The 2009 Birthday Diary

I'm now officially at the edge of my twenties! Turning 29 isn't so bad though especially since I'm really more into preparing for next year when I hit my third decade. This year though, my day was very uh... eventful.

I'm not sure if there's a relation between you and celebrities you share your birthday with. If it does, I'll have some concerns since I share my birthday with Jolina Magdangal, Janette McBride, Shaina Magdayao and Ana Ivanovic.

12:15am - I got my first greeting over the phone from Jaye who was just on her way home from work. I've been wondering why she had to work late but more on that later.

12:30am - I got a greeting from Ria over YM and an unusual gift... a recipe for a replica of the chocolate cake from Portillo's. Portillo's is this restaurant in Chicago that servers burgers, cakes, pasta and the best Italian Beef ever. Their chocolate cake is my absolute favorite with an icing to die for. Oh drat, I think I just drooled over my keyboard.

6:30am - Woke up and told myself that I'd better be prepared for an interesting day.

6:45am - I was about to take a bath when for some reason, my driver's license came popped in my mind. OH NO! I just realized that my license was set to expire today. I completely gapped it. I spent the next 30 minutes googling up the LTO process and found out that there was a license renewal center in SM Megamall. Spending the day in a government office, ugh, what could be worse than that? Oh right, spending the day in a private office... nevermind.

7:50am - I was at Starbucks to pick up a Toffee Nut Latte. The barista gave me my change, my receipt, my coffee but then he lost my sticker card. He was frantically looking for it behind the counter for the next 15 minutes. He was so worried that he was already speaking in Tagalog. I mean, 15 minutes ago he was all "Good morning sir! May I take your order" with complete English accent and now he was "PARE! Putek di ko makita yung istiker buk! Syet!". Apparently for some reason he stapled my card by accident to this set of forms. Interesting day indeed.

8:15am - I arrived at my office cube - decorated with this "Happy Birthday" banner and three long balloons. Jaye apparently went to my cube late last night to put in these decorations. My associate manager doodled something on my whiteboard, I still had no idea what that was.

10:00am - I told my manager about the whole license problem and he cancelled our morning meeting so I can have my license processed immediately. I ran downstairs, hailed a cab and went over to SM Megamall. He asked me if it was ok to take a longer route to avoid the traffic and I said ok which was idiotic he ended up driving me all around these sidestreets in Ortigas Center and spiked up the fare by 10 pesos.

10:30am - I picked up the form at LTO, filled it up then went over to the medical center so they can take a picture, answer some medical questions and pee in a cup. The eye test was easy mainly because I've been standing in front of the eye chart for the past 30 minutes and I've already memorized the table.

11:30am - I submitted the forms back at LTO but then instructed me to go back after lunch. I wanted to make a joke where I ask if lunch will be provided but then government employees do not have any sense of humor at all. It was like the office has sucked out all that is funny within its premises.

12:10pm - I dropped by Comic Quest to pick up some Archie comics. I've been collecting Archie comics since I was a little boy and I learned a few weeks ago that they released this series where Archie finally got married. The 6 part series shows both scenarios if Archie chose Veronica (part 1 - 3) or Betty (part 4 - 6). Part 2 by the way had the first bed scene ever.



12:20pm - Jaye was on her way to Megamall so I had a decaf frap while waiting. I reserved a table at this New Orleans restaurant - "Gumbo" and they gave me a coupon where if I ordered two main entrees, I get an appetizer (potatoes) and another entree (seafood platter) for free. I ordered some crab cakes while Jaye had the jambalaya and when all the plates came in, they didn't even fit the table (It didn't help that they served us bread and olive oil on a big freakin' chopping board).

1:30pm - My waistline officially mutated by 4 inches. I had to loosen my belt to prevent me from turning blue. Oh, I got my new license!

2:30pm - I returned back to the office and was greeted with a major database issue in our production environment. If we don't fix it by 9pm, it will cost us a couple thousand dollars. I wish birthdays came with "Get out of jail" cards.

4:00pm - I took a quick break and checked out my Facebook account. Wow, my page was flooded with greetings. I realized this was my first "Facebook-era" birthday and greeting people now are so easy and cheap. A couple of years ago, my uncle would give me a crisp 500 peso bill. This year, I got a quick note and an untraceable cell phone. If you laughed, you play too much Mafia Wars.

9:00pm - The issue got fixed but it took a toll on my brain. My mind was exhausted and my soul was tormented by LTO (imagine it being filled with dementors). Jaye and I had to cancel dinner plans at Bubba Gump and decided to go to a place that always cheers me up.

11:00pm - After devouring 7 wings, my energy was low, my brain alertness was low and my cholesterol was way up. I'm already over my coffee limit and I was getting sleepy really fast so we decided to head home and continue the celebration over the weekend. It was the ideal way to spend the day - special in a simple kind of way.

It was certainly a special day and I wouldn't have spent it any other way except, well, I would have renewed my license earlier and I would have fixed the production issues faster but oh well, take what life gives you. I appreciate all the greetings my family and friends sent out.

Thanks again everyone for all the greetings!

As you get older, gifts become more subtle yet more meaningful. =)