Ask Lemmy

Graduating high school was the bigger milestone, tbh. That's when I felt like an actual adult.

I suddenly gained the power of telekinesis

I really don't remember since it wasn't all that important or special to me.

yess all my bone cracked at exactly 12am the night of, all in unison.

I scheduled vaccine appointments with my Dr. My parents were anti-vax and once I was old enough I went and did it myself.

Man don't even fuckin remember wat happened my 18th birthday other than turned 18

In my extended family there is a tradition. The new adult receives 200 € and we all go to the Casino. The rest essentially drink and watch as the new adult loses all the money and learns a lesson. None of us gamble.

Every birthday I ask for pizza. It was largely the same.

In HK, being 18 almost always means you are studying for HKDSE, basically the biggest and most important exam of a Hongkonger's life. I got a few blessings from my family lol.

I did what I do on most of my birthdays: went to a movie with friends. It was my first year in university abd I grew up in a small town, so that day was my first time riding a bus

All of my friends got arrested and I was homeless, so I just slept in my truck all day.

As you can tell people love me at parties.

I got to wait 30 minutes until midnight so I could buy fuel system cleaner and a sharpie. Walmart can be silly.

When I turned 21 I got a liquor store to break the law and stay open late to sell me my first legal bottle of scotch at midnight (my roommate was good friends with the owner)

I just... did my own thing, by myself. Had my own car, a tank of gas, and some cash in my wallet. No concrete plans when I woke up that morning.

I ended up spending most of my 18th birthday at the zoo, just wandering around at my own pace. Whenever my folks would take me before that point, we'd always end up trying to speedrun the whole place, spending no more than a minute at each exhibit, if we'd stop at all. And without spending a single cent on anything other than admission.

I spent two hours just hanging out in the zoo's walk-in aviary, feeding seed sticks and nectar cups to parrots. Best birthday ever.

Ah, I will turn 18 soon too :^). My parents prolly aint throw a huge or expensive party for me. Just go 2 a relative w/ big house and call a few friends after school maybe. I want a blue BFDI (Battle For Dream Island - a cartoon on web which Im grown up w/) cake with some stuff like maybe getting some useful things 4 my pet rock (yes I have a huge "breed" pet rock) and get myself a bike I wanted for years or an ugly sweater, BFDI Woody (the char from same cartoon) plush maybe. I want that plush since it is out and loving the character since late 2010's.

Anyways, I dont think much stuff will be changed really. Prolly will have a legal right to drink, have a job, drive or smth. And methinks I cant neither afford any one or my mentally ill ass prolly will commit some crimes or go die while being drunk so Id rather to not drink. And the best thing after 18s prolly getting into a some meh kind of an university.

Nothing special. I was just one year older. I never was much into birthday and I'm now many, many years older than 18 ;)

My parents are throwing me a huge party, my dad’s idea, of course, and it’s nonnegotiable

It probably is negotiable but it may happen the stakes are too high. Hard to say without any context.

I threw my dad out of my first home the day he came to visit. Right after he started behaving like he used to when I was living under his own roof, I asked him to stop. He did not. I explained him I was not living at his place anymore and he was my guest and he should stop now unless he wanted me to show him the door. He persisted. I grabbed him by the seat of his pant and drove him out, shutting the door on him. It was not nice and it did not end in the most respectful way but it was still a negotiation ;)

Nothing noteworthy about 18, except voting and easier job hunts (technically, but I had to change cities to find work still, so YMMV). 21 was boring too.

But a week from now you'll be 40.

Don't be one of those who at 40 realizes they should have been investing 20% of their income and utilizing their employers 401k match, or taking better care of their health.

The time goes by real fast. Faster than as a teen.

Or at least it tends to seem that way.

Enjoy your 18th today.

Plan for you 60th tomorrow.

Don't wait.

"Oh hey, I'm no longer legally dependent on my parents, nice."

Not a party, but my parents took me around to meet and dine with a few of their friends (mostly somewhat accomplished folks) as a farewell of sorts. I got sent to the US for college 2 months later and basically never had a chance to go back home in 10 years so

You do you.

Life isn't a dress rehearsal and you don't get extra points for suffering.

Show up at the party and have the best time you can. See which rich guy gives you the silliest advice, or see how much cake you can eat, or Find someone else who doesn't want to be there and do something to make them happy.

No, it didn't feel much different beyond that i could legally get drunk. You're still the same stupid teenager, with the difference that your actions now have potentially more severe consequences. So sometimes. It's probably a good idea to pause for 5 seconds and think about what the consequences might be. Easier said than done for sure.

I'm now 32, and the most important thing I can say is take care of your body and your body will take care of you. Work out, eat your vegetables, stretch your limbs, maintain your cardio. And the next 20 years ahead of you will be even better.

I have friends my age that move like seniors. You don't want to be like that.

Eh it was the summer after I graduated so felt anticlimactic, everyone else I knew was already 18.

Looking back though. It felt like the speed of life got turned up a bit. Like months started to feel like weeks.

Just remember to stop and soak things in

When I turned 18 my parents took me out to dinner and joked about me paying for everyone since I was an adult now. It became clear quickly that the joke was how they actually felt and within months they had moved to a new home in which i was not invited to live. I say enjoy the part the best you can and try not to get dragged into the bullshit.

Lmao I think lemmy.world bans anyone admitting to be under 18 so if admins see this, you'd be banned for a day lol

But anyways, when I was 18... I was kinda in an existential crisis so I kindabinged watched The Good Place... don't remember doing any thing special...

Don't think I got a birthday cake... I mean I didnt even ask for one, cakes arent even that good once you get older and like sweet things are kinda overwhelming for taste buds sort of

I think I might have went to a Chinese restaurant and had dim sum or something. Or maybe like ordered food... forgot what I did... but these things like ordering food are common enough that it didn't exactly feel special (first world problems?) (I think restaurants were kinds closed during covid, so I think we just ordered food, don't think I got a cake since I didn't really care)

Like ever since I got to like... idk 10 or something... I don't remember birthdays becoming that important... it's mostly just like:

mom: "hey, what do you want for your birthday? want a cake?" like just so casual...

then mom be like, "oh btw did you know I had to go through a C-Section to give birth to you, do you feel grateful that I sacrificed so much for you? 🤗" "Also I had to pay a lot of fines for giving birth to you against one child policy"

Oh yeah, elections...

I wasn't old enough for primaries but I was old enough for the 2020 US presidential election and good thing my mom got citizenship so I didn't have to go through that myself so I was already citizen... cuz the naturalization would've taken so long that I'd miss the chance to vote in 2020, so yea good thing I didn't have to spend so much time go through naturalizarion. I voted Biden obviously, dickhead trump literally wants to deport me lol

Had 4 years of relief then this shit happened again FFS 🤦‍♂️

I think I got drunk on Greek Row

I got the ability to unground myself after being denied any of my interests and social connections for a year because I didn't load the dishwasher fast enough.