Quote:
Originally Posted by Secretum
I suppose that you're right-hated is a tad bit too strong. I suppose I felt more ignored and forgotten than hated. Though to my 6th grade self, any form of rejection = hatred. I learned to anticipate such treatment, and I haven't truly taken off my cloak of invisibility since. By high school I had become a lot more paranoid. I felt like anyone could see all of my faults and shortcomings simply by looking at me. Needless to say, I didn't make too many close friends.
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Yeah, at that age, being ignored feels like being hated. I went to Catholic school for K-5, and there were a lot of other really smart kids there, so I did OK with that until switching to public schools. At which point, I became a complete outsider instead of just a little off-kilter. I figured out that they didn't really hate me, but they hated how I made them feel. I outclassed them all intellectually (was told in 8th grade that I should have been moved ahead 2 years, but it was against district policy) and they didn't like that I was different.
But I've found that the longer I'm in school (this is
year 24! omg, enough already...) the more popular I am, because I'm surrounded by people who are more and more like me. Undergrad was SO much better than high school (except for the part where I started going crazy and mental health professionals totally brushed me off.) Grad school is even better; I've never been as socially acceptable as I am in grad school, because everyone else is a smarty-pants and I don't have to play dumb. No one tells me not to use big words anymore. It is awesome!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Secretum
I'm really impressed that you read War and Peace in 5th grade! I've always loved to read, but as a kid I was allergic to classics. I loved virtually everything else, though. In 7th grade, I literally had no friends (yes I was that pathetic). I always had a book with me, and when the other kids chatted before class I felt that it was safe for me to read.
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Oh, I didn't start in on W&P until 6th grade, and it did take me 2 years to finish it. Learned a lot of European history, and that garlic:vampires::Russian literature:boys (which was probably for the best!) But I have very similar, distinct memories of standing around before class reading while everyone else was being...social...
This is so pathetic/funny, but I had
almost no friends in 7th grade. My one friend was a deaf kid, because she was the only one equally desperate for friendship and equally outcast for being different. Sad but true.
Whoa, just realized how long this got. I think the Lamictal is making me a little airheaded today - definitely chattier than usual...
