giddy

Bali, INDONESIA -- "girls gone wild: bali edition" is now on after months of email, bookings and such. jan, justine, claire and i are now waiting for the ten other girls joining us at our villa. ten girls! and yes, we're staying at a v-i-l-l-a. no couchsurfing, no backpacking, hardly any public transport-taking. jan and i are unaccustomed to all the luxury and perks of hanging with the high-rolling singapore girls. it's a nice change.

last night we went on a mission to see the seediest place we could find. the winner: the bounty discotheque. cage dancing,anyone?

more on justine's bali birthday blowout next time. happy birthday, ketuta!

feliz aniversario, caras!

Salvador, BRASIL -- A belated birthday greeting to our favorite gemeos (twins) in the world, Marcos and Ramon (a.k.a. meaty hamon)! We enjoyed your lively festa of feijoada, batida and samba samba samba! Have a fantastic year ahead :)

To the Man Who Has Everything...

And by everything, we mean good friends, great artistic pursuits, tons of good music, a mysterious-but-blossoming love life, all the toy cameras in the world and of course, Rock Band!

Happy Birthday, Sparklemind!

Year one of hanging out with you. Here's to more of those!

Live from New Jersey...

It's "Ditas Turns 28!"






With performances from all over, including Nada Surf, DMB, and Justine's favorite singer, Nyoy!

Happy Birthday, Deets! You've come a long way from your no- social security- days!

One round on us when we're all together in June. Have a crazy birthday weekend adventure ;)

* note: your song should be 'blankest year' - oh f**** it, i'm gonna have a party!

* all photos from sparklemind

Didn't your momma ever tell you not to go skinny-dipping

Kata Beach, Phuket -- Independence and lovely girlfriends aside, I was determined not to spend my birthday in the tidy island of Singapore. Good girlfriend and constant Sunday date Rach to the rescue, and my Phuket birthday weekend was born. The plan: a relaxing weekend of sun, swim-up bars, eight hours of sleep, good food and good wine. Just what the doctor ordered.

Day 1: We were bumped off our 8am flight and got transferred to a different airline, at a different terminal, 5 hours later. I am never flying Tiger again. I was "taking things in stride" when someone bumped into Rach's suitcase and crashed our two bottles of red wine. SGD 100 down the drain. Deep breaths, Justine. We finally arrive at the Sugar Palm Resort & Spa which was every bit the boutique hotel I had hoped for (3,000THB/night/with breakfast). Things are looking up. Trudged to Patong for a fabulous Thai dinner (over ordered and overate, of course) and wandered around for a bar to party at. No such luck. Isn't this party central? Images of Clarke Quay come streaming in. Uh oh.

Day 2: We head off to the beach bright and early after brekkie and realise--everyone on the planet had the same idea! For those of you who have read that Kata is the less touristy area of Patong, you are sorely mistaken. Sigh. But alas the sun is out and we plop onto a pair of beach chairs (30THB/day). Aaah this is the life, time for some Chico Barque. Convinced that I'm sufficiently tan (insert Chit's voice reminding me not to get too dark), we head back to the hotel for our hot stone massages. Just add a cute boy and this could be heaven.

Birthday eve: Anyone going on holiday in Kata shouldn't pass up the chance to eat at Mom Tri's Boathouse. Dinner was wonderful - scallops, fish, and creme brulee for dessert (hey no one said you could only have a birthday CAKE!). Expensive but worth it (SGD100/head/appetizers/entree/wine). It doesn't hurt that they sang for me and gave us 7 roses! After dinner highlights include: a shabby reggae beach bar, strangers getting up to dance with us (they probably got sick of watching two poor girls dancing by themselves), a whole bar singing happy birthday (to me!), fun Aussie chicks Jem and Julie, swinging 60 year olds from Jersey (the country), cute Jap boy with a penchant for posing, (cute) German birthday boy Max, a Chelsea futbol jersey, and an incident responsible for the title of this post. Boys and girls, listen to your momma and if after a bottle of vino, a couple of margaritas and five or so vodka seven-ups you can't, leave your valuables within arm's reach. Otherwise, the first voice you'll hear on the other end of a telephone line wishing you a happy birthday is a Citibank stolen card hotline operator--"Oh, happy birthday Ma'am." Indeed.

So that's it, I'm officially (gasp!) 29. Neither here nor there but definitely getting somewhere. Tough but will turn to a hopeless schmuck from time to time. Surrounded by good friends but missing the old ones dearly (biggest thanks to bestest girlfriends Bon, Rochie and Reese for sending love across the miles). Happy but wanting more. Living my life but wouldn't mind sharing it. In the meantime, as Reese so wisely reminds me, enjoying the moments. Like the ones involving kissing in the rain.

we're on a roll

Manila, PH -- happy birthday, jan! feliz aniversario coisa mais linda! shake your bunda today, alright? alraaaayt! ;)

happy birthday hasten!

Manila, PH -- * insert greeting from imp named migs *


from your naughty little nephew & everyone else, have a good birthday week! post on your celebratory beach escape ;)

welcome to your late twenties

Manila, PH -- hello everyone. it's christmas day & i'm trying to recover from the past weekend's late nights. i refuse to believe it's because i'm getting old. i just need to pop some multivitamins.
i literally want to count my blessings so here goes another thank-you list for what i got on my birthday:

1. a pocket calendar
2. rolls of film for my analog soul
3. home-baked apple pie, shared with pepper

lovely ladies

4. 'american psycho' by bret easton ellis (because i "will love the violence")
5. a portuguese phrase book
6. liquor

jan working it

7. cash from the 'rents
8. a nightshirt copy of my old highschool uniform (go st. scho)

dj newbie

9. ivy & bloc party cds from sparklemind (waiting for that other gift...)

10. a graphic tee that says 'i love the '80s' (from my entrepreneur brother -
he just forgot to charge me)

satisfied partygoers

11. a chocolate birthday cake
12. a nice italian dinner courtesy of our favorite bahia native, marcos
13. getting to DJ with jan for a little bit (daft punk, kala & mark farina!)
14. a staple remover (this one i'll always remember)

dj f (or how to actually spin while looking the part)

and so another birthday has come and gone. as that youngblood writer wrote before, a lot of beautiful, absurd & difficult things have come my way. i'm past the quarterlife crisis (paging john mayer) but it seems like i'm just starting.

this year sure has been one big rollercoaster ride... i hope i have enough energy for next year's theme park surprises.

merry christmas, everyone!

* lomos by pepper

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!!

La-la land, Pseudobackpackers' world --

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR DEAR PSEUDOBACKPACKERS JOY AND RISA !

Please share with us how you spent your special day!

I miss you all. Hey, Joy, Jan and Justine (the 3 J's), haven't heard from you in a while. Please update us about your life in your corner of the world.