I wrote this speech before getting Rev. Dale’s help with the last one. I will be delivering this one next Monday, November 26. We don’t have to give speeches this close together, we get to decide when we give them, and I just jumped right in there, lol. I saw the ‘theme’ of the meeting for this date is ‘Night Sky Stargazing’, and this is a special ‘Speech Night’ where, instead of following the usual order of the meetings, we are having extra speeches. Hey, when there’s an empty spot ya may as well just jump right in. Besides… as I said, I saw the theme for the night. Read the speech and you will understand why the theme ’spoke to me’ and why I instantly knew what I would speak about.

Now that I know how Rev. Dale prepares for his speeches, I don’t know if I’ll have another one to share with you. Likely they will never be written out like this again, but done solely in point form. When I first started speaking, I wrote an opening, a closing, and some points I wanted to talk about. Somewhere along the road I changed to writing the speech out and trying to memorize it. I got stuck in that. Now I am back to the original way, more or less, and know my talks will be much better for it.

Stargazer

What is the car of your dreams? And what would you do if you had the chance to own it??

M. Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters, welcome guests.

One day in May 1985, 2 friends and I went to Kelowna in my 1981 Datsun 200SX car. Having some time to kill, both of them being men, and me loving cars, it was a given that we’d end up in a used car lot… there to test drive whatever we could find. We had fun looking around the lot, then test driving a 1966 T-Bird. It was a very nice car, but somehow not ‘me’, besides, we weren’t serious about buying a car. We talked to the sales guy for awhile, said I’d think about the car, and drove out. While we had been talking to the sales guy, unknown to us, they had taken a car out from the bay and parked it out front. I saw it, pulled a Uie, and back in we went. “I want to test that one.” I told the sales guy. It hadn’t been on the sales lot for 5 minutes yet. I drove it… I fell in love… and I traded my ‘Rice Rocket’ straight across for this 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass Convertible.

I was an adult and lived in my own place, yet still very influenced by my parents and what they thought of me…. And now I had to go tell them I’d traded my nearly new, easy on gas, sensible Datsun car for an ‘old’ muscle car, big motor, not easy on gas, but in really nice shape. It had had any rust cut out and metal welded in, had new paint and a new rag top on it… great interior too. I was afraid they’d blow their stacks and say how stupid I’d been.

I took Doug, one of the friends that had been with me that day, when I drove out to visit my parents the next day.

“Hi Mom… Dad… this is Doug…. Oh, and come see what I traded the Datsun for!”

We walked out onto the sun deck and looked down at my new old car, sitting in the driveway with the top down. I don’t remember what Dad said, if anything (Dad never said much of anything), but I remember Mom going “ooohhhh” or something like that, then asking “how much extra did you have to pay for that?”

“Nothing. I traded straight across,” said I. “Wasn’t that a great deal?”

Whew [wipe forehead]… They were positively impressed. Being my parents, they knew that I’d always loved convertibles… and this was a beautiful one, blue with black interior and black rag top.

When I put my foot into it, that big boy would sit you back in your seat, I tell you, and if I wasn’t careful pulling out into traffic I could break his back wheels loose from the road as I turned and accelerated. Ahhhh, how I loved that car.

One day, a guy I knew and I were talking cars and he asked me what my convertible’s name was. I said it didn’t have a name, and he told me I had to have a name for a car like that. Having named other vehicles I’d owned I agreed to find him a name. Later (much later) that night I was driving home to where I lived at that time. There was not a car on the road but me, driving along with the top down and enjoying the abundance of stars out that night. [steering & looking up, down, up, etc] Suddenly I realized that was his name. Stargazer!!

I was off work that summer on a medical leave, so I was a free entity and ‘girls just wanna have fu –unnn”. I put a lot of miles on Stargazer and was rarely to be found at home.

Early in the spring of 1987, I travelled to 100 Mile House to visit for a few days. While there, I ended up with a fur ball with 4 legs and a nose… D-O-G, a type of Belgian Sheep dog called the Belgian Tervern, was one of the cutest puppies I’ve seen, and so loving too. When it was time for us to come home, I put her on the passenger seat, but as soon as Stargazer started to move she went to the back and laid on the floor. That’s how she always traveled from then on. .

Every fall I put Stargazer into storage for the winter. The fall of ’87 I rented a garage less than a block from the house Mom & Dad were in at that time. D-O-G was, of course, with me when we said ‘See you later’ to Stargazer. The next spring I didn’t have the money to put him back on the road right away, and it was July or August when we went back to that garage again. D-O-G was so excited that she was spinning circles [hand out] that far off the ground. She knew Stargazer was in there and could hardly wait for me to get the lock off the door. The moment I opened Stargazer’s door, she was right in the back seat, happy as could be.

One day, after church, I took a friend to the farm with me to go riding horses. I put the top up on Stargazer and we went into the house so I could change from my “Sunday best” to my riding clothes. When we went back outside, the horses were all in the yard and Stargazer’s rag top was ripped all to shreds. I never knew for sure which of the horses had chewed and torn it, but at least 2 or 3 of them were guilty… and we didn’t go riding that day.

I had a lot of good times in Stargazer, interesting trips and adventures. He was in my life far longer than any friend I’ve had, longer than any man ever was, and longer than any of my animals lived. Stargazer and I were together for just over 18 years. Then one day I had some kind of ‘mental midget moment’. It had been 3 or 4 years since I’d had the money to put him on the road, he just sat in my carport year round. One day I said to a friend that I maybe should sell him, she told this to one of her sons and he was here making me an offer faster than I could think straight, I guess, because I accepted that offer.

In June 2003, nearly 5 years after loosing my D-O-G to the highway, and just over 18 years after I bought him, I said fair well to my beloved Stargazer. The money I got for him is gone now, but the memories aren’t… the longing to have him back in my life hasn’t gone either. I often kick myself for that moment of madness when I let Stargazer leave my life forever.

Again I ask you… what would you do if you had the chance to own the car of your dreams?

M. Toastmaster

This is the speech I wrote for my second Advanced speech project. I felt it was a good speech and so did my minister, but when I tried to get it ‘from the paper into my head’, I got nowhere. I had a ’speech impediment’, lol. Rev. Dale is a wonderful speaker, so I asked him for help. We spent over 3 hours together on Monday afternoon. He showed me how he writes and prepares for giving his speeches, then we went to work on me. No, not my speech, me. He’d have me read to him a bit of the speech then “what does that mean to you” or “explain that to me in your own words” or “now tell me about that using different words”. Up to the podium, back to the desk, up to the podium… brain freeze, progress, brain freeze, progress, blank out… ahhhhhhh. And finally break through. Once Dale left I re-wrote my notes into legible order and ran through it a couple more times. Now that I didn’t try to memorize the speech, let go of the words written on the paper, each time I spoke the words came out differently, but the idea was there. With less than a half hour left I quickly ran an errand, stopped by the Subway to get a 6″ special, drove to a safe place to let my dog out of the truck, then ate about half the sandwich while she ‘did her business’. Both of us back in the truck we ‘flew’ over to where the meeting is held… only a few minutes late for being the greeter, but well before the meeting began. The words I spoke were not exactly the same as these I’d written, but the essence is still the same.

Speech for Toastmasters – November 19, 2007

The Law Of Attraction

With Newton, we were insignificant cogs in the Universal Machinery.

With Quantum Physics, we are Creators of the Universe.

Madame Toastmaster – fellow Toastmasters – Welcome guests

Everything is Energy. The relationship between Energy & matter is explained by Einstein’s 1905 formula, E=mc2… Energy and matter are interchangeable – in reality, everything is Energy – dancing, fluid, ever-changing Energy.

Energy is influenced by our thoughts. As Creators, through our thoughts we shape, form and mould the Energy of the Universe. We transform the Energy of our thoughts into the Energy of our reality.

Quantum Physics is being called the physics of possibility. We have been conditioned to believe that the external world is more real than the internal world. Quantum physics says just the opposite. It says that what’s happening on the inside determines what’s happening on the outside. It says that our world is shaped by our thoughts.

Since nothing is fixed and everything is in a state of potential, everything is possible. As we understand that everything is possible, and as we focus our thoughts on what we want to attract, we can literally call into existence whatever we desire.

This is the Law! This is Science! “That which is like unto itself is drawn.”

That which is like unto itself, is drawn: this is a simple statement which defines the most powerful Law in the Universe. I’m sure you’ve often heard people say “birds of a feather flock together” or even “like attracts like”. Without even knowing it, they were talking about the Law Of Attraction!

LOA affects all things at all time. Nothing exists that is not affected by this Law.

We can see evidence of the LOA right here in our own Society… people we know that talk about illness are the ones that have it… and the ones that talk about prosperity have prosperity. Poverty consciousness creates a life of poverty.

When you begin to understand the LOA, the evidence that is all around us begins to appear… you begin to recognise the exact link between what you’ve been thinking about & what shows up in your experience. It’s kind of like when you get a new car. You’ve never noticed before how many Volkswagons are on the road until you get a VW… or Ford Rangers until you get a Ford Ranger. It’s like they come out of the wood work… and yet they’ve always been there.

We don’t deliberately attract unwanted things into our lives, though only you could have caused it – no one else has the power to attract what comes to you but you. By focusing on the unwanted thing, or the idea of it, you create it by default. When we don’t understand the Laws of the Universe, we invite unwanted things into our experience through our attention to them.

See yourself as a magnet… attracting to yourself that of which you are thinking and feeling- - feel FAT and you can not attract THIN… POOR, you can’t attract PROSPERITY, and so on.

Like the magnet, the LOA reaches out into the Universe and attracts other thoughts that are vibrationally like it, and brings that back to you.

Whether you are focusing upon things you want or things you do not want, the evidence of your thought continually flows towards you.

Rather than trying to monitor your thoughts, though, simply pay attention to how you are feeling. If you choose a thought that is not in harmony with your Greater Good, you will feel this discord within yourself. You can change your thought to something that feels better & so better serves you.

This powerful Law is always working whether you realize it or not… whether you believe in it or not. When you give thought to something you do not want & stay focused on that thought, by Law you are attracting more & more & more until eventually you attract matching events or circumstances right into your experience. This is also true when thinking of what you do want. If you are aware of your Emotional Guidance System, you will notice in the early stages if you are focusing on what you do not want & can shift your attention to what you do want.

THOUGHT + FEELING = DEMONSTRATION. When we add feelings/emotions to our thoughts, they become much more powerful & more creative. If you are feeling anger as you think your thoughts, or guilt, or fear, doubt… what do you think the outcome of those thoughts will be? How about when you are feeling love, joy, excitement? Which of those two outcomes would you prefer to have in your life experiences? If you say “I love myself and I deserve that new car” do you think you will really create it for yourself? Do you think you’ll put the LOA into motion for you? How about when you say “I love myself and I deserve that new car, now!!”? Thought + feeling = demonstration.

I remember years ago Rev. Lloyd Klein saying “What do you want?”

I replied, “well, I don’t want a….”

“NO! What DO you want?” he interrupted.

“Well, I want a guy who doesn’t….”

“NO! What DO you want?”

It took me awhile to ‘get it’, but I finally did. I didn’t know then that what he was talking about was part of the LOA. I do now.

The LOA is the 1^st of the 3 powerful Universal Laws. The 2^nd is the Science of Deliberate Creation… the 3^rd, the Art Of Allowing. In a 5 – 7 minute speech I can only barely touch the tip of the ice burg of the LOA and how you can use it to create the life you want. I’ve been reading an awesome book about the LOA, by Ester & Jerry Hicks (I won it in a book draw. (In fact, I’ve won 3 of the last 4 book draws at the Centre and I plan to win the next one too). I also have been studying it on the internet. It will take me years, maybe the rest of my life, to do all the research on this subject. I am looking forward to tomorrow night when I go see a movie at the Centre… The LOA, by Ester & Jerry Hicks. You have likely heard of the book and movie “The Secret”… they are also about using the LOA in your life.

No person, thing, or circumstance can be part of your experience unless you invite them in through your thoughts (or through your attention to them).

Closing:

We can choose to believe Newton’s theory. With the LOA in action, it will prove to be right in your experience, and you will be an insignificant cog in the Universal Machinery.

Personally, I choose to believe Quantum Physic. I am a Creator of the Universe.

Madame Toastmaster

This is a speech I wrote for my first speech in an Advanced Manual. Due to my hectic schedule, I didn’t even pick out which manuals I wanted to work from until the Thursday evening and was scheduled to give the talk on Monday. Once I knew which manual, I had to decide which project in the manual… then finally write the speech. I got some of it written on Sunday afternoon, the rest written on Monday. I finished the writing about a hour or so before the meeting, no time to practice it at all, but figured I’d at least print it out as I’d written it all on this computer. So I transfered it onto my flash drive so I could take it to my desk top computer which is the one with the printer, transfered it over there and went to print it. Got an error message on the printer and it refused to print anything out no matter what I did. I quickly remembered why I never print anything at home, always do it at the church office. This has been an ongoing problem ever since a friend bought the new printer for me. But I digress…. I ended up making myself late for the meeting, not a good thing, because of fiddling with that stupid thing. I also went to the meeting without any notes, without having practiced the speech at all. So basically, I did a 5-7 minute impromptu speech. I knew some of what I’d planned to say, but couldn’t actually remember a lot of what I’d written.

One thing I did was took a “visual aid”. I took a small travel cage I still have from the days when I used to raise and show rabbits. This travel cage is a “two hole” meaning it holds 2 animals, separated by wire (a duplex, lol). I took the one rabbit that I still have, Grace Hawk, a Netherland Dwarf which is one of the two smallest breeds recognized by the American Rabbit Breeders Association. I also took Smudge, one of my 5 chinchillas. I covered the cage with a sheet so no one could even tell it was a cage, not a box, and when it was my turn to speak, the covered cage was on a table in front of me.

It was a big ’smash’ when I reached under the sheet, into the cage, and brought out a rabbit to show the approximate size of the chinchilla. “Chinchillas are about the size of a small rabbit…” At the end of the speech, it really ‘wowed’ them when I reached under the sheet again and pulled out the chinchilla. “Have I ever felt the exquisite softness of a chinchilla fur coat? Yes….”

The speech met all the criteria set out for it in the manual, and the audience loved it. I was the only one who knew I’d “blown it”, so I guess I didn’t really blow it, just felt that way for awhile. You see, the words of the speech I gave that night were for the most part way different that the words written below. I wish I could tell you what they were, but I can’t even tell myself.

Chinchilla Fur

The name ‘chinchilla’ literally means ‘little Chincha’, after the Chincha people of South America who used the chinchilla for food and clothing. Have you ever felt the exquisite softness of a Chinchilla fur coat?

Madame Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters, welcome Guests

The Chinchas were eventually overcome by the Incas in the 1400s., … the chinchillas live on.

Since 1810 there were repeated attempts to breed these animals in captivity, but the first reliable report of success in this endeavour was in 1900.

Mathias F. Chapman, a mining engineer from California, was working in Chile in 1918 when he purchased a chinchilla as a pet. He liked it so much he decided he wanted to raise a whole herd of chinchillas, so applied to the Chilean government for permission to capture and transport several animals to the US. At this point, chinchillas were already nearing extinction from being killed for the fur trade. The Chilean government was reluctant to grant trapping permission, but eventually did.

Chapman and a group of 23 men searched the Andes Mountains for 3 years and caught only 11 chinchillas. It took them a year to bring the animals down the 12,000 foot mountain, moving slowly so the chinchillas could acclimate to the changing environment. Only 3 of the 11 chinchillas were female, and they were the beginning of the domestic chinchilla.

In their native habitat, chinchillas live in burrows or crevices in rocks. They are agile jumpers and can jump very high, up to 5 feet. They live in colonies…. the females are significantly bigger than males, & breeding can be done at any time of the year. At 111 days, they have a very long gestation period compared to other rodents. Due to this long pregnancy, chinchillas are born fully furred and with eyes open. Litters are usually small in number, predominately twins… though litters have ranged in size from 1 to 6 kits, 2-3 is normal.

Chinchillas have a lot of lanolin in their fur. In the wild they take dust baths in the volcanic ash. As pets they need to be given a dust bath at least 3 times a week. The chinchillas will dive right in flipping, rolling, digging and playing merrily in their quest to be clean.

Fur industry:

Chinchillas are about the size of a small rabbit and, unlike the rabbit, are classed as rodents. The international trade in chinchilla fur goes back to the 16th century. The fur from chinchillas is popular in the fur trade due to its extremely soft feel. The pelt of a chinchilla is relatively small, so many animals must be killed to make a single coat (approximately 250 chinchillas to make an average coat.

This fur trade led to the extinction of one species of chinchilla, and put serious pressure on the other two. Though wild chinchillas are no longer hunted for their fur, domestic chinchillas are still bred for this use.

Chinchilla fur is considered the softest in the world and is 30 times softer than human hair. They have approximately 20,000 hairs per square cm.

With density of 80-100 hairs per follicle, parasites cannot live on the skin so chinchillas are free of external parasites… and they have no dander, which is the leading cause of pet related allergies.

Chinchillas are vegetarian, therefore there is little odor when the cage and surroundings are kept clean. The animals are good parents, and are generally healthy when taken care of properly.., the life expectancy of a chinchilla is 10-15 years. Some have been known to have lived into their 20s.

Chinchillas are very friendly and curious by nature.

Chinchillas are very delicate so you have to be very careful when handling them. Hold them by the base of the tail only, and make sure they are well supported. Most don’t like being held as they want to run off and play. These little animals like playing and are very active. They prefer temperatures under 75F and will easily overheat in warmer climates.

Their teeth grow continuously throughout their lifetime so it’s important that they have wood and other materials to wear them down on. The chinchilla, like the rabbit, gnaws on things to wear the teeth down and keep them in good condition.

(close) Have I ever felt the exquisite softness of a chinchilla fur coat? Yes. In fact, I am blessed to have 5 chinchilla fur coats… and the best part of it? They are all still being worn by their original owners.

Madame Toastmaster

Daily Inspiration: I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it. ~Maya Angelou

Today’s Affirmation: I find my joy today in even the most unlikely place. I start by looking within.

Today’s Spiritual Practice: If one sees all experiences as opportunities and seeks to find the wisdom to be gained, all changes will become steps forward and the unknowable will actually become comfortable. Enjoy your journey it has been custom made for your discovery of joy.

Light Mail is written by Rev. Dale Jukes of the Okanagan Centre for Positive Living

I was reading an email from a friend and it really sparked something within me, something I had to write down, something I have to share.

It was a poem and, speaking about God, one line says “Imagine life without His love”.

What a strange and utterly incomprehensible  idea. Life without God’s love? Impossible! There is just no such thing. That’s like saying “Imagine the cells of my body not being part of my body”.   It just could not happen.

Why would anyone want to even try imagining something as totally unreal as this? What a waste of thought energy, and it makes one wonder what you would be creating with this kind of thinking. Thoughts are things, things that carry their own energy and create your life experiences with that energy. These kinds of thoughts, then, could create the appearance of life without God’s love, making some people think that this is possible because, ”hey, it’s happening… it’s real”. However, no matter what the appearance may be, the Truth is that God, Universal Creator of all things, IS love in action.

There is ONE life and that life is God. The seven aspects of God are: life, LOVE, light, peace, power, beauty & joy.

“Imagine life without His love”… If we’re going to try imagining life without God’s love, why not try imagining life without life?… Imagine Love without Love! Light without Light! It’s exactly the same thing. Try imagining…. nothing.

There is ONE life and that life is God. Everything else is created out of that One Life, that Energy in motion, in expression. God withholding love from any of us would be like a person withholding love from one of their fingers, or from their hand. “I love all my body except the ring finger of my right hand. It doesn’t deserve my love. It hasn’t done anything ‘special’ enough to buy my love.”

I didn’t bother reading the rest of that email.

DELETE!

At every regular Toastmasters meeting, one of the events of the evening is the sharing of a joke. I think this one will be great for that purpose, though the woman may like it more than the men do, haha.

11 PEOPLE ON A ROPE

Eleven people were hanging on a rope, under a helicopter…. 10 men and 1 woman.

The rope was not strong enough to carry them all, so they decided that one had to leave, because otherwise they were all going to fall. They weren’t able to choose that person, until the woman gave a very touching speech.

She said that she would voluntarily let go of the rope, because, as a woman, she was used to giving up everything for her husband and kids or for men in general, and was used to always making sacrifices with little in return.

As soon as she finished her speech,

all the men started clapping . . . . . . .

When I returned to Toastmasters after 9 years away, my first week back I was told there was a Humorous Speech Contest the following week, and would I like to participate in it.  Somehow I’m not as good at saying ‘no’ as I am at ‘yes’, so I signed up for the contest, lol.  It took awhile to decide what I would talk about, so Sunday I told myself I wasn’t going home until I wrote the speech.  After the service, I stayed at church (good thing I have my own keys) and wrote this speech.  That evening and the next day I fit in a bit of practicing the delivery of it, and then competed at our club meeting.  I didn’t win the contest, but I feel I was a winner.  Everyone really liked my speech and I got a lot of compliments on it.  I had been planning to re-do the CC (Competent Leader) manual, start from the bottom again because I was away so long and was rusty, but several seasoned speakers told me that night that there was no way I had to do that… they felt I was ready to jump right in to the Advanced manuals… so that’s just what I did.

Pork Chop & Penelope

“When you share your life with a bunch of animals, you live in the middle of a comedy show”.

Madame Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters, welcome Guests.

Over the years, I’ve been blessed to have many animals share my life. I currently have 1 dog, 1 cat, 1 rabbit, 3 budgie birds, 5 chinchillas… and some chickens outside. Lots of fodder for future speeches, I’m sure, though tonight I’ll share with you the story of Pork Chop & Penelope.

Some years ago, a friend & I, decided to raise pigs. Another friend had a farm with a barn we could use… so “to market, to market to buy a wiener pig” (or two).

We fed them. They ate. They grew.

One day we decided to separate them. We locked Penelope in the barn & Pork Chop outside. The next day when I went up to feed them they were nowhere to be found. I phoned Pat to “come quick”. A big heavy door was ripped right off the side of the barn, so we knew Pork Chop had thrown a temper tantrum and gotten out through the horse’s side of the barn. We never were exactly sure how he got his “lady love” out of the piggery, though.

We searched high… & low… following pig tracks that left the barn (in several directions). We got in Pat’s car… drove up & down the roads looking… & still no pigs. It’s common knowledge that pigs never stray too far from home, so where could they be?

Thanks to a cell phone & the radio station, we eventually had a couple leads on where to find our wayward pigs. Pork Chop & Penelope had broken the rule of not going far from home. We took the truck and single horse trailer to pick them up.

We had in the trailer a bucket of water, food & several loves of bread to entice them, but really had no idea how we’d get them loaded. Pat got out & walked “around”. I drove down a bank & across a field… As soon as they saw me driving up, they started to run. No, not away, but towards me. I stopped, jumped out, & quickly dropped the ramp on the trailer. Being very thirsty after their day on the lamb, and smelling the water, both pigs ran into the trailer & I quickly slammed it closed just as Pat arrived. We had no sooner gotten the pins in place to hold the ramp/tail gate in place when the pigs realized they had been trapped… and all “H - E – double toothpicks” broke loose.

Pat & I jumped into the truck knowing that we had to do what ever it took to keep them in that trailer long enough to get home. This ended up meaning:… the pigs would be climbing up the tail gate & I’d hit the breaks. They’d fly towards the front of the trailer & I’d hit the gas & drive as fast & as far as I could (not very) before having to hit the breaks again. Thank God not too much of this was on main roads of Vernon.

We made it home & got them back safely into the barn…(together). We repaired the damage Pork Chop had done to the barn, and had a look at the trailer damage, including where the pigs had broken a big piece of angle iron in their attempt to get free.

It was around this time we decided it was time for Pork Chop to become… well, pork chops, so made arrangements to take him “out to have it done”.

First though, we had to wait a few weeks for Pork Chop’s bruises to heal from the trailer incident.

Second, we had to load him.

Third, we had to phone the slaughter house to rebook for another day.

Fourth, we had to get help.

Our friend Steve, a pig man from way back, came over & brought all his years of experience with him. He laughed at us women for not being able to load a pig,… and we went to work.

- Separate Pork Chop from Penelope

- Herd him to the trailer

- Jump out of his way as this huge boar pig nearly ran over us on his was back to Penelope’s pen.

Soon Steve saw what Pat & I had been up against, but being the pig man he was, he grabbed a bucket and next time Pork Chop bolted, Steve clapped the bucket over Pork Chop’s head. You see, every pig Steve had ever done this to had backed up, trying to get it’s head free, & was guided backwards to where he was supposed to go. You can imagine Steve’s utter amazement when our nearly 400# pig headed boar kept pushing forward, unaffected by the bucket blocking his vision.

So what did we do? Well, Pork Chop & Penelope both went for a ride in the “beefed up” horse trailer, & only Penelope came back home.

Maybe one day I’ll tell you about Sassy Pig, but for now I think you can see how “When you share your life with a bunch of animals, you live in the middle of a comedy show”.

Madame Toastmaster.

As I told the readers of my blog ‘I Was Born2Cree8′, I just rejoined Toastmasters. In 1997 I helped to form a new Toastmasters Club in our city, so I became a ‘Charter Member’ of ‘The Positive Living Toastmasters #6448′. In the year I belonged to this club, I competed in the Humorous Speech Contest both at our club level and the Area level. I also gave 10 speeches at our club and earned my Competent Toastmasters Award (CTM). One of the other clubs in town, the ‘Kalamalka Toastmasters’, held a Cowboy Poetry Contest that year and I competed in it and took first place. I was given certificates for the speech contest, the poetry contest, being a charter member, and the poetry contest, and I still have all of them as well as the completed book from that year. Once I figure out how to post pictures to this new blog I will show you those things.

One day last spring I got a phone call from a fellow named James. He said he was from ‘Monday Night Vernon Toastmasters’ which turns out to be my old club with a new name. They were celebrating the 10th anniversary of the club and wanted as many charter members as possible to come to the dinner they were having. I went and thoroughly enjoyed the ‘meeting’ that was right after the meal. I was invited to join them the following week for the last meeting of the season, before the 2 month summer break. I went. I knew that night that I ‘had’ to return to Toastmasters. It’s time. I had dropped out due to lack of funds for paying the membership, but had always planned to return some day, and I saw that some day had arrived.

After the summer break I had planned to be there the first meeting, but it turned out that there was something else I had to do and it was booked for the same night, something that couldn’t be changed to another night, so I missed Toastmasters. The following week I was sick, the first time in many years that I had a cold or a flu, and the darn thing lasted for 4 weeks, but there were only a few days when I was too ‘under the weather’ to keep going. The third week of Fall 2007 Toastmasters meetings I was there with my club and committed to rejoining. My long time friend, Barb, told me there was a Humorous Speech Contest the following week at our club and urged me to write a speech and get in on the fun. I ‘took the bate’ and did just that. From the feed back I have gotten since then, I know I did a really good job of it, and am proud of how well I did after 9 years away. I didn’t win, Val did, and she deserved to win. Her speech was awesome! Val since then went on to compete at the Area level and won there too, so is going to the Division competition in the near future.

I couldn’t think of a topic to write my speech on so Sunday came and I still had no speech for Monday night. After the church service, I stayed at church when everyone else left and wrote a speech. The end result was nothing like I had in mind when I started to write, it ‘evolved’ as my pen moved across the paper. I had Sunday night and Monday before the meeting to practice, so was not as good at presenting this speech as I know I could have been, and know I will be in future.

The names of the levels of achievement have changed since I last was involved. Now instead of Competent Toasmaster (CTM) there is Competent Communicator (CC) and Competent Leader (CL). Instead of Advanced Toastmaster (Bronze, Silver & Gold) it’s Advanced Communicator (Bronze, Silver & Gold) and Advanced Leader (Bronze, Silver).

I am currently choosing 2 books from the Advanced Communicator books/manuals. I was going to ’start at the bottom’ and get another CTM, errrr, make that CC award, but after giving my Humorous Speech the wonderful feedback included advice that I don’t need to repeat that, that I am plenty ready to go for my ATM/AC Bronze. There is an opening for a speech at our next meeting, but I don’t feel like I have time to write a speech that fast. I have to choose the manuals first then the speech. I am down for giving a speech November 5 and another one on November 19. They will count towards my AC Bronze.

I am also working towards my CL. At the Area level of the Humorous Speech Contest I was the Chief Timer and was evaluated for that in my CL manual. This past Monday, at our club meeting, I was #1 Evaluator and the Grammarian/Ah Counter. You can only be evaluated in the manual for one thing per meeting, so this time it was the Grammarian/Ah Counter and I will have lots of opportunities to get the evaluator evaluations I need to fill that manual.

I will post the Humorous Speech that I wrote for the contest, and I plan to also post the other speeches as I go along.

James (a.k.a. Shadow) works for WordPress and had been a real sweet heart.  He put WordPress on to my BlueFur domain for me, then when I messed things up trying to put this new theme up, James fixed it for me.  I would not have this blog going if not for James.

Hello, and welcome to my newest blog. I am just in the process of learning how to use this new blog as it is different from the ones I have done to date on Blogger, but it’s time to step up and learn something new, so here we go. It feels good to at least be putting my first post up, it feels like I’m at least making a bit of progress, and that is the first step on any pathway. There is much to learn yet, many steps to take, but I will do my best to enjoy the journey. I hope all of you will enjoy it with me.