There’s so much that I’ve done, yet so little I’ve written about. Guess, every person only has 24 hours a day, and unfortunately for me, I’ve maximized these hours to the limit.

For example, for today, I’ve only had around 3-4 hours of sleep, as my friend calls me up at freaking 2:00am in the morning because he had something to get off his chest.

Now, that shouldn’t be a problem because I had to wake up freaking 7:30am in the morning (which goes to say, I didn’t, but that’s another story).

Anyway, updates… updates…. let’s start with 2 weeks ago, shall we?

Whoever said that Taipei is boring has got to be JOKING.

Two weeks ago, I joined a wine-tasting event that was organized by a popular social English-speaking organization. For only NT$600, we drank over 5 types of wine and even had a lot left over:

That’s one of the first wines we had, and I particularly liked. It was light and slightly fruity and went perfectly well with the cheese and raisins.

I swear, the taste was accentuated by the snacks.

Amazing.

We opened bottles from all over as well — Italian, Chilean, Australian, etc. — and I was impressed by the varieties served during the tasting, including the snacks that accompanied the meal (e.g., chicken bits, sausages, melons, etc.)

And of course, there was also the dashing wine importer, WL, who walked through with us the intricacies of wine, and how one can differentiate the good and the bad:

That’s not a very good picture of him (slightly blurry), but he’s definitely a cutie! Such a nice guy indeed, and the best part is, he knows a bit about wine, which is a plus for me. 🙂

The best part was that everybody enjoyed the socializing and mingling that came afterwards.

That was us when we were still sober… and no, I will not post pictures of us afterwards. We were totally a mess!!! 😀

Imagine this, we were holding half-empty bottles of whites and reds, and laughing and jokingly boarding a car to Room 18 where we finished these liquor at the exit.

Thank god I only had some left on the bottle. Some guys had to finish almost half a bottle!!!

But it was fun. 🙂

I was flirty, slightly trussled, wild and free! Since I was already a bit tipsy than I usually am, I was just swaying my body to the music until around 3:00 am in the morning.

Am very grateful for my friend HC, who ensured I got home safe. I insisted on walking back home because it was just walking distance from my place… but he was stubborn enough to escort me home.

For being even more stubborn than I am HC, thank you. 🙂

Mwah!

But what’s even worse, I didn’t even reach my bedroom! I crashed luckily in the sofa, only to wake up at an ungodly 8:00 am to go to the Toastmaster Spring Convention!

So what is this Spring Convention?

Well, everybody knows am part of Toastmasters, correct?

Two weekends ago, every Toastmaster Chapter in Taiwan gathered together for the Spring Convention that was held at the Jientan Youth Center (near Jientan MRT station).

Sure, I had to pay NT$2,080 to attend it, but it was fun. It’s not everyday that you see representatives from every chapter in Taiwan in just a single area.

Check out the scores of Toastmasters banners! That’s one for every club, the oldest of which spanned 5o years if I’m correct! 🙂

I can’t say much for the food, aside from the unappetizing biendang which had one small piece of chicken…

and the snack that quickly ran out…

This picture was taken just 10 minutes after break. Check out the food… gone!

But the highlight of the 2 days were the impromptu Table Topics Contest — wherein they asked the not-so-difficult, “What made you mad and how did you handle it?”

Now, to some of you non-Toastmasters out there, table topics is a time where a person asks you a question on the spot, repeats it twice and then you have to give a mini-speech of 2 minutes.

May the best answer win!

The winner was a British chap who coyly answered that he was mad at himself during his first Toastmaster speech because he was so nervous that he peed on himself.

Of course, making the audience laugh is key to winning, and his delivery was very good — so he won the Championship!

That’s him on the far right. 🙂

The best part of the entire thing was not really the keynote speaker, wherein which I thought was a rip-off, but more on the English Speech Contest, where we heard 7 of Taiwan’s best speakers.

I was surprised that no foreigners took part in the contest, but even more surprised that for the most part, most speakers had a solid delivery and great content.

The first-placer, Hubert Yao, smoothly delivered his speech on “Be Like a Stamp.” From start to finish, his content emphasized one theme — to be a success, stick to your goal just like a stamp. And the prize was indeed well-deserved.

Second-placer, Kang-Ning Shan, talked about being an “A+” wherein which he relates that no matter how much or how smart he worked, success always eluded him — until the time where he learned that being an “A” is not enough. It is helping those around you that makes somebody an A+.

In third place was Ruby Lin, who was emotional as she talked about the “Virtuous Circle.” I swear, her opening was powerful and made me want to cry. She shared about a family that discouraged asking for favors because paying it back can only cause pain and suffering. But things went well after she finally decides that it’s more important to learn how to pay it forward than to shun all favors.

And the rest were Kenneth Wang who talked about his childhood where his father physically abused his mother and siblings, only to stop after they started fighting back…

Chao Huang who emphasized that in a world that is flat, we can NOT be flat. We have to continue to learn, improve and rise up to a new challenge…

Sammy Su spoke about having the “Real Badge” citing her training as a female bodyguard to start off her speech. Her lesson was that unless we exercise skills till they become part of us, then certificates are merely useless of pieces of paper….

And lastly, Kevin Chu who gave us a hint of his Oedipal complex by telling us personal stories of his love/hate relationship with his mother.

Overall, the prizes were well-deserved and after the long convention, I took the time to drop by the nearby Shilin night market and treat myself to this:

I swear, that icey place is just so good — for only NT$40, that’s one big cup of peanut butter ice with soft peanut bits. Yummy!

And apparently, am not the only one that’s a fan — check the line out:

I’m telling you, it was a perfect end to an otherwise, exhausting yet exciting weekend!

So there you have it — this is what my weekends are like.

Crazy huh?

Sheesh, I gotta retire from all that fun otherwise, I’ll burn myself out.

Anyway, it’s getting late and my brain ain’t functioning anymore. I’ll update tomorrow.

Take care and do behave on Labor Day!

Yay! No work tomorrow! 😀