A good convention

I did not make it the final of the Toastmasters International District 51 Table Topic Contest but still I had a good time at the Penang Convention. I learnt a lot more about being a contestant and picked up one or two new skills which will come handy for future contests…if I do contest again..ha..ha!

While waiting for the result of the contest at the semi finalize, the contest chairman of the day took the opportunity to interview all 6 contestants. When my turn came I was asked about the books I was reading currently as I had stated, reading as a hobby in my bio data. During the interview, I said that I am really keen on taking a creative writing course as I have my own blog and stated the address of the blog. Then I heard some people laugh, probably they thought it was funny “lopsidedfemale”. I went on to share with them that I am a breast cancer survivor and I had absolute silence from the audience. At the end of the sharing, the contest chairman asked me a very poignant question…”How do you stay motivated?” I answered … “When I go and give a presentation to the public about breast cancer and after that people come to me and say my story is inspiring well that is what keeps me motivated!”

After the interview we adjourned for refreshment break and I had a few men actually coming up to me and asking me to write down my blog address. Another convention participant came close to me and said she is also a breast cancer survivor. Some said my short sharing was so inspiring.

All that feedback made my day and I was proud of myself ! I had good set of friends who traveled with me and was surrounded by gaiety and positive thoughts participants thought the convention.

I hope to post the pictures taken by my friends when I get them.

I post here some pictures of the MASWings fokker plane that I took from Kuching to Sibu during my trip to east Malaysia early this month. Not many get an opportunity to fly on a fokker to experience the thrills of the propeller driven aircraft. This was my first time flying on this aircraft which I have only seen on TV. It was great noisy experience…ha...ha!

Two good short movies

I came across these two movies which is a good reminder to us about life. Do enjoy watching these movies.

http://www.bettertobless.com/movie3.html

www.BlueRibbonMovie .com

Happy Tamil New Year

Happy Tamil New Year! [Tamil puthantunal vazthukkal]. Yesterday was Tamil New Year and we all went to the temple to have our prayers.

At the temple, I noticed a lady wearing a cap and she had no eye brows or eye lashes. Immediately it struck my mind that she must be going through chemo. When I had the opportunity I approached her as she was sitting with her husband and asked in English whether she was going through chemo. The husband replied and said no. He just smiled. I walked away and felt so embarrassed. I just did not want them to think I was a lunatic, thus I approached them again and said hope they did not take offence to what I asked early as I too had gone through it. The husband in a friendly manner replied that they were not offended. My intention of approaching a total stranger was just to give her moral support…but it turned out I was totally embarrassed…looks like I have to be careful when I approach some one the next time..ha..ha!

Now coming back to why I have not been able to blog for some weeks as it as been very busy few weeks! Here goes what has been happening.

The whole of last week I was in East Malaysia conducting training programme for my company. We had trainings in Kuching, Sibu and Kota Kinabalu. Because I am doing this training, I will be doing a lot of traveling over the next 3 months. East Malaysia is famous for its sea food and so I really had to control myself from binging on crabs, prawns and other seafood.

I also had some bad news over the weeks. My neighbour’s sister- in- law whom I mentioned in my one of post some time ago who had a recurrence of cancer after 8 years of having breast cancer passed away. On the other hand my fellow survivor Selvi suffered another blow in her life when she lost her husband to cancer. He was just diagnosed a few months ago and suddenly he passed away. My friend has got 2 college going boys and one school going boy. I pray that god gives my friend the strength to over this great loss and may the souls of the departed rest in peace.

The National Cancer Society of Malaysia will be oganising for a second year the RELAY FOR LIFE from 31^st May to 1 June 2008 at the MSN Training Stadium, Bukit Jalil. I was asked be a volunteer but unfortunately because of the training project, I am not able to contribute this time around and sincerely hope I can attend the event.

The cough that I got in India stayed with me for a couple of weeks, In the midst of this I entered my toastmasters club International Speech Contest and Table Topic Contest and went on to win the Area Contests. At the Division C level I was declared the champion for Table Topic Contest. I will now represent Division C at the District 51 Contest which is to be held from 18-20 April 2008 at Penang Island.]. Well! I hope I do well at Penang.