Shanghai continued… (Picture: A game of flip cup across the room at Giuce’s B-Day Bash) It’s Wednesday, January 14th, a day before the day Gianmarco Pastore entered the world twenty-three years earlier. Giuce spends his day at work and upon his return, we begin the celebration. After a nice little preparty consisting of a few Suntory beers, we get a cab and head to a local club called MD. It’s fairly dead when we arrive. There’s an attractive female DJ layin’ down the jams in front of a dance floor consisting of three people dancing—two of which work at the place. A club promoter acts excited when she recognizes Gianmarco, Emma and Garrett as we walk in and seats us at a nice lounge table. It becomes clear that this isn’t a “poppin’” night at MD—but I can’t hold much against the venue, it is a Wednesday. After we get settled, we order pitcher after pitcher of whiskey green tea. Or should I say, green tea, ice & a tiny splash of whiskey. We go through them like they’re jugs of ice water at the end of a marathon. The benefit of such low potency drinks: they’re slightly refreshing and keep me from becoming hungover the next day… The four of us play Liar’s Dice between cheerses and Gan beis, the equivalent to the American “Bottoms up!” and 12 o’clock am sneaks up on us. It‘s Gianmarco‘s 23rd! Suddenly, over the PA system we hear the words, “Happy birthday to you…” Emma and Garrett told the club that it’s Gianmarco’s birthday! We all stand up and start singing to Giuce. Emma starts snapping photos as Gianmarco gets pulled away by a club promoter. Garrett leans over to me and says, “Did you tell them to do this?” I think he’s being sarcastic—of course I didn’t attempt to explain to the club’s employees with four Chinese words I know that it’s my friend’s birthday. So, I reply with, “I sure did!” accompanied with a sarcastic grin. Gianmarco gets dragged to the dance floor by the promoter as the words to Happy Birthday come to an end. There’s a cake lit with sparklers and candles, and a group of Chinese people gathers around it. Garrett and I follow Gianmarco toward the cake as Emma takes pictures. We nudge our way within viewing distance and see candles shaped in the number 23. Then a young Asian man in a nice jacket leans forward and blows out the candles. Wait, why did this dude blow out Giuce’s candles? Gianmarco looks slightly disheveled. It then comes to us that we were the victim of an incredible coincidence. From the club promoter dragging Gianmarco up to the birthday cake as Happy Birthday began (we’re still not sure why she did that) to the seemingly sarcastic remarks shared between Garrett and myself, to the fact that this Chinese guy just happened to be born on the exact same date twenty-three years prior. It was all just happenstance. Garrett and I look at each other in disbelief and begin hysterically laughing. The laughter continues in bursts over the next couple days as we relive the moment. Honestly, what are odds? Poor Giuce—we apologize emphatically. He appreciates the humor and doesn’t mind much. To make up for it, we throw him a party at their place two days later. With the combination of some highly potent homemade Jungle Juice, great company and some exclusive MJ Datamatics rattling through the $22 USD speaker system, the party is a super good time.

Shanghai continued… (Picture: A game of flip cup across the room at Giuce’s B-Day Bash)

It’s Wednesday, January 14th, a day before the day Gianmarco Pastore entered the world twenty-three years earlier. Giuce spends his day at work and upon his return, we begin the celebration. After a nice little preparty consisting of a few Suntory beers, we get a cab and head to a local club called MD. It’s fairly dead when we arrive. There’s an attractive female DJ layin’ down the jams in front of a dance floor consisting of three people dancing—two of which work at the place. A club promoter acts excited when she recognizes Gianmarco, Emma and Garrett as we walk in and seats us at a nice lounge table. It becomes clear that this isn’t a “poppin’” night at MD—but I can’t hold much against the venue, it is a Wednesday. After we get settled, we order pitcher after pitcher of whiskey green tea. Or should I say, green tea, ice & a tiny splash of whiskey. We go through them like they’re jugs of ice water at the end of a marathon. The benefit of such low potency drinks: they’re slightly refreshing and keep me from becoming hungover the next day…

The four of us play Liar’s Dice between cheerses and Gan beis, the equivalent to the American “Bottoms up!” and 12 o’clock am sneaks up on us. It‘s Gianmarco‘s 23rd! Suddenly, over the PA system we hear the words, “Happy birthday to you…” Emma and Garrett told the club that it’s Gianmarco’s birthday! We all stand up and start singing to Giuce. Emma starts snapping photos as Gianmarco gets pulled away by a club promoter. Garrett leans over to me and says, “Did you tell them to do this?” I think he’s being sarcastic—of course I didn’t attempt to explain to the club’s employees with four Chinese words I know that it’s my friend’s birthday. So, I reply with, “I sure did!” accompanied with a sarcastic grin. Gianmarco gets dragged to the dance floor by the promoter as the words to Happy Birthday come to an end. There’s a cake lit with sparklers and candles, and a group of Chinese people gathers around it. Garrett and I follow Gianmarco toward the cake as Emma takes pictures. We nudge our way within viewing distance and see candles shaped in the number 23. Then a young Asian man in a nice jacket leans forward and blows out the candles. Wait, why did this dude blow out Giuce’s candles? Gianmarco looks slightly disheveled. It then comes to us that we were the victim of an incredible coincidence. From the club promoter dragging Gianmarco up to the birthday cake as Happy Birthday began (we’re still not sure why she did that) to the seemingly sarcastic remarks shared between Garrett and myself, to the fact that this Chinese guy just happened to be born on the exact same date twenty-three years prior. It was all just happenstance. Garrett and I look at each other in disbelief and begin hysterically laughing. The laughter continues in bursts over the next couple days as we relive the moment. Honestly, what are odds? Poor Giuce—we apologize emphatically. He appreciates the humor and doesn’t mind much.

To make up for it, we throw him a party at their place two days later. With the combination of some highly potent homemade Jungle Juice, great company and some exclusive MJ Datamatics rattling through the $22 USD speaker system, the party is a super good time.