Truth be told, I wanted my 25th birthday celebration to have a fireworks theme.

For me, reaching a quarter of a century is a big milestone that merits having grand fireworks light up the sky for all the world to see.

Yet as the day approached, my way of thinking leaned more toward keeping it an intimate affair for family and friends. Like my previous birthday celebration, I celebrated my red-letter day in advance at a newly opened mall. Last year, it was at Gateway Mall and for 2006, I celebrated it at the SM Mall of Asia.

I’m now a certified "quarter-lifer" and thankfully, I haven’t been experiencing the confusion and frustration that has been dubbed as the quarter-life crisis.

I feel so lucky and blessed that instead of undergoing a quarter-life crisis, I’ve been treated to a quarter-life celebration - a celebration of health, happiness and good fortune.

Speaking of good fortune, I won in Cosmopolitan Magazine’s 9th Birthday Blowout after submitting almost 200 entries via email. Since I am really a big fan of Cosmo (with a huge stack of back issues to prove it!), I decided to spice up my entry by showing my appreciation for this wonderful magazine.

In line with their ninth anniversary, I listed my top nine reasons why I love Cosmo:

1. It inspires me to reach my full potential — whether in the bedroom, in the boardroom or in the home.

2. It offers the perfect blend of health, relationship and career advice for Filipinas.

3. Cosmo confessions. ‘nough said.

4. It appeals to Filipinas (like me) who don’t want to be boxed in by the Maria Clara stereotype.

5. It’s the only women’s magazine that I read from cover to cover — twice!

6. Every new issue shows me an aspect of womanhood that I’ve never realized before.

7. It shows me how to live life to the fullest — with or without a guy byu my side.

8. It encourages me to pursue my passions and learn from the wealth of experiences shared by the women featured in its pages.

9. Its sooo cosmopolitan and sophisticated.

I might not have planned for fireworks but I certainly got more than my fair share of sparklers in my life. Keep on shining everyone!      

I first read this compelling piece when I was working at my first job in Makati. As I read it from my email inbox, I couldn’t help but agree wholeheartedly with the author’s succint way of articulating the dilemmas facing the youth today.

As I reread it again, after shifting from several companies and working in different forms of media, I realize that I am luckier than most quarterlifers — and for that, I am grateful.

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Some people call it "Quarterlife Crisis". It is when you want to discover yourself, start realizing that there are a lot of things about yourself that you do not know. You start feeling insecure and wonder where life is taking you, but then get scared of such thoughts because you hardly know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren’t exactly the greatest people you have ever met and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones.

You miss the comforts of school, of groups, of socializing with the same people on a constant basis. But then you realize that maybe they weren’t so great after all. You are beginning to understand yourself and what you want and do not want. Your opinions have gotten stronger.

You see what others are doing and find yourself judging a bit more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and add things to your list of what is acceptable and what is not. You are insecure and then secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused.

Suddenly change is the enemy and you try and cling onto the past with dear life but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward. You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you or when you’re lying in bed and wonder why you can’t meet anyone decent enough to get to know better. You love someone but maybe love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you are not a bad person.

You go through the same emotions and questions over and over and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans and money and the future and making a life for yourself and while winning the race would be great, right now you’d just like to be a contender!

What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out.