Golden News
Volume 17, Number 23 - Monday 1 December 2003
The official bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile is published
most Mondays and is distributed to all club members, District officials and
other "friends of KGM".


Winner "Best English Language Bulletin" in District 3450, 2001/2002

This Week's Meeting:
 
Our guest speaker this week is Mr. Dominic Notario and the subject of his talk is "My experiences as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar". Unfortunately we've not been given any biographical information about this speaker.
 
From Under The Kitchen Sink: Apparently our spy in the Holiday Inn kitchen, Vincent "The Galloping Gourmet" Lam, has been gorging himself again on tarts, and he's forgotten to tell us what's on the menu this week. Hence you better bring your own lunch, just in case the main course is something from "Fear Factor".
 
 

Member Updates:
 
1) It's always sad to lose members from KGM, but it's especially sad to lose three in the same month. For a variety of personal reasons, Graham Daley, Mukesh Dayaram and Nasreen Ting all departed from KGM during November. We sincerely wish each of them the very best for the future and we hope they will all return to KGM, as and when their situations improve. If they do, they can rejoin KGM without the need to pay the usual joining fee.
 
Anyway, as usual, we've transferred their email addresses to our "Friends of KGM" list, so that they can keep up-to-date on KGM happenings.

2) According to our spy at the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong ("AmCham"), our old mate PDG Dipo "Shaq" Sani was recently elected to their Board of Governors. On behalf of all KGM members, we extend our heartiest congratulations to Dipo, who we are confident will inject his infectious energy into that organisation.

 

Milestones:

Birthday greetings to:
 
Manu "Chewbacca" Chulani who, on 1 December, shares his birthday with golfer Lee Trevino.

PE Silva "Dollar" Yeung" who, on 7 December, shares his birthday with former Boston Celtics basketball star Larry Bird.

 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Induction anniversary greetings to the following KGM members:
 
PP Louis "Trailwalker" Thomas, who was inducted into KGM 16 years ago on 2 December 1987.
 
PE Silva "Dollar" Yeung, who was inducted into KGM 8 years ago on 6 December 1995.
 
Kumar "Rumpole" Ramanathan and Manu "Chewbacca" Chulani, who were both inducted into KGM 6 years ago on 3 December 1997.
 
Sonya "Good On Ya" Wu, who was inducted into KGM 2 years ago on 3 December 2001.



KGM AGMs & Elections: 

KGM members are reminded that the Company and the Club Annual General Meetings will be held consecutively during the regular club meeting at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile on Wednesday 17 December 2003, and an official notice has already been sent to all KGM members by Club Secretary Clarissa Bellstedt.
 
During the AGMs, an Election of Members to serve on the respective KGM Boards will also take place, and a separate message with details of the nominees will be sent to all KGM members this week.
 
 

Annual KGM Fund-Raising Walkathon:
 
Our old mate and KGM President-Elect Silva "Dollar" Yeung, advises that this year's Annual KGM Fund-Raising Walkathon will be held on Sunday 14 December, and the starting point is Pier 4, Yung Shue Wan on Lamma Island.
 
Experienced walkers will depart at 9:30 a.m., while "Family Walkers" will depart at 11:00 a.m.  In both cases, the walk will end approximately 90 minutes later at Sok Kwu Wan, where a sumptuous seafood lunch will be provided FOC for all walkers at the Rainbow Seafood Restaurant.

If you've never been on the Walkathon before, this map will show you the route (click on "show red walking path"). The map can be enlarged by further clicking the "+" button, and your keyboard "arrow" keys can move the map in four directions. Pretty cool, huh?
 
Members who don't want to walk, but who'd still like to join the fellowship lunch, should get themselves to the restaurant not later than 12:30 p.m., otherwise PE Silva will eat all the food. The lazy sods who aren't walking only need to pay the incredibly low price of $150 per head, which includes all food, drinks and a chance to experience PE Silva's smelly feet and ingrown toenails.

A sponsorship form is attached to this bulletin in PDF format, but if your email server is set to reject attachments, you can download a copy from the KGM website.

For more information, or to confirm your attendance at the Walkathon and/or the fellowship lunch,
send an email to the Walkathon Organisers as soon as possible, but preferably by the end of this week.

 

Fellowship News - Reminder:


Our old mate and KGM Fellowship Director PP "Butch" Cassidy Lam reminds us that from 7:00 p.m. on Friday 12 December, the charming & beautiful Avisha Harilela and her hubbie er, um, ah, oh yeah David, will once again graciously open their fabulous home to the great unwashed masses of KGM for a fellowship dinner tentatively entitled "A Short Time In Kowloon Tong", whatever that means.
 
Members interested in attending this event should contact PP Cassidy on 9031 2882 or send him an email.
 
 

Group Make-Up:
 
No, Virginia, sadly this has absolutely nothing to do with lipstick, stiletto heels or fishnet stockings. Dammit.
 
It's just that our bubbly, energetic & hard-working Attendance Director "Lady" Diana Yeung has arranged yet another Group Attendance Make-Up, and this time it will take place at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday 4 December at our Mother Club, the RC Kowloon, who meet at the world-famous Peninsula Hotel, which only charges $207 for lunch.
 
A number of KGM members have been lagging behind in their attendance (you know who you are) so, if you want to avoid being severely spanked by "The Enforcer" (i.e. Brian Hodgson who, frankly, looks bloody awful in leather and chains), you better get yourself organised and attend this Group Make-Up. You've been warned.
 
Members planning to join the Group Make-Up should contact Lady Diana by telephone on 9889 9908 as soon as possible. Of course if you're a female member and you plan to attend while wearing stiletto heels and fishnet stockings, call me too.

Yeee-haaaaaaaaaaa.
 

Vocational Service News:
 
Our effervescent Vocational Service Director Vincent "Bone Bender" Lam has organised a Vocational Service visit to the Pathways Foundation at Room 502, Tung Ying Building, 100 Nathan Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, from 11:00 am on Saturday 13 December.
 
The Pathways Foundation is a registered non-profitable charitable organization, and is the only NGO that addresses the widespread educational, personal and societal issues arising from Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders (AD/HD) in children, including problems of literacy, innumeracy, organizational ability and social skills. Pathways runs After School Support Programs (ASSP) to help children with Specific Learning Disabilities.

We're invited to watch how the actual classes (on that day, English ASSP and Math ASSP) are being conducted during our visit, which should last about 1 hour.
 
Members interested in joining the visit should contact Vincent by telephone on 9045 6871 or by email.
 
 

District 3450 Events:
 
  • District Table Tennis Tournament - Sunday 7 December 2003 - details 
  • District Hepatitis B Walkathon - Sunday 14 December 2003 - details
  • Interact District Conference - Saturday 17 January 2004 - details

And, Beloved District Webmaster, THANK YOU for not changing the URLs above :-)


Rotary International News:
 
 
Read the latest news about Rotary's Youth Exchange program.
 
In other news:
 
1. Read the December issue of "The Rotarian" magazine online.
 
2. Learn about the various Rotary International Programs on the RI website - details.
 
3. Read all about the ongoing plans for the RI Centennial in 2005 - details.

4. Visit the website of Rotary International President Jonathan Majiyagbe - details.
 
5. The 95th Rotary International Convention will be held in Osaka from 23-26 May, 2004 - new website.

 
 

Rotary Information: 
 

December is "Family Month": At its first meeting of the 2003-04 Rotary Year, the Rotary International Board of Directors declared December to be Family Month, acknowledging the increasing significance the family has taken on in Rotary.  The observance replaces Family Week, which had been on the Rotary calendar the second week of February since 1996.
 
Family Month nudges Rotary clubs to plan special activities involving family members, including the widowed spouses of Rotarians, and to consider ways to make families central to club life all year long.  The month-long observance also encourages reflection on the importance to Rotary's future of its extended family -- partners in service like Rotaractors and Interactors, as well as Rotarians' own family members.
 
For generations, Rotary clubs around the world have demonstrated their commitments to families through service with activities like operating food pantries and building low-cost shelters.  Many Rotarians become second families to Youth Exchange students, others open their homes to participants in Rotary Foundation programs.  Another way Rotary clubs mark Family Month is by conferring RI's Family and Community Service Award certificate (757-EN) on individuals or organizations for outstanding service
.

(Our thanks to our old mate PP Herbert Lau of the RC Tolo Harbour for the above article)

 

Advice from the Geek:
 

The Geek is on leave this week. OK, OK, here's actually in town, but he's too busy to write something for us, the sod!
 
 

Who Am I?
 

What is the more common name of American rap/hip-hop singer, and more recently actor O'Shea Jackson?

Clue: Clink.
 
The answer appears at the bottom of this issue.
 
 

Golden Smile: 
 

Norman and his wife live in Calgary, Canada. One winter morning while listening to the radio, they hear the announcer say, "We're going to have 8 to 10 centimeters of snow today. You must park your car on the even numbered side of the street, so that the snow plow can get through".
 
So Norman's wife goes out and moves her car.
 
A week later while they/re eating breakfast, the radio announcer says "We're expecting 10 to 12 centimeters of snow again today. You must park your car on the odd numbered side of the street, so that the snow plow can get through". Once again, Norman's wife goes out and moves her car.
 
The next week they're having breakfast again, when the radio announcer says "We're expecting 12 to 14 centimeters of snow today. You must park your car ..........."  when suddenly their electric power went out.
 
Norman's wife was very upset and, with a worried look on her face, she says, "Honey, I don't know what to do. The power cut before I could hear on which side of the street I must park so that the plow can get through. What should I do?".
 
With the love and understanding in his voice that all men married to blondes exhibit, Norman calmly said "Why don't you just leave it in the garage this time?".

 

Quotable Quotes:


"Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something".
 
Plato
 
 
 
The Phantom
Who Am I answer: Ice Cube.

If you no longer wish to receive this bulletin each week, click here. For previous issues of the bulletin (or to view them in their full HTML glory), visit our archives. © 2003 Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile. All rights reserved. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author (who is under heavy medication), and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of any other member of the club.