Ironic Tales

Whazzup! Here comes another post. I thought maybe I can post here the icebreaker speech I delivered in Toastmasters. You may also listen to it in Spotify via Sugilanon podcast.

When I was asked to deliver my Icebreaker speech, I said yes halfheartedly, as I'm not sure if I'm really ready to do it. I wanted to back out. But well, why drag further what is inevitable, right? After all, I'm here to learn, to grow, to build up confidence... and of course, to take advantage of what I've signed up for.

And so today, I will be delivering my icebreaker speech to introduce myself and share random bits of Ironic Tales about myself.

Once again, my name is Rose, and I hail from the shrine city of the Philippines, Dapitan City, where Jose Rizal was imprisoned for 4 years before getting the death sentence in Bagumbayan. I grew up in a small town, called Barcelona, which we refer to as “Espanya”, because why not? It sounds cool when we say "muuli na kog Espanya!". I attended a public school there, and just like any schools, there were activities requiring students to perform. I may not look like one, but I used to recite poems on stage during my early grade school years. I don't know how I endured it back then, but I do remember getting scared all the time while looking at how many eyes were watching, silently praying for time to be faster and for the poem to be over, but I had no choice but to be just there in the moment, shamelessly flexing my invisible muscles for that Nutrition Month activity. Looking back, it's funny how a skinny kid could go talk about having good health and nutrition, when I actually didn't look that healthy. The things we used to do for grades, right?

Fast forward to high school and it was then when my hobby for writing, and drawing grew. This hobby somehow led me to write pieces for my classmates who were joining declamation contests. I thought, writing could save me from getting any attention, as I only get to do things from the background and let others deliver it themselves. Jokes on me though, when our school's representative got sick and I was automatically picked to replace her, just because I wrote her piece. I should have said NO, but again, the things we do for grades? That week, I found myself being thrown to different classrooms just to practice. The dilemma finally ended when I went home with a 3rd place trophy from that division contest. Oh, don't get too excited. There were only 3 participants, by the way. They had no choice but to give it to me.

Come college and for someone who struggles with Math, I found myself taking up a degree in Industrial Automation and Mechatronics in MSU-IIT. Not that complicated compared to Engineering proper, but Math is Math, and if there’s another thing that I’m not confident about aside from public speaking, that would be Math. I never planned to get into a field where there would be lots of math. However, getting a degree on Arts or Journalism was considered a luxury back then, especially for a probinsyana girl like me. With my brother’s encouragement and an opportunity for free tuition fee, I enrolled. My brother said Math would not be that difficult, and that I should give it a try and if I don’t like it, I could just shift after one sem. That one semester became 1 year and 3 more years later, I graduated. My brother was right, Math was not that difficult in the first semester. But it became one in the 3rd and senior years, when it’s too late for me to shift. Even so, I enjoyed and learned a lot from that field of study. It helped me get a spot as a trainee in one of the country's biggest milk & coffee factory, where I got to experience life in the production line, and enjoy unlimited milk and coffee all day. 

I moved to Cebu after graduation and landed a job as an Industrial Sales Coordinator. Being in that field, I got to learn and see instrumentation and automation devices, visit different plant sites, and see things I only used to see in videos and in books at school. But all these came with a price. Because again, I found myself face to face with the things I wanted to avoid, but this time, both math and speaking to new people almost all the time. I even had to learn basic accounting. Math again. That experience taught me though that for an introverted girl like me, "fake it till you make it" really works in building confidence because I was able to work that out for 5 long years.

Finally, after a very long discernment, I resigned and chose to pursue a writing job here at NCR. It's way different from creative writing but it's fun, it's informative, I get to have a close look with how products are developed, plus I get to have a supportive team, and a work-life balance. I just never thought that I'd still find myself speaking in front of many people like what I'm doing now. Don't get me wrong, I'm not doing this for grades. These short life clips are just few of the many ironic tales in my life, and I'm sure you also have your own tales to share. But if there's one thing I've learned from these, is that, ironic circumstances help us grow and learn in different aspects. They even lead you to places. I believe they are God's indirect answers. When I pray for patience, I don't become patient right away. I have to put up with all annoying and frustrating circumstances. When I pray for confidence, I don't become confident right away. I have to encounter situations that would test my confidence, no matter how embarassing or scary it feels. A skinny kid can still encourage good health and nutrition. Introverts need a little extroversion once in a while, and writers also need to speak. There's one thing I hope I don't encounter though... that would be complicated Math.