Merry Christmas!

Cheers,
Alice Kok

And before Yours Truly goes for a break, she would like to post up picture collages taken during the recent Christmas Theme Meeting.

It was ol' fun aye. Table topic session was wicked. A couple of takers managed to put us into fits of laughter. Janet the friendly Gangster, Charles the confused black & white magician, Alice who proudly displayed dice in a frame she bought from her recent trip to Las Vegas, Barnabas who sold Microsoft Idea to Bill Gates, Jr Chia who wants to be President of Sandakan Toastmasters, Davina feeling safe and secure during her recent trip in Saudi Arabia because she had camels as her security guard!! and last but not least, Datuk Hassan who admits that golf is not his cuppa tea. Well done Norman for the hilarious table topic session.

Word of congratulations goes out to Alice, Charles and Datuk Hassan for completing another project speech. The speech was respectively inspiring, heartwrenching and challenging.

Bravo and brava! :)

Short announcement

Invitation to Pidato Club Training Meeting

Time and date: 7.00PM , 21st December 2007 (Friday)

Venue: Tropical Bed and Breakfast, Pecky Valley

Note: Members who would like to go, please contact Datuk Hassan @ 0128157931 for more details of the meeting or in case you get lost while looking for the B & B, like I did... Geez..

This is me wishing you Merry X'mas and Happy New Year!

Cheers,

Melissa, CC & VPPR.

5th Exco Meeting

Time: 8pm

Venue: Higashi Tei Restaurant

Mark Your Calendar, peeps!

First up, we have our first training meeting for the month of December 2007. Below are the details:-

1st Training Meeting for December

Date: 13th December 2007 (Thursday)

Time: 7.30pm

Venue: Ming Restaurant Private Room.

Theme: Christmas Raya (Do wear festive attire k..)

TLI Round 2 Club Officers Training

Date: 19th January 2008 (Saturday)

Time: 9am to 2pm

Venue: Kinabalu College, Kota Kinabalu

Note: This is the only chance to earn your club 1 full DCP point when 4 officers attend the training.

Division K 12th Annual Convention

Date: 29th to 30th March 2008

Day: Saturday and Sunday.

Venue: Hotel Shangri-La, Bandaram Berjaya, Kota Kinabalu

Note: Do take advantage for the early bird package of RM 100 if you register before midnight of 15th December 2007.

You got mark your calendar or not??!?

:)

Cheers!

Tis' the season to be jolly...December has always been my favourite month of all. With Christmas and New Year around the corner, this only means Holiday!! Of course it's not only the holiday to look forward to, but also to usher the new year fueled by new resolutions. Whether previous resolutions had been fulfilled, who cares. I mean, it's good if you were able to fulfill your resolutions, but it's okay if there are the ones not fulfilled yet.

Sweat not of the past but gear up for the presents and anticipate the future...

Just the mere idea of entering into new year plays an instant psycho boost mentally and spiritually. It signifies a fresh start, bountiful opportunities, and renewed hope to do better. Perhaps this year has not been all smooth for you. It's okay. Take the up ones and hold on to it as a reminder that you have done something right. And for the down ones, well, I hope you have learn something from it and that experience, take it as well to remind you to not repeat the same mistake twice.

You know how people always think or say, "Easier said than done." Well, let's just say when you are to partake something, always start with a positive note in regardless because being positive is always better than negative anyway. Do something good for your soul aye? Feed it or better yet plant some positive seeds in it and nourish it good with daily motivational quotes, articles, stories etc ....

For a start, here's some bits of inspiring quotes...

Life is like a library owned by the author.In it are a few books which he wrote himself,but most of them were written for him.

-Harry Emerson Fosdick-

The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live.

-Elbert Hubbard-

One way to get the most out of life isto look upon it as an adventure.

-William Feather-

If we do not plant knowledge when young, it will give us no shade when we are old.

-Lord Chesterfield-

Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow.

-Doug Firebaugh-

Heaven never helps the man who will not act.

-Sochocles-

This is your VPPR reporting..:)

P.s. Sorry Peeps. Haven;t been updating regularly. Am entering into holiday mode. :D

Sandakan Toastmasters in Medan

Last weekend, a few of Sandakan Toastmasters namely, Madame President herself, Datin Grace, CL Norman Chin, CL Amy Hiew, TM Bee Lin, CL Dusun and CC Margaret attended the District Semi Annual Convention in Medan.

So here's Norman's testimony on his trip to Medan...

“ Medan , here I come!”

That’s what on my mind when I boarded Air Asia AK5161 flying to Medan , Indonesia .

I finally went for my first ever District convention after joining Toastmasters Club for 5 years. Six of our club members, Bee Lin, President Grace, Amy, Magaret, Dusun and myself, went for the Medan Convention 2007, it turn out we have a wonderful and memorable time in Medan.

Being inspired by Past Internation President, DTM Dilip Abayasekara, outstanding speech was my best bid in the Medan Convention. I was also inspired by some of the outstanding Toastmasters who had shown great leadership skill, courage and dedication during the convention. By observing, I gain the momentum to serve the club and Toastmasters in better ways.

I enjoy Medan convention because I like to visit new places. Medan , Indonesia , is a brand new destination in my journey of traveling. Being in Medan , I have been able to try out different things such as their food, culture and languages. To be honest, Indonesia food was not really my type of food, but in life, we do have to try and enjoy something different once a while. As for the Indonesia culture, I learn the Indonesia people ways of dancing and I also learn a word of greeting “Horas”, which means welcome in Indonesia Language

On the last day of the convention, we were entertained by the finest speakers from varies Division competing in the Evaluation Contest and Humorous Speech contest. I am impressed by those top speakers and I certainly enjoy listening to their speeches and evaluation. Hopefully, our club representative will be competing in the stage soon.

This convention was really an eye opener for me, I believe I will attend more convention in the near future be it for fellowship, listening for great speeches or visiting new places, I enjoyed every moment of it. "

Sounds fun aye peeps?

Oh well, here're some snapshots of our members in Medan along with other Toastmasters.

For more updates and writes up; do visit Tawau Toastmasters site and our Area K2 site.

Inspire and Be Inspired!

Do not wait to be inspired. Why not search for it. Inspire yourself and those around you. For now, I would like to share a story that had inspired me and I hope it will inspire you too.

Who You Are Speaks LouderThan Anything You Can Say

By Lee Ryan Miller

I teach economics at UNLV three times per week. Last Monday, at the beginning of class, I cheerfully asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been so good. He had his wisdom teeth removed. The young man then proceeded to ask me why I always seemed to be so cheerful.His question reminded me of something I’d read somewhere before: “Every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to approach life that day,” I said. “I choose to be cheerful.”

“Let me give you an example,” I continued, addressing all sixty students in the class. “In addition to teaching here at UNLV, I also teach out at the community college in Henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where I live. One day a few weeks ago I drove those 17 miles to Henderson. I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. I only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. But just then my car died. I tried to start it again, but the engine wouldn’t turn over. So I put my flashers on, grabbed my books, and marched down the road to the college.“As soon as I got there I called AAA and arranged for a tow truck to meet me at my car after class. The secretary in the Provost’s office asked me what has happened. ‘This is my lucky day,’ I replied, smiling."Your car breaks down and today is your lucky day?" She was puzzled. "What do you mean?"“’I live 17 miles from here."I replied. "My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway. It didn’t. Instead, it broke down in the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance of here. I’m still able to teach my class, and I’ve been able to arrange for the tow truck to meet me after class. If my car was meant to break down today, it couldn’t have been arranged in a more convenient fashion."

The secretary’s eyes opened wide, and then she smiled. I smiled back and headed for class. So ended my story.I scanned the sixty faces in my economics class at UNLV. Despite the early hour, no one seemed to be asleep. Somehow, my story had touched them. Or maybe it wasn’t the story at all. In fact, it had all started with a student’s observation that I was cheerful.Deepak Chopra has quoted an Indian wise man as saying,

“WHO you are speaks louder to me than anything you can say.” I suppose it must be so.

On a different note: Do a check. How do you feel about yourself today?

A comic strip for your entertainment.

Love Yourself People! :)

This was during last 1st training meeting for the month of November.

Madame president addressing her report

ACB David as the Toastmaster of the Evening

Luna was the November Babe. Happy Birthday Woman!

P.S. Today she leaves for Melbourn. Bon Voyage. Visit this site often to know how we are doing and we love to hear from you too!

Luna cutting her cake

Charlie Chong receiving award for best table topic taker

Prince and Princess Bollywood

We have our new CCs. :) Another goal achieved. Yipee!

Next Toastmasters of the Evening is CL Norman Chin

Greeting to all my Marvelous Toastmasters!

Come and join in the fun, with the festive mood of "DEEPAVALI" at "THE MARK'S LODGE" (Bandar Indah) at 7.30pm - 10.30pm.

Share with us your hidden talents and present your best speech, be it your "ICE-BREAKER" or projects on your Competent Communication Manual, Advanced Communication Bronze, Silver or Gold.

For Members who had completed your CTM Projects, do charge your battery and go for your Competent Leader Achievements. Only Members who had serve as officers, can still present the projects on the OLD Competent Leader Manual till June 2008. Don't procrastinate, as time is important , as after 30th June 2008, members can only present their Competent Leader Projects with the NEW CL Manual.

For your information, the Toastmaster of the Evening is David Chong ACB. who join Sandakan Toastmasters Club in Sept, 2007. He is also a member of Tawau Toastmasters club and serving as their club secretary, who won the Division K Award last year, for his contribution to Tawau Toastmasters Club. Let us put our hands together and support him as the TME. Members, who are willing to take up roles or present their speeches, please kindly contact him at 0198336762, or VPE Norman Chin at 0138633907. Your commitments is their greatest support.

This is not all. As the theme for the coming training meeting is 'Bollywood Nite', there will be an award for the prince and princess of Bollywood. So, dress your best to match the theme and win a gift home sponsored by Your Madam President.

On another note, there will be another prize for the best Table Topic speakers sponsored by your President. Do come to join in the fun and at the same-time you are sharing your best with us.

Be that extraordinary person, as David Chong ACB had taken that lead. It is a choice to be extraordinary and it begins with yourself, then your team and finally the whole organization will excel.

Your attendance and participation is greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to your presence.

Yours in Toastmasters,
Grace Chiu CL
President 2007-2008.

4th Exco Meeting & Fellowship Dinner Sponsored by Luna Chua 7pm @ Mark Lodge Function Room

Correction: CL Datin Grace is on her 8th Speech, not 7th as written in th picture caption.

Cheers everyone!

How Poor We Really Are

-Author Unknown-

One day a wealthy family man took his son on a trip to the country so he could have his son see how poor country people were.They stayed one day and one night in the farmhouse of a very humble farm.

On the way back home at the end of the trip the father asked the son, "What did you think of the trip?"The son replied, "Very nice, Dad."The father then asked, "Did you noticed how poor they were?"The son replied, "Yes, I guess so."The father then added, "And what did you learn?"To this question, the son thought for a moment and answered slowly, "I learned that we have one dog in the house and they have four. We have a fountain in the garden and they have a stream that has no end."We have fancy lanterns in our garden, while they have the stars. Our garden goes to the edge of our yard, but for their back yard they have the entire horizon!"

At the end of the son's reply, the rich father was speechless. His son then added: "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we really are."

Up close and personal

In one of the recent training meetings, Table topic master DTM Eleanor Wong asked a very straight forward table topic question "What do you like about Toastmasters? Most answers given boiled down to the same points.

Positive enviroment, Friendly people, Able to improve in many areas be it leadership, communication or simply one whole being.

Yes, Toastmasters does that and a whole lot more. Of course a club is not a club or an organization is not an organization without people. People are the essense of the organization.

25th October '07 Training Meeting.

P.S. We had 6 speakers on that night!

District 51 Semi annual convention.

Note: Fun & Fruitful

Question: So, what do you like about Toastmasters? :)

Division K 12th Semi Annual Convention

27th & 28th October 2007

at Kota Palace Hotel

Kota Kinabalu

"If you don't program yourself, life will program you"

-Les Brown-

One word to sum up the Division K 12th Semi Annual Convention which was held over the weekend "Awesome!"

They say Toastmasters are one big family. And a bigger family indeed when it comes to occasion such as the semi annual convention. Different areas come together and just bond instantly as if there is an invisible ring that ties them together.

The 2 days program consists of a council meeting, an educational workshop, a theme fellowship dinner and of course the district 51 Evaluation and Humorous Speech Contest.

Part 1: Council Meeting

The council meeting aims to bring together leaders of respective areas and clubs to discuss current goals. How many have been achieved? What are the prospect? What are the obstacles? Words of advice and encouragement was given by DTM Andrew Thien, District 51 Governer to boost all areas and clubs to achieve their DCP Goals.

Part 2: Education Workshop

The Art Of Heart by Iskandar Ahmad

The education workshop is sort of like a self development workshop. Only this time, it focused on the area of listening skills which is one of the crucial essense when it comes to great interpersonal/communication skills. Conducted by Iskandar Ahmad, who is a distinguished man himself with admirable track records of achievements, the workshop was fun, educational and certainly benefited those who attended the workshop.

Part 3: Theme Fellowship Dinner

Latin Nite

Sumptuous line of buffet, good company, enjoyable performances, and dancing our hearts out..

We enjoyed tremendously! Should we elaborate more?

Part 4 and probably the last part: Evaluation and Humorous Speech Contest

It was an exciting contest, I must say. Seeing the best of the best compete. I reckoned all contestant gave their best shot. Well done! Of course, what is a contest without a winner? The winner for Evaluation contest was Matthew Martin and Humorous Speech Contest was Lim Mui Len. Nevertheless, for those who did not win, rest assured the club, the area, your friends, your family and even your gold fish is superbly proud of all of you!

Cheers aye!

So there you have it. District 51 12th Semi Annual Convention.

There are also updates in District 51, Area K2. Do click on it.

Till then, Have a nice week!

Updates

&

Food for Thoughts

First of all, the Division K 12th Semi Annual Convention will be held this weekend on 27th and 28th October 2007. Venue to be is at The Palace Hotel (formally known as Berjaya Palace Hotel) and the theme will be "Latin Nite"

2 members from Area K2 will be competing for the Evaluation and Humorous Speech Contest which is part of the event highlight.

Evaluation Contest:
1. TM Chu Ket Mee, TawauToastmasters Club

Humorous Speech Contest:
1. Dusun Chong, Sandakan Toastmasters Club

Members competing, All the best!! Remember, you are already a winner by competing alone!

******************************

Value

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a RM 100 note. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this RM 100 note?"

Hands started going up.
He said, "I am going to give this RM 100 to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the note.

He then asked, "Who still wants it?"
Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.

He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still RM 100.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.

We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.

You are special - Don't ever forget it!

An afternoon Affair with Rotary Club on 18th October 2007, at 12 noon in Ming Restaurant Private Room, Sabah Hotel

An invitation to deliver a presentation on Impromtu Speech during Sandakan Rotary meeting was gracefully accepted by Sandakan Toastmasters. On the day of the pre arranged affair, DTM Eleanor Wong, CL Dusun Chong, CL Anne Tan, CL Norman Chin, and TM Kenny Low represented the club.

Before the presentation commenced, sumptuos meals was served allowing members from both respective club to get acquianted to each other.

Building rapport through luncheon

When everyone was pretty much done with their meals, Distinguished Toastmaster Eleanor began her presentation introducing Toastmasters Program and a brief introduction on what Impromtu Speech is all about.

DTM Elearnor (In Yellow) briefing about Toastmasters

At the end of the presentations, the Q & A session was open to the floor.

Candid

As a result of the whole affair, the Rotarians gain a healthy portion of knowledge on what Toastmasters is all about. As for the Toastmasters who went, well, they got free lunch!

Cheers to all!

Picture post.

I had the liberty to take a lot of of pictures during the Kebaya Theme Meeting that I cannot not post it up. So here goes- a picture post throughout the meeting in random order...

Ladies from left to right: DTM Eleanor, TM Mandy, ACB Datin Grace, TM Melissa, CL Anne and ATB Datin Nuri

Blur candid shot of fellowship during tea break

Madam president giving report as well as calling report from club officers

VPM, CL Janet Chin inducting ACS David and Madam President standing aside

TM Melissa and CL Janet counting votes for the best dressed man and woman

Guest Charles taking the table topic challenge. He did well!

Table topic master, TM Wong Kah Yun listening as TM Kenny answered to table topic

The ladies look elegant in their Baju Melayu

TM Alice as the General Evaluator

TM Sunny and TM Henry Nok

Training Meeting on 11th October 2007 in Ming Court Private Room, Sabah Hotel @ 7.30pm

Kebaya Night was the theme for the 1st Training Meeting for the month of October. Most members and guests dressed up to the theme while a couple decided to be party spoilers, wearing their formal working attire to the meeting..Understood as they probably came to meeting straight from work.

Hosted by Toastmasters of the Evening, ACG Datuk Hassan, the meeting went on smoothly and most importantly, everyone was having fun. We had a few first timers brought in by ACS David Chong (Guests: Charles and Kevin) and TM Khoo (Guest: Alvin) . Datin Nuri from Pidato Toastmasters Club also joined us for last night's training meeting. I must say this bunch of guests are the coolest among all, especially during table topic session which was creatively conducted by TM Kah Yun (by putting questions into Ketupats..interesting). Not only were they sporting enough to take up the table topic questions given to them; they were prompt to answer. Cheers to that!

During tea break, members and guests had great time getting to know more about each other and also blew cake for October's babies, ACG Datuk Hassan and CL Anne Tan.

The speakers for last night's meeting was TM Melissa with her topic "Learn How To Feel Good" and ACG Datuk Hassan with "Signs of Effective Salesperson". Each completed project speech is a step closer to becoming a better speaker. Members, for the upteenth times, :) do your manual speeches.. CL Norman will award you a token of appreciation for every 3 speech projects completed.

At the end of the meeting, we had induction for ACB David Chong who joined us just this month, having shifted from Tawau Toastmasters to Sandakan Toastmasters after being transfered to work in Sukau. But it's more than that. Imagine having to travel from Sukau to Sandakan to attend training meeting every second and fourth Thursday of the month, got to salute him and Noor Azmi for that. Another member, TM Joe who also make it a point to travel from Lahad Datu to Sandakan just to attend meeting, cheers to him!

Of course, we also have the winner for best dressed; man and woman category which was won respectively by ACB David Chong and CL/' VPM Janet Chin. Congrats lovelies!

All in all, the kebaya theme meeting was successful. Everyone looks wonderful. Everyone was enthusiastic. And everyone enjoyed themselves. Below is a group picture of members and guests.

Next meeting will be held on 25th October 2007. Toastmaster of the evening is none other than club's sergeants at arms , TM Ling How Kee. So, members, do call him up to take up any roles or if you wish to do your speech.

Tata...

To all Malaysians and Muslims all over the world

Kebaya Theme Training Meeting on 11th October 2007 will be posted soonest when I can get all the pictures of the beautiful people who simply make the world a better place...:)

Cheers and Happy Holiday!!

P.S. Tis' the season to be jolly and still keep a good watch on your diet. :)