Acumen: Riddling Life

26. Amsterdam, Netherlands

Day 25

The speed and chain of thoughts of two or more individuals must be in the same range, so they'd be able to tolerate one another easily. I very much believe in this statement.

Back in grade school, the first two years, I used to get annoyed if someone didn't understand a topic halfway through our teacher's explanation. Even in the advanced classes I took part in, the other kids that were slower than me -almost everyone- irritated me to the extent where one day I lashed out. By lashing out I mean I called the entire class stupid, in front of our teacher, and since it wasn't enough, I told our teacher she talks the way a hundred-year-old turtle would talk.

I also got suspended for it, kind of.

The school contacted my parents and ironically they both showed up, meaning I was in tremendous trouble, but deep inside I was overjoyed for getting so much attention from both of them at the same time. Only in the principle's office, Mom and Dad looked happy. Too happy. Dad even seemed proud.

I don't remember their words. Too occupied and astonished by my dad's reaction, ready to jump and fly with excitement.

That was my last day at school in my second grade.

We reached home, Mom and Dad skipped their own work schedules, something they'd never done before, and began making calls. Three days later I had five tutors for different subjects. They wanted to test my limits.

I enjoyed the spotlight. The sense of being special for Mom and Dad felt fantastic.

I became my parents' glimmering only child prodigy, the shining trophy.

They kept pushing, and I continued consuming. Up to the point where my parents readied themselves to send me off to MIT or Harvard at ten, to pursue an engineering degree, and then move on to medical science or something like that.

But my grandparents put a full stop to that plan. In fact, grandpa convinced Dad what they were doing might have negative feedback. And they should let me live as a child and should send me back to school. And that's what they did. That's when the bullying started.

From the glowing star that I was in my home, I dropped to an absolute zero; I guess it was too extreme for an eight-year-old kid.

On the bright side, consumed by cancer, grandpa passed away believing his youngest grandchild is a child prodigy. He didn't see how my life went downhill.

Throughout these years, I've come across two people who can put up with my speed of thoughts, my functioning process, and solve problems. The first, a guy -Timothy, who insisted that I call him Tim- in an international Math summer camp before junior year of high school. Eventually, Tim and I solved all our questions together, or tried to, I had to slow down sometimes which was a challenge.

The second is Adrien, which I found out and became certain back in college, two weeks after his breakup with Jennifer. In high school, I tried my best to stay clear of his path, even in the competitions we were teammates. However, at Stanford when we were studying for our midterms, I was trying to keep my agility in check but he was easily keeping up. So I started solving the problems with my usual way; it took him a few hours to get used to it -mostly to my unreadable handwriting- and then kept up with ease.

That's why it's easy to hang out with him for studying, or now that we're editing and fixing up Arianna's videos.

Throughout these years it has been proven to me I have a battery in my head. Not literally, but I'm sure there is a part acting similar to it. One of the sole reasons that led me to this messed up life, I call it the social battery.