Bastards
I had come out as a gayboy not long before my 29th birthday (speed-read www.b3ta.com/questions/firstlove/post41742/ for more details), so that's got to be the worst, even if it did build character. My (by then) ex-GF and I had decided to leave off telling the lads, or my straight mates as I was trying to get used to calling them*, for awhile until we got our heads around it ourselves.

A few weeks before my 30th whilst mashed after a club night, I inadvertently came out to one of the lads' housemates and predictably, the motormouthed motherfucker found it impossible to keep it to himself. As a result my mate came to see me a few days later and gently guided the conversation around to me telling him. He, I and the ex-GF decided it was time to clue the rest of the lads up, so I invited them to my new flat for a beer-and-revelation evening. That night is a story in itself.

So, my 30th came and it was basically a 2-week bender (only slight pun intended) of numerous vices, and tremendous fun was had thoughout. What really made it for me, though, was the pressies that the lads turned up with:

One copy of Barry Manilow's Copacabana - The Musical on CD
One copy of Barbara Streisand's What's Up Doc on VHS
and
One stuffed toy of George from Rainbow** that says 'Oooh, you are naughty' when you poke it in the stomach.

They said they looked everywhere for a signed photo of Liberace*** but couldn't find one.

Bastards. Wouldn't swap them for anything, but they're bastards all the same :)

* Gave up in the end - they'll always be The Lads :)
** A ludicrously camp pink hippo from a 70's UK kids TV programme, for you non-brits & weens
*** Oh, just look it up for fuck's sake - run a Google search or something
(thatblokeoverthere not quite as much an arsehole as I thought, Fri 9 Dec 2005, 16:09, Reply)