Found this.

I actually used this as my Ateneo Application Essay. Hehe. And I only read it again just now. I liked it so I'm posting it. Hehe.

Not Just An Ordinary BirthdayRyan Magtibay

It was totally unexpected. I never really thought it would happen to me. I thought of doing it to someone but never really the other way around. After all, what they did was pretty much a cliché already; you would see the same thing a lot in movies and television shows. But never, in my entire life, had I thought that someday, I would be that special.
Way back, before it happened, I knew who I was or, rather, I knew that I didn’t know who I was. I knew that I was in constant search of who I was as a person. Yes, the same old process that every teenager pass through. But I guess it was different with me. I wanted more than just knowing who I was. I wanted a mark. I wanted a distinction. I wanted a definition. I wanted something that would not just tell people who I was, but would also make me standout. I expected that God gave me something that would make me more of a person than any one else. And I guess I expected too much.
I wanted to know who I was, but deep inside me I was scared that maybe I wasn’t that great. I was afraid that the real me – the one I’m looking for – would just be another ordinary face in the street. This was why I kept on trying to make something significant or achieve something great that people would start to label me after it. In the end, all I really wanted was not to end up in the list of ordinary people that lived in this world.
I went from happily searching to desperate to depressed. As I look back now, I guess it was pretty normal for me to feel that way. After all, I was in an identity crisis and every one, in many ways, pass through the same stages of life. It was part of growing up. But the depression inside me stayed. The sadness continued to devour my being. I just felt so heart-broken that I don’t like who I was. The feeling stayed with me and no one knows about it. It was then that they came into the picture.
I never really thought that birthdays are fun. I always thought that they are only to remind you that you’re growing older and to give you reason to demand for gifts from your friends. Birthdays are just like every other day, only that they make you special. And that would be exactly what I felt when I heard that loudest birthday greeting I’ve ever heard.
I was walking with my friend that afternoon and we were talking about almost anything. It was a cell phone call that made us stop. After which, she took me the cafeteria, where I was supposed to treat her anything. After all, according to her, it was my birthday. She continued walking around the cafeteria. I was unconsciously following her, baffled at what she was doing. She stopped in a corner and turned to me. That was when everyone else suddenly showed up and simultaneously shouted “Happy Birthday!” and one of them was even carrying a big chocolate birthday cake.
It happened in the cafeteria, in front of practically almost the whole school. But at that moment, I didn’t notice that. All I knew was that in front of me are almost more than 40 people who had just made me feel that, hey, they love and have always been there for me and for them, I’m not just an ordinary person. I am a friend. And for that, I’m special.
The identity crisis ended there. Somehow, those people reminded me that I don’t need a mark. I don’t need distinction. I don’t definition. All I really needed to know was that I can do something great someday and that I have friends to help me in the process. God, after all, did give me something that would make me feel more of a person than any one else.
Right now, because of that birthday surprise, I’m contented with the fact that I have talents and accomplishments and that I have the determination to do what I want to do. Who I am or will be is still in the works. But right now, I’m just another ordinary person that has friends who make me glow in a crowd.