My 22nd birthday

I've always made birthdays special. Last year, I celebrated three times in one day and the year before that, I had a semi-private party at Ascend. As I always say, my birthday cannot be celebrated in a single day. It's a season. My birthdays have been special not in the sense that it's fabulous, but because I manage to see all my friends, be they from the family, the paper, from school, and wherever else. This year was no exception.

This is what greeted me on my birthday: a bag from Marc by Marc Jacobs from my mom, who got home from a week long stay at Hong Kong for the Chinese New Year. So far, this has been the most fashionable birthday because I got Marc Jacobs and the February 2011 issue of Hong Kong Elle from my mom (the latter being a pasalubong), the March 2011 issue of Vogue Nippon from my brother, and an issue of French Vogue from 1989 (the year of my birth) from my literary editor. I also got a ton of cool gifts from other people like books, gift cheques for the bookstore, a stuffed cat, sunglasses, and shirts.

The eve of my birthday, I had pizza with my school friends at El Buono, a joint at BF Homes that serve huge pizzas. You can order them at 22", 32", or 65", which doesn't come in a box but an attache case. We had the 22" and pasta, followed by drinks at Nlos.

On my actual birthday, I had a simple lunch with the folks before heading to Alabang with the staff of the paper. It was a last minute decision so only a few people came. It was still fun and they brought lovely gifts and cake. We had pizza and pasta (for the second time) and had our picture taken at a photobooth in Timezone. I met the folks for dinner and we had pizza and pasta (for the third time) at Amici before heading to the cinema to watch The Rite, which sucked.

The following day, I had to wake up early for Pasinaya, the annual cultural event at CCP. It was for my NSTP class and I had to go lest I be dropped from the course and the official list of graduating students. I didn't catch any shows but I met two of my staff members and got a ticket to Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah.

That night, my family friends (two of my mom's best friends and their families) came over for dinner. We reminisced over old times and my mom even brought out the photo albums. I got hammered on wine and had a great night's sleep, something I haven't experienced this year.

What a great birthday season. Ah, to be 22. Let's do this.