Monday, October 18, 2010

My 3-decade celebration

This past Friday (October 15) was my 30th birthday. A big milestone for me as I celebrated my 3 decades of life.



(and to that guy who keeps telling me that I was alive 9 months before that ...... blah, blah, blah! We only celebrate our life after birth since that is when we're no longer a body part, but a separate human being)



1) I wasn't called to work that day.



Not so good, since I want to get paid.



But very good too, in that I don't have to worry about some crazy student ruining my birthday!



I spent most of my daytime at McCully Library, using the computers for internet.



I posted my previous blog post titled "My first 3 decades of life"
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-first-3-decades-of-life.html



I actually wrote the draft earlier in the week, saved it in my email account, then finally posted it on my birthday!



Then I checked my facebook account, saw plenty of birthday messages. New ones kept popping up! I feel so loved, even by those I haven't seen in person since the previous millenium. That's what facebook is all about, reconnecting with people from earlier phases of life!



In the afternoon, I took a short nap, then made my dinner, took a shower, get dressed! As I left my home, I got a birthday call from my parents



2) The exciting part



Night time falls and it's time to party!



A few months earlier, my friend Aaron G. had an idea of doing karaoke, then clubbing on my birthday night! I LOVED THAT IDEA!



I don't go out at night very often. Only on special occassions. But you can't get any more special than a 30th birthday! So it was a PERFECT TIME to PARTY!!!!!
I tried to invite as many people as possible, even through facebook. But getting people our age to come is tough. Some aren't even on Oahu anymore. Those who are usually have kids. Once that happens, the kids are a bigger priority than spending the night partying! Plus, my relatives who live on the other side of the island had to work until the evenings.



But at any party, you just got to be grateful for whoever shows up! If other people don't come, that's not my problem!



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First we was at Krazy Karaoke. It was me, Aaron Gabales, Sun Anderson and his girlfriend Nadia.



This was the first time I've seen Sun in person in a decade. We used to be high school classmates but we weren't very close! But he wanted to joined in, and it's always good to reunite with a former classmate! He was taller and depper-voiced than when I last saw him.



Since it was just a few of us, we got to hog the mic :)



My main goal was to sing "Billionaire" and "Teach Me How to Dougie". They didn't have the 2nd song, but they had the 1st one :)



Then we took turns singing songs from Britney Spears, Micheal Jackson, Creed, Roger Troutman, Limp Bizkit, Cyndi Lauper, Aerosmith, Bruddah Iz, Cassie, and a few others as well. We were singing loud, danced and moved around the room as if it was our stage! We were truly living it up! :)



Then our time was running out, so we had one last song. It was "California Gurls" by Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg!

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Afterwards, all of us talked story and walked to Jamba Juice, where Aaron's friend Daroll worked. We had a very fun conversation!



Afterwards, Sun and Nadia had to go!



But me and Aaron felt the party was NOWHERE NEAR OVER!

We walked to Rumours Nightclub which is located in the 1st floor of Ala Moana Hotel.

Rumours is known for its 2 cages on the dancefloor. If you dance in the cages, you are pretty much the center of attention. And that's what I loved about it :) Though if you do dance in the cages, it would be a good idea to leave after 2 songs. People get annoyed by those who hog the cages, since they want a chance to dance in the cages too!

One of Aaron's aunties was there and we talked for a while. And he also saw his dad's friend over there. I saw 2 women that I have worked with at various schools I had worked at!

Then I saw another high school classmate - Anthony Bragado. I haven't seen him in person for a decade so we were really excited to see each other. He couldn't come to last year's reunion due to being in the military fighting in Afghanistan. I was happy to see that he made it back home alive and well!

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While Rumours is also known for playing a lot of old school 80s/90s hip-hop/R&B, this night had more modern hip-hop stuff! Yes, they still played some hip-hop/R&B/dancehall classics from the old days! But they mostly played a lot of newer stuff from the last few years as well.

I'd say most of the songs played were Southern hip-hop. There was some East Coast stuff, the only West Coast played were songs that sounded Southern (ie Too Short "Blow the Whistle", Cali Swag District "Teach Me How to Dougie").
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The party atmosphere was definitely alive. The dancefloor was packed, people were even dancing off the dancefloor too. I danced the cages a few times, and had 3 ladies dancing with me. I didn't take any home. That's OK, I don't want to make any kids right now!

When the DJs played a junk song, that was time for me to use the bathroom, get a beverage (mostly fruit punch for me, since I'm alcohol free) and just rest. When a better song is on, I'm back to the dance floor.
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Some people stereotype nightclubs as places where drunken fights occurred. None of that happened that night! It was all good vibes.
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After the party, I took the taxi home, took a shower, and slept.


3) The Morning After

I only slept a few hours, since my family had their post-birthday breakfast the next morning.

They couldn't make it to my karaoke party, so this was their chance to celebrate my birthday.

My mom, dad, and my 3 nieces (their parents worked that day, so they couldn't make it) had breakfast at Kapiolani Coffee Shop, which merged with Asahi Grill! I had their traditional fried rice and scrambled eggs :) My favorite meal of all time

Spent rest of Saturday reading more facebook messages, then listened to ESPN 1420 AM for the UH game Vs Nevada. I used to go to the bars to watch UH games, but I decided to stay home and listen to it on the radio, so I could multi-task (wash dishes, laundry, etc) as I listen to the game! UH upset Nevada that night, 27-21 :)

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Sunday, I finally caught up with my sleep, slept 1/2 the day

4) Conclusion

Now that a new work-week has started, it's back to the real-world with me!

But it was a very great and exciting weekend that will live on in my memory until I get amnesia or Alzheimers or death.

I'm already thinking of a 4-decade celebration 10 years from now. Hopefully, more will join the excitement. But even if only a few show up, the party shall go on!!!!