I feel like Harold and Kumar looking for White Castle...

Just a week ago I was but a young 20 year old eagerly awaiting midnight. My how things have changed.

My birthday was pretty much one of the greatest things ever for several reasons. My parents clearly knew what they were doing when they conceived me. Last weekend was the perfect weekend to turn 21. Not only did my birthday fall on a Friday, it also fell on Marathon Monday weekend. Room 426 feared the weekend.

THURSDAY

I woke up at about 8 to finish my 12-20 page paper on Vietnam and the Tet Offensive that was due the previous Tuesday. I finished my paper after a few hours and then called my Media Relations professor, who I was supposed to be meeting that morning. She informed me that I was mistaken... she NEVER has office hours on Thursday. Thursday is her day with her kids. After making me feel like a heartless over-achiever who would receive a final grade of "F," she told me we could just talk on the phone. We talked about my internship this summer and I told her it's my first internship and I'm nervous I'll screw everything up and look like a complete rookie. She told me that if my only worry was that I'd make a mess up, stop worrying. First, my bosses will not expect perfection, she told me. Also, I am a professional and conscientious student and she knows I'll do well, she told me! WOW!! This was just what I needed to hear.

Feeling wonderful about myself and my future, I packed my bag for classes and headed out. I ran into Christina and shared my excitement by exclaiming, "I am in the best mood ever!" Christina laughed hysterically and continues to re-enact this moment I shared with her. I'm not usually a morning person so my chipper attitude starkly contradicted her usual perception of me as the "princess of darkness" with really bad bed hair and a grumpy frown every morning.

I went to classes, fully completed my paper, had dinner with Michelle and squeezed in a 20 minute nap in preparation for the evening. Katie, Drew, Zach, Evan, Erin and Kevin came over to start celebrating in 426. People made wonderful toasts, including Christina's cheersing the "two-one" and everyone making weird noises mocking my occasional tourettes. We had a lot of fun in my room. I love my friends. (Yea. Corny. Get over it. It was a special weekend.)

The clock was ticking closer to midnight. Kevin gave me frequent updates as we scurried to Kenmore T Stop. We boarded the T and Kevin informed me that it would be mere minutes until my 21st birthday. Michelle (I think) and others were telling people on the T that it was my birthday and everyone was getting excited. Strangers started counting down from 10 seconds. My blood was rushing. Here I was in the middle of Boston on a T at midnight with (most of) my favorite people helping me celebrate my birthday. The clock finally struck midnight and everyone started screaming "happy birthday." Strangers on the T sang the happy birthday song and the second I stepped off the T, Antonia, my birthday buddy and twin, called me to celebrate our birthdays. We all went to a club called Caprice and boogied for a solid two hours.

We got home at about two. One of my roommates (who, for reputation preservation, shall not be named) shared some intimate time with our toilet bowl. While I took off my dancing shoes and got on some jammies, Noelle fell asleep like a little Korean angel in my twin bed. Luckily, she positioned herself close enough to the wall to save room for me. I fell asleep within two minutes of laying down but was woken some hours later by an arm slamming into my face. I slept soundly until Noelle woke at five realizing she wasn't in her bed and left.

FRIDAY

I was in better shape Friday morning than anyone expected. People seemed disappointed I wasn't hung over on my birthday. One of the advisers at work gave me a gift of big chocolate and coconut truffle type things. They were amazing. At about two in the afternoon, my boss decided it was time to take me to the pub. We went to the Dugout with another guy I work with for a mid-afternoon beer.... A mid-afternoon pitcher of beer and a gigantic "shot" of Jagermeister that took four swigs to consume, to be precise. My boss even let me pick songs on the jukebox. I decided on some Creedence. Good Golly Miss Molly and Susie Q. It was a perfect way to start Friday's festivities.

As a birthday gift, I got to leave work early. I headed home, talked to everyone in my family for a while and got a surprise birthday visit with whom I had another beer. Having not eaten yet that day, I met Drew for lunch. He brought me to the BU Pub. On our way there, someone screamed happy birthday from across the street. I love my birthday. The pub was as magical as people say. It's in a castle and the inside is dark, somewhat medieval looking and cave-like. I got a ham and cheese sandwich and another beer. Life is a lot more enjoyable when you can go wherever you want without being kicked out or yelled at.

After the pub, Drew brought me home. I fell asleep within minutes. I already had a long day of drinking and I was pretty pooped. I forgot to set an alarm clock, which was somewhat problematic since we were supposed to go to dinner downtown. My roommates struggled to wake me up and we finally went to Sunset Cantina. We had to wait for a table for one hour. It was ridiculous. When we finally sat down we were all starving and delirious. People started pounding on the table hoping our food would come faster. Our waitress took all our orders slowly and then stated, "I don't think this will work. I can't even read my writing." We decided she was completely wasted.

Ali ordered me a 32 ounce strawberry margarita. It came in a bowl-shaped glass the size of my head. As I nursed the monstrosity, someone approached the table and grabbed my shoulder. It was Michael. He looked into my eyes and said, "Come with me. You're having a shot right now." I followed him to the bar where he ordered me a Bongwater (Jagermeister and some other fruity stuff.) I returned to my seat and enjoyed a delicious dinner. I was minding my own business, innocently chugging my margarita when all of a sudden people erupted into song and a giant slice of ice cream cake approached our table. I tried to blow out the candle but it was a trick candle that kept re-lighting. Our drunk waitress ripped my camera from the table and forced me to pose with the cake. Those were probably the most awkward pictures of the weekend. When the song ended, everyone at the table started screaming, "woo! woowoo! woo! woo!" The cake was orgasmic. While we feasted, Christina, in true Christina form, made a video in which she forced everyone to wish me a happy birthday. The video ended with a shot of Noelle's mouth as she screamed "woo! woo! woo!" while Christina screamed over her, "aaaaaand CUT!"

Following Sunset, we went to An Tua Nua, a bar on campus. This was somewhat disastrous. The bouncers let me and my friends in for free since it was my birthday but wouldn't let everyone in. We were all extremely frustrated. Michelle, Katie and I entered the bar and looked around. There was a crazy-dancing short man in a button-down shirt and dress pants sweating in the middle of a dance circle. I'm pretty positive he was on ecstasy or some equivalent. We went to the bar where Michelle bought me a Surfer on Acid (Jagermeister, Malibu, pineapple juice.) The theme of my birthday was definitely Jagermeister.

The three of us stood at the bar preparing to drink when some tall, scrawny, seemingly pre-pubescent young man approached us. He asked me what I was drinking and continued making pointless conversation. His moves were suspiciously similar to those taught by the Pick Up Artist on MTV. He bought me a beer and followed us around for the entire evening, apparently oblivious to our painfully obvious attempts at ditching him. He told the DJ it was my birthday, apparently. I didn't hear them say happy birthday, but he assured me they did. The strangeness of An Tua Nua evolved when a group of small Asian guys approached Katie, pointed at her toes (she was in sandals) and laughed. None of us understood what was happening. We left shortly thereafter.

SATURDAY

I slept in and relaxed in the room for the morning and afternoon. Drew came to pick me up for the evening's adventures. We went to his friend's apartment where we listened to Three Six Mafia (amongst other things) in preparation for the evening concert. We met Noelle, Evan, Michelle and Louis on Nickerson Field. We missed Cobra Starship but made it in time for Three Six Mafia. They took the stage and invited several eager, scantily clad collegiates to join them on stage. There was a "booty shaking contest" and a lot of arms flying to the beat. The first ten or fifteen minutes of their performance were pretty good but then the sound system gave in and almost every song thereafter was interrupted by the faulty equipment. The guys of Three Six Mafia grew very angry and frustrated screaming things like, "yall pay too much money to go to school here to have this shit happen." Eventually, one of them just gave up and said he couldn't stand it any more and they left.

Everyone left the field. Most people ended up at Chi Phi. As did the cops. Surprise, surprise. After being chased out by the cops, I met some people at T Anthony's for some pizza. I went home, went to bed and thus ended Saturday.

SUNDAY

Sunday was a day of rest. For the most part. Noelle and I hung out with Drew and other people at Chi Phi then got some food and walked home in the lovely weather. For the rest of the day, we watched movies and relaxed. Evan joined our night-in for a little while. The rest was much needed.

MONDAY

This was one of the longest day of my life. I got a text from Evan at 9:30 in the morning to wake me up for the marathon. He and I started the festivities in my room then headed out to watch the marathon. We met Noelle, Christina, Andrea and others by the marathon. We all went to someone's apartment where students were watching the marathon from the roof. This was extremely dangerous and we were all afraid Noelle was going to go flying off the roof so we didn't stay very long. We walked around for a while observing the hilarity of super healthy runners making their way across 26 miles of land contrasted to the completely obliterated college students screaming ridiculous things to encourage the runners. Aah, Marathon Monday.

Evan and I headed back to the dorm to meet Drew and eat some lunch then we all set out for the marathon again. We walked all over campus and eventually ended up at Chi Phi where one of the brothers was indulging in a short nap on the hood of a car. Inside the house, there was a huge water leak upstairs. As they tried to clean up the mess, two of the brothers got in a minor physical altercation that was resolved fifteen minutes later when we found them sitting in the sun on the porch chatting.

We all sat on the porch reflecting on the craziness of the weekend. Evan told us that he felt like a different person than who he was on Thursday. He and I headed to Sunset Cantina for dinner. Even though we were seated right away, our meal took over an hour to arrive. Sunset needs to work on their time management. When the food came, we were too tired to eat. We had the waitress pack everything up and brought it home. I'm pretty sure I had shin splints by the end of the day. We put on The L Word and Evan passed out on my floor after forcing Noelle to stroke his back.

My birthday weekend was, in-and-of-itself, one long marathon. Our years of training paid off and got most of us through the weekend unscathed. Katie broke her house key in the door, some people hugged some toilet bowls, some brain cells were damaged, most livers were damaged, many embarrassing pictures were taken but everyone made it through.

Thanks guys! Here's to another great year.