ChanomiTalk

What is Toastmasters? When I was working for First Hawaiian Bank they offered to pay for this self-improvement class. At first sight I thought it was a drinking class, like wine tasting. But it was more!

So I joined First Hawaiian Toastmaster and found out that there were many chapters around the state, like Bank of Hawaii’s, Hawaiian Tel, Kaimuki, Moanalua, etc. They meet once a week and usually have a membership of around 20. We take turns giving speeches for a total of 12 to complete the first book which awards the designation of CTM (Competent Toastmasters) and this usually takes a year. The training includes: 1) helping you to think & speak clearly on your feet whether it was in front of 1 person or 100’s of people.                                                                                                                        It helped a stutterer and people who have difficulty converying their thoughts into words.  There were also practice in debates, conducting classes, and entertaining an audience.   These were some of the speeches we did.  Always ending with notes on paper a couple of good and encouraging words with a few faults to improve on, this was essential to help the individual to do much better the next time.  It included training on conducting a meeting and “Robert’s Rules of Order”, how to intro a motion, 2nd it, and vote Ayes and No’s.  My speech class in school didn’t have this type of proffessionalism, if they did, it would have helped me to communicate better and even get a better job. 

This also lead to leadership skills, serving as President, VP, Secretary, Sargent of Arms for the chapter and even on to the State level as Hawaii State Toastmasters Secretary.  I enjoyed the experience immencely, meeting many many people all over the Island and in many different kind of jobs and ages and making many new friends.  And Yes!  we did have celebrations in which we toasted with Juice( since we were on work premises.)

About two weeks ago, I started playing basketball on Fridays at the UH gym. I usually play pick up games at this park near my house but recently I started playing at the gym with some friends from school. It’s funny because for the longest time, I had no idea that UH had open gym from Mon-Fri at night and it just so happens that I find out during the LAST semester I’m at UH. I could have been playing on a nice indoor court this whole time instead of roughing it outside on the asphalt. Nevertheless, I’m having a lot of fun playing at UH. I met a lot of new people and there is a lot of good players that come out to play. The only thing is that every time I play, I realize how out of shape I am. After 15 minutes, I’m already tired and feeling like I have to stop. The good thing is that playing these pick up games forces you to keep going and get a good workout. I find that with every game, my conditioning is getting better and better and I am able to run more and more. Hopefully, I can get back into the shape I was in high school, where I felt like I could run forever. Those were the good old days.

In Italy, I use to have a dog named Sandy. We originally  got  her at the Humane Society in Washington State, and then brought her over to Italy when we moved. Sandy was a mixed between a  Golden Receiver/German Shepard. Sandy was funny because she was the smartest and dumbest dog that I have ever had. She was smart in the sense that she was clever, because she would find different ways of getting away with things. She find ways to open the gate so she free herself from the house and then close the gate after she came back. I know this personally because I watched her do it. She was also very skilled at catching and killing animals. Among the victims include cats, rats, mice, and birds. In this way she was very smart. But in other ways, she was also very dumb. Almost every time we gave her a bone, she would forget where she buried it. Sometimes she would spend the whole day trying to find the bone that she buried the day before. Also she would chase planes that she saw in the sky but then run into things because she wasn’t looking forward. And then she would also chase her own tail and run in a circle trying to catch it. But all in all, we loved her very much. When we left Italy, we decided to leave her with our neighbor because she needed a guard dog. I really miss that dog. Here are some pictures of my brother and Sandy from 10 years ago.