Ice Breaker

[k 명원]

Toastmaster International 에 가입한 후 첫번 째 발표한 연설문 초안이다.

신참자는 누구나 “ Ice Breaker “  라는 제목으로 신고를 하게 돼있다.

멤버들에게 자기 소개를 함으로서 서먹 서먹함을 깨뜨리자는 의미로.

‘꼴값하고 또 영어야?! ’  하는 빈축을 살까 두려워 까페에 올리기를 망설였었다. 

오랫 동안 보지 못한 친구들에게 내 인생 여정의 단편을 선 보이는, 친구들에게 신고하는  “Ice Breaker”로 읽어 주면 좋겠다. 

The Ice Breaker

Mr. Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and welcome guests.

This speech is supposed to be the “Ice Breaker”.

 But I feel like the ice should have been sufficiently melted down by now by the warm welcome that I’ve been receiving from the members but I guess  an official self- disclosure as a new member is in order.

My   name is Myong-Won Kim.

My last name is Kim.

My first name is difficult  to pronounce for the non-Korean speaking person.

So when they ask me how it’s pronounced,  I tell them “M-Y-O-N-G-W-O-N pronounced "Mike"( 여기 사람들이 나를 부르는 이름).

I came to the USA when I was 29, then spent the next 28 prime years of my life in Buffalo, NY, of all the places.     

Then I finally got wised up and moved to California 6years ago and intent to spend the rest of my life here in this Golden State.

Yes, you got that right. 

I am 63.

I know what you are thinking.

Yes, they all say I look much younger than my age.

I am married. 

My wife of 34 years, Sabina ( 내 조강지처의 세례명) is a real estate agent, about to go belly up, the way the market is going these days.  

I have two  grown up sons, Don and Tom. 

They think they are older than I.

My younger son, Tom, got married last year and is working diligently with his wife Lucy to make a grandfather out of me.

What do I do for a living?

I am a shrink.

They laugh when I say it and ask “Why do they call psychiatrist a shrink?”

I have no idea but one of my colleagues said we shrink brain.
I don’t think it is a good explanation.

I don’t think it’s possible  to shrink anybody’s brain anyway.

I’ve been trying to shrink the two big heads of my sons and  haven’t made any progress at all so far on either of them. 

I think psychiatrists try to shrink exaggeration. 

Many psychiatric symptoms are exaggerated emotions, beliefs and  behaviors.

Psychiatrists try to shrink exaggerated worries, exaggerated fears,  exaggerated sense of guilt, so on and so forth.

The exaggerated fear of WMD( 대량 살상 무기) created national paranoia, putting us through unnecessary sacrifices.

Exaggerated anger pushed the boy off the edge to commit such a hideous  crime at the Virginia Tech. ( 이  스피치 2달전에 한국인 학생이 총기 난사, 많은 사상자 내고 자살)

Exaggeration is no good and psychiatrists try to shrink it.

But what fun is it without a little exaggeration in our life?

Fantasies, hopes and dreams are akin to exaggeration after all.

Without a little exaggeration, there would be no drama.

Without it, fish story won’t be as  much fun.

So I try not to shrink it all the way.

I had been in private practice for 20 odd years but quit  doing it when I came to California. 

I work now primarily for the State of California at a correctional center mental health clinic. 

I have a funny story to tell you.

When I was trying to get an apartment near the prison where I’d be working at, the manager of the apartment that I applied for  called me and was asking a bunch of questions for the background check.

 He couldn’t believe he was talking to a psychiatrist.

“Wow, that’s awesome. I need a psychiatrist.”

“I am sorry”, I said, “but  I can’t be your psychiatrist” 

“Why not?”  he protested.

“‘’Cause I work in the prison. I only see patients in the prison.”

Without skipping a beat, he said, “That’s no problem. I will kill my wife!” 

No exaggeration here! 

Indeed he might have killed his wife because I couldn’t find him at the office when I moved into that apartment. 

I haven’t seen him in the prison either.

May be he is in the prison but doesn’t need a psychiatrist anymore because killing his wife took care of his problem. 

I am enjoying every minute of living in California.

The best thing that happened to me since I moved  out here is the fact that I don’t have to carry the damn pager any more. 

When I was in private practice, I had to carry the pager 24/7 and wherever I went.

I even had to have it clipped to my underpants when I went to bed!

It was practically a part of my anatomy, a second appendix so to speak, that would give me an acute abdominal jolt with sudden vibrations in the middle of  such serious activities  as love making or putting on the green. 

Boy, was I glad to get rid of that darn thing.

Now being a state employee, come three o’clock PM, I come home and the rest of the day is all mine. Nobody can take it away from me. 

Nobody, no pager.

Another good thing that happened to me  is being able to get my childhood dream realized, that is  horse back riding , thanks to Mr. John Koscki, a fellow toastmaster .

He is my equestrian instructor.

He was the one who introduced me to this exciting club.

The new membership profile sheet asked about my  recent accomplishment.
I thought about it for a second and wrote in there, ” Joining Toastmaster International.”

Mr. Toastmaster.

-----------  -  ---------  -  -------------

Eval‎uation:

Robert  S. ( General Eval‎uator)

1 : Strong Points.

1. Humor
2. Organization
3. Meaning

2 :Audience get to know speaker very well, good impression.

3 :Good preparation.

4 :Speaking clearly and audibly.

5 :Well organized, well defined open, body and conclusion.

6 : Good contact with audience, no notes.

7 : Mostly Fig Leaf ( 두손을 모아 앞을 가린 자세. 나체 조각이나 회화에 국부를 가리는 무화과 이파리)

8 :Very good speech, thoughtful, insightful.

----------------  -  -------------  -  ------------

Gerald  F. (President)

Superb job!

Loved your Ice Breaker. 

You showed much about you, including your keen sense of humor.

You have great potential as an entertaining speaker! 

---------  -  --------  -  -----------

  My  thought

Wound up in a knot.

Jerky start.

Got stumped from the first line!

Didn’t get the word “fellow toastmasters “ out  right on time because  “welcome guests” came to my mind ahead of it.

Could feel calming down gradually , on track, but got stiff a little  when I didn’t get as much laugh as I expected at the end of the apartment manager story.

Should have scratched the second portion of it.

Was able to make eye contact with the audience but  with not so much connection as I’d  normally do with my own patients.

Toward the end, the timer screwed up the warning signal but I didn’t get rattled.

No glaring mistakes.

Free up your body language !

[영일]

Do you have this on YouTube?
I'd love to watch.
You can be a standup comedian.
It would be a better bet for you than messing as a shrink.

[k 명원]

I knew boob tube then but not YouTube.
I should have known, though, because YouTube started in 2005, 2 years before my speech.

[慧詔]

Wow, a big hand to your witty humor!
I found you a rare psychiatrist with a good sense of humor again today following
your posting of “The Secret for Longevity” the other day.
Don't you think that the belittling name of “Shrink”, came from a certain uncomfortable
feelings that a patient experienced while undergoing the EST by a psychiatrist a long time ago?
From the very funny “apartment manager story”, you got a resounding
laugh from me. And second appendix with pager things too!!!

[慧詔]

Rain-Water day (雨水) happens to fall on today, your ice therefore got started to
begin melting. Once you started a ball-rolling with a ice-breaker, I wish you keep
rolling the ball. Lastly I hate to do nit-picking, but how about using chairman or
chair toastmaster instead of Mr. toastmaster to tell a chairman from fellow (toastmaster).

[k 명원]

Good point Hye Jo ! ( No more jocoserious Hey Joe but is it the spelling you'd prefer? ) John Koscki once explained to me why such address but I forgot. There were a couple of old stuck-up members who would turn a deaf ear to any kind of challenging suggestions, not that I'd tried.

[이건일]

I knew you were a funny guy in Korean, but didn't expect you can be funny in English too.
Writing and commanding this level of English doesn't come easily to a Korean,
who is only second to the last , last one being a Japanese, if you ranked spoken English skill in ethnic groups.

[k 명원]

Oh..I'm not that good....well, let me put it this way. I' m not good enough to be humble. So I'd say "Thank you for your compliment" especially when it's coming from you.