29-04-2002 21:23									#91
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D'oh! You and I shoulda gone to the same school, Arrian! After having suffered at the hands of the bullies, I made it a mission to re-balance the scales....any time I saw somebody smaller or weaker getting picked on, all I'd do was sorta casually walk by and glare and wonder of wonders, but the bullies would start behaving themselves (well, 'cept for one unfortunate incident in the library...::as he chuckles to himself:: ).

I have noticed though, that being this big DOES have its disadvantages. People look at me and assume that I'm good at lifting heavy objects or reaching what's on the topmost shelf, and totally discount the notion that I might have a few brain cells and some synaptic activity going on.

After striking up a conversation with someone new, the most common reaction I get is something like: "Gee....you're pretty smart, too!" LOL...as if my physical size would somehow render me less capable of being smart....::shakes head wistfully:: But...that's okay....

-=Vel=-

	29-04-2002 21:26									#92
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I was always one of the bigger kids in school. I ended up being more the defender type than either pickee or picked upon.

I always lived by the motto

Defender of truth, justice, and the sucker punch.

Of course that meant I was also the target for the same.

Life calmed down once I went to high school and got involved in sports. Now I'm a normal 6' 1" 230lb run of the mill kinna guy.

	29-04-2002 21:34									#93
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Og!

Defender of Truth, Justice, and the Sucker Punch....I'm liking that!

-=Vel=-

	29-04-2002 22:34									#94
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Not bullied as much as just left out. Partly my fault, but I never really fitted in Junior school. At secondary school I've always had friends, but never one of the cool collective. Thank goodness.

	29-04-2002 23:00									#95
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Thanks to my big body size, I was never bullied... Well, save by an insane neighbour, but fortunately, at the time he was active in my life, I already had a sense of humour and the ability of applying it to pretty much everything on earth. Too bad it also caused some unintentional teasing from my part - I tended to laugh at people's wrong answers in class. When I was told about it I ended it. In 7-9 I pretty randomly sided with some of the weak and teased the other weak (never physically, and never seriously). I didn't really care about the whole bullying thing - always been too smart for it .

I was never a part of the "cool collective", though... In fact, I denied the very existence of the "cool people", since all of them were my fans anyway. You don't need to understand quantum physics to make people confused by it . I think, in fact, that I still don't have many friends in school, only fans...

	29-04-2002 23:17									#96
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Vel,

Truth be told, most of the bullying wasn't physical. There was one guy who just really enjoyed randomly throwing punches at me when we passed each other in the hall, but most of the time it was more "picking on" than "bullying." To be honest, I think getting picked on constantly hurt much more than the few punches my shoulder absorbed. The worst were those that were on the bubble of coolness, because it was they that would make fun of the clearly not-cool in order to emphasize how cool they were.

Then was the guy who was basically the King in middle school, but who was humbled upon entering high school - all of a sudden he wasn't so cool. That shook him up. He was my nemesis in middle school, but low & behold, we became friends in high school. Very close friends, as a matter of fact.

Hmm... no idea where I'm going with this post. Just rambling at this point.

-Arrian

	30-04-2002 06:33									#97
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All you got to do is fight back... I mean damn... In 8th grade, I took **** from nerds (which was real weird since I was cool with all the popular people). I was scared about getting suspended (you know how that's supposed to **** up high school admissions), so I never did jack **** and I kept on having damn nerds mess with me. But the next year and onward, I never took **** from nobody. Nobody ****s with me now cause I'll ****ing defend myself.

Grow a spine, nerd boys...

	30-04-2002 06:42									#98
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Yes...it's interesting how that worked out, Arrian. In high school, I was...eccentric, I suppose, but of course, in high school, that was labelled as "wierd" and so I was never very popular.

In college, I didn't change the first thing about myself, but suddenly, "eccentric" was cool, and I found myself having to leave half an hour early for classes so I could "make the circuit" and still get to class on time.

THAT was quite the eye-opener for someone who went through four years, essentially alone.

I still have fond memories of my first few days of college. The campus staff was holding a dance to celebrate the start of the new year....my roommate and I went, but found it too...stifling. Too many campus security officers and other assorted staff around keeping an eye on things, so we retired to the lobby after about half an hour. I ran up to the gas station, bought a couple decks of cards, and started amusing myself with the handful of magic tricks I knew.

As people would enter, we'd try to warn them about the dance....most didn't listen and went in anyway, only to come out thirty minutes or so later and hang out with us.

Several more decks of cards and a supply of drinks appeared, along with a few radios, and before long, there were more people in the lobby hangin' with us than there were in the dance.

Eventually, security ordered us to leave cos we were "disrupting the festivities" so we retired to the dorm room, smuggled in some beer, and stayed awake for three days partying.

Good stuff, that....and the start of a whole new adventure for a much younger Vel....

-=Vel=-
(who had a good bit more hair back then)

	30-04-2002 06:44									#99
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Albert...no need to fight back. In the end, all I had to do was stand up and set my jaw. The billowing black coat and sheer size did all the rest, and the few times that more was required....well, I found that I could rely on the floating rumor that I was at least half insane....most people don't push a wookie, you know....wookies tend to rip arms out of sockets and such....

-=Vel=-
(or, at least that's the rumor)

	30-04-2002 06:46									#100
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I find it amusing that the guy who doesn't ask out girls is telling people to grow a spine

	30-04-2002 06:47									#101
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You know, I hadn't really thought about that, but you make an exquisite point, Sir David!

-=Vel=-

	30-04-2002 06:49									#102
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If I knew Albert Speer at school, I'd definitely bully him. He is such an arse

	30-04-2002 06:51									#103
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quote: You know, I hadn't really thought about that, but you make an exquisite point, Sir David!

I'm David Floyd. Sir David is another poster

quote: If I knew Albert Speer at school, I'd definitely bully him. He is such an arse

You think he likes arses, too, or is that just Mike? Should we check with Spink on that one?

	30-04-2002 06:52									#104
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Besides, you bully bums, Matt

	30-04-2002 06:54									#105
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You got to handle females different from males. Females don't respond to a show of strength, etc.

	30-04-2002 06:56									#106
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Well, the principle still applies - courage and all that

Enough of this threadjack! Gah!

	30-04-2002 07:03									#107
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JUST FIGHT BACK...

Don't be scared about punishment like I was. 95% of the time, assuming you're not the aggressive one, you'll never get in trouble.

the whole point in bullying really is to get the bullied person to fight back. It gives the weaker people strength


thanks

	30-04-2002 07:04									#108
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I agree - the few times I fought, I never got in trouble, and problem solved.

	30-04-2002 07:06									#109
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Albert....I would have to disagree. Bullies aren't out there doing some altruistic social good...lol...they don't want people to fight back. Truth is, when someone starts to fight back, they'll usually lay off, cos they're looking for lambs, not lions.

It's true, fighting back will, 90+% of the time make a bully back off...I don't take issue with that part of what you said....just that the way you said it made it sound like bullies were social workers for the courage-impaired. lol

-=Vel=-

	30-04-2002 07:08									#110
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Oh, you're right, Vel - I didn't notice his last line...

	30-04-2002 07:13									#111
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Looking back, I was mainly bullied by kids who wanted to be my friend and they felt I had rejected them for some reason. I could be very oblivious to those kinds of feelers.

	30-04-2002 09:48									#112
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quote: Bullies aren't out there doing some altruistic social good...lol...they don't want people to fight back.

ugh..i think mine did. the more i'd fight back, the more they seemed to ENJOY it. and if i ignored it, they'd push me till i exploded.

	30-04-2002 09:58									#113
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quote: ugh..i think mine did. the more i'd fight back, the more they seemed to ENJOY it. and if i ignored it, they'd push me till i exploded.

Yeah - generally ignoring bullies doesn't work. Hell, it didn't work for me.

	30-04-2002 10:11									#114
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and then in the middle of it all your friends turn around and join the damn ****ing bullies. sorry. *slouches like calvin*

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	30-04-2002 10:13									#115
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quote: and then in the middle of it all your friends turn around and join the damn ****ing bullies. sorry.

Yeah, two faced bastards suck...I've known a few in my day.

quote: *slouches like calvin*

Slouching is bad for the back

	30-04-2002 10:37									#116
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Image of Albie Speer terrorized by nerds is quite, quite precious.

	30-04-2002 10:39									#117
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Don't be quite so smug Stefu - I've seen your pictures

Just playin'

	30-04-2002 10:44									#118
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Actually as a kid I was very much like Calvin. I'm sure that won't come as a surprise.

	30-04-2002 10:44									#119
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You founded Calvinism?

	30-04-2002 11:04									#120
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Actually, I was picked on a lot back in the junior high days. And you know what? I NEVER resorted to physical violence. Ever. And I'm damn proud of it. I took my lumps, did some (private) tears, and so forth.
Fighting back never solves anything. Stepping up for yourself dosent nessesarily equal violence. After all, once you leave that pubesent gladiatorial arena commonly reffered to as public school, fighting is never used to solve differences, even when some of the people involved are still at a 7th grade mentality.