Turned 21 this past Friday, February 8th. Doesn’t feel too different from being 20. I guess the shock hasn’t kicked in yet.

What shock, you ask? You know, the whole “WOOO I’m 21!! YEAAAHHH!” shock. It’s prolly an alcohol related feeling, finally being able to purchase your own booze. It’s not like I’ve never tasted the stuff before (omg I’m a criminal), so I wasn’t too elated over the whole deal. “But you’re 21 now! It’s different,” says some of my friends. Meh, I guess. Am I opposed to drinking copious amounts of beer and liquor? No, not at all. It was just that the person I would have liked to get bubbly with was far away. I told everyone that I wanted lots and lots of sweet, deadly cake. “Eh, cake? But you’re 21!” was the general reaction. A birthday is a great time to get cake, no?

But yes, I did have a great 21st birthday. Daphu was the first to wish me a happy birthday right at midnight. I love my girlfriend. A friend came by then, to take me out for a couple of drinks. And so, I head to Murphy’s, a local bar, and had my first legal set of alcoholic drinks. (Do note I said “first legal“) The bar was rather crowded, but I had a great conversation with my friend. Birthday or not, I still had class in the morning, so we left before the bar closed.

I slept pretty well that night, and woke up well too. I only had a few drinks, so I was peachy. Went to class like usual (think I did pretty well on the tests), and work that afternoon went by quickly. Upon returning home, a cake was waiting for me on my kitchen counter, courtesy of my roommate. Of course, more cake is always better, and I decided to weasel another cake out of my friends later that night. (Birthday powers are formidable indeed.)

After drawing out the logistics, I assembled a small army (about 10 people?) and we all ate some Chinese food together. Besides some minor qualms, (I wanted some ‘water spinach/hollow vegetable’ or ‘空心菜 kong xin cai’ but the restaurant had run out. Drats. They also ran out of green beans. Double drats.) we managed to eat quite well. A friend gave me a cake before our food came. However, the cake was a lie. It was a fake cake. Fake cake, as in, cake cookbook. While I could not eat it, the knowledge of cake powers was equally delicious.

A cake was already waiting for me at home, but I wanted more. It was starting to get a bit rainy and cold but regardless I led the army to Coldstone Creamery, where I gained a chocolate ice cream cake. We all went to my apartment together and we gained a couple more friends along the way. We ate, we laughed, we ate some more. They actually did sing “Happy Birthday” to me, which was I admit, a bit embarrassing. Friends are great indeed. You can always rely on them to embarrass you. We didn’t have any candles, so I resorted to a white plastic spoon. It was sufficient. (By the way, an ice cream cake is pretty angry to cut.) Originally I thought two cakes wouldn’t be enough for everyone, but dinner had satisfied us quite well. By the end of the night, I was left with about 2/3′s of the non-ice cream cake. The cakes pleased me thoroughly.

As we chomped on the cake, we watched ‘Sympathy for Lady Vengeance,’ a Korean film. I enjoyed it. It was a good birthday movie. Sometime during the night, I received another birthday call from Daphu, who also wished me a good night. I love my girlfriend. Some people thought we might hit the bars, but my powers of dilly-dallying quickly dashed their hopes. All in all, it was a good night, one spent with good food in the company of good friends.

And today, I managed to pick up Daphu’s package from the post office. She sent me a bit o’ yummy and some happy for my birthday. Did I mention that I love my girlfriend?

So yes, my 21st birthday was a happy one, made possible by having friends who are willing to bear with my antics. I’ve told a few people already, but turning 21 was somewhat of a life goal for me. When asked what I wanted to be when I grow up/in the future, I’d answer, 21 years old. Yes, I was being a smartass, but nevertheless, I have reached my goal. Now I can concentrate on having fun for the rest of my life.