WARNING: this blogpost be super extra long and detailed. Please read only if you are bored out of your mind. You have been warned.

I can't believe it's already been seventeen years. Just hearing the number gives off a weird feeling. One thing is, because I don't feel seventeen at all. And another because now I know I'm only a year away from College.

To make this blog post a bit less dramatic, let's share my seventeenth birthday experiences!

I had to hold two separate birthdays this year. The first with four friends and the second with two.

The first four was actually supposed to be a five. But because one of these 'friends' of mine wasn't given permission to go, I had to hold another one on a date more suitable.

So I brought these lovely ladies to Dubai Mall, just because it's way more awesome than Dubai Festival City nowadays. At first it was a bit weird seeing all of us in not-so-colorful clothes. The kind we used to don in our ages of fourteen to fifteen.

We watched 'Killers' and had dinner. Now to elaborate on our evening;

Killers was a terrible movie. Okay, not so terrible as I would call Spiderman, but enough to leave a nasty aftertaste. The only thing to like about the movie was the Ashterine Kuigl pairing. My, they were cute together. But the story lacked...Story to be honest. There was no plot, no disclosure or conclusion. Just a beginning, a middle and an end. It was too plain. But the title definitely suited it; Killers. Because that was all that was going on; Killing. Shooting to be exact, but whatever.

We had dinner at Napoletana. An italian cuisine restaurant situated in the more 'prettier' sides of Dubai Mall. We dined on the outside because my dad wanted to watch the FIFA World Cup playing on one of the other restaurant's flat screen TV which was situated just opposite the restaurant we were eating at.

By the way, Korea was playing! I forgot with whom (curse my bias) I didn't realize until my dad finally told me. Then I watched as the last goal was launched, pondering who won.

In the middle of our waiting, my brother took the opportunity to give me a present. It was awfully sweet of him and down right unnatural. But now it seems that I owe him a present next year. Oh goody~

Anyway, he gave me this:

No, the lollipops are not included in this present. I just like to collect them is all.

They're called Whoppers, as you can read from the funky chunky red letters on the pretty pink carton box meant to look like a milk carton.

Yes, we finished them off in two days. But of course they sat on my shelf for at least one and a half for effect and these snapshots I took.

Shane, my strawberry infatuated friend, actually attempted to steal it away into her castle of awesomeness. (Which is her house, and is awesome because it just is) But of course, my minion (code for my brother) managed to take it back without being seen. Or almost not being seen.

It was hard to keep in my bag though, what with the size and all. But it was really memorable because it's my brother's first ever gift to me that didn't consist of stupidly written jokes written on pieces of paper which would later be hidden in either my pocket or wallet.

We had Pasta and Pizza for dinner. If anyone knows me, they'd know that Pasta is my weakness. Next to ANYTHING bread and iced tea. So we had this pasta called something something Penne a la Funghi. Which doesn't sound at all tasty but we later found out that the 'Funghi' part was because of the mushrooms in it. How silly.

Yes, I enjoyed the lovely meal. Because it was white sauce and there was lots and lots of cheese! Cheese is another one of my weaknesses. (Maybe I should post an entire blog on my list of favorite foods)

Well anyway, we went to Kinokuniya after dinner. It's located at the other end of the mall and I'm not exaggerating when I say that this mall is HUGE. Not to mention we were being led on by a fourteen year old, I bumped into a large white dude who didn't bother to excuse himself, lodt my shoe at least twice and got poked through the entire excursion.

Kinokyniya is this massive bookstore with everything from Fiction to Manga to Japanese Magazines and Course books. It's my second, no third, no wait...Fourth home actually. Second being Gimel's and Third being Dubai Mall itself (We're there almost every three days a week).

We sure created a ruckus in the store because the only voices to be heard were ours. But when we finally reached it, we didn't even get to spend too much time in it because my parents were tired and we had to leave soon if we were to drop my friends home. Otherwise we'd reach night time and not even be able to stay awake long enough to see the last one off.

First came Shane's house. It was the farthest away in China. No, not the country but the city in the International City district. It was a good twenty to thirty minute drive without traffic mind you. That too, we got lost. Longest drive I've ever had.

We dropped her off just in time to meet with her mom finishing off some decorations for her eighteenth birthday which was to be held the week after. We drank some well needed water and met with baby Kirsten.

We then dropped off Charmagne and Joey at Charmagne's place which was a bit farther off in Sharjah. It was already eleven or twelve when we got home. One of the most tiring days I've ever had.

The next day, I woke up at around 10 because I was extremely exhausted. Another day, another party.

We picked up my friends at around one thirty; our check in time was at 2. Yep, my mom booked us a hotel room for a night and two days! Excited as I was, I had to restrain myself because we had yet to reach the hotel.

But when we did, gosh I was so happy. Thank you mom for such a cool-looking hotel. Okay, I cannot find anything else to call it. And even if I try, it'd be too cheesy or something like that. We stayed at the Al Murooj Rotana.

We checked in and left for Dubai Mall...Again. See what I mean when I say we're there almost three days a week, this is the second day. We didn't really know what to do there because three of us (Roxanne, Gimel and I) are not so different yet different enough to like different things. Am I making any sense.

We were supposed to watch a movie, but couldn't agree on anything, so we sat on a couple of lounge chairs in the center of a couple of stores. We were just resting for a while because we were so dead tired from walking all the way from the food court, where we had some Mcdonalds fries, to Kinokuniya to check out if the manga that Gimel and I wanted was still there. We didn't really get to buy it because I found that I could download it off the internet.

We sat for a few minutes until Roxanne decided to show us this video of mychonny's parody of the Avatar movie. And guess what?! The damn thing kept stopping at very inappropriate times! But this one has definitely got to be my favorite!

I meshed up the pictures together so that it wouldn't take up so much space but you can already see what fools we've made out of ourselves.

It's ironic that the video stopped exactly at that moment. We were a bit freaked out at first because it was like the iPod was staring right at us but then we realized; "OMG! eyes!" and then we put it on our face and smiled a stupid smile.

Of course, the most suited was Gimel's. That girl always has the most perfect pose for any moment. And thank God she did this one.

We were completely hysterical everyone was giving us weird stares! But it was absolutely worth it!

How much fun can you get out of a silly connection error from the Mall's internet?! A LOT! So the next time a video pauses at an awkward moment, place it to the right spot on your body and snap pictures!

It was almost late when we left and mommy called. We had to buy water because the hotel room didn't have any bottles. So all the way from Kinokuniya, which was on one corner of the mall, we had to go to Starbucks for DINNER! Which was on the other corner of the mall.

Here's a rushed and completely nonsensical illustration:

From one end of the mall to another. We actually wanted to eat at Chilis but we stubled upon Starbucks and decided we weren't exactly that hungry, so we ate sandwiches at Starbucks instead.

Just so you know, when we go out to eat, the WHOLE restaurant, deli or cafe KNOWS we're there. With a lot of laughter and embarrassing stories, we basically took over the entire atmosphere.

I bet I laughed more that day than I ever did in my entire summer vacation. Best dinner ever.

After which, we went on to our next destination; Candylicious! How awesome? VERY. We thought that the evening at the hotel room would be much more fun spent with candy! So, a medium sized bag of Maltersers (my FAVORITE), lollipops and a smiley and we were off to waitrose to buy a bottle of water! So imagine our dismay when we realized that Waitrose was on the other side of the mall as well, from Candylicious at least.

Long traveling story short, we went to Waitrose to buy a bottle of water and headed off to catch a bus back to the hotel. But apparently, my yeobo (Weoj) wanted to head off to City Center first, actually we all did, to get a couple of unique shirts for each of us. I recall the word "ADVENTURE!" Kind of reminded me of Flapjack from 'The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack' cartoon. She kept saying "ADVENTURE!" it was actually really adorable!

But we decided that if we wanted to go swimming, we had to get back to the hotel soon, not to mention the completely sardine packed bus we were to take to the metro station. Who wants to be squeezed between two completely random strangers right? So we headed back to the hotel instead :)

PART 2

|| FALLEN EMBERS || CHAMINJI || SEASON OF MIST || DIAONIX || TIMELESS CRESENDO || GUMMIBILITY GRAPHICS ||


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