Island fever

I'm not going to write a cliched storm about what turning thirty meant to me. Because I intend to stay twenty-nine for another six months. Yeah, you heard me. I can make my own rules.
But I will tell you what happened to me the moment I stepped onto Kalibo airport's windswept tarmac after a five hour wait at NAIA.
What happened was, I got a fever.
The grey skies, rough seas, airplane fiasco and my incredibly delayed arrival in Boracay contributed to my deteriorating health and enthusiasm over my beach birthday weekend. I was sure I was going to give someone a bitch fit soon as my feet hit the white sand.
Out of sheer fatigue and nausea, not only did I do away with birthday melodrama, I also let go of any delusions of drinking and dancing the night away. I thankfully ended up being extremely well taken care of by friends. Pumped with vitamins and paracetamol and treated to dinner (bless Pix and Ritchie), I started to feel the island vibe. but due to the cold and absolute exhaustion, I promptly fell asleep after coffee (which unfortunately left Jing and Siobe to their own devices at Cafe Del Sol).
Goodbye first night in paradise.
The next evening was, er, a blur. Really. Armed with good intentions and the will to party the night away, we made our way to Juice. After a couple of beers, an undetermined amount of tequila shots, a flaming "waterfall" which in retrospect must have been the reason the world almost went black, and a "blowjob"shot, one really couldn't blame me for the inebriated dance floor madness that followed.
I thus greeted the dawn of my thirtieth year dancing with hazy figures, stumbling home through the sand and puking my guts out in our pretty hotel bathroom.
The shaking stopped sometime after noon.
Although my eyes still found it hard to focus by three and my head was throbbing like a thousand elders were having a canao in it, I somehow summoned the will to stumble out to the seashore and bid my birthday sun goodbye.

So I slept more than half the day away. So my insides felt like jell-o. So I didn't get as close as I planned. Big deal.
I welcomed the day with friends I loved, I partied like a madman, danced like there was no tomorrow and lived to see another day. I couldn't stop smiling.

Hello three-O.