Blogtrek

I shall write several books by 2022

I went to Friday ("hospitality") night at the District 66 Toastmaster conference. The most interesting event was the talk by Virgie Binford, a local motivational speaker. She had us do some exercises. One was to tell our partner (we were paired into partners) what we expect to be doing in 5 years (2007) and 20 years (2022) from now. I said that in 5 years I would be retired and having another job concerning either mathematics instruction, web site hosting, or both, and that by 20 years (I will be pushing eighty then) I will have written several books. I already have all the speeches I have given in 15 years of Toastmasters and 25 years of Astronomical Society. I would write to tell the world my story and how I believe things can be better.

In another exercise she had us ask each other's birthdays. Mine is August 13; my partner's was August 8. But a pair of women in front of me turned out to have the same birthday! It was August 5, so we have four early August birthdays within seats of each other in the audience. In addition, both my partner and I were Division Governors in the same year. Coincidences? Yes, probably. All it takes is 23 people in the room for two to turn up with the same birthday - look it up, "birthday surprise" in Google. So what happened tonight was nothing out of the ordinary.