Four day weekends. I love three day weekends. That extra day gives me enough time to do everything I need/want to catch up on. But by the fourth day of no work, I start feeling unproductive and blah. I’m the type of person who needs structure and routine.
Pancakes. The first couple of bites are always delightful. But by the time I’m halfway through the first one, I’m kind of done.
Opening presents from anyone except my daughter. She’s the only one who “gets” me. Prince CD, black custom t-shirt with I HATE BANKS printed on it, or my favorite - a stuffed talking Mr. Bill doll that goes “Oh noooooo”. 
Birthdays
Christmas
The Circus.
Any ‘child-friendly’ traditional holiday play in NYC, especially a “you can smell the beer on everyone around you” matinee.
Some Concerts*
*OK, any concert where you spent 3 week’s pay to some agency just to get tickets too, felt Lucky that they took your money, where you were counting the days until it happened.
Then, you arrive! You stand in line to get frisked, prodded, merchandise-marketed, and security guard squinted at. Then you find your seat, where you find you can barely see the stage, find you’re next to people acting like jerks,
find you have nothing to do until the show starts but see what tacky crap people have texted up to The Jumbo-Tron.
Sure the songs are good, but somehow you fooled yourself into thinking that the artist might notice for even one word of one song… You. And that’s just never, ever, ever going to happen.
That’s when you remember Charlie Brown saying, “Why do I never learn…?”
Yep. We remodeled the Kitchen, downstairs bath, dining room. I drew up the plans. All I could squeeze in though was a bit bigger tub (I moved walls for this). It’s deeper, and 6 inches longer. But well, not all that great (made it bigger too) Don’t get me wrong, the remodel looks great, my Mother says it looks like a picture from a magazine :). We love it. The kitchen works great!
But the soak in the tub. Eh.
I extend that to delivery pizza in general. When Spouse B is out I always think, “time for some cheezy, greasy delivery food! Yum!”, and then when it shows up it’s, “oh, some cheezy, greasy delivery food.”
Amen, sister. Christmas always sucks. That’s why I no longer participate.
Barbecues are the same, mostly just a long run for a short slide. The idea of eating delicious hot smoky food* al fresco* is appealing, but the reality of balancing manky sausages and gristly meat on a paper plate palls pretty quickly. Mankind invented kitchens for a reason.
A day at the county (or state) fair! Loved it as a kid, was a highlight of the summer to spend the day on the midway, rides, food that’s so bad for you it should be illegal and all the other stuff. I go as an adult and end up walking around all day and getting a blister, deciding 1 or 2 things to eat because it’s all so damned expensive, the crowds, the sunburn (even after remembering sunscreen). I end up thinking, we spent $150 for the day for two of us for this?
I know we’ll still go next year.
Pondering this question the only thing I can think of that I really look forward to is prolonged alone time, like maybe 3 or 4 days. I often end not doing much with it.
Fruit Stripe gum
Hi, I’m not sure if you can read this since I’m apparently imaginary. I like beer and fruity drinks, and I like 'em together. The success of the pairing depends on choosing the right style of beer for the fruit you’re using. If you go too dark or hoppy, you’ll overpower the fruit and make it taste muddy, but you still need enough beer in your beer that the fruit doesn’t overpower it. I’ve never been willing to spend the money, time, or calories to try one of the flavored Bud Light variations, but I expect they’d taste exactly like what you’re describing. Abita’s Purple Haze, otoh, is delicious.
Actually, most of the variations you’re seeing in beer aren’t some newfangled experiment but rather a revival of traditional styles that have fallen by the wayside. People have been putting fruit and anything else that would ferment into their beer since there was beer, and letting all kinds of wild bugs get in and create all kinds of crazy flavors. I don’t remember the name of the style, but last summer we brewed one that had no fruit whatsoever in it, but the end result had a bunch of esters and tasted strongly of banana bread. It was terrific.
And I can’t imagine what kind of beer you’re limiting yourself to that it’s the same old same old. I can get over a dozen styles of beers at the grocery store in my little podunk mountain town–if your beer diet is boring, it truly is your own fault.
I’m with those of you that wrote about your days off. We left ourselves with two Fridays a month that are just half days with big dreams of taking off early and having fun and we usually just go home and crash. Pretty underwhelming. It seems like any extra time we get off above and beyond a basic weekend is just unproductive, though I guess crashing can be productive in its own way.
Wiener roasts. The idea always sounds like fun, but in practice it’s almost always hot and smoky and I end up with a hot dog that doesn’t taste any better than one that has been microwaved for 30 seconds.
Jambalaya. I learned years ago (and my wife is still learning) that even though it looks/sounds delicious in the restaurant menu description, it’s invariably disappointing when it arrives at your table.
The Saint John market had a deli with a fantastic jambalaya in the mid 90s. I loved that jambalaya. I still get excited whenever I see jambalaya on the menu, especially at little market delis. They always disappoint.
Beef jerky. There was one magical occasion when I got a bag of perfect jerky, and ever since I’ve been looking for another one that good and of course it never is, it’s never even close. Given the time and wherewithal I’d just make my own but the times I find myself wanting some are usually when I’m at the store staring at the bags.
Attending live sporting events.
Fun when I was younger, but not so much anymore. When I go - which isn’t often - I find myself wondering how long it will last before I’m even settled into my seat.
mmm
McRib sandwiches. It sounds like a good idea, and I thought they tasted good at one time, but wow, the one I had yesterday was a sad experience.
Books I love made into movies; I just don’t go see any anymore.
My hedges after I trim them. No matter how I do it, no matter how much time I take, no matter how careful I am ---- I step back and think thank God this is a back yard.
I think of that commercial for ZzzQuil (Nyquil without acetaminophen that will kill you) where the kids go to Nana’s - for the whole weekend! - that’s how you will sleep! (and that stuff works GREAT.) Nothing wrong with crashing. Taking off early and having fun sounds like something you’re supposed to do, and yes its disappointing. Like blind dates, and driving to the casino, and school reunions are supposed to be fun, in theory.