Ice Breaker Speech: Lo And Behold

 Tonigh, I’m going to presenvcxt my speech entitled “Lo and Behold”. Lo and Behold? Am I playing with words or what? No pun intended, but, the title speaks volumes about who I am. At first glance, you all view me as an arrogant, self-absorbed, basket case, lonely, depressed, and morbid, don’t have life of any kind etc. Is there something that can ever go wrong if you try to approach me? Will I be a loose cannon? Will I rile up and cause people to run left and right? Contrary to popular belief, I’m not as scary as you think and I’m going to prove you wrong that I’m indeed an approachable person.
 
Good evening fellow Toastmasters and guest.
 
My name is <NAME WITHHELD>.  I don’t have any English name because my name is very easy to pronounce, even non-Chinese have no problem pronouncing it. I was born in the family with strong Chinese cultural upbringing. Out of 5 siblings, I’m the middle child. You might think I’m a troubled person because I don’t feel out of place. Yes, it’s true but it doesn’t mean that I use this as an excuse not to raise a bar higher for my improvement.
 
I’m a true blue KLlite. I born, raised and stay in cosmopolitan KL whereby the city never sleeps. I feel weird when I stay in slow paced area like Alor Setar or even cities in the Europe. I’m educated in APIIT specializing in Information Technology. I was spoilt for choice when I look for a niche, whether it’s programming, web designing, security, networking and database. Eventually, I opted for computer networking and landed myself into this field as a network engineer at <MNC>. In the future, I hope I will gain knowledge, getting promoted and save enough money to learn foreign language and travel to the place I want to be.

Over the years, my train of thoughts has changed due to immense knowledge from books, documentaries and internet. As a water bearer (or Aquarius, to be exact), I possess a quirky interest that you may find (well) weird. Speaking of which, my personal interest is reading, history, arts, poetry, music, foreign language, philosophy, anthropology and technology. Because of that, my friends often label me as jack of all trades, master of none. And there are no better geeky words to conclude with than these. I don’t really have any interest in sports, but if I have to choose my favorite sports, it would be tennis because I like to hit things surrounding me, literally.
 
 
My political view is considered a mish mash of conservatism and libertarianism. Although I”m a conservative, but I respect individual privacy and liberty. My biggest trait is I’m a very open minded person and patient (or at least that’s what I’ve been told). Although I’m proud to be a Han Chinese, I don’t see myself belonging in the cultural group or religious order. Neither have I considered myself as a Malaysian nor an Asian. But, I definitely consider myself as a citizen of the world.
 
One of my interest is music appreciation. Over the years, my taste of music has changed and evolved thanks to radio, magazines, tape exchange & CDs with friends, Internet and magazines. Depending on my mood, I listen to all kinds of music genre like pop, rock, folk, jazz, electronic, almost everything, The musicians that impress me the most is Queen and Muse. Reason being these bands produce great variety of music and best of all, they are well known for powerful live performance. That’s my ideal choice of musician. And, oh, they are both British. We all already know that British bands make better music, unlike their American counterparts.

I also has a strong interest in foreign language. Although English is widely known as an international language, that doesn’t mean that I’m at the top of the world because I can speak English. I don’t suscribe to that notion. My knowledge doesn’t stops there. In Latin America, it’s impossible for us to speak solely in English as most of the Hispanics speak in Spanish, which is the second most spoken language in United States. Which is why I take a que from the world’s famous polyglot, the late Jose Rizal. He’s not only recognized as a nationalist for his homeland, the Phillippines, but also has an ability to speak foreign languages. Not 2, not 3, but 22 languages. The language I would like to learn is France and Spanish. If I’m fluent enough in both languages, I’ll proceed to learn Hindi, Arab, Hebrew, Japanese and German. I’m also plan to improve my Mandarin and Cantonese as it’s wide spoken worldwide and as a Chinese, it’s a must for me to speak my own mother tongue. But, I doubt I can learn that language all in one go. Sigh, so much things to learn, but so little spare time. I wish there’s more than 24 hours in a day. Dream on.
 
Before I wrap up my speech, I would like to tell you all how I am feeling right now? Well, to be brutally honest with you, I feel very nervous. I can feel butterflies in my stomach  and shivers chill down my spine. My legs are shaking. But, I try to do the best as I can. I always dream to be a better speaker. Does it matter to me? Yes. This is because good communication is important in every aspect of life, from cradle to the grave. Ever since I’ve joined the Bangsar Toastmasters as a guest, much good has been accomplished. I have become more confident when I talk to strangers and voicing out my opinions. Even so, there’s a room for improvement. Hopefully, I will overcome my shortcoming, which is mumbling, smattering and pausing during conversation. With that being said, I’m delighted to be part of Bangsar Toastmasters family. I hope you all will accept me with open arms.  I promise I’ll deliver my next speech with more interesting topic of interest.  

Back to you.