From 'Eccentricity'www.theseventhstarprojects.com/eccentricity.htmlChapter;www.theseventhstarprojects.com/new20.pdfI think I would have gladly continued to wander along on my own if not for the fact that eventually I would have to deal with the others, and that ‘eventually’ was February of 1998. The small pond I had been living in expanded a billion-fold when I discovered the Internet. On November 27th, 1997, I went online for the first time in my dad’s office. The first thing on my list to find: Carmen. By this time I was now under Her complete care, still not trusting the outside world for sustenance. Until then, information on Her had been hard to come by but now there was a chance to find more. Six hours had given me an impressive stack of reading material but it wasn’t until I found the Forum that the world shifted.I stumbled upon a forum of others also devoted to Carmen, a few even being semi-nursed by Her presence in their subconscious like I was, and I could talk to them all, so long as I could get online. I had no access from my house, so I resorted to the school’s computers. January gave me one month of my first sense of community. While this was going on, the school hired a new principal, Dr. F, who then proceeded to terrorize students and teachers alike.I remained blissfully unaware of him until one cold day he saw fit to take me on.I was informed that by posting on this forum I was breaking school policy and I was kicked off for the rest of the year. So I wrote a letter. After two weeks Dr. F told me that both he and the Superintendent had reviewed my request and denied it. It would have stopped there except that during a random chat with the superintendent (because people in power are fascinating), it was found that the super had never seen the note, and what’s more, demanded to see it now. The request was approved, and Dr. F was very angry.I hadn’t meant to go over his head, but he didn’t see it that way. The next day he pulled me out of class and threatened me should I ever think to go over his head again. It didn't matter to me. I still had the letter of approval.For two weeks I roamed the Net. On February 11th I met a fellow forumer named Seldavia (Beanie!) from Minnesota who would one day become the sunshine to my world. Shortly after I met her I was thrown off again by the library assistant. When confronted she gave no answers so I went to the Vice Principal and found that he heard no such thing. It was at this point that Dr. F interrupted our closed meeting to announce; a) That he told the assistant to shut me down and b) there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.It was like a villain spilling out the details of his diabolical plan to the heros for no reason. It would have been so easy to write me off as paranoid or a troublemaker, but I guess he was really confident that day. The Vice and I just stared at him, because yes, it really was that unbelievable. Then the Vice decided to help me beat him.During the final months of my Junior year, students, parents, and teachers began to give me fuel and information on the tyrant’s dealings. There was a movement underground and somehow I had become its figurehead. I was a perfect front, when you think about it. I was easily manipulated, had no fear or concept of authority, was over-emotional, reckless, persistent, and above all, disposable. I was only dimly aware of what the implications could be, nor do I think I would have cared if I had. Bad things were happening, and they must be stopped. Could there be any other way? The consequences of losing were never fully understood, which I suppose is why I took him on in the first place.But I did know something else, and that was how the humans worked. I had studied their structure, their interfacing, and I knew how to pull the strings.And in the end, we won.The full story is far more complicated than what I write here, but in the end it taught me what colouring outside the lines could do to the whole structure. I had achieved Power. Two months later, I achieved internet access through the middle school library, which, as far as I was concerned, was the bigger victory of the two.Second Edition Notes:Dr. F was finally caught in October of 2003 and brought up on charges of sexual harassment. He was fired from his post of assistant superintendent of schools in the next county. God willing, no one will be stupid enough to hire him again, but they probably will.