Meeting on 27 October 2009

We started on time with Tash as SAA calling on the President who as usual ask us to give ourselves a round of applause before she starts the meeting. After a brief announcement President Levine pass the gavel to the TME PP Philip Wong. Since there were not guest except for his wife who happens to be his driver cause he just had an operation but yet come to the meeting to carry out his obligation. A great Toastmaster I must say and a supporting wife who is prepared to venture into the mysterious Toastmasters world.

Yoke Wai did the Invoccation as Willy our Table Topics Master was delayed and Adam being ever ready jump to rescue with Leong taking over the TT Evaluator Role since S Ho is stucked somewhere. The Table Topics Session was impromptu as well and Adam did well. The speakers were Mohamad, Khung, Manian, Dr Gan, Willy and Masdiana. The winner voted by the members present were ..... Masdiana.

The Humour Master for the night is our Life Insurance man 2H Wong he gave a profound joke and only those intelligent people got it whilst the rest I think laughed when they are at home.

Dinner as usual was good with Khung supplying his banana and Willy as always with his water. He even brought Patrick Ooi, our former member Janice brother. And as usual we were late by 10 minutes enjoying the food.

The first speaker called for the night is Adam Fung giving us an impromptu speech and was evaluated by IPP Leong also as SBVPE. Adam spoke about being successful and as far as I can recall he told us that we need, Money, Time, Friends and the most important one is purpose. We all have our purpose in Life and that is to ENJOY but it is more than that; why are we here for?

The next speaker is Lim Ah Hwai and he told us to Fight. Fight for our rights fight for our left and fight for everything. He said by fighting only that we become successful. He was evaluated by Dr Gan.

The last speaker is PP Thilo who was doing his Advanced Manual on reading and as usual he read with lots of animation and action. He was evaluated by Adam. I thought he ought to dress up a little to give the audience some respect when he is reading the story; perhaps as a Samy.

The Evaluators did a great job and Leong also did well I thought by giving example of another speaker which I thought was creative. The Best Speaker went to Lim AH Hwai and the best Evaluator goes to Leong.

The Grammarian reported that only two persons used the word of the day "Resilience' and I guess it is not a common word but I felt that it is a good word to know to align ourselves to it - to show that we are capable of getting up when we are down. His report on the grammar used was a little lengthy as usual wanting the members and audience to keep improving themselves. He even got the audience to repeat the words that have been wrongly pronounced.

Ah Counter report came from Manian and the Timer's report was done by Khung whom I understand do a job without his tool - a stopwatch.

Finally the lecturn goes to the the fiery and feared Masdiana the General Evaluator. She lambasted everyone from lecturn protocol to language, from clapping to walking and from speaking to evaluating. With such fury everyone voted for her to be the best Role Player - dare they choose another?

The closing Ode was carried out by PP Thilo and as usual he loves to advise everyone to take care and drive safely home. However, the President jumps in again and detain us by showing us the Better Speaking Series program organised by the District which I thought did not go well with the audience.

Finally we managed to close the meeting at 9.35 pm and the usual gang stayed up to clean and pack the stuff. We must thank these guys for doing this and Salute to IPP Leong, President Levine, Tash, and some others as I had to leave home....sorry guys.

Oh yes, my record show that we have 17 members and 2 guests present for the meeting. We miss our bubbly VPE who is now cuddling her Grandson in Dublin, Ireland and of course people like Mike Teng, Anna Hue, Mano, Chin, Patrick, Joyce, and especially Sherine.

While Dr. Gan and my big sis, Diana are still caught up with the issue of national unity and the 'hantu spirit' of 1Malaysia, here I am in Dublin happy and proud to be by the side of my grandson whose father is an Irish decendent. If this 1Malaysia spirit is forever going to be an issue, just think what it's going to be like if my Mat Salleh grandson decides to live in Malaysia.


An email from Mr. M asking me whose turn to update the MII blog has got me worked up. Well, in the present freezing condition where the VPE is holidaying, she is unable to contribute much to MII. With a frozen brain, her hands are tied up playing masak-masak for her family in the cold Dublin kitchen. Talk about the freezing cold weather, even her stools are hard and cold everytime she wants to poo-poo.

Rozi and her Grandson in Dublin recently.




Anyway, if the VPE is forced to update the blog, the only recollection she has at the moment of the MII toastmasters meetings were that of the Madam President's favourite phrase - 'Lets give ourselves a round of applause' and then of course the IPP's common saying 'fed up betul'. This could only mean he is genuinely fed up with everything and anything that comes under his nose. Could this be the cause of his sinus? Over in Dublin, my grandson's favourite phrase is ''Whaz's Dat!!!

Cold, cold hugs to all!

Recollection 091013

Aidilfitri about to end and another celebration is fast approaching, the Deepavali or Diwali. As usual, very boring the meeting went well, am happy we had everyone in the meeting schedule coming to carry out their obligations.

This time Jerene did her maiden role as TME and as a confident person she did well. Rozi has mentioned some of the things that has happened during the meeting and I just like to highlight that Masdiana did the Closing Ode after the President did her closing and later IPP did the final by putting the meeting to an end but yet we ended on time.


This meeting we saw three birthday child (if we add their ages all together we can have over a century)and from the picture the cameram S Ho caught all three in the act. Masdiana the oldest on 6th Oct, Lyn on 23rd Oct and Mohamad the youngest of them all on 29th Oct.

The GE gave a good report card and that is not what we want. We need our own members who love to bash us so that we can be better.

All in all we were happy except that we miss Uncle Khung bananas.

Meeting on 13 Oct 2009

Fellow Members,

I would like to be the first to wish all my fellow friends, irrespective of their religion or race, Happy Deepavali.

On a personal note and in retrospect, I would like to share my thoughts after last night's meeting. It's invigorating to witness 5 highly respectable senior members coming in full force to lend their undying support to the Club. As a new member who has been with the club barely 7 months, I could detect the strong sense of belonging and the pride and joy the senior members have for the Club. Their genuine commitment was proven with their regular attendance and their unrelenting participation in the role plays. Believe me you, these continuous display of support will certainly go a long way in building a strong bondship among the old and new members.

As you all know, I have this phobia of speaking and expressing myself under the scrutiny of others. I have always had the thought that it is better to shut my mouth and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubts! It was really heart warming and encouraging to have my 3 big sisters couching and giving me tips on how to overcome my phobia during dinner last night. With that I will be taking leave from MII toastmasters for a while and I hope when I return I will be the toastmaster with a refreshed mind, fully energised to assist the Madam President and the Bossy IPP (aka Slave Driver) with the energy zapping tasks of coordinating and organising the Club meetings.


Warm hugs to those who are in need of hugs,

Message from IPP Leong Kok Wah

My dear fellow members,

Green Green Grass of Home was a song made popular
by the evergreen Tom Jones in the 60's. Its a song about
the wonderful feeling of homecoming.

Too often we always say that the grass is greener on the
other side of the fence. But this evening , for those who
attended the " joint meeting " with WIM, we definitely walked
away with our heads held high. No, in fact very High.
The final score was MII - 17 members , WIM - 4 members.
By the time , the meeting ended, WIM were reduced to being
just mere guests in our club and not a joint meeting as was
stated in the meeting schedule.

We have come a long way since we were founded in 1985.
The founders, - DTM Mohamad Abdullah and Masdiana had
to labour on when we were down to our last 6 members during
the early years. Those were the difficult days.
Even during my time as Acting president, we went below charter
strength ( below 20 members ) at the half-way renewals.

Tonight, the 4 Past Presidents who attended the meeting must
have beamed with pride that the MII-TMC have put those
dark days behind us. Let us not forget the legacy that have been
left behind by the Past Presidents, for history punishes those
who choose to ignore the hard lessons learned along the way.
Consider the LGM's plea to all club presidents this morning -
only 58% of the clubs in District 51 Peninsular have renewed their
membership to TI USA before the deadline 30th Sep.

There will inevitably be hiccups along the way especially on our
membership ( which Madam President will address the club
during the next meeting ) but as long as the members remain focused
on fellowship, the EXCO remain focused on teamwork and the
Past Presidents remain focused on guiding the club, the future will
remain brightly lit here at MII-TMC.

Let us continue building on the strong foundations here at MII-TMC.
We have every reason to stand proud tonight and we will continue
to record achievements this term.

Good night and till we meet again on the 13th Oct.

ipp.

( btw, our capable VPE has informed me that the speech slots
for our 13th Oct meeting are full already )

Meeting on 8 September 2009

Sometimes I felt it is too boring for me to write that every meeting is a great meeting with good fellowship, excellent food with great speeches, evaluators and role players. I need another adjective to spice up the report.

Themed "Friendship" the meeting went well with ASAA Khung (our 'youngest' member) hitting the gavel to signal the start of the meeting sharp at 7pm. The President Levine took the floor and as usual welcome all present for the meeting. President Levine then pass the control to Anna and as usual with confidence and competence she short circuit the briefing by saying that 'since there is no guest tonight' she begin the meeting with words of appreciation to the MII Management and Staff for their support and cooperation. Later she called on the President to show our appreciation by presenting a small gift to En Mazrul on behalf of the staff of MII.







Following this we break for Buka Puasa and the food was good and plentiful. Thanks again to our good friends Khung for supplying the bananas and Willy for the water and Rozi for buying the cakes. We start our dinner sharp at 7.18pm (Buka Puasa time)a respect reminded by our TME Anna.



It is also a night where we inducted a new member Tashvinderjit Singh aka Tash Beriana. He was presented with our Folder and a T Shirt and in response he shook hands will all the members present. Anna also told us that he was a recent father of a boy and being a happy father he gave us chocolates, more food.



We even celebrated our Waterman his 37th Birthday and he was smiling from ear to ear. The cake as usual was great and Mohamad took three portion to prove it.

When we resume our meeting, immediately our TME Anna calls on H2Wong to present the Invocation and as usual in MII the invocation was well presented. This followed by our HM, S Ho who gave a slow, well crafted speech with suspence but the audience was waiting for more - but as usual we all laugh not at the joke though.

The Table Topics was conducted by Mano and as usual, always prepared with beautiful printed full colour pictures of unique friendship between animals from different species. The speakers have to comment on the statement and it was not easy but PP Philip, PP Mohamad, PP Thilo, TM Wei Lyn and VPM Gan took the challenge and the winner was our new member Wei Lyn, the young, beautiful and enegetic lass flooring all the experienced speakers.

The prepared speakers for the night were TM Chung Yoke Wai #2, PP Thilo ACL#3 and VPE Rozi #2 - Believe me it is the 7th month and they are all talking about, The Hungry Ghost, Heaven and Hell and H(a)unted Down by Chung, Rozi and Thilo respectively. The winner goes to Rozi who really tickled us by declaring that she was conned by the Devil IPP.

The Evaluators were PP Mohamad, IPP Leong and PP Philip and being the 7th month we allow the Devil IPP to win. The other role players were Imported GE Ng Lay Choo, Granma Dr Gan, Ahs Counter, Wei Lyn and the two timer Willy. The best role player for the night went to.....Lay Choo (we always take pride in voting our guest to win something). Finally, the meeting ends with the usual closing ode by our PP Philip telling us how blessed he is to be a member of MII.

Oh Yes, this night belongs to the young, beautiful and enegetic lass Wei Lyn. She took the Most Friendly title, Best Table Topic Speaker and also for the last meeting title which were not recognised with a certificate.

Good night and wishing all our Muslim brothers and sisters, Selamat Berpuasa, Selamat Beraya, Maaf Bersama dan bergembira selalu.

COLORS OF INDEPENDENCE

Meeting held on 25TH August, 2009
The cleverly-chosen “Colors of Independence” was the theme of this week’s meeting in honour of Malaysia’s 52nd national day celebration, 31st August, 2009.

In spite of it being the fourth day of the fasting month of Ramadan, 3 muslim members attended the meeting. At the specified time, they were accompanied by other non-muslim fellow members to break fast, reflecting a show of unity among our multi-racial members.

It was an evening when things didn’t go as planned too! In her excitement, our Madam President overlooked the order of the programme and instead she jumped-the-gun by introducing the Toastmaster of the Evening when it should have been done after the break of fast. There was also a time when Leong could not run the video presentation of his humorous act (recorded from a contest performance), when the laptop failed to read the DVD. To add salt to his wounds, Mohamad remarked that more preparation should have been made before the presentation! Unfortunately, when it was Mohamad’s turn to present his Table Topics presentation on Power-point, he too encountered technical problems and this was when Leong teased back at him. Could it be that its ‘puasa’ time when even the laptop was affected? I would call this an “impromptu” humour session with moments of light bantering, which provided amusement for everyone.

Our honourable guest for the evening was Mohd Hadzrin Shah, the W2 Area Governor, who took the honour of being one of the evaluators for the project speakers.

As the evening progressed, the programme fell into place and it all proved to show that “to err is human and to forgive, divine” in this holy month of Ramadan! After the ‘buka puasa’, everything went ‘boleh - Malaysia sure Boleh!!!’

Raja the King gave us food for thought with his invocation after a sumptuous dinner.



Wei Lyn was baptised as a member of MII TMC in the New Member Welcoming ceremony. Immediately after that she was put into action as the official toastmaster of the evening. With her bubbly and enthusiastic disposition, Wei Lyn impressed everyone with her spirit of patriotism. All sang the national anthem with flags held in our right hands led by our MIA (missing in action) member, Monsieur Tilaka. Flashes of fond memories came back to us, memories of the time we were taught to sing ‘Negara Ku’ in our early days in school.

Mohamad, the Table Topics Master, conducted the table topics session using his laptop, projecting the topics on the projector. The creative approach got everyone on their feet giving their views relating to Malaysia. Members got to pick the topics based on the letters they chose from the word Malaysia.

Ho, who was one of the table topics speakers, chose the letter S and the statement upon which he had to elaborate was “Solidarity amongst all races is important”. He kept chanting the word “Merdeka”, as though he was possessed by the spirit of the first prime minister of Malaysia! At that moment my imagination went wild, Ho was suddenly transformed to Tuanku Abdul S Ho!!!

The best-speaker award for the table topics session went to Anna Hue, who was presented with a leather wallet, compliments of Mohamad.

Meanwhile, the Immediate Past President, sandwiched by the Madam President on his right and the Lady Vice President on his left, was in need of “Kwan Loong-Cap Kapak “ medicated oil throughout the meeting to calm his nerves while guiding both women in their new roles.

Members were later entertained by 3 project speakers, comprising two gentlemen and a lady. Wong Hang Hiang with his ice-breaker speech, Jerene Yap and Khung Varn Fatt with their second project speeches. The 3 speakers had everyone perked-up listening to their refreshing speeches.

The evening ended as scheduled and everyone was happy to take home a hand-held Malaysian flag each, as a token of appreciation from MII Toastmasters Club.

Our 3Jokers, The AG Mohd Hadzrin, Mano and Kok Wah celebrating a 1Malaysia, The Drafter, The Speaker and the Conspirator at the recent Humorous Speech Contest coming together at last at our Meeting. Believe it, Hadzrin is wearing Kok Wah's and Kok Wah is using Hadzrin whilst Mano using his own. Guest what?


Another meeting among fellow toastmasters has ended. The next one to look forward to will be on the 8th September,09 with new project speakers and role players, ever-eager to play their roles. Until we meet again in two weeks time, Selamat Berpuasa!

Specially Reported by Robin Hood (RH) aka Rozina Harun

2 ICE BREAKERS AND 2 JOKERS

Warm greetings to all,

As it turned out, “2 ice breakers and 2 jokers” was a very appropriate theme for the evening. We had two ladies giving their maiden speeches and two humorous gentlemen giving their respective project speeches.

The Club was graced with the presence of Bryan Soo, from MIM TMC. He was the General Evaluator for the evening. His evaluation was full of praise and he was impressed with the record of the Club’s achievements displayed on the meeting room wall. He felt right at home with the members. It was indeed a delightful experience for both Bryan and the Club!

Our Madam President Levine invited Grace Tan from Friendship TMC to be in charge of the Table Topics session. Grace came up with an innovative method of getting members to express their thoughts during her session.

Anna eagerly volunteered to be the first table topics speaker. She was very eloquent when asked to elaborate further the opening sentence “I am sexy……

Leong was given the task in convincing the other passengers on board a plane that is about to crash, as to why he should be given the last parachute. His reasoning was that he was once the most powerful President of MII TMC!

Wong was cornered to speak and was asked to choose from 3 creatures (panda, piranha and hyena), which one he thought would be appropriate to rule the world. He chose the panda, naturally.

T. Raja was given a very comical hypothetical question: What if he were to become invisible, where would he go? His response was amusing when he said he would snoop around the government offices and eavesdrop on officers who were involved in awarding Tenders.

Raj, a guest of T. Raja was a good sport when he was thrown a question as to choose an animal tattoo which signifies his love for his girlfriend. His tongue in cheek response was he would choose a rabbit and since he has dark complexion, the tattoo would have to be white, or luminous.

Our new member, Tashvinderjit did a commendable job in the role of Sergeant at Arms, the first role assigned to every new member.

During dinner we celebrated Lim Ah Wai and Manian Birthday and everyone sang them the Birthday song. You must be there to see the smile of happiness on their faces.

The Project Speakers for this meeting were:

1. Chung Yoke Wai - “Looking Back”. Fondly known as Yuki, she gave a brief
recollection of her childhood and an account of her career progression to date.


2. Rozina Harun - “The “S”s in me” – in an unconventional way, approached a senior member to give her perception of the speaker, before she proceeded to describe her own personality.

3. T. Rajasingam - “4 bottles of life”. Raja, the king of all kings,
enthusiastically shared his thoughts on the cycle of life that most people go through.

4. Mano – “An Overdose”. Mano narrated a true story about an overdose of motivation that had left a friend stuck in a rut instead of achieving his goals.


The meeting ended on time- (the Immediate Past-President made a remark that during his presidency, the meetings always exceeded the allocated time, while during the Madam President’s term-of-office, meetings end on time and attendances are always high!).

And as we all know, it is not just the time-keeping that counts, but it’s how the members learn and enjoy the experience of the MII TMC!

Reported by: VPE Rozina Harun