Standing up to bullies was something I was always on the fence about. On the one hand, my fr-er-acquaintances kept urging me to do so, and not allow myself to be such a pushover . . . on the other hand, my parents wouldn't let me stand up to bullies, because they said that would just be asking for more trouble and make me an even bigger target. So, I never really knew what to do.
I do remember I started up an "Insult Journal" at the beginning of Grade 7, much like Raymond had a bruise journal that one time on EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, where I would actually document who insulted me, what they said, and when they said it . . . I planned on going over the whole thing by the end of the year just to see the sheer amount of crap I had to put up with, but I think like a quarter of the way into the school year or so, somebody snatched it away from me in class, and started passing it around, which, obviously, didn't do me any favors . . . in fact, the teacher asked to see me after class, and thought my keeping an insult journal would only make me feel ever worse about myself, and urged me to just forget about it; I explained to her that was not the case at all, but did as she suggested, and just dropped the whole thing.