Birthdays
I don't know why it is, but my birthdays are always either unbelieveably fantastic, or complete non-starters. Since the question is about disappointments, the answer is going to have to be rather on the negative side. Sorry about that.

The biggest disappointments so far have been:

My 20th.
I was married at the time. Christmas was a bit... flat... despite my then-husband having come into some extra cash, so mutual friends decided to talk up the idea that he hadn't spent a load on Christmas because he must be saving for something really spectacular for my January birthday.

After Christmas he asked for ideas. My first ideas were too generalised, he wanted specific items. I don't tend to window-shop if I don't have the money to spend, so all I could think of was that I needed some more eyeshadow. He asked me to come into town with him and choose some.

We went into Boots, I found my eyeshadow and handed it to him.
"I don't have any cash on me," he said, "can you buy it and I'll pay you back?"
It was all of about £3.50 so I did. Then we went home for tea.

My birthday came around, just like every year. He tossed me the eyeshadow. It wasn't even wrapped. "Happy Birthday" he said. It was the only present he gave me. He never paid me back the £3.50, either.

My 21st
Having learned my lesson, I started explaining in November that I wanted a party rather than presents for my 21st, but that I wanted nice surprises, so I wanted him to organise it. He agreed, so I made a list of about 20 friends and their phone numbers and left the rest to him. It started quite promisingly, that very evening he started brainstorming with a friend, even telling me to leave the room while they discussed my party.

Birthday rolled around. No presents, as requested, although at least this year he managed a card.
"So, what's the plan for tonight?" I asked.
"Oh. I forgot to phone any of your friends."
"Okay, I'll phone them, but I need to know where we're going and what time."
"Well... where do you want to go?"
He hadn't organised anything at all.

I spent the evening of my 21st birthday sitting alone at the bar of my local wearing a lovely short red dress, watching my husband playing pool with his best mate and flirting with our flatmate's girlfriend (who is now his wife). Four of my own friends managed to stop by for half an hour. I went home at 10pm.

A week later I left him.
( Batsgirl, Mon 30 Jun 2008, 10:44, 8 replies)

Thats awful
Have a *click*

Actually sounds like the marriage was a disappointment. Hope the next/current on is much better!
( Moonraker isn't the droid you were looking for, Mon 30 Jun 2008, 10:49, closed)

getting married in your teens is a stupid thing to do.
The current boyfriend is much better.

I have to balance these tales of woe.

My wonderful 24th - long-distance boyfriend came to visit, we had a get-together-in-a-pub for drinks in the afternoon and then a party at my flat in the evening, lots of friends, lots of chocolate, lots of giggling, I beat my sister at that karaoke game for the PlayStation 2, and I could hardly move the following day.

Or my 25th - same boyfriend, conspired with my best mate to make a quiet but ideal birthday. The two of them took me out for a slap-up lunch, gave me thoughtful and wonderful presents, and then I found out an overnight bag had been sneakily packed and my boyfriend whisked me off to a luxury suite in a fantastic hotel in the middle of nowhere for the rest of the weekend.
( Batsgirl, Mon 30 Jun 2008, 11:21, closed)

Marriage is bollocks...
...And even more so at that age. Getting married that early is bat shit insane.

I have been with my GF for the past 5 years, and we are happy as we are. I feel marriage is an outdated and draconian proceedure that should belong in the last century.

Waht does a shitty piece of metal, and piece of paper mean? Fuck all, that's what. Doesn't make any difference and doesn't prove that you love somebody more by doing this.

In my family, half of the marriages have fucked up and it has been the beginning of the end (this said, my folks are still married though).

Have a clickerage anyway...
(Panteneman Isn't entirely sure why he bothered on, Mon 30 Jun 2008, 12:58, closed)

"A week later I left him."
Good. He sounds like a twat.

*click*
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Mon 30 Jun 2008, 15:07, closed)

what an utter prick.
i hope you kicked him so hard in the bollocks that he had to go through puberty again.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Mon 30 Jun 2008, 16:43, closed)

abject twattishness
He was a tosser, too bad you pissed away 2 years with him. Still the new one sounds much nicer.

good luck!
(Lurkaloid awarded wanking black belt on, Mon 30 Jun 2008, 17:34, closed)

well at least ..
you got the crap boyfriend/husband out of the way early on ...look on it as a learning experience. Strangely my dodgy ex was fantastic at birthdays but an utter shit the rest of the year! Well done for getting out.
(cmouse is pondering about life in other jobs, Mon 30 Jun 2008, 21:49, closed)

thanks all
I pissed away almost four years with him. He wasn't a bad man - compared to the cunt I dated while I was at high school, he was an angel - he was just a bit thoughtless and unreliable. Particularly *after* we'd moved in together and done the marriage ceremony.

After leaving him I did things more or less properly - had lots of fun dating a variety of people for two and a half years, and then met a man I can actually see myself getting old with, rather than burying under the patio.

Wild oats sown. Regrets = 0.
( Batsgirl, Mon 30 Jun 2008, 22:46, closed)