Here is where I will tell some true stories about things that have happened to me that might explain how I got into the condition I'm in. Maybe someone will copy these experiences and end up as cool as me someday because of it.

• How I keep from drowning.
  
• A touching tale about the day I got Weird.
  
• One of those things that will occasionally keep me up at night.
  
• Georgia Tech sucks. I want them to die.
  

I remember once when I was in about the fifth or sixth grade and was over at a neighborhood kid's house to play. He had this big toy fort with all the army guys, standard equipment for that age of course. We got into some sort of argument over who got to be which side or something, and I remember his mom asking what the problem was. I'll never forget the way the other kid said "Mike doesn't want to do it the right way! He won't go with the flow!" and I remember thinking that that was all he did, go with the flow. Well, I never did go with the flow, and I still don't, whether it's by choice or just cluelessness. I'm pretty damn glad too. Had I gone with the flow, I would have been just like all the other people out there who never learned to think for themselves. I would have been conditioned to believe everything I hear on the assumption that if somebody writes it, types it, or says it it is true. I would have accepted that the radio plays all the good music, because if music is good they will play it. I would have backed down every time I had an idea nobody else understood or cared about. I would have given up on life long ago. If that is the life of those who go with the flow, well then let me drown fighting the current, at least I will get some exercise while I postpone being swept over the dam.

Illegitimus Non-Carborundum: Don't let the bastards wear you down.

A pivotal point in my childhood came, of all places, in Mr. Stutz's 8th-grade physical science class. One day, for some reason I can't find other than divine intervention, I decided not to be picked on anymore. I was always that nerdy kid who was way smarter than almost everyone else and had the self-esteem of a rutabaga. So of course, I got picked on a lot. So one day as the usual gang of idiots (not to incriminate the fine crowd at Mad magazine) was hurling the usual string of insults, for some reason I decided to change tactics. I actually started calling *myself* a weirdo. It was really weird at first, I had spent my entire life up to that point trying to convince everyone else I was not weird or a freak or whatever the name of the moment was. And here I was saying "Yep, I'm weird!" But something important happened then. For the first time in my life, I was the one who was saying what I was, not the other kids. Which soon led to me becoming cognizant of the fact that I was whom I wanted to be, not who they wanted me to be. I still had plenty of problems with some kids of course, but I found that "Mike the Weird" was somebody that was different... in a good way. While the kids picked on me for being smart, the teachers encouraged it and I bet they noticed it coming out more after I decided to just go with it. I had the "weirdo" label all through high school, even after I moved away from where I spent my 8th and 9th-grade years. The freedom I found in trying to be different has made me a better person overall, I think. At times it really got annoying to those around me, I guess it still does at times. But I have also done a lot of things because it seems so natural to be different. When I have an idea that is unusual, when I think of something that most people don't understand, I don't feel bad about it, I know better than to disregard it. If it is a stupid idea, which sometimes happens, I have lost little or nothing. If it's a good idea, then I gain something. But I will never again let those around me tell me what I am or am capable of. And that is how it should be.

Also about the time I became weird, I had my first encounter with the opposite sex. A girl in my English class that sat next to me came up to me before school one morning as I sat in the cold winter wind with a couple of friends, and said "Would you go out with me?" Now this was something I had never even remotely thought about... like I said, I had the self-esteem of a vegetable at the time. I was caught so off-guard I said the first thing that popped into my mind, "Is this a joke?" I really thought somebody had thought it would be funny to get her to say that to me. Unfortunately, well, it was no joke. She mumbled something about "why do you think I'm always staring at you in class?" and I can't remember what I said next but it wasn't exactly a "Yes, let's go out." Soon after, I realized that I really wanted to say that, she was both beautiful and smart. But by then, I had hurt her feelings pretty badly and I was so painfully shy that I never was able to even apologize to her for it. In fact, I felt good for a little while that she asked me but I don't think we spoke for the rest of the year. To this day, I think about that whole awkward mess and really feel bad for doing that to her. I kind of wish that I could find her and apologize, even after all these years, for not taking her seriously that cold day. I'm sure she eventually got over it but I just wish I could set the record straight. Over the years I haven't gotten too much better in dealing with women, I always mean well but never seem to know what to do. Then again, I've been told that the majority of people in the world feel that way too, so just maybe there is still some hope.(?)

I hate the Georgia Institute of Technology. They recently took me to court for a loan which their dumb-ass people forced students into signing (either that or be kicked out of school... I was dumb and chose the loan, which was my only "crime"). These deferment loans were only started as a way to engineer a moneymaking opportunity for the school. My loan was completely and fully repaid, on time even, yet they absolutely refused to show me any of their records about it when I so requested them to. I have receipts for most (not all) of my payments, the amount I don't have is only because they transferred the money internally and wouldn't give me anything to state that (even when I requested it). Then they let it sit for years, as if all was OK, and suddenly they took the whole fabricated affair to some sleazeball lawyer and then took it to Brevard County small-claims court without ever showing me anything showing that I owed them any money. They also never contacted me that they were going to take it to court (which I was actually kind of hoping they would do, since GT sure as hell weren't interested in fixing their own mistake) yet they did it anyway and had me found in default. All without EVER having notified me of the lawsuit (which I certainly had defenses against). I found out that all of this happened well after the fact. GT is operated by the biggest bunch of sleazy, scummy, smelly, law-breaking, lying, hypocritical rotten bastards that ever disgraced this earth. I hope that every single employee of the Financial Aid and Bursar's offices all die a slow, horrible, painful, agonizing death in public involving stoning, disembowelment, fire, excrement, and whatever else anyone can think of that will hurt a lot and shame their entire inbred lineage. I want them to wish they had never been born. Then I hope I can piss on their nearly-lifeless bodies before I kick them in the face a few times and send them along on their direct journey into Hell. All that won't quite make up for what they've done to me and many others, but it might make us all feel a little bit better about life and the state of justice in the world. If you have had a similar experience with GT, or are a lawyer interested in helping, please contact me as I am seriously considering a lawsuit and suspect there are many others out there they have tried to jerk around. Nothing is beneath them (except perhaps the fires of Hell from which they came).

DECEMBER 1997 UPDATE:
Well, it's gotten even worse. The attorney (and, being the nice pushover kind of guy I am, I'm far too restrained to let anyone have a VIEW or show themTHE SOURCE or a CODE for figuring out who brought this on, would I now?) showed up at the second evidentiary hearing with the process server in tow. The server, with the attorney's encouragement, then proceeded to lie, lie, and lie some more about having served me subpoenas for this lawsuit back in mid August. Yes, I said lie, as in perjury, as in lying to the Court after being sworn to tell the truth. When he came by in November to make this little ruse possible, the server even mentioned in passing that the lawyer he worked for was a bloodsucker... that's like the pot calling the kettle black, if you ask me. As far as I have seen, this bastard is an absolute and complete liar, and I am not one to call people things like that. But this is personal... his perjury has convicted an innocent person, namely me!! At least with an actual lawyer, lying is generally to be expected. But a process server? My God, what has this world come to. He willingly, knowingly, and I must add colorfully lied to a court of law in order to cover his own ass, and ended up destroying my life for the foreseeable future as a consequence, even though I have done no wrong. Not that it matters to him I suppose, it's not his problem so why should he be bothered to admit that I was never served, or even to state that he just didn't remember? He didn't complete the affidavit of service until after the judge had expressed concern to the attorney in the first hearing over having a very incomplete affidavit of service (no description or service method was indicated.) So Mr. Lying Process Server Bastard magically shows up at my apartment a week or so later to deliver another subpoena, and simultaneously files an amended affidavit of service for the first nonexistent service where the description of me matches exactly with the one for that visit. Then he got into court and claimed that he caught me coming down to my car at 7:05 AM on a Monday morning. Bullshit. I am never out of bed until about 7:45 AM and I certainly don't go to my car before 8:15, especially on a Monday morning. Anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I absolutely despise early mornings, almost as much as I despise GT. And of course, he added all sorts of fabricated details about this meeting (such as his statement that it was dark out? After sunrise?? I think not!) Well, for some unknown reason, the Judge found nothing abnormal in this and refused to hear my evidence about how GT has orchestrated a long list of outright lies and fabrications, and refused to entertain any suggestions that just maybe I was not a deadbeat jerk and I really did pay this back. I have evidence that any reasonable person would look at and be absolutely sick over, knowing that it wasn't allowed to be presented. But GT knew they could never win in a fair trial, so they did whatever was necessary to tilt the odds in their favor. Because GT has no morals and is willing to seek out a bunch of liars and crooks to go and chase people like me whom they know don't even owe them any money (but had the misfortune of needing financial aid to attend college, so they could make up whatever "records" they need to extort money from them at a later time), and because they have a large, very powerful base of lawyers and politicians to keep their extortion machine well oiled, they just keep going and folks like me keep paying the price. So now I'm left having my salary legally stolen from me, looks to be about $4K worth for now (could change at any time of course if they decide that they aren't happy with that amount), until they get back whatever price they have arbitrarily named. My receipts, due process, and rights be damned. And watch out folks, in small claims court, there is little if any chance of appeal once there is a judgement, and they certainly were able to engineer a favorable judgement for themselves. Judges certainly don't want to overturn a previous verdict, I get this distinct impression that seeming to be right after the fact is much more important than a defendant's due process. But OTOH, the judge only sees what the sides tell them, which was definitely lopsided in this case... I can't hold too much blame for the Judge here. (It does annoy me that she didn't see through the Plaintiff's hoodwinking, but c'est la vie on that... that's what elections are for.) I got threatened with going to jail for contempt if I said any more about the lack of process, and my evidence never had a chance to be introduced. I am so disgusted with the American legal system (it's not a justice system, there is obviously no justice in it) that I can't even begin to describe it. They might get their money from me. Fine. I give up. They win, legally. Nobody ever said that life was fair. But when they all finally get what they so richly deserve and their little criminal world comes crashing down around their ears - whether associated with Georgia Tech or any of the rest of the folks who have made this travesty possible - I just hope I am around to watch and laugh. Hell, I hope I am there to help bring them down. I wonder if Mike Wallace or Sam Donaldson would want to know about this??

Oh, in case you are wondering about why I would say things like this about folks on the Net, here's how I see it. These folks know what kind of scum they are, and if they don't then it's time they were told. I can prove that I am not a liar, I have dozens of folks who will line up left and right and attest to my honesty. But I have had it and if showing them for what they are in public is what it takes, then I'm perfectly happy to do that... all else has failed. Personally I think they should all go to prison to be gang-raped, but that'll never happen I'm sure. But for now, I think the best thing, perhaps the only thing left, is to warn my many faithful readers about these cretins and their evil ways. It was either that or run over the bastards... nah, I hate scraping people out of my car grill... such a pain in the butt and I don't think my rustbucket car will withstand any more impacts. They'll get theirs someday... that's one of the only guarantees that is absolute in life, whether they know it or not!

*Whew!* I feel a little better now. Not much, but a little.

Want to read about a legal injustice that is even worse??.

Hits since Sept. 16, 1998