I guess I’m a little behind on my Toastmasters updates eh? Well, last week I did the Invocation, which is what starts off the mood for the meeting. Usually people talk about things that are really meaningful or generally serious and inspiring. So I decided to do something a bit different and, again, steer in the direction of happiness, which I’ve posted in the comments for this entry.

This week I did the word of the day and the language evaluation. I have to admit when I was trying to think of an uncommonly used word the first one that came to mind was  “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. Yes, its in the dictionary! However, that word is a bit silly, and as Justin mentioned, I didn’t want to make people hate me. So instead I chose the word “flabbergasted” cause its a fun word and its not often used. I have to say though, compared to previous meetings, everyone was good at attempting to use the word. Woot. 1 point Bekah.

Also, Jess did a last minute speech which she threw together in something like 20 minutes (or less!) for tonight’s meeting. She talked about interviews and what you can do to have a better shot at getting a job offer after leaving an interview and feeling good about any interviews you have – without feeling like you could have done better after you leave. And, of course, it was nothing short of amazing. I don’t think there will ever be a day when she doesn’t amaze me with her abilities and skills…

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As for Netgenetix these days…

The boss is having me learn flash… that’s gonna be awesome. I know the basics and a decent amount of AS3 from school but I never got into it much at that time. So I got a book and have been doing some self-teaching but its a bit slow right now with how busy I’ve been… however I’ll hopefully be starting a class for it in the fall probably. I’m actually pretty excited… I’ve always had super good ideas for things that could happen in flash but obviously don’t have the patience for the design part of it (as usual)… but once I get good at it and I’ve got Justin to design stuff before hand, then that will be pretty sweet.

Also, I’ve been wanting to write a few more new blog entries for Citrus however haven’t had much of a chance lately. If anyone has any good ideas or things for me to write on regarding SEO please share! (Anything you’d like to know?)

Oh! And the NHL Playoffs started today! How exciting! Yay for the Canucks first win against the Blues! This means an overload of support emails on our free hockey pool website, PickupHockey.com. I’ve been helping out with these support emails a lot over the last couple days and I’m not sure what it is about them… but I’m ADDICTED! I dunno what it is, but I’m addicted to replying support emails and doing so as soon as humanly possible! It’s actually pretty exciting, Pickup Hockey is growing so much and it’s freaking awesome… I’m not sure what it is but I love watching the number of registrations and daily visits continue to climb. I’m proud to say I contribute to keeping one of the biggest hockey pool websites on the internet alive and well!!!

Anywho, that’s enough rambling for one night. Later!

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Here is my first speech as a Burrard Toastmaster (the Ice Breaker). Titled “Recipe for Happiness”, props to Jess for help on the title (and editing of course)!

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Good evening fellow toastmasters and most welcome guests,

If you were to ask anyone who knows me to describe me in one word, I have no doubts that word would be “happy”. I find that being overly cheerful comes quite naturally to me, and I’ve never really known anything different. Some people might say it’s because I haven’t been jaded yet or I haven’t been through enough hardships to be bitter about life and its many challenges. However I honestly don’t think it has much to do with that. What I’d like to share with you are the things that keep me so upbeat and cheerful every single day.

Firstly, I have a great many interests and dreams; as most people do. The joy in each of my interests in some form ultimately finds me in some way or another each day. Whether it be listening to the tunes from my favourite musical, Hairspray, or uncovering a great piece of design which often comes from a certain colleague or old classmates. It doesn’t stop there either, I find simple happiness just from dreaming about the travels I hope to have one day, to experience the world I haven’t had a chance to see yet. It all begins when I wake up in the morning to my favourite radio DJ’s, with their upbeat tunes, and their silly banter, I can wake up happy, and then be ready to start my day.

I find that work keeps me happy too. To some, this might seem crazy. Yes, work makes me happy. What a notion, I know! Even back in the day when I used to be the opening manager of McDonald’s, getting up at 4:30am to go and make eggs and get yelled at in the drive-thru. The truth is, being cranky and working at McDonalds at 5am doesn’t really get you anywhere. So I found ways to keep me happy – singing and dancing while you’re making Egg McMuffins helps A LOT, although it does get you some weird looks.

Now, I work as a Production Assistant, for a web development company, and it doesn’t require singing and dancing to keep me happy. I just simply love what I do and I love the people that I work with; I see something amazing in each of them, just the chemistry that we have together is what makes me happy. In all honesty, even though work is tiring, I don’t know what I would do with myself in all that free time or if I would be nearly as happy without being able to go to work everyday and see all the people I enjoy spending time with.

Another thing that makes me happy is just singing and dancing in general, neither of which I do well, I might add. A lot of people don’t know this about me, but when I’m walking to and from work, I mouth the words to my favourite tunes and even bust a move once in a while, especially if I’m walking up Lonsdale Ave from the Seabus. Yeah, strangers probably think I’m weird (and you probably do too), but it makes me happy and that’s all that matters. Singing isn’t something I do out loud in public very often, however I love to sing, I just wouldn’t subject other people to the painful sound of my voice. Although I’m probably sure that people in my apartment building have heard me belting it at least once or twice to the melody of “You Can’t Stop the Beat”.

There’s a phrase I often use with my friends as we get older. Have you ever heard of being “maturely immature”? As we get older, we get more and more mature, or as some people put it, more serious. Serious? I just don’t do serious… unless it’s absolutely necessary. Sometimes to remember that not all things have to be taken so seriously we need to have our childlike immature moments. This is how I describe “maturely immature”, and it’s what I tend to be a lot. If something makes you feel like you wanna laugh, why hold it back? As some others say, “Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.”

There are so many factors in my day to day life that keep me cheerful, so many, in fact that I can’t begin to think of all of them. Maybe, most of all, its just that I enjoy being happy and being a positive happy influence on the people around me. I hope that today, not only have you learned a few crazy things about me, but that you have also been able to take a piece of my happiness and add it into the recipe that is your life, to make the flavor just that much better.

And remember, it will always take more muscles to frown, than it does to smile.

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My first toastmasters speech is in approximately 3.5 hours. Not nervous yet, but I don’t think I will be… so many people aren’t even coming to the  meeting this week! Lame. I’ll post my speech when I get home after the meeting.

Wish me luck! Hopefully I can get through it without coughing up a lung or an extremely stuffy nose altering my voice!

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