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.

Haven’t celebrated a birthday since I was 5, I hate it.

I think on my 18th I just got up and went to school like normal. Didn’t tell anyone it was my birthday, so everyone acted like regular, then I went home and probably did what I did every evening back then, which is either youtube, games, or coding (one of those, i dont remember which specifically).

Did absoluely nothing special (maybe a nice meal and presents with my family) because i don’t like having birthday parties

Did feel special though. Turning 18. Thought life was going to pick up and I’d quickly go places. Sickness gets in the way. Roughky in the same place i was back then. Nothing wromg with that really but it’s annoying how different everything ends up from how you planned. Haven’t planned anything in my life since then, too dissapointing to see long term plans fall apart

Absolutely nothing special and dont remember what it was

Just another tuesday

Got really drunk and spent the next day vomiting into the toilet. Go slow and eat first!

Wanted to buy my first beer but was too student broke, so played WoW with housemates. Good times.

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.

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 🤦‍♂️

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 ;)

I had saved up over $1300 from odd jobs/paper route in my teens just for it. On my 18th, I bought 30 hits of acid and a few cases of beer for me and my friends, rented a motel room under a different name 80 miles from home, and partied for about 2 days.

I took frankly far too much of whatever was put in front of me and I’m not fully sure of what happened for most of the might but was mostly a good night. As to feeling different no not really as I’d already been out of school and working for a couple of years at that point so not massively different in many ways aside from I could buy booze now without fear of getting denied.

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.

My family are shit. I don’t think any of them even remembered it was my 18th. I invited some friends over to the flat I was staying at and we played cricket in the carpark, then drank beers for a couple of hours.

I didn’t have a lot going on at that age, I don’t remember doing anything special.

I was ill and throwing up on my 18th birthday. I had a family party a few days later when I’d finished my last A Level exam though. Nothing huge, just a nice meal together.