Admittedly, Leed, I learned little in school, and I absolutely learned little grammar there; English was among the worst subjects for me with some of my lowest academic performance. How did I learn my writing and English abilities? I learned what I know by communicating almost entirely through writing and the Internet, not verbally, which I find much harder, and by reading dozens of nonfiction books and keeping an electronic dictionary and thesaurus nearby to learn the words and writing as I read the books. I wasn't taught this in school.

It's not an exaggeration when I say almost all of what I know I am self-taught in, including politics, maps, computers, photography, chess, writing, and how to hold a pencil. All this is obvious to others IRL due to the erratic learning curve being self-taught creates. For example…

I received a 102% - the highest grade I've ever received - on a mathematics exam and was ahead of the class in parabolic and quadratic equations, but I can't do basic multiplication, division, or such mundane tasks as finding the percentage of something.

I don't know how to sign my own name - it's true. People look at my writing and they're appalled by it. I can't write well because I have difficulties holding a writing utensil, which I also taught myself, and that is obvious because I hold utensils in a way nobody I know has ever seen before.

Although I went through several years of speech therapy, I continue to struggle to pronounce many words, but what words I have mastered since then I've learned through making a computer speak it until I figured it out. Used to do this a lot in high school with the assistance of my then girlfriend whom taught me to say the word "specialty" and others.

Many of the teachers I have had in school do not deserve a bouquet of roses. Some of them were almost charged with abuse against me and I've had restraining orders filed against others.

Lynn, in case such an accident happens again, you can always use the "undo" option that will undo the last action you made. Or a much simpler trick is to compose a reply in a word application like I do. On my Mac, whatever I type is automatically saved, so I never have to fear the loss of power in a storm or any technical issues and losing everything I typed.

My best friend has said these things about me: “I think you're honest, loyal, kind, loving, understanding, accepting, trustworthy, and incredibly thoughtful.”

I want to feel good enough but all I see are the ways in which I fall short.