Ho-hum Meetings

May photos of the contruction works to build Sunway University’s new twelve-storey block:

Last evening, I was at the MIHRM Toastmasters meeting where I delivered a second CC speech. This is not to be confused with the two previous CC speeches that I had delivered (i.e. April 7 & 16) because that referred to the sixth round of CC speeches and this is the seventh round. And yes, I was voted the Best Speaker for my effort. A 4 out of a 10 for this meeting.

Today, I was in Bandar Sunway to participate in the Faith Toastmasters meeting, where ! took up the role of Table Topics Evaluator. But like last evening, the meeting was very ho-hum. Fortunately, there was Yvonne Loke to put a smile on our faces as she tried very hard to generate enthusiasm on a Saturday morning. Sadly, only eight people were in attendance – four members and four guests! Where were the Faith members? Also a 4 out of a 10.

Back to Toastmastering

Toastmasters had their District 51 Annual Convention at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Center on April 27-29, 2012. This is a photo of the District Council meeting that was convened on Friday afternoon:

On Monday, I went to Monash University (Sunway Campus) to attend their Toastmasters meeting. I was a mere spectator but it was still a relatively good meeting because it had its share of good speeches and evaluations. I would give this meeting a score of a 7 out of a 10.

And this evening, I was at Uptown 1 in Damansara Utama where Deloitte hosted a Joint Divisions B & W Accountants meeting that involved four clubs, i.e. Deloitte KassimChan, MIA, CIMA and KPMG. The only spark at this meeting was provided by two Table Topics speakers, namely Jess Foong and Kimmy Foo who brightened my mood for nearly five minutes. Otherwise, the meeting was pretty much sleep-inducing. Anyway, I would score it a 4 out of a 10. By the way, they started the meeting fifteen minutes late – so what's new?

Back to Football

Since last week – the focus of my blog posts have been on Bersih 3.0 and rightly so. This event was significant because it demonstrated the will of the people to stand up and be counted and in the process, gave every Malaysian a reason to be hopeful.

As a consequence, all other stories were pushed aside. Until today. Whether it was about football or Toastmastering or anything else – it didn’t matter! Bersih 3.0 commanded my full attention because it was an important event that matters to all Malaysians.

Anyway, I am back blogging about other stuff besides Malaysian politics – so I will start writing about football. Celtic continued their winning streak while Liverpool had mixed fortunes.

Celtic again proved themselves worthy champions with a convincing 3-0 win over troubled Rangers. The latter did start brightly, but they looked a dispirited bunch from the moment Charlie Mulgrew dived unmarked to head Celtic into a 17th-minute lead. Kris Commons chipped over goalkeeper Allan McGregor on the break to extend the lead on 31 minutes. And then, Gary Hooper blasted in from distance in the 54th minute to seal the victory for Celtic.

Liverpool also defeated Norwich by the same margin – Luis Suarez having scored a brilliant treble but in the following match against Fulham, the Reds were pathetic and they lost 0-1 – thanks to Martin Skrtel's own goal in the 5th minute. Liverpool’s position in the EPL table stayed stubbornly in eighth place.

The Other Side of Bersih 3.0

The photos below that captured the Bersih 3.0 event tell a different story than the fibs that the government spun for the attention of those Malaysians who are still woefully gullible.

In the trains or even at the stations, Bersih supporters were well-behaved.

Even the streets were kept clean.

And the restaurants and other eating places did a roaring trade.

Thumbs up to Bersih 3.0!

In Tears over Bersih 3.0

Malaysians felt a smorgasbord of emotions on April 28, 2012! There were feelings of anguish, anger, hurt, sadness and many other sensations that when described will fill this whole page. These are the actual photos of Malaysians who suffered when fellow Malaysians – the men in blue – fired teargas and showered peaceful protesters with chemical-laced water just when the mammoth crowds were starting to disperse after the Bersih 3.0 sit-in in Kuala Lumpur. I know because I was there!