sleepy but cannot sleep

I am the Organizing Chair for my club's International Speech and Table Topics Contest this year. The contest date is 2 days away and there are so many nitty gritty details to be taken care of. I thought I started organizing the event pretty early, but then again I was inexperienced. Most club contests are held during this period of time as the Area Contest dates were already fixed on 24th March. As such, I had immense difficulty getting the panel of judges as many experienced judges are fully booked during this period of time.

In order to let our club members to be able to take part as contestants, I had to look for external sources for appointment holders such as the Timers, Tally Counters and Sergeant-At-Arms. This poses some challenge in coordinating.

As expected, 2 appointment holders smsed me today to say that they were unable to make it. Contestants also smsed me to say that they have not enough time to prepare for the contest and they might pull out of the contest. It is not an easy job to be the Organizing Chair. I'm an organized person but the challenge comes when you need to work with disorganized people, irresponsible people and no-response people.

The worst is the last group of people called no-response people. I hate it when people ignore my calls, emails and smses. I'd appreciate a negative response much more than a non-response. Really. Whether the answer is an apologetic "Sorry I'm unable to attend" or a straight forward "No, I do not wish to take up the position because I do not like your face.", it is still a response. I very much appreciate an answer instead of leaving me hanging in mid air. With a rejection, I can look for alternative sources of help. Instead, some people simply love to leave me endlessly waiting for their non-response. So evil. I'd pardon those people who are old and forgetful. Maybe it is a genuine memory loss case. But with multiple missed calls, smses and emails. Hmm... I think I doubt memory loss is a good excuse anymore. Oh well, maybe some people just have the memory of a goldfish, then so be it. I have nothing to say. I think my hamster can do better.

***

Now I have so many things to do. But my mind is weary, body is exhausted, brain is fried. I just crave for my bed right now.

So, if you'd excuse me for a while, I think I will catch some winks before I sort out this mess.

overwhelmed

So many things have happened. So many things I want to blog. So many things I need to do. So many things I want to do. So little time. I wished I had 48 hours in a day. But then again, 48 hours a day is not enough.

Before I even finish thinking about the first item, the second item broke my train of thoughts and while I'm half-way through the second item, a third event intruded my thinking process and so on and so forth. I think it is a vicious cycle and I'm entwined and unable to get out of it! My brain felt so weary and tired. I long for some rest but I can't!

I'm so overwhelmed that migraine struck! =(

inspired

I had waffles, scrambled egg and a strawberry for breakfast! Photo taken by Barry's phone camera with surprisingly good resolution.

Barry asked me along to Teach Me Toastmasters Club as a project evaluator and as we were enjoying our breakfast in Delifrance, he told me that Teach Me TMC is a very special club. He was really amazed by their enthusiasm and undaunting spirit. I listened with my mind looking forward to the chapter meeting, the same excitement I have before visiting a new toastmasters club.

It was a short 10 minutes drive and we were just on time. Most other TMCs almost never start on time and I thought we were early. Little did I expect the room to be filled almost to the brim when I stepped in. What shocked me even more was the fact that the room was almost 80% of them in the room were either wheelchair-bound or seated with crutches. They were mostly youths in their late teens or early 20s. I took a deep breathe as Barry introduced me to the Club President who was a young malay lady welcoming me with a bright smile in a wheelchair.

I sat through the club meeting with a heavy heart. I couldn't help but notice this boy in front of me could barely sit upright in his wheelchair. His mother had to be around to take care of him, despite being crippled herself. My heart wrenched in pain as I saw his arm with only skin and bones. I bowed down my head and uttered a prayer to the Lord to ask for His healing hands to be upon everyone in the room. I took out my notebook to jot this as an additional daily prayer item as I fought back my tears.

This is a special club indeed. Although they were physically handicapped, but they were all full of vim and vigor. Their undaunting spirit touched my heart deeply. How many of us can still have that unfaltering determination to live on despite such mishaps at such young age?

Yet, there are able-bodied people around us who are spiritually handicapped. Hypocrites and backstabbers ought to be ashamed of themselves. Such irony. I will leave this topic to another blog post. Sorry for digressing.

Thank you Lord for reminding me of how blessed I am. Thank you Lord for reminding me to pray for people who are less fortunate.

my blog is listed on sgBlogs!

Pretty exhilarating discovery:

my blog is listed on sgBlogs!

sgBlogs is a fully automated, intelligent blog aggregator engine that seeks out the cluster of Singapore blogs within the Internet. The ranking algorithm is pretty complex and takes into account the popularity of a blog as well as the blogs linking to it.

I this is pretty cool, isn't it?

Free advertisement space that I did not even ask for.

*singing a foreign but happy lullaby tune to myself - ready for a sweet sweet dream*

blog pick of the month

Good things come in threes and this is the third blog fan I have here to introduce in this month! Yay! *jumping around with glee*

I'm proud to present to you the blog pick of the month -

Life's Melodies by Barry Tan**

Yet another blogger cum toastmaster friend of mine. I did a search for his blog last week but somehow the Blogger search engine failed me. So, it came as a pleasant surprise when Barry left a comment on my blog with his blog link in the previous post.

With my voracious reading appetite for good blogs, I finished reading the whole blog in 3 hours at one sitting. Do check out his blog for thought-provoking posts, meaningful lyrics and some emotional rants that are so close to heart.

He also has another photography blog entitled Snapshots of My Life. Check it out.

**Barry Tan, Advanced Communicator Silver, Competent Leader, is the current Area U2 Governor and the President of Punggol Toastmasters Club. Though he is only 21 years old and have been a toastmaster for only 15 months since he first joined Toastmasters in October 2005, he is honoured to be able to serve his home club and the district as a club and district officer respectively. Apart from Toastmasters, he is also a youth volunteer with Heartware Network, a non-profit youth organisation. He is the volunteer project coordinator and honourary secretary of the Heartware Network Youth Executive Committee. He is currently a student in the National University of Singapore, pursuing his undergraduate studies in the Faculty of Medicine as a third year medical student. His goal is to receive his Distinguished Toastmaster title by July this year.**

blog and talk

Second new blog fan in a month? Thanks to Whiskoffee for his free advertisement for my blog!

That's the way the World Wide Web works. With technological advancement, in this day and age, nothing is impossible.

I hereby welcome fellow blogger and toastmaster, Mr Des I presume that's his name from the blog at http://mrdes.blogspot.com/. For those who like to read books, watch movies and listen to music, MrDes is not to be missed. Simply click on his labels to zoom in to your favourite. Click here to check him out.

I received a free hug today!

Guess what?

I received a free hug today!!!

As I walk along Shenton way alone, feeling a little melancholy that I had to work on Valentine's day, this girl appeared in front of me with a huge banner "FREE HUGS".

She came up to me and asked me if I wanted a hug. Naturally, I opened my arms and we embraced each other tightly. Of course, who would reject a hug from a pretty babe? I wouldn't. The hug felt so good.

I told her that I gave a speech last month on this "Free Hugs" campaign started by this guy in Australia who made this phenomenal. She gave me a surprised "Really?" and told me that she was promoting for Carl's Junior. As we parted, I sat and watched her as she went on her way to give others free hugs.

Sadly, I thought to myself. She is not really giving away free hugs. She was paid to give away hugs, so it wasn't actually free. She wouldn't have done that if it were not her job. Sad to say, the spirit of Juan Mann's free hugs campaign is somewhat lost. I just wonder whether Singapore can ever be "less commercial". Never.

busy busy busy

My schedule is chalked full and packed to the brim till next week. With the exception of Valentine's day, I'm triple booked all the rest of the days this coming week.

It is so bad that when my mom casually asked if I could be home for dinner with my brother and my future sis-in-law this coming Friday, I had to request for my mom to re-schedule the dinner to Sat evening. I know it sounds awfully ridiculous, especially when my mom had to make appointment with me for reunion dinner.

It is that bad.

I'm in such hot demand..

***

Dear blog fans,

I guess you have to bear with the lack of posts till the Chinese New Year holidays. Then again, I'm double booked on both the holidays. Which means no holidays! SOB!!!

Please DO leave a love note for me to say you miss me. Whatever. I will be back.

Till then and lots of love,

Your most beloved JerL

new blog fan

Just discovered that I've got a new blog fan who added a link on his blog to Idyllism. I have yet to find out whether his name is Eldwin or Joshua. Anyhow, I'm confused by his identity when I see the word whiskoffee. My head swirled. Again. After the brain haemorrhage by Merv's meme-messing post.

Reflections by Whiskoffee

What's the relationship between Whiskers and Coffee? Click here to check him out.

flattered

Wow... Such a flatter... I'm almost bouncing up and down with glee.

I found one whole blog post dedicated to me in The Oriental Express by my fellow blogger and toastmaster friend Ms Kam Choo Choo. Simply amazing.

Since I know her online, we've been bumping into each other very frequently at different toastmasters club meetings. Although we're more than two decades apart in age, we can spend long hours together just chatting with each other. Our conversation topics range from anything under the sun. Ms Kam is a selfless lady who believes in sharing her rich life experiences, time, care and concern with people around her. Her bubbly and cheerful nature never fails to brighten everyone who meets her. She has become a mentor and friend. Even her pet dog Chelsea showered me with affectionate gaze though it had met me only for the third time.