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Last weekend, I attended a public speaking seminar organised by Taylor's Rotaract Club. They manage to invite representatives from Toastmasters (including some CEO's and presidents of clubs) to give us a speech. I had to say that they've done a great job for being able to get everything going. Perhaps it would be even better if they had organise the schedule better (many- including the committee members, are late).
On the first day, I was accompanied by my brother. We were divided into groups and were given an intro to public speaking, impromptu speaking, gestures, organising your speech... The scariest thing of the day was that we were required to give a 2-mins speech in front of everyone with half a second of preparation. Mike, the speaker, gave us a topic (mine was "is money important in choosing a career"), and we were to express ourselves right there. Surprisingly, most of them did very well, perfect English, humourous, well-organised... One would have thought they'd prepared them overnight. On the other hand, I sucked despite getting the easiest topic.
At night, Kitloong called and said he wanted to go as well. When I sms-ed the organiser (Ken Sing) on whether he was eligible for a cert, he responded, " well, if u ask me nicely, i might close one eye on it." After one sms filled with nice words... "you have convinced me, i will try to do something." Haha. Well, that night, me, my brother, and him, spent the night brainstorming for the ideas on the speech we were supposed to give for the competition on the next day. (There goes my sleep).
I was surprised to see Kam Hei at that seminar the next day. We were among the first to arrive. I guess the speakers were frustrated to find that the door into the LT room was locked when he arrived with his family, resulting in all of us standing outside, waiting for the organiser; which was why he scolded us once we got in. Throughout that day, I was forced to sit up straight and nod then and again, because due to my sitting position, the speakers all kept looking at me when they speak. Finally, the competition began (Kam Hei had sneaked away just before the competition starts). Some of them came up with very very good speech, even the Toastmasters said if they were to speak in their Toastmasters Club, they would have beaten most of the toastmasters flat. Of course, I would have to say, I was among the bottom, again. The winner of the day was Tong Kezanne, with "How to Die Early". *I was disqualified for not being within the time-limit. * Hahaha.
Anyway, on my way back home, exhausted and thinking about my sweet and soft pillow, my friend sms-ed me and said that the dead-line for UCAS application for Taylor's students(FYI, the application to UK universities) was the coming thursday!! (What?! Just a few days to go, and I didn't even have any idea what I want to study!) So, that few days of mine was spent on going to college, rushing through my home work from school which was getting harder, surfing the net, filling in the form, and dashing to and fro -about 5 times- between my house and Mrs Yuen's tuition center, because I need her help in writing my personal statement, as that is the key to successful application. (Mrs Yuen kept saying that my English has lacken and that I used to write better English than what I had written. Sob Sob.)
I finally managed to pick 6 uni, all of which I decided to apply for accounting and finance, and sent in my form online. Phew, one more thing down. Bad news is, I have a few topics to cram into my head this weekend for my final 4 tests of the year, a badminton date with my friends on saturday, movie in the evening, and Yoga on the next day.
Gosh, there goes my sleep again.
On the first day, I was accompanied by my brother. We were divided into groups and were given an intro to public speaking, impromptu speaking, gestures, organising your speech... The scariest thing of the day was that we were required to give a 2-mins speech in front of everyone with half a second of preparation. Mike, the speaker, gave us a topic (mine was "is money important in choosing a career"), and we were to express ourselves right there. Surprisingly, most of them did very well, perfect English, humourous, well-organised... One would have thought they'd prepared them overnight. On the other hand, I sucked despite getting the easiest topic.
At night, Kitloong called and said he wanted to go as well. When I sms-ed the organiser (Ken Sing) on whether he was eligible for a cert, he responded, " well, if u ask me nicely, i might close one eye on it." After one sms filled with nice words... "you have convinced me, i will try to do something." Haha. Well, that night, me, my brother, and him, spent the night brainstorming for the ideas on the speech we were supposed to give for the competition on the next day. (There goes my sleep).
I was surprised to see Kam Hei at that seminar the next day. We were among the first to arrive. I guess the speakers were frustrated to find that the door into the LT room was locked when he arrived with his family, resulting in all of us standing outside, waiting for the organiser; which was why he scolded us once we got in. Throughout that day, I was forced to sit up straight and nod then and again, because due to my sitting position, the speakers all kept looking at me when they speak. Finally, the competition began (Kam Hei had sneaked away just before the competition starts). Some of them came up with very very good speech, even the Toastmasters said if they were to speak in their Toastmasters Club, they would have beaten most of the toastmasters flat. Of course, I would have to say, I was among the bottom, again. The winner of the day was Tong Kezanne, with "How to Die Early". *I was disqualified for not being within the time-limit. * Hahaha.
Anyway, on my way back home, exhausted and thinking about my sweet and soft pillow, my friend sms-ed me and said that the dead-line for UCAS application for Taylor's students(FYI, the application to UK universities) was the coming thursday!! (What?! Just a few days to go, and I didn't even have any idea what I want to study!) So, that few days of mine was spent on going to college, rushing through my home work from school which was getting harder, surfing the net, filling in the form, and dashing to and fro -about 5 times- between my house and Mrs Yuen's tuition center, because I need her help in writing my personal statement, as that is the key to successful application. (Mrs Yuen kept saying that my English has lacken and that I used to write better English than what I had written. Sob Sob.)
I finally managed to pick 6 uni, all of which I decided to apply for accounting and finance, and sent in my form online. Phew, one more thing down. Bad news is, I have a few topics to cram into my head this weekend for my final 4 tests of the year, a badminton date with my friends on saturday, movie in the evening, and Yoga on the next day.
Gosh, there goes my sleep again.
