# 18, now what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 29, 2002, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489 "2002-12-29T08:37:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![the\_duke\_69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/48db29/32.png) [@the\_duke\_69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_duke_69)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/1 "2002-12-29T08:37:41Z")
well soon I will be 18. What am I supposed to do then? is it all its cracked up to be? should I be looking forward to something at that time of the 18 anniversary of my birth? ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/2 "2002-12-29T08:39:21Z")
Buy yourself some porn! ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/3 "2002-12-29T08:47:19Z")
Well, now you can vote. I know, whoopdy-doo. Don’t for get to sign up to get drafted! Happy birthday! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Wrong\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b782af/32.png) [@The\_Wrong\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Wrong_Girl)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/4 "2002-12-29T08:57:18Z")
Start counting down til 21. ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Montana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tony\_Montana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Montana)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/5 "2002-12-29T09:00:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by the\_duke\_69 \* > \*\*well soon I will be 18. What am I supposed to do then? is it all its cracked up to be? should I be looking forward to something at that time of the 18 anniversary of my birth? \*\* /cranky mode on/ Thank your parents for not throwing your adult ass to the street. Stay out of trouble young man,they can throw you in adult jail for things like tipping the hooch. /cranky mode off/ ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/6 "2002-12-29T09:29:37Z")
Well, there is the obligatory orgy. ---
**Author:** ![RobertTB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@RobertTB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobertTB)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/7 "2002-12-29T10:29:47Z")
Don’t forget to regeister with Selective Service. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/8 "2002-12-29T11:37:21Z")
Turn 18. Blink a few times. Die of old age. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/9 "2002-12-29T12:02:48Z")
Shit man, your whole life is ahead of you. You’ve got no debts (you may have no money but that’s true freedom). Make sure you go to college and graduate, even in you major in booze and bonking. By the time you’re done, you will have a host of memories and maybe even know more about what you want to do. Don’t sweat being 18 and not knowing what to do. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/10 "2002-12-29T12:31:50Z")
I thought turning 18 would be the biggest deal on Earth. Oh boy, as soon as I turned 18, I thought I was grown, was gonna paint the town red, didn’t have to answer to _nobody_… then mother burst my little bubble. Within weeks of being 18, I found out it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Sure I could vote, go to strip joints and buy cigarettes (which is not to say I actually do all of the aforementioned), but quickly I realized my life was the same as it had been at 17. I was still in high school, I still had curfew, was still living at home, working a crappy job and begging my parents for money. The worst part is my dreams of being an adult living on the edge w/o rules was dashed. I didn’t get any real freedom until I started college. Finally freedom! Yay! But rest assured, as soon as I went back home for break, back to the rules. You’re officially cool when you move out for good. ---
**Author:** ![trader\_of\_shots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trader\_of\_shots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trader_of_shots)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/11 "2002-12-29T12:47:59Z")
MeanOldLady … You’re 19 !! \* siaid in annoyed Sienfield voice" ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/12 "2002-12-29T13:10:11Z")
Whoa! Is _that_ how old I am? Didn’t take very long to realize 18 ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. It seriously took me weeks… if that. Moms and pops were (and still are) still bossing me around. It’s like being 17 except they aren’t giving me money. God, this sucks. Can’t wait to get back to the dorms and get these people outta my hair. Gah. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/13 "2002-12-29T16:50:49Z")
Well, if you have enough time, go get a credit card at the age of seventeen, buy everything in sight, then watch all that debt go bye-bye when you turn eighteen. (Yeah, right. Seriously, though, a couple months before my eighteenth birthday there was a woman signing up people for credit cards on campus and she actually told me to do this! And I don’t think I ever did do that selective service thing…) Seriously, though, go buy a porn mag, a lotto ticket, and a cigar…just because you can. And hey, if you win some money on the lotto ticket, added bonus! ---
**Author:** ![senor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@senor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senor)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/14 "2002-12-29T16:56:28Z")
Hola! Hate to sound like an old man talking to you, but have a good plan and prepare yourself for a career. I would love to be 18 again, because I would have done so many things different, I would have gone to a different school, I would of studies, I would have gone to law school, I wouldn’t have touched any drugs. Oh well. Whats sucks for you is that you are old enough to vote, get married, join the army, and sign contracts, but you can’t buy alcohol. I hated asking other people to buy me beer/liquor and being hassled all the time about ID! I knew a fellow in college who was 20 years old and got busted buying champaign for his girlfriend. What a crock of shit. I am teaching English in China. China has no drinking age whatsoever, and I have yet to see any kids drinking or hanging out in clubs or bars. Amazing! SENOR ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/15 "2002-12-29T17:58:50Z")
Advice, Welcome to adulthood, beware of the bullshit Life sucks, get a helmet Wrap that rascal, accidents cause people unclviny ---
**Author:** ![JessEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cdc98d/32.png) [@JessEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JessEnigma)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/16 "2002-12-29T17:59:51Z")
Looking forward to something? Probably not. I’ve been 18 for a little over 2 months now. I still haven’t bothered with buying cigarettes or porn or lottery tickets. I forgot about registering to vote until election day, so I didn’t vote either. Other than that, my life is just like it was before…except now I can get myself in way more trouble with the law and some cruise lines will let me drink and gamble on their ships in international waters. I’d just start counting down until graduation instead. Or age 21. ---
**Author:** ![TVGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@TVGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/17 "2002-12-29T18:04:10Z")
Well, let’s see. First, refer to [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=152617) 😃 - Just kidding. Here’s my advice, FWIW. 1. Be happy you MADE it to 18 - many don’t 2. Start planning your takeover of the world now. It takes longer than you’d think it would, oddly enough. 3. Do, see, be, try, fail and succeed. Otherwise, you’ll be thinking, at 45, "why the hell didn’t I … " Happy birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Montana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tony\_Montana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Montana)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/18 "2002-12-29T18:17:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JessEnigma \* > I’d just start counting down until graduation instead. Or age 21. When I turned 21 a friends mom told me “after 21 it starts going fast” She meant _time_ , at the time I thought to myself “yeah right old-timer” That was 11yrs ago holy shit **11yrs** … It rang truer than she ever knew. Its almost like someone messed with the space time continueum…your young for a short time,your old for a looong time…so CHEER UP young’in… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/19 "2002-12-29T18:38:43Z")
Now you can drop the “69.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489/20 "2002-12-29T19:05:13Z")
Countdown until 21. After that, wait to die, because there’s no longer anything to look forward to. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-now-what/145489.md?page=2)