Approaching Birthday

Mostly crude things: pinching, tripping, adulteration of food substances and clothing, etc. My experiences at school roused some reflexes that I'd rather not have had roused in this lifetime, but did very quickly make it impossible for those tricks to work on me. And some of my allegedly adult relatives seemed to consider it perfectly acceptable to amuse oneself at someone else's direct expense. I also didn't really need my verbal equivalent of a thermonuclear arsenal roused up before my ethics grew in, but eventually most of my less-civilized relatives learned not to push the big red button. I learned to stay safely out of reach and, when I became old enough to have a say, stopped spending time with such people.

Current friends and family understand the operating parameters better, for which I am duly appreciative.