Back in October

Catch Up Post #2

Back in October 2012

BTOB Il Hoon's Birthday Gift from MYBTOB Fanclub

Il Hoon's an October baby, just like me.  ^^  Nana, one of the staff members of MYBTOB, went to buy a plushie for Il Hoon.  She then posted the plushie to me for further actions.  I sewed Il Hoon's name on it and packed it before sending it over to Cube Entertainment in South Korea through mail.  Express Mail Service (EMS) to Seoul is expensive, especially when the parcel is larger that the standard size, but we could manage with the help of some fans and staff members who donated for the project.  We're forever thankful for fans' generosity.

Oh my!  Even I want this for myself. 

Il Hoon is the main rapper in BTOB.  He's charismatic when he performs but very adorable at casual times.

It took a few days for the parcel to reach South Korea.

My 23rd Birthday
So, I turned 23 on October 13th, 2012.  I reflected upon it for a quick moment and thought that time goes by without stopping and there's nothing we can do to pause it, rewind it, fast forward it, or slow it down.  It just keeps going.  We can learn something from this thing called "time".  Keep going no matter what the circumstances are.  Learn from the past, embrace the present, anticipate the future.  I celebrated my 23rd birthday with my family members in a simple manner.  I blew the birthday candles and we had some appetizers at home, then we went out to have dinner at a seafood place.

So, my birthday wish was.....(?)

If you notice in the picture, we had some KFC food too.  Those were our appetizers.  Birthdays are good excuses to indulge in not-so-healthy food.  Yippie~~ 

Isn't the cake cute?  The little sheep is adorable! 

Birthday card from my family, which came with pop-up stickers 

Some of the food we had for our dinner outside 

Funny story!  On our way back from our dinner place, we stopped by at the airport.....to pee.  The airport was not far from the road that we took at that time.  After going to the washroom, we headed home.

Surprises from My Dearest Friends
I'm so blessed and delighted to have such thoughtful friends around me.  I received a number of surprises from my closest friends for my birthday.

First, it was from VC and Cal, my good friends from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. A week before my birthday, I received a mail.  I could tell it was a greeting card from the size of the envelope.  At that time, it didn't cross my mind at all that it could be a birthday card.  I mean, there was still a week to go.  So, I was surprised to see a birthday card in  it!  I felt grateful and was in joy because the ones who sent it over were very much busy with their lives as undergraduate medical students.  How I miss my friends.

Thanks again, VC and Cal!

Then, a day after my birthday, I went to class as usual.  After getting to my seat near my friends, Tina called me over.  I obediently went to her and she started to count "Satu...dua..." [In English: "One...two..."] and she and Vic pulled out pink plushies from their bags!  Those were for me for my birthday.

Cute, right? ^o^

The next day, I got another surprise gift from Marcy and Mijot.  Marcy gave it to me in class as well.  It was nicely wrapped.  I opened it as soon as I got back home.  I was very much delighted to see BEAST table calendar and a sticker!  BEAST, I'm telling you!  My non-K-pop friends gave me K-pop items for my birthday!  :')

Aren't they b2utiful??

About a couple of weeks after that, I got yet another surprise.  I made my way to campus to meet my supervisor for my final year project.  I was supposed to meet Marcy first because we're both under the same supervisor.  So, I met Marcy at my faculty, the Faculty of Economics and Business.  We both walked to the entrance-exit area of the faculty's lobby and I saw a number of my friends standing there.  They just finished their class for the day.  The next thing I knew, Marcy took out a box from the fridge at the kiosk of the faculty and everyone who was there gathered closer.  Marcy said that she wanted to make an announcement.  I had no idea what it was going to be about, so I just listened.  She opened the box and together with a few other friends who were there, she started to sing a birthday song.  I was a little dumbfounded and played along at first while trying to figure out whose birthday it might be.  *I started to feel bad when I thought that I might have forgotten a friend's birthday. ><*  Another friend of mine, Rachel, looked as clueless as I was.  Her birth month is the same as mine but it had already passed on that day.  Then, I saw the content of the box that Marcy was holding.  There were cupcakes inside!  Chel's name as well as my name were on a couple of the cupcakes.  So, it hit me that they were celebrating our birthdays (or belated birthdays, rather)!

The birthday girls (Chel and I) are at the far right and left in the picture. 

Cupcake with my name on it!

Relatives' Double Birthday Bash

My aunt and her nephew (NOT my first cousin since it's the aunt's husband who is my mom's sibling, not the aunt herself *Why am I even explaining this??*) had a double birthday bash at a hotel's ballroom.  How cool was that?  It was a nice hotel-style dinner with family and friends.  So, my whole family went to the dinner and we got to meet some relatives there, which was cool.

At our dinner table 

Waiting for other family members to head home 

They were still doing the 'Gangnam Style' dance inside the ballroom as the closing of the dinner. -.-