WCT Newsletter

CLUB 8290 DISTRICT 61

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What's your Magic Number and How to Avoid D.E.A.T.H

By Jacqui Ehninger-Cuervo

Who hasn't done it? You start something new, an exercise program say, you get into a routine, see some results and start feeling great. Then suddenly something happens! Increased demands at work, a home project gone out of control, you get sick or a family member falls ill.

Your newborn routine withers and goes south on you. Before you know it, three or four weeks have passed and you haven't done your exercises once.

Finally the emergency is over, but a strange thing happened: your exercise time got sucked up by other "stuff"; suddenly it seems that the time you were able to commit to your fitness routine before, has evaporated altogether. Plus you remember the pain of getting started in the first place. Do you really want to go through that again?

The answer is NO! Starting a new habit or routine is about as easy or comfortable as trying to cold-start a diesel engine during a 40 below February snowstorm. And note that this applies almost universally - whether it's an exercise regime, morning yoga or, well - Toastmasters.

But how many missed times is too many? At what point are you on the slippery slope of losing control? For me the magic number is three. Three missed events - whether it's weeks, classes or whatever - is the limit, after that it gets really tough to start again.

So what do you do?

• First off, try like hell to get back to whatever it is you want to do before you go over your magic number and your routine dies a horrible death - fledgling routines are particularly vulnerable!

• Compromise if you have to - even going for half a lesson or half an evening is better than not going at all.

• Make a date to go with someone. You'll have the extra commitment to help you get back into things.

• Finally, if you absolutely can't get away, try to still do something related to your desired activity. For example, while your convalescent parent is sleeping and you are at their bedside, try to catch up on some unread issue of your Toastmaster's magazine, or think of a speech. In fact, capture your present feelings about whatever situation you find yourself in, by writing them down. Not only will writing help you deal with the situation you're going through, but later on, once you're ready to share and talk about it, it will help you deliver a speech that truly comes from the heart.

So what does DEATH stand for? In this case it means: Delay Erases All Tender Habits! Don't let it happen to you!

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SUMMERTIME - And the Living's Easy...

By Jacqui Ehninger-Cuervo

Since we definitely don't want tender habits to be erased by delay, West Carleton Toastmasters will stay active throughout the summer with our summer "SPA" program (SPeaking to Achieve). We have teamed up with five other clubs (Context, Arnprior, Kanata, West End  and Hitech) to make sure we have enough participants for weekly meetings throughout the summer.

The Summer SPA program will run from July 10th to August 28th, with a break for the Civic Holiday on August 7th. Regular meetings resume on September 11th, after the Labour Day break on Sept 4th.

Our VP of Education, Owen Evans, is still working the details, but the plan is to concentrate on speeches and evaluations (up to six speeches per evening!), so get ready for an action-packed summer and many visits to the West Carleton SPA!

We promise - if you take advantage of this - you'll experience a huge leap in your speaking AND evaluating abilities! This is a fantastic opportunity to get a number of speeches under your belt and advance not just your personal goals, but also the goal of your club to put another Distinguished Club Program (DCP) ribbon on the banner.

But you have to act fast! Owen needs your RSVP by June 15th to finalize the schedule (you can reach him via email at owenpevans@rogers.com or by phone at 829-9139).

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Anaiis Nin

ANAiiS NIN (Pronounced /ana'i:s nin/ "ana-EESE neen")

And the day came when

The risk to remain tight in a bud

Was more painful than

The risk it took to blossom.

Anaiis Nin (February 21, 1903 - January 14, 1977) was a French-born author of Catalan and Danish descent.

She is best known for her diaries, which span more than sixty years, beginning when she was eleven years old, on board a ship taking her, her mother and her two brothers from Europe to America after her composer father had abandoned the family.

However, she also produced a number of novels as well as erotic writings. The latter were written for a private collector out of desperate need for money (Delta of Venus for a dollar a page in the 1940s). Nin considered the characters in her erotica to be extreme caricature and never planned for it to be published.

In 1973 she received an honorary doctorate from Philadelphia College of Art. She was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1974.

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Introducing the New Executive

For those of you who missed election night, it was an evening of suspense, with candidates running neck-to-neck, and almost unbearable tension filling the room...

Alright, I made all that up - we had exactly one candidate for each position, BUT we managed to fill all the positions!

So here, with a drum roll and a Thank You to our out-going executive, for all their dedication and the wonderful work they've done over the past year, the torches are being passed to:

WEST CARLETON CLUB EXECUTIVE  2006-2007 President Christine Martinelli cmartinelli@sympatico.ca 836 1978 Past President            Brent Nicolle brent@nicolle.com 726-6522 VP Education             Owen Evans owenpevans@rogers.com 829-9139 VP Membership   Sheila Evans swevans@rogers.com 829-9139 VP Public Relations  Jacqui Ehninger-Cuervo                                  jmec@nortel.com 832-0649 763-3565 Treasurer  Byrne Currie currb@emba.uottawa.ca                            831-3350 Secretary Debby Halliday                                     halliday.d@pg.com TBD SAA      Sylvain Gagne sgagne@nortel.com TBD

 

A HUGE Thank You to:

Brent Nicolle, Christine Martinelli, Carole Baker, Terry Baker, Mike McPhail, Bryan Black and Byrne Currie for their past involvement as executives for West Carleton Toastmasters!

Please check the website for more information about the new executive team!

http://www.westcarletontoastmasters.com/executive.html

Last but not least: This month, June 2006, West Carleton Toastmasters is celebrating it's 15^th anniversary!

Happy 15th Birthday West Carleton Toastmasters!