The Birthdays of Many Others this Month

August seems to be the month of Birthdays. Could it be it coincides with 8 being a lucky number in Chinese culture and so everyone seems to be born in that month. Or it could be that I just happen to have too many friends and family who are LEOs. :D Did I mention all 3 serious ex boyfriends were LEOs and had their birthdays in August too? And so it the hubby-to-be! Let's list all that I know below:

1 Aug: Jayden (Cousin's Son)
3 Aug: First BF
6 Aug: Christine
11 Aug: Gabriel (A Singaporean friend)
17 Aug: Second Ex
18 Aug: The hubby-to-be
19 Aug: Diana
21 Aug: Cousin Janice

That's already 8 birthdays of people I can think of in Aug and that's not including those that I will remember as the time comes closer - am sure there is more! In any case here are a couple of pics from the hubby's birthday:

Surprised him with a tower of macaroons as his 'birthday cake'

The presents that he got. Boots from himself and the rest from me.

 Happy Birthday to the hubby-to-be. Hoped you had enjoyed your last birthday as a bachelor. From next year onwards, its single status no more! Haha!

Christine's Fancy Dress Birthday Party

We went for Christine's Fancy Dress Birthday Dinner party last Saturday. The hubby-to-be wasn't game in to such things and so kind Brendan picked Ammie and myself up from my place. He had Wai together with him already and they form the scrawny green hulk and karate kid respectively. The plan was to drive back to Brendan's place in Richmond and then tram down to the city. But it was raining and getting a taxi was just not easy and so Brendan ended up having to drive there reluctantly as it was getting late.

The venue was at Bluestone Restaurant Bar in Flinders Lane. Thank Goodness Christine chose that place because it was dimly lighted and you sort of have to walk down the basement. And we certainly didn't want to grab too much attention with our fancy outfits! Though we did still get a few stares and giggling from other customers there.

Sailormoon, School Girl, Police Woman and Snow White	Scrawny Hulky, Police Woman and Karate Kid
Police Woman caught the School Girl playing Truant	Birthday girl with her presents and uni mates
Group pic with all the gals	Group pic with all the guys

I've gotta say though some of Christine's uni mates weren't as gung-ho as us and didn't really dress up in full - though we certainly found a friend in Velma and 'The Witch'. ;) Some only came in a mask or hat but I guess at least they tried. Not everyone's willing to be as crazy as us I suppose! :p The food there wasn't too bad though we only ate pizzas and salads due to the large group. Certainly hope to try something else should we go back there in future.

We also heard the birthday girl was challenged to scare some guys on the way home and the whole thing was caught on video. The two guys weren't really shocked or impressed but they played the game anyway. Bet you enjoyed yourself Christine dear! Look forward to next year's party.

Farewell Granddad

I got a text from Dad in the morning at work on 19th July saying that my Paternal Grandfather had passed away last night. It wasn't that unexpected since I know that he had already been hospitalised a few days ago. But you know that feeling of denial and how you just get caught in a time frame?

I wasn't close to him since young as I brought my mostly by my Maternal Grandparents. But then again, he is still my grandpa and was the only living grand parents at that time whom I thought was able to attend my wedding dinner in Jan 7 next year.

But I guess it's good that he has stopped suffering and has gone to the other world to join my grandma. Dad's parents were staunch Taoist and so they didn't believe in Jesus/God. Though I still believe of course, everyone went to heaven because God loves us all. Here's a lighted candle - RIP dear grandpa.

King Tuthankhamun's Exhibition

We went for King Tutankhamun's Exhibition a couple of weeks ago at Melbourne Musuem. It was the Museum's Winter Masterpieces for this year. This will be the last stop before the exhibition returns to Cairo to be displayed at the Grand Museum of Egypt, which is being built next to the Pyramids.

I've always loved ancient history and this one was definitely another one not too be missed. I've read about ancient Pharoah's and stuff and mummies always fascinated me. The most famous of course from ancient egyption history was Cleopatra for me. Anyway back to the exhibition, we couldn't decide which date to go and it was too late to book online. Luckily the museum reserved tickets for people who walk in and purchase over the counter. But you still had to be early and lucky a mate of ours, Wai went with a friend to line up and get tickets for us before 9.00am.

And as expected, photography and videography is not permitted, but they had this smart idea of taking photos for groups of people before we enter and then super-imposing us with a picture of an artefact.

The group of us who went for King Tut's Exhibition. Taken with the King Tut's Tomb.

The large poster display of King Tut Exhibition

Official Companion Book to the Exhibition

The exhibition was truly enjoyable and extraordinary. We took about about 1-2 hours inside as I wanted to scrutinize every artefact and object and read everything about it. From it, we learnt the lives of King Tut and how ancient egyptions lived in those days. It was really amazing how some of the artefacts were so well preserved up to this day.

We also learnt about a lot of the incest that happened in the family, which sort of led to how King Tut was born. Even though his tomb was uncovered, King Tut's death was still a real nystery. He wasn't even listed as a Pharoah in ancient egyption compilations and rules only for 9 years from early teens. The main reason he got famous was only because his tomb was uncovered in an almost perfect condition in 1922.

We got a little disappointed though, because we were hoping to see a real mummy. But they only had his golden tomb on display and at the last part of the exhibition they projected video images onto a live size stand to show how his mummy looked like. The projection was quite clear, but nothing beats seeing the real thing.

Joshua's Baptism

We welcome cutie Joshua Chan to the house of Christ last Sun 19 Jun. He was baptised together with a few other babies and kids after Sunday mass at about 12.30pm. There were lots of other friends and family members who came to attend the baptism and it was just sweet to see babies getting baptised.

Joshua was sounds asleep in his pram when Michelle had to carry him out for the ceremony. But he was a good boy and didn't cry one bit at all. Fr. Michael was doing the baptism that day. Each of the babies/toddlers took turns to get their heads washed by the holy water and anointed by Father, their parents and God parents with the sign of the cross.

Wearing his baptism clothing bought by Sue and Julius, his God parents.

The really pretty and delicious tower of cupcakes that Sue made.

Joshua with his parents on the right and God parents on the left.

The ceremony lasted for an hour or so and then everyone headed to Michelle and Jason's place for a celebratory luncheon. Darling went there earlier in the morning to help with the food preparation which he usually likes to do. So there was quite a lot of food, including the pretty cupcakes that Sue made and we probably ate too much as usual.

It was such a small world that I indirectly know one of Michelle's colleague's. I found Ingrid really familiar and went to talk to her and found out that we went to the same gym - Fitness First Chadstone TAFE. We both complained about getting a bit ripped off and realised that we both quit at around the same time too. She was telling me about the new Fitness & Aquatic Centre that was opening on East Boundary road early next year and how it should be good to join.

I think we stayed on till about 4pm-ish before we left, still feeling really full and bloated. But all for good reasons; the celebration of another brother in Christ. :)