What the?

I am continually being made fun of. Usually it doesn't bother me that much, but lately, EVERYONE is getting on my nerves. My roommates are the main perpetrators in this crime. They don't understand that it really bugs me.

I am the oldest of seven children, and I hardly ever got teased. I never fought with my brothers and sisters, and I rarely teased them. I got along great with them. That's just how it worked in my family... at least for me (my brothers still fight). My best friend would sometimes make fun of me, but she never went overboard, plus she knew when to stop.

What a shock it was, then, when I moved away from home; left my sanctuary, to live with a bunch of girls that grew up in a different environment than I did. A few of them have older siblings that picked on them, so they had to learn to defend themselves. One was even sandwiched between brothers; she really had to defend herself. There are a couple who are the oldest... but their parents were the ones picking on them; teaching them to be mean.

The thing is, I know they only tease me because I am an easy target. How could it be any other way? No one ever taught me how to dish it back out! I don't know who I am mad at right now... the people of my childhood who could have taught me to be mean? my roommates who are forever having a laugh at my expense? myself, for taking it to seriously?

If I am truthful, I am usually okay with it, I have even learned a few dish-out tactics. But today I am just fed up with it all...