Toa Payoh Central TMC as Contest Judge, 14th January 2020

On the 14^th January 2020, I was at Toa Payoh Central Toastmasters Club, as contest judge.  This was my 144^th club visit on the 198^th day of the Toastmaster year.  This was the international and humorous speech contest for the club.

The sergeants-at-arms were Roger Sng, Tan Ping Hong, and Koh Sook Hoon.  The contest chair was Lim Chang Jing.  The Contest Toastmaster was Alpha Khu Young Far.  The chief judge was Vincent Chua Tin An.  The tally counters were Bridget Nicole Lee, Jenny Lim, and Tony Tan Sein Wee.  The timers were Belinda Lee, and Francis Goh.  The photographer was Wong Mei Shin.

In the international speech segment, Teo Chai Guan, in his speech, “1+1=4”, spoke about mentoring, and growing a happy, loving family.  He has a son and a daughter.  At the insistence of his wife, he prioritised his family on weekends, at the expense of meeting clients.  He spoke of the challenges and the sacrifice for the family, and ultimately, his wife was right, and it was well worth it.  Money cannot buy everything.

Naseera Hidayatullah, in her speech, “Less Bitter, More Glitter”, recounted how she wanted to move out of the family home, and live on her own, because she wanted to be a “strong, independent woman”.  What she discovered was loneliness.  She explained how she dealt with it personally, and what she discovered about its consequences, in her own research, and experiential learning.  That journey to becoming a “strong, independent woman” involved more than simply living on her own.

A. Rajan Vadivel, in his speech, “WOW”, spoke about the values his parents passed on to him.  He broke down towards the end as he recounted his father’s struggle with Parkinson’s Disease, and how it feels like they are losing him every single day.

Chua Buck Hong, in his speech, “My Parents’ Battle with Cancer”, told us that his father passed away recently from cancer, at home.  He recounted the emotional journey, and the touching last moments, with the family there.  He then elaborated on the devastation of finding out his mother had stage 2 cancer of the stomach.  On the 26^th December, she went for surgery, and had 50% of her stomach removed.  Now, he spends as much time with her, and it brought the family closer.

Ershvinder Kaur’s speech title was a mouthful: “The Dangerous Adventure Story: Mission Waterfall”.  This was her tale of flying almost 24 hours to Trinidad & Tobago, in the Caribbean, to climb a muddy hill to see Avocat waterfall.  She gave an animated account of the journey, the result of being, “young, dumb, and energetic”.

Winner: A. Rajan Vadivel;

1^st Runner-Up: Ershvinder Kaur; and

2^nd Runner-Up: Naseera Hidayatullah.

The first contestant of the humorous speech segment, Pang Wen Sze, in her speech, “A Beautiful Song”, gave a hilarious account of the various incidences of linguistic misunderstanding between her mother, who speaks Hainanese, and her husband, who speaks Hokkien.

Lee Su Lan, in her speech, “I Have Got a Dream”, regaled us with her travails in overcoming her fear of public speaking.  It involved a dream of defecating in public, near a children’s playground.  She then gave us a parody dream interpretation.

Faith Low Chye Peng, in her speech, “Finding a Soul Mate”, told us her horror stories of dating.  Hers is a cautionary tale of desperate men, and helpful idiots.

A. Rajan Vadivel, in his speech, “DBS”, talked about not being superstitious, except when it matters.  It was an attempt at misdirection comedy.

Winner: Lee Su Lan;

1^st Runner-Up: Pang Wen Sze; and

2^nd Runner-Up: Faith Low Chye Peng.

Toa Payoh Central TMC as Contest Judge, 10th September 2019

On the 10^th September 2019, I was at Toa Payoh Central Toastmasters Club, as contest judge, for their Tall Tales Contest.  This was my 54^th club visit on the 74^th day of the Toastmaster year.

The Contest Toastmaster of the Day was Alpha Khu Yong Far.  The contest chair was Mikhail Kho.  The chief judge was Gerald Ong Wen Shun.

The first speaker, Roger Sng, gave a hilarious account of the time he defended Singapore from a tiger, when he was at Palau Tekong, thirty years ago.  It was amusing in parts.

A. Rajah Vadivel spoke about his wife’s and his visit to the semi-mythical city of “Eropagnis”.  It was a credible attempt at misdirection humour.

Muhammad Mohsin gave a hilarious account of him, holding a Pakistani passport, attempting to visit the US to attend his brother’s wedding.  Due to American bureaucratic ineptitude, by the time he managed to get a visa, it was two years later.  He ended up attending his nephew’s 1^st birthday.  This was not so much a tall tale, but a humorous take of an actual account – the horror of going through the American embassy, TSA, and customs.

Tan Ping Hong announced that he was cast in a new Mr. Kiasu, which will be in production.

Paulus J. Gunadi regaled us with his expertise on snake catching.  He said he used to have a pet snake, and when he was nervous about asking a girl out, he spoke to his snake, pretending it was the girl.  The snake bit him – and died.

Ershvinder Kaur played the innocent, and regaled us with her adventures with loan shark runners, Nigerian scam artists, and all sorts of chicanery, that had the audience splitting with laughter.  To her credit, she managed to say it all with a straight face.

Ong Keh Yoe claimed he had superpowers, and proceeded to lecture us about plastics.

Winner: Ershvinder Kaur;

1^st Runner-Up: Paulus J. Gunadi; and

2^nd Runner-Up: A. Rajah Vadivel.