The Toastmasters District 65 West Division contest was mine to lose.
I lost.
Technically, I was disqualified. I went over the time limit by 7 seconds.
I gave the speech of my life this past Saturday morning. I was extremely proud of my performance. I've given that particular speech 8 times and it always clocked in between 6:50 and 7:15. I shaved a few sentences off of it because I *knew* it was going to get a lot of laughs.
I should've shaved a few more sentences. 7:37, and mostly because I had the audience laughing so long.
A tough lesson, but I am extremely pleased with my performance, especially since I drew the dreaded "first speaker" slot....I was so psyched up I didn't care. I offer no excuses....I goofed. It was a learning experience.
It would have been a tough competition to win in any even...yes, there was even a speech funnier than mine.
The contest winner gave a sidesplitting speech on how hard it is to be a spanish speaking toastmaster.
*I* knew my material...*HE* knew his target audience.
My bad day didn't end there!
After the competition was over, my wife and I went outside to get into our Ford Expedition and take a well-deserved weekend trip up to Toronto.
Bad news: there was a huge puddle of bright green fluid beneath the Expedition. As most gearheads know, bright green puddles usually indicates a severe radiator leak.
One problem: this was at the BACK of the Expedition, not the front where the radiator is.
Hmmmm....I'd just bought a brand new big old bottle of Scope mouthwash that morning at a 24hr convenience store across from the hotel.
Yup. My loving wife didn't put the cap back on tightly, I threw the bottle in my overnight bag and off we went to the competition.
Leak, leak, leak, leak, leak.....
Soaked my clothes, my bag, the floor rug in the back compartment in the back of the SUV and eventually the ground underneath.
Quick trip ensued back to my corporate apartment to get some dry clothes for the weekend.
On a positive note....the inside of my Expedition DOES smell "minty fresh" now!!
