Week 35: Humorous Speech Contest

For those who are not aware, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year wherein I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

As many of you might know, I am a member of Toastmasters International trying my bit at public speaking and honing my leadership skills. It has been close to 6 months now that I am a Toastie and I had this wonderful opportunity last week to take part in a speech contest at my Toastmasters Club.

The contest was 'Humorous Speech Contest' and I just took part to get a feel of a contest and of course to have fun and learn. I took almost 2 days to write my speech as it had to be humorous without hurting anyone's feelings or beliefs. The title of my speech was 'Secrets of an Indian Woman'.

The day before the contest, I was a little anxious but also wanted to finish off the contest and resume my routine life. Confession time - I am a very competitive person and always prepare to win. One of the reasons I just cannot digest losing. To be very frank, I suck at taking a loss in the right stride. I am working on it and yet I have a long way to go. But sometimes, someone else prepares better than you and you have to accept that and learn from the situation. However this contest I was not expecting to win at all as the other contestants were seasoned Toasties while I was a relatively a novice Toastie, with just 5 speeches old in the Toastmasters journey.

The contest had 4 other speakers and we had to draw our numbers before the contest in order to determine the speakers speaking order. The number I got was 5 and I was thinking to myself, "Oh God. I will have to listen to all the good speakers now and then give my speech at the flag end of the meeting. Everyone will be so bored to listen to me after all the good speeches." Nevertheless I went back to my seat and waited for my turn.

The speeches which happened before me were hilarious and in my mind I had already picked up the winner for the evening. Then was my turn. I always have butterflies in my stomach before I go up on the stage. I went out there and gave my speech. Surprisingly the audience was laughing and I felt a little better.

When the speeches were done and the ballots were being counted, all the participants were called upon the stage and awarded certificate of participation. And I was thinking to myself, "I have at least a certificate for me".

All smiles!

At the end, results were announced. The second place was announced first and it was not my name, so I was like no hope now. So I was toying with my book and pen and scribbling about my next speech when the winner was announced. I was still scribbling when my neighbor informed me that they announced my name. WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? REALLY? I just could not believe the announcement. I went up there still not being able to digest the fact.

I am trying to confirm with the Contest Chair that have I really won?

Still can't believe! Someone pinch me.

So, I won. I won my first ever contest. But more than winning, do you know what touched my heart? All the participants came to me after the session and congratulated me personally. Patty even gave me a big hug. This was the biggest compliment. And I wondered to myself if I could have done this, being so generous and went out and congratulated the winner. I might have won the contest but the real winners were the other contestants who have learnt the art of growing beyond disappointment and whole heartedly wishing good for the winner! I have so much to learn and assimilate!

Wish me luck as I get ready to represent my Club at the next level coming month!

Enjoy the video of my speech :)

Week 34: Age No Bar

For those who are not aware, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year wherein I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

Have you ever told yourself that you are too old to learn a new skill and then just moved on without attempting to give it a try? Have you ever not done things because you were worried what will people say about you? Have you ever not tried out something only because of the sheer fear in your mind?

I did too. I did it on numerous occasions. I did it when I had a chance to learn a new language and thought I was too old to do so. I did it when I wanted to write an educative article on 'sex' but for almost a month kept on worrying what will people say and think about me. I did it every time I went to an amusement park.

But this time, it was different! I have always loved waters but never had the courage to be underneath it. And I always thought it is too late to learn swimming. However being in Florida for 2 years now, everyday it used to prick me that I am not doing justice to my stay here due to my inability to swim. So finally mustering a lot of courage I joined an adult swimming class here.

I did not have a swim suit and buying a swim suit also was a big task. If you are an Indian, you will understand what I am talking about. I cannot flaunt a bikini as the culture from where I hail from, I will never be able to do so. But you know what made my shopping decision easier? My MIL said to me, "If you cannot wear a swimwear in the US, you will never be able to wear a swimwear anywhere else". That is so true. US is so liberal in terms of clothes as well as thinking. So I went for a cute flowery frock type swim wear which I really adore. I even bought swim goggles on recommendation from my friend who also learned swimming from the same institute.

My bright and cheerful swim gear

Now when this task was done, I was feeling a little excitement regarding my swimming class. But the day before my class, I was anxious again. Happens with me all the time. Somehow I managed to wake up early and reached my destination. I was a little early so I just sat on one of the chairs and looked at the soothing pool water.

The calmness before the storm

There were 5 students in the class, out of which I was the only first time course taker. The other 4 had already done one session and this was their second course. Trust me it did not help at all. People were doing breast stroke and an entire lapse and I was learning to bubble inside the water!

My instructor said a very important point. She said we will practice in 4 feet throughout because more than the body getting used to the vigor, it is all about convincing your brain and the mind that it is safe - it is just 4 feet and you can stand on your own any time. This was a very important aspect at least for me.

When I first went down the water, I felt a calmness growing all over me. I didn't feel like doing anything but just being there and let the water soak my entire body. Feel the tingling of the short waves over me and make the water ripple with my hands to make some splashing sound and create my own waves too. The charismatic effect of the water on me was overwhelming! But hey, I was here to learn and I had to do my bit.

I was a scared chicken and the moment I put my face inside the water, I felt choked and that I was drowning. At one point, water went into my nose and that felt horrible. In the entire one hour, I just did gliding - bubbles - kicking. I still am terribly scared to do the glide as I keep on thinking that I will go breathless. I cannot kick enough to reach the shore. I cannot create continuous bubbles to sustain myself inside the water. But isn't it supposed to be like this? If I could swim on my first go, life would have been so easy! But life is not easy at all times. So I struggle to sustain under water, to get rid of that fear, to overcome the thought of drowning.

My instructor asked me to float on water and I was not ready to do it. She came and held my back and said I am there with you, look up and relax. Even though she held me, my heart was still racing and I thought I am going to sink. I did it twice and towards the end of second time, I relaxed a bit and tried to enjoy floating on top of water looking at the blue sky and spreading my arms wide in the blue water!

Bubbles - Glide - Kick = Happy Me

I might not learn swimming in these 4 lessons, I might have to join the next session too. But I am happy that atleast on one occasion, I am trying to battle with my fears and if not emerge as a winner then at least give a tough fight to fear!

Week 33: Writing Workshop with the Experienced!

For those who are not aware, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year wherein I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a writing workshop at the local library. I have completed a lot of online courses and was dying to attend a classroom course or at least a class to get beyond the 'virtual' world for a change. Just then I saw this workshop listed on my local library's website and registered myself for it right away.

When I entered the class on the said day, I could not believe myself. There were 6 people sitting in the conference room and guess what? All of them were very elderly and mostly retired. I first thought I had come to the wrong class, so I checked again with the library staff. No, I wasn't mistaken - THIS was the exact same class. Ok, with a little apprehension I entered the class and took my place beside an old gentleman.

Image Credit

The old gentleman's name was George and he asked me a few questions and we had a small talk. There was a pre-assignment given to the attendants and it was, 'Your Favorite Book'. George asked me about which book I wrote about and he was pleasantly surprised that I had chosen 'The Fountainhead'. He assumed I am too young to understand the gravity of this book. I told him I am not 'that young'. Everyone at the workshop thought I was 16!!!

The instructor was a published poet and she told us at the beginning itself that she will act as a facilitator and will not be critiquing anyone's work as such. This made me a little sad as I thought I will receive some constructive feedback on my writing which will help improve my writing. After the class, I asked the instructor about this and her answer made me think. She said, "I can critique the work but then more than taking it as a constructive feedback, many of the attendants will shy away from writing more and that is not we want, right?"

The class consisted of first reading our assignments, then she gave us a 10 minute assignment of writing on 'famous' and then again a 5 minute assignment of writing on 'The day was...'. There were 22 folks attending the workshop with me and I was thrilled to hear the different perspectives of so many unique minds. The experience of the elderly was clearly seen in their writings and their enthusiasm at this age just made me feel so ashamed at how sometimes I crib and keep on saying I am tired! 

I was an enriched person after the workshop with 22 different experiences stored in my kitty. It is amazing just how much you can learn by simple interactions with new people. It is rejuvenating.

And as I was sitting outside on a bench, waiting for my ride back home a.k.a husband, a gentleman gifted me a Bible copy saying that I have a blessed smile. Now, wasn't this is a real great day for me?

Week 32: An Outing with the Girls

For those who are not aware, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year wherein I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

This week I had my first ever girls only outing after coming to the US. Wait....before you raise your eyebrows and start judging my social life and labeling it as 'dull and boring'. Hang on. This might be my first girls' outing in 2 years but it was not my first outing as such. Before this I have gone out a number of times with my husband and also with 'couple friends'. Just to make it clear my life is not that boring also, before you reprimand me :P

I have been wanting to watch 'Inside Out' since a long while now but my husband doesn't like animated and fantasy movies and hence it becomes a little difficult for me to catch up with my cartoon movies. Then I either wait for redbox version or pray that someone invites me to watch the movie with them. I even went alone to watch a movie once because I could not afford not watching part three of The Hobbit series. Such difficult is my life! 

Now that I have got some good gfs, I just asked them if they would like to go. And they agreed! So the three of us set a movie date. I was thrilled and was looking forward to my first girls' day out.

We crossed a lot of bridges that day! ;)

The tram station selfie!

It was a nice afternoon, which we spent in window shopping and then watching the movie. The best part was coming back home. We had to take public transport back home and we did not have any clue from where to take the tram. To top it all, none of us had mobile data and we couldn't find free wifi at the mall (can you believe that?) Somehow we got a wifi connection and we looked at the map - it said go north for 0.2 miles from Cheese Cake Factory. Till we reached Cheese Cake Factory, the wifi signal was lost and we had no clue which is the north side. Then Gauri, our genius said we should go this way as it looks like a shorter route than the other side which is definitely a longer walk than 0.2 miles mentioned in the map. So we took her expert advice and finally reached the tram station. 

Our worries did not just end here. When we reached the tram station, we had no clue which way to stand for the tram. Women and their direction sense! I am so bad that sometimes (ok, many times) I call left direction as right and right as left (ok, now you can reprimand me). But then we distributed ourselves at the two stations across the street waiting to see which way will the tram arrive. It came where Gauri was standing, but Gauri was busy looking into her mobile and we had to shout out to her from the other side. Phew! Sukh and me crossed the road and finally we were on our way home!

It was indeed an eventful day and we just got a taste of solo traveling without our perennial GPS i.e. our husbands. Let us see when is the next adventure happening, not to forget all the chatting and freely clicking pics without any irritated looks of our husbands!

Week 31: My Gratitude Tree

For those who are not aware, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year where in I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

This week, the gang of girls met again to make a new masterpiece. We chose to do some quilling as Neha knew a little about quilling and she would have been able to guide us. We ordered the quilling stuff online and were all set when the kit arrived. As always, the kit was not enough for the 3 of us even after ordering extra quilling papers. But hey, when 3 industrious women make up their mind to create something - that is it! We made 3 lovely pieces with the available colors and tools!

When we gathered for quilling, Gauri had done a lot of study via quilling tutorial videos and had even selected her design. Gauri is an engineer and I said to Gauri, "Did you ever do even 5% of the homework you did for quilling during your engineering days?". We had a hearty laugh! I just went with a blank mind and no tutorials relying completely on Neha's guidance.

When the turn came to select the quilling designs, I just went through a few online designs and one tree design just captured my attention. At the start of this year, I came across Lily Dunn's post on choosing one word for the year 2015 and I instantly connected with the idea . This one word represents who you want to be and how you want to live. The word which rose from deep within me was 'Gratitude'. This year has been of being grateful for all the blessings showered on us and trying to find happiness in smallest of things. May it be a good hearty meal or a big writing achievement. I am grateful to the Almighty for everything he has blessed me with now and forever. Being grateful has taught me to value even the things which we take for granted like our fully functioning body parts. It is as simple as that! I even wrote a guest post on Gratitude sometime back.

So when I saw that quilled tree on the internet, I thought I have to make 'My Gratitude Tree' as my first quilling project. The tree which will be displayed at my home and will remind me always to be grateful. So my design was selected. It was a simple design which required a lot of quilled hearts and a few other patterns. Neha helped me in making the hearts, she taught me how to do it. She even taught me the branches which were a little delicate work and needed a skilled hand. Gauri meanwhile was way ahead making her flowers on her own! Homework helps you see! ;)

So Gauri selected a flower piece and I selected the tree. Neha was helping us and she did not start her quilling until the next day. Yes it took us 10 hours spread across 2 days, a stiff back, countless special moments and big curve of smile to finish our quilling pieces! 

Gauri's Beautiful Floral Design

Quilling is tedious. It takes a lot of patience to sit at one place and maneuver the paper folds and shapes. The most difficult part for me were making the letters in the word gratitude. It took a tad bit longer along with delicate handling. On our first day, Gauri had completed only 2 flowers. It is very intricate work. But the time when we finished our pieces, we were thrilled! 

I am in love with my Gratitude Tree and I just cannot get over it. I will be framing it soon and it will be there always hanging with me and motivating me during my not so good times. Here is my tree -

Gratitude Forever! :)