Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club, Singapore (Sengkang): 113th Chapter Meeting

I was really having an emotional and mental battle if I will attend Anchorvale Toastmasters 113th club meeting or not. Do you know that many cities don't have 13th street or 13th avenue, many elevators don't list the 13th floor and many hotels don't have a room number 13. In tarot reading, the number 13 is the death card! So why the heck should I attend this 113th club meeting? I was spooked thinking that this 113th meeting was ridden with badluck or bad omen hmmm.
Triskaidekaphobia is the fear or avoidance of the number 13. Why is the number 13 considered unlucky, anyway? Biblical references to the number 13 is aren't all that positive, first one is that there were 13 people at the last supper of Christ and second, many believed that either the last supper or the crucifixion occurred on the 13th day of the month. The mass arrest and execution of the knights Templar began on Friday the 13th. It was also once believed that a witch's coven was made up of exactly 13 members, you can even ask Salma, she will passionately share you stories about it I'm sure.

There was even an old superstition that says if you have 13 letters in your name, you’re bound to be cursed. Yes silly it may be, but slightly more convincing when you consider that a number of notorious murderers' names (Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Theodore Bundy.) all contain 13 letters. And, in case you were wondering: Adolf Hitler's baptismal name was Adolfus Hitler. Surprisingly, Ricky Setiawan, Deepthi Valsan and Hemant Singhal attended our 113th meeting last Saturday who all have 13 letters in their names, hmm. Are these innocent folks victim of the unlucky number 13 or not? Read on and let's find out.

Valliapan the valiant Sergeant-At-Arms called the meeting to order by greeting the members and by asking what scares them the most. Interestingly a couple of folks shared that they are fearful for life itself. Fear exist in the mind and it will go away once we face it and start having fun.
Valli took over the limelight from Valliapan by performing her role as the Toastmaster of the Day. With her mild-mannered voice and sweet smile she knew how to make the chapter meeting a memorable one.

Smart and sassy Salma gave the President's opening address and confessed to everyone about her dark secret office affair which for many years have hunted her like Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street movie. She was caught with her pants down metaphorically because she kept quiet and did not challenge enough her "Freddy Krueger" to be better. She encouraged us to step up and always stand out to create a life full of meaning. We may be in the right place and at the right time but if we are not doing anything then life will just run us over.

The much anticipated prepared-speech segment starts right after. The lineup of the 4 speeches were very informative starting with:
1. Yuet Cheng, a professional writer who shared us her life story and her passion for classic literature. Her speech titled "Find your voice".
2. Hemant did his first Pathway project titled "My Journey". It was an ice breaker but since almost everyone knew this celebrity, he added a twist to his life story and flawlessly completed his speech.
3. Narayana motivated everyone with his speech titled "One liner mantra for success". He shared that failure is a stepping stone for success and anyone who has achieved anything great has at some point made a choice to embrace failure instead of fighting it.
4. Jeff Lin aka "Mr. Jack Ma" delivered his pathway speech titled "Why we fail to build a rapport". According to Jeff the process of developing great rapport and having great conversations is by letting go of one's ego and prejudice.

Following the end of the prepared speech segment, a short refreshment break gave us the opportunity to mingle with the guests while at the same time bingeing on the yummy cake prepared by ravishing Ricky. Ricky, Deepthi and Hemant enjoyed the refreshment break and that unlucky 13 seems to have no effect on them, the yummy chocolate cake may have something to do with it.

After the refreshment break it was time for Evaluation. Sathiya evaluated Yuet Cheng’s speech, Deepthi evaluated Hemant’s speech, Zul evaluated Narayana’s speech, and Roger evaluated Jeff’s speech. I'm really proud of being a member of Anchorvale TM club because we are privilege with skillful speakers and evaluators who always give their most glorious and insightful evaluation.

Next came my favorite part of the meeting, the adrenaline pumping table topics segment!
Since its Halloween season the Table topic master made this special by asking the enthusiastic volunteers if they want to choose trick or treat. If the volunteer selected trick then they need to end the scary topic with a bad ending and if its a Treat then they have end it with a happy ending. All participants conjured up their darkest story and we knew we'd get some freaky stuff from our volunteers. Everyone had a blast specially the new members and now they are even looking forward for the Table Topic segment.

Richard my co-founder, with his eloquent and genuine encouragements, shared the general evaluator’s report. Salma our President eventually ended the meeting with her magnanimous closing address.

All good things come to an end and it seems there are no lucky or unlucky numbers after all unless you win the toto; they exist only in our heads – or in the heads of some of us – or maybe it’s a meme disguised as superstition.

We would like to thank all our appointment holders for the day, especially to visiting Toastmasters for their support as well as guests who bravely came down. We hope you had an enjoyable time and we definitely hope to see everyone again!