Remember when you turned 21? Remember going out and legally buying your first drink? Remember everyone wanting to take you out to get drunk only to have most people never actually take you out? It seems like everyone has a good 21st birthday story.

I remember my 21st birthday we had some family over, I drank that Crystal Skull vodka, had some sort of allergic reaction then went out had some margaritas eventually hit for $450 in Keno, and naturally haven't hit since. Nothing too exciting on my birthday being that it was a Sunday.

AP3's 21st birthday is another story. His birthday happens to fall on New Years Eve. So we went into Boston to the only club that didn't have a private party. It sucked plain and simple, but the last thing I remember was the new year countdown. It started, 10, 9, 8...I looked at my phone to see it was 12:02, the assholes missed it and thought we wouldn't notice.

Anyways, that's the last thing I remember until I came too in the middle of nowhere, in a not so safe neighborhood. I was on foot in a sweatshirt jeans and boots in about a foot of snow, so I checked my phone... dead... and my wallet... no cash...  I just started walking unsure of where I was or which way I needed to go. All I knew was I was walking to my buddy Vinnie's house. I knew it was the closest thing around me but I still wasn't sure where I was. Eventually I stumbled upon a bum and asked him for directions to my buddies street. He told me to go down this street which I felt was the exact opposite direction I needed to go, but figuring he knew better, and the fact that he felt bad for me and gave me a cigarette (that's right a bum felt bad and gave me a cigarette), so I listened to him and started my trek down that road.

At a certain point the cigarette went out, before my drunken ass was satisfied with it. A car pulled up to a red light, so I ran after them. I was tired, cold, wet, drunk, and pissed off at this point so I'm sure I wasn't the most polite asshole walking around in the snow that night. I asked for a ride...no, I asked for their phone to make a call... no, I asked for a lighter...sure one sec... then they sped away. As luck would have it the dumb asses didn't think ahead. They got stopped at the next light. Off I ran, even more pissed off now screaming at them. I got up to their window only to have them blow through the red light and speed off into the night.

I spent the next few hours walking down the middle of the road almost trying to get a cop to stop me. Finally I figured out where I was. I found a gas station I recognized, thanks to the bum he had sent me about 4 miles in the wrong direction. I went up to the gas station, which was closed but had an attendant in it. I bought a tin of dip to help settle me down and asked to use the phone. He pointed me in the direction of a pay phone. I said look I have no cash and I've had a long night please just help me out. He said no can do, so I went off to the pay phone.

I called collect for the first time since the 90's trying to get in touch with my buddy Vinnie. Only problem is it was very early in the 2010 year, does anybody remember telephone numbers anymore? I sure didn't especially not in my state. I argued with the lady telling her my whole story just please help me out. She said she needed to bill somebody for the call. I told her listen he will happily pay for the call you just need to look up his number. She said she can't do it so I asked for her manager. I retold the story which felt like it took another 20 minutes only to have her hang up on me at the end of the call. I smashed the pay phone like a piece of shit and started walking again.

I stopped at McDonalds only to have them say you can't go through the drive-thru on foot, and you can't come inside because inside isn't open yet. God forbid they sell me a cup of fucking coffee. So I tried to climb through some yards cutting off some time but with all the snow it just made things more miserable.

Finally I get to within a couple blocks of my buddies house. I'm on some dark back road, when I see this car slowly rolling by me. I immidiately walk up on the sidewalk head down and start power walking. That's when I hear..."Yo white boy". I think I can speak for all white guys when I say that's about the scariest three words you can hear, when walking down a dark road. I look over and there's four rather large black dudes staring me down. I go head down and start power walking towards the main road. I turn again to see them pull away, ok I'm good, then reverse lights on they come flying back to me in reverse, so I'm in a flat out sprint to my buddies house at this point.

I finally get there start banging on his window to let me in with no avail. At this point it seemed like I lost the guys in the car, but would have to sleep on the front porch. As I start to get comfortable on the porch I hear the door open. "Where the fuck were you!" I get yelled at. We all had a good laugh about it afterwards, before I had one of the better nights sleep I've ever had. At least one of the the better nights of sleep in which I walked home from Boston in the middle of winter, arriving after 5am with my life intact.

I'm sure everybody has a good 21st birthday story, so to my sister turning 21 today (damn am I getting old) and anyone else celebrating a 21st birthday, I want to say Happy Birthday, stay safe, but go make your own memory.