advanced TM Club!

Our young and enthusiastic Table Topics Master then challenged our impromptu speaking skills as she fielded her questions laced with Christmas theme related, life questions and also something fun when she got her respondents to pick out a "gift" and tell us who they'd like to give it to and why. Oh boy, that really shook our bellies with laughters as we observed the respondents trying to talk their way around it! :) While many fear Table Topics, in Toastmasters, we learn how to tackle it with grace. Also, kudos to first timer Table Topics Evaluator TM Raoul Yong who did a good job pointing out the many positive strengths of the Table Topics Master
and respondents! :)

Before everyone went for tea-break, VPM brought out not one but two cakes in celebration of December birthday babies and also for Christmas Celebration!! So we who loved singing sang a hearty Birthday song and Christmas Song again before cutting the cakes. 

 

As tummies were filled, we were all ready with the 2nd half of the meeting where 4 brave speakers attempted on their project speeches. TM Kaori Kawamoto shared with us the holidays celebrated in Japan, and apparently Christmas is a very romantic festival almost like Valentines; or the Obon Festival that takes place in Summer, with weather so HOT they had to tell horror stories.... to get chilled! :D While many have heard that KK Advanced Club member are evaluated by 3 different evaluators, not many have truly seen them in action! TM Kaori was evaluated by KK Advanced President, Margaret Sunam and with her 2 other co-evaluators, they have truly opened our eyes to KK Advanced's Style of Evaluation!

 

Next we had our full-time mother, TM Intan Salwana who then took us on an interesting history lesson of King Henry's 6 wives, but with a message that to all - Never underestimate the power of women! For it was King Henry's daughters that ruled the lands. Our darling VPE Fia Iskandar, CC, roasted our beloved anchor member of KKTMC "Uncle Yee", as she shared with us little details about this witty uncle, and made us gasp when she told us that our calm, poised and gentle looking Uncle Yee is silently a Tai Chi Master, almost like Jackie Chan!! Finally, Nora, oh Nora with her re-enactment of Maria from the Sound of Music in her Monodrama. Nora Ridzwan, CC never fails to entrance and enchants us as can take on a character and let it radiates through her words and expressions! Well done Nora! 

To encourage members for speaking and also award them for dressing up, here are the award recipients: 

Best Speaker Award: TM Intan Salwana

Best Dressed Male: TM Raoul Yong

Best Dressed Female: TM Eilvane Chieng

All in all, we definitely had a GREAT meeting! Enthusiasm level was high and there were good fellowship among everyone, all because of Toastmasters!! Not to mention all the big smiles we saw when everyone got a gift from mysterious person! :) 

 

Finally, A big THANK YOU! to every single role players who played their part and made this meeting a success! Every effort counts and yours was valuable! :) Also, a special thanks to our District Governor, DTM Richard A. Gontusan, Area Governor, Joanna Liew, ACB, thank you for your presence and taking up a role during the meeting. And of course, KK Advanced President, Margaret Sunam, ACB, and all KK Advanced members. Thank you for agreeing to this joint meeting! 

 

What a way indeed to close the chapter for 2012 and look forward to 2013!! 

 

Till then, see you all next year for our first meeting in 2013 - 8 Jan 2013, same time (7.30pm), same place (Celyn Hotel, Citymall)

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! 

 

Yours in Toastmasters,

Jamie
 

 

Here are some of the candid photos that can only be seen in this very BLOG! We reveal some of the gifts that our members and guest received during the gift exchange session and I personally adored the hairy gift that Darvis draw! Amir received a classic square box present which contained ARTHUR CHRISTMAS! (Hint hint for a Christmas movie gathering perhaps?) Rachel hit the jackpot by receiving a ginger Christmas hand cream ( girls will never get enough of hand cream!) and Fia received a handy and chic Iphone Case!!

 

Christmas Carolling (15th December 2012)

Dear fellow Toastmasters and friends,

"Feliz Navidad..... Feliz Navidad! Prospero Ano Felizidad....!"

T'was a jolly good night of caroling, house visiting, laughters and fellowship between old and new friends!! :) I thought KKTMC Carolers did a fantastic job singing, belting the highest note and with that blessing the hosting family with songs of happiness and joy! 

We went to a total of 4 houses, starting off with our mama Christine Yap's house and she prepared for us her famous, lip smacking NASI LEMAK!! Yummm...!! Everyone was enjoying it so much that we just had to get more of that amazingly delicious Nasi Lemak and Sambal!! After that, we moved on to the Liew Family of Toastmasters -- Christopher Liew, Joanna Liew and Nora Liew, where we were served on a healthy Red Bean Soup and fresh oranges, something to wash down our yummy nasi lemak earlier! 

Dean joined us after that and led us to his beautiful home! I think many of our jaws dropped when we saw the size of his family mansion! :) We sang very well there because we earned ourselves a tour around the house as we ooohs and aaahs and waaaah all the way... :) Our final stop was Ronald Tang's residence, using all the voice we had left, we sang with all our hearts and all our might ending with a resounding MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR...

It was indeed an amazing evening as we brought home good memories of a jolly good Caroling session! I saw new friendship established and friendship bonds strengthened, all in the good spirit of Christmas! 

So I wanted to take the time out and once again thank all 4 hosts: Mama Christine Yap & Family , Liew's Family, Dean Yee & Family, Ronald Tang & Family. Thank you for your hospitality and generosity in opening your house to us and also prepared delicious meal for us.  

Also a big shout out to all carolers who had chosen to spend your time with us! For it was with all your splendid voices and your great company that last night was a Fantabulous night! Please give yourselves a pat on the back!! Thank you!! 

More importantly, this event wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for our ORGANIZING LADY - NORA LIEW!! She send out countless emails, approached members individually to invite them to come and now already uploaded most of the photos on Facebook and blogspot! :) Well Done VPPR - Nora Liew!! :) 

Once again, thank you all for making our caroling event such a pleasant and fun one! I hope to see you all at our next meeting NEXT TUESDAY, 18 Dec, same time (7.30pm), same place (Celyn Hotel, Citymall)! I assure you next meeting is going to be a phenomenal one because we're having a JOINT MEETING with KK Advanced TM Club!! Yes, you read me, 2 Toastmasters club will join together as ONE! So braced yourselves for another evening of inspiring speeches, fresh and new ideas, and more importantly, the camaraderie between Toastmasters! 

Till then, see you on Tuesday. 

Merry Christmas,

Jamie

11th Meeting 2012-2013 (11th December 2012)

 

10th Meeting 2012-2013 (27th November 2012)

During 27th November 2012, we have held our 10th meeting of the term 2012-2013 and the mood of the day was set right by CC Raymond Wong when he decided to break the ice by introducing a fascinating word "GHOTI" to the audience. Do not be fooled by the spelling of the word as there is more that meets the eye, this 5 letter word is pronounced as:

• the gh = f as in rouGH
• the o = i as in wOmen
• the ti = sh as in naTIon

Yes, it is pronounced as "fish". Raymond really know how to  trigger our senses and made our brain squeeze some juice out of our thick skull. Then, our cute and cuddly Darvis Chong was the star of the evening as compliment by our DTM Yee. He has managed to speed up the momentum  and we were truly warmed up by his warm up session when we were instructed to link the sentence up by each and everyone in the audience!

If that is not interesting enough, the fearful table topic session was conducted by our AaronSubasheGeorge, which he improvise and innovated it up by asking everyone to write down a classic dirty little secret and put it into a box where the volunteers all have to choose from the box  one of the paper notes we put in, read the dirty secret out and guess who it is. The tricky part is justify why they think that it was that person that wrote it. It was superb fun and fresh!

Our brave speakers for that evening are one step closer to achieving their goals and also succeed in becoming a better speaker then they were yesterday, bravo and I really hope to see more and more senior and new members take up the role to give a speech in the future.

Sequence of speakers:

1. Jamie Chieng
2. Raoul Yong 
3. Sylvia Maten
4. Intan Anis

All of us especially me had a lot of fun, thanks to Darvis and his dedicated team members that made our night a fruitful session. I cannot wait for the following meeting and also everyone, remember to bring presents for the Christmas themed meetings :)