My 1Q09 Report Card

The first quarter of 2009 has just passed, and it’s time to do a review of my “achievements”, if you can call them that. Remember my 2009 resolution list? Well, I didn’t forget. Sigh, and now I must do a report-card as at 12:01 AM, April 01, 2009:

I haven’t started writing my Marketing textbook (0%)
I haven’t started on my second Masters (0%)
I haven’t started on my short story, and obviously I have yet to publish it (0%)
I have made only 3 speeches in these 3 months (15%)
I have completed about 285 hours of teaching time (40.7%)
The number of active ADP students stand at 216 (43.2%)
I recorded 4,242 visitors to my blog (84.8%)
No tangible progress on the music CD projects (0%)

The results are not too encouraging. I have done well on only 2 resolutions (i.e. resolutions 5 & 7). Okay, I must certainly buck up!

It is also easy to be discouraged. But if I can dream up these 8 resolutions, I cannot simply surrender! I must persevere! Was it not Walt Disney who said, “If you can dream it, you can do it”?

This evening’s HICT Toastmasters meeting was better attended. I did my speech 7: Research your Topic, and it was on “Recession in Malaysia”. Again, I am grateful that Weng May was there to be my evaluator. She made complimentary "noises", but again, I am not happy with my speechmaking. Oh yes, I enjoyed Shireen's speech (No. 2) very much - and she had the attention of the audience for the simple reason that she convinced us of the 'virtues' of clubbing! Now she has made me want to return to the clubbing scene! We had two VIPs dropping in – DTM Devan (he came to our installation dinner, remember?) and Barry Ong (Asst Division Governor, Education & Training from DHL Cyberjaya Toastmasters Club); their presence literally raised our spirits and boosted our morale. We have seen a significant number of members shying away from our last 2 meetings – so we really need to feel good about ourselves. Anyway there was also a charter member certificate presentation for pioneer members. All in all, a great evening.