kjp

I gave my first prepared speech to the rostrum club that I'm in. As per the tradition (my first speech), it was "About Me". The slightly sanitised for public consumption version of it is below (removal of work and name details). Some of the feedback: never end on "Thankyou" - that's what the audience should say; be careful with the tempo - I was nervous at the end for some reason - and it showed up with a pace that was a bit too fast; I should be careful not to fidget (too expressive with my hands).

Introduction
Hi everyone. I’m K. P. This afternoon I’m going to talk a little bit about myself. I’ll go through my upbringing; how I occasionally entertain with my music; then go onto what I’m doing outdoors this weekend, and finish up with my travel plans for later this year.

Biography
I was born in Canberra in the very early 1980’s. After spending a few years in Melbourne, my family (mum, dad, and my two sisters) settled back in Canberra. The primary school 100 metres down the foothpath was followed by high school a 20 minute bike ride away, followed by university at the ANU – one of the universities in Canberra. Along the way I learnt clarinet, bicycled, rowed, bushwalked and orienteered. (Orienteering is a sport of cross country running requiring navigation). Pocket money came through IT support work, clarinet teaching and maths tutoring. After my 5 years at uni studying engineering and maths, I had a break for a year, and then moved up to Brisbane at the start of 2004. This was when I started my first full time engineering job – working for P. as a D. E.. The move to Brisbane coincided with a growing social confidence: these days I spend a decent amount of time eating, drinking, and going out with friends. One of the down sides of the move to Brisbane is that I am far from my family in Canberra and Sydney. This was quite a problem in the time around March 2006, when my dad died from a brain tumour. After many visits to Canberra and Sydney in 2006, I was fortunate that during 2007 my mum, younger sister, elder sister, brother in law and 2 year old niece all stayed with me at various times through the year. Recently at work, I’ve started in a permanent position in S. P. design.

Music – Entertaining – Clarinet Performing
For most of my life I have been fortunate to play clarinet in various concert bands. These bands have ranged from 15 to 60 woodwind, brass and percussion musicians. I find that being in amongst a group of people playing music all together is exciting and rewarding. In particular I love the buzz of performing. The pressure is on – people have paid their money to hear the band – and you need to play well – now. I currently play in a concert band called Queensland Wind and Brass. It’s the third year I’ve been with them – and have enjoyed every minute of it. Amongst a handful of park and mall gigs, I’m looking forward to our three major concerts later in the year and the national band competition being held at Easter.

Outdoors – This Weekend – Rogaine
Now this weekend I’ll be taking part in my first rogaine for this year. Rogaining is a sport of long distance cross country bushwalking. Using a map and compass, competitors try to find as many checkpoints as they can in a set amount of time. Events vary in location and duration. The event on Sunday is an eight hour event – being held just west of Brisbane, overlooking where Lake Wivenhoe should be. I’m really looking forward to it – I enjoying being outdoors in the bush. It’s a nice feeling being in nature – away from the busyness of the city, getting a bit of fresh air. Rogaining is quite challenging both physically and mentally. Navigating can be quite a complex task at the best of times, but more difficult when you’re tired after 8 hours of walking. During previous races I’ve been known to say things like “This sucks – I’m so tired and sore” and “I’m never going to do this stupid sport again”… but for some reason I keep going back. I like the satisfaction after accomplishing what is a very demanding event. Ohh, I said the event is on Sunday: and it is – mostly. It’s an 8 hour event; starting at 11 pm on Saturday night, going through to 7 am Sunday morning. Yes, I am slightly crazy. So if you wake up at 4am on Sunday morning in your nice cosy bed, think of me somewhere out there, trudging around bush, trying to avoid getting lost. It better not rain.

Adventure – Travel – China and South America
I am a fairly stable sort of person. I like doing my job, seeing my friends, doing a few activities through the week, having a bit of a break on the weekend – and repeating next week. Occasionally though, I do need a bit of adventure, and this is usually in the shape of travelling overseas. In 2005 I spent 6 weeks travelling in China. China is a large diverse country with many ethnic minorities. It is very quickly modernising, trying to keep the 100s of millions of very poor people in touch with the richer parts of the country. Later this year I will hopefully visit parts of South America. I’m hoping to spend about 5 weeks (maybe more if I can get the leave) in Peru, Bolivia and maybe the Galapagos Islands. Like China, I’ll try to enjoy several different aspects of South America in my trip: including a culture very different to Western, Australian culture; very old historical sites; and spectacular scenery. I suspect the walk up Machu Picchu will be all of these. So far I haven’t really done much in the way of planning. But I’m getting itchy feet – it’s time for another adventure.

Conclusion
Well, this afternoon I’ve talked a little about myself… there are many things I haven’t mentioned – the beach, my engineering, photography, cooking and philosophy. But the key things in my life are my family, friends, music and the outdoors. Thankyou.