Choose Your Own Toastmasters

The title will make sense as you read further...

Last night, I went to a Toastmasters meeting with Holly. This is the second time I've been to one, and last night was this club's (Nite Shifters) 19th birthday. There was cake and refreshments and birthday gifts/prizes. There were two guests at the meeting, myself and a girl from Toronto, and we both got to choose a prize; the others were given away by drawing names. I got a couple large "Coffee & more cups".

Anyway, the meeting had the same format as the last one I attended. When it was time for the Table Topics, the topic presented was why you joined Toastmasters and optionally why you joined Nite Shifters in particular. Everybody spoke, so rather than be the odd one out, so did I. I talked about coming because Holly had asked me, as with the previous time, and then moved on to how it came to pass that she asked me. How it came to pass was because about four and a half months ago, I asked her out on a date and, well, you know the rest. Or at least, the rest that's fit for public consumption.

On the topic of 'Choosing your own Toastmasters', I'm reminded of a writing project I maintained for a few years, which sadly I put on indefinite hiatus long before starting this blog. Some of you will remember it; it was my Choose Your Own Adventure story I was writing... using my MSN Messenger screen name. The screen name is limited to 129(?) characters, and I reserved enough space for my name so that my contacts knew it was me. That left me with 122 characters in which to write installments of a story. Needless to say, this makes for an interesting restriction. Every few days (I tried to keep to every three days), I would advance the story. When it came time for a choice in the story, my contacts voted by email or IM. I'd then tally the votes and continue on. Choice time always made for interesting contortions because I had to move the story and still list choices. All in 122 characters. *122* characters. Believe me, 122 characters is NOT a lot. It's generally only a couple sentences. You get more characters in a text message sent from a cell phone! (I also resisted shrtning words&using irritating abbr.&subs as much as possible so as to keep it legible.)

I kept this up for a few years, with the last year filled with long pauses and breaks. Sadly, my motivation was waning and I felt the quality of the writing was decaying. I decided to go on an indefinite hiatus rather than let the quality die to something I would be ashamed of showing to people. With that said, I can't say the quality is great anyway, but consider the constraints and the protracted time frame. Protracted time frame is an understatement. In those years, I think I managed to write about four or five pages of 12pt Times New Roman font text.

So why did I bring this up and how does it connect with the previous topic? Well, I've decided just now to resurrect my story... but in a new medium. I'm going to dig out my story and post it here in multiple installments over the next week or so. Then I'm going to dig out the story notes and begin where I left off. The format will be a little different, as I no longer have the 122 character restriction. Voting will take place via the comments. No other votes will count. It was unwritten/unsaid before, but I reserve the right to veto any vote outcome. That possibility came up only once, but the voting went the way I wanted, so it was never exercised. Regular blog entries will continue, with story installments interleaved. Eventually, when the story is finished, I will post the full story in all its glory.

Stay tuned, it'll be a fun ride!

That is all.