Forever 21-Part 1

Yes, it's finally happened. The monumental event that many, if not all of us await in our young adult lives...the Big 2-1.

Let me begin with saying that it was quite a buildup and a great mystery as to what Akiko will be doing for her birthday. Will she party it up at a club? At a bar? or is she being truly honest when she says "I'm gonna stay home"? I, being the wet blanket that I always am, had played around with the idea of staying home alone with the computer, as I always do on any given day. My 21st birthday should be no exception. The few acquaintences that I had made during my short stay here, would not have it. Even my own mother had called the week before to tell me I needed to go out. I was surprised by the many offers that came my way (perhaps out of pity?), just to avoid the horrible image of me sitting at my computer becoming a reality. It must've been for their own sanity, not mine.

Why do I keep myself from having fun you ask...
Main reason: I refused to do anything that was the cliche "go out, get plastered, wake up next to a stranger the next morning without having any idea how you got there". It just isn't my style to turn around and have a story just like anybody else....I craved originality and a story that could be told for years to come. Must I mark my 21st anniversary of being alive with temporary black outs?
Secondly, I feared that my adolescence had come and gone without ever being able to experience it. One of my biggest fears is life passing me up without me acknowledging that it had, because by that time, it is too late. I felt that this magical number of 21 symbolized adulthood, the end of having moments of immaturity that I never seemed to live up to.
Thirdly, after the stroke of midnight, I will no longer have an excuse for being as lame as I'am. No more excuse of not being able to go out due to age barriers. My only reason now is that I truly am lame.

Eventually, I had given in to my friend Jason, who had graciously offered to take me out for birthday eve (Saturday-Oct. 29). We began our night with warm, seasonal drinks at Starbucks (chai tea/pumpkin spice latte) before our wait in line for the "Trail of Terror". It was quite enjoyable standing out on a clear chilly night, wondering if the two men in front of us (with a Hansel from Zoolander look alike) were foreign or gay (or both?) and plotting ways to steal the decorative pumpkins that lined the entrance. After a half mile of cheap but effective scare tactics, we made our way to Grand Luxe Cafe, where I discovered the sinful Molten chocolate cake...food-gasmic. After that, we found ourselves at the Green Mill (jazz club with live music) to bring in my first moments of being 21 with a drink. As we were waiting in line to get in, a homeless woman had come down the line asking for money...when she had gotten to us and we kindly rejected, she says, "You chinese....you chinese never give nuttin".

...............h-wAt?? Thus my ears deceive me? Had I just been insulted two nights in a row by a homeless being, just 4 minutes til MY day? The night prior to this, I was verbally attacked by a homeless man on the street because I'am a woman. I decided to remain civil and enjoy my last moments of 20 in peace...grinding my teeth.
I welcomed the start of decade #3 with several drinks, which surprisingly, did not lead to anything remotely close to being in a drunken stupor. By the end of the night, I was proud to say that I had a non-cliche, 21st birthday finished off with style...a story that I would not be embarrassed to tell or be disappointed about.

I even got a gift- a document frame. Why?
An idea came to me days before my birthday to create a document filled with signatures of those that think I'm cool. This is not an effort in displaying the magnitude of self conceit, those that know me know very well that I'am not a vain person. I merely think that it is the most unique idea I've ever come up with and love it for the joy that it will bring me watching it grow. If anything its existance is to build my confidence/make me feel better than to affirm my (non existant) belief that I'm cool.

I happily called it a night around 5 or 6 am on Sunday the 30th, with memory of everything that occurred that night.

Little did this newly turned 21 year old know that this was only the beginning....