Through Toastmaster, I’ve enjoyed and learned to tell stories in speech and conversation. In the past 2 weeks, I’ve learned a different kind of story-telling, to craft a story for the entire presentation, beyond/ besides stories (examples) in the presentation. One way is to use a timeline then dive deeper into key milestones or topics. …
Category Archives: Creativity
Creativity
What is creativity? I attended my Toastmaster club’s Halloween-themed meeting and people brought in candy, pastry, desserts, etc. They were all tasty; one particularly stand out. It’s pealed tangerine with a little piece of celery stick out in the middle. It’s like a mini pumpkin, so simple and original, plus a bonus as the healthiest …
Halloween
Happy Halloween! A couple ‘first’ for me… 1st time to wear a costume – I’m a surgeon, thanks to my friend’s scrub. I made a necklace with a 3D-printed larynx and used a silicone spatula as a ‘knife’. 1st time to take all-level yoga class – a good sweat and taught by a high-energy ‘fox’ …
Straw
A few weeks ago I attended the Green Festival in Boston and one of the stand gave away a ‘straw kit’: a bag with a stainless steel straw and a thin brush (cleaner). I read that Starbucks is working a ‘strawless’ cap. Today I sipped a cocktail at happy hour through a ‘paper’ straw. The …
Toastmaster
I joined Saturday Toastmasters of Arlington meeting today. H was the table topic (impromptu speaking) master. Instead of simply asking people question/ giving topics. H gave us a structure ‘What, How, and Why’ and 3 minutes to think of the content (pick 1 thing to evaluate the speaker). The structure makes thinking on your feet …
Just Ask!
I arrived at airport and found out there is an earlier flight so I asked the agent if I can change. He looked at my check-in monitor and said changing option didn’t appear. There might not be seat left but I could ask the gate agent. I went to the gate and the agent told …
Special Trip
A special trip to visit aunt who has been through chemo, explore Iowa (a new state for me and getting close to achieve 1 of my bucket list to visit all 50 US states), and stay overnight on a tree house (another bucket list item). Aunt seems skinner, thinner-haired, yet in good spirit. As always, …
Work Around
In the first meeting to discuss the new initiative ‘code name’ and structure with key stakeholders, we encountered strong resistance (A expressed the objection and B walked out of the meeting). Later, I talked to A, a senior executive, privately to seek her support and advice before gathering the core team. I didn’t get a …
Happy Teacher’s Day
Happy teacher’s day to mom and all the great teachers around the world! Your life lessons have changed my world: be genuine, generous to others, and curios about life. Mom’s motto ‘誠樸’ (honest & humble) says it well and she lives it, 27 years as a teacher and lifetime as my role model. I have …
Roller Coaster Ride
A roller coaster ride this week for the A initiative. We achieved the milestone target ahead of schedule. Before having time to celebrate or take a break, we ran into system performance and capacity issues, on top of that, accidental system shutdown. No question of the stress to teams and long hours of works yet …