Jinlu's Blog

Note: This article is a speech script for Toastmasters Project: Understanding Your Communication Styles. The purpose of this project is to understand different Communication Styles and identify my own style. When I read through the description of each of the 4 different Styles, there was always one person I knew popped up in my head. “This is exactly him!” “This is definitely her communication style.” I talked to myself. After going through the whole project, I had vivid images of four people I knew, each had a different communication style. 3 guys and one gal. The first person is my classmate A and the communication style is Supportive . We went to the same university and studied Computer Science together. He was a big guy, but not intimidating at all. Instead, he was very nice, gentle, and amicable. He had a great smile. Just like me. He was a very good listener. Whenever I had something on my mind that bothered me, I would go and talk to him. He would always listen, nod, and

Note : This article is a speech script for Toastmasters project, Research and Present. The deadline is approaching, but I just don’t want to start to work on the project. I have signed up for a speech this week, but I don’t know what topic to talk about yet. I know I am supposed to switch from Toastmaster Tradition Program to Pathways, but I am just not ready. By a show of hands, who think you procrastinate? Who feels that procrastination bothers you and you want to change?  The good news is, you are not alone. According to Joseph Ferrari, a professor of psychology at DePaul University in Chicago, 20 percent of people are chronic procrastinators. The website Procrastination and Science lists a lot of famous people who are also severe procrastinators, like The Dalai Lama, Victor Hugo, Saint Augustine, Bill Clinton, Leonardo da Vinci, and so on.  What exactly is procrastination? In the book Procrastination: Why You Do It, What To Do About it Now, Jane B Burka & Lenora M

It was 2012. My husband and I had been together for 4 years and we were living in Beijing. We love hiking and traveling, so we had been to most of the places of interest around Beijing. We have also done one domestic trip to Hangzhou and Huangshan, also called the Yellow Mountain. So we decided to stretch a little bit and go a little bit further. “Let’s go overseas. “Let’s make it our honeymoon.” “But we are not married yet.” “Then it’s our Quasi-honeymoon.” We said to each other. We took out the map, and wondered “Where should we go? Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines? We brainstormed. We planned to go around Christmas time, so we wanted to go somewhere warmer. So not Japan, not South Korea. We wanted to enjoy the tropical beaches, and swimming in the ocean. So all of the three Southeastern Asian countries sounded good: Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Then we started to think.  “It’s going to be our first overseas vacation. So maybe we should be a