I am sure this will make many of you happy, especially Katina, who
seems to feel the need to harass me off list. Maybe she gets her
jollies that way.

I have been trying everything that everyone has suggested, but nothing
has worked. I have even tried looking for a wig, but the wigs for
guys leave a lot to be desired. They make you look like a real dork,
because they think all guys want to look like Used Car Salesmen (real
men have hair over their whole head and it hangs down past their
shoulders). I am still looking for something that works. I
appreciate the suggestions from all on the list. I have seen all
kinds of stuff about different creams, ointments, vitamins, etc.

What I have been looking for, and have not seen, is anything about how
people deal with the ignorant masses that treat them like crap.

I get irked by people treating me like crap in public, and others have
said it must be me. Look, I was having an intelligent conversation
with a raw food vendor (for my dog and Monitor Lizard) at the Pet Expo
that I went to. There was a couple standing there while the
conversation was taking place. They heard the whole thing, but yet
assumed I was "mentally challenged." When they said something about
"how nice it was that I am functional I am," I told them that it is
Alopecia Unversalis, and not Cancer. The woman looked embarrassed,
leaned over and whispered, "we thought you were retarded."

That's what I hate most about this disease, other than the fact that
it feels like I have a vice crushing my head all the time, and the
fact that I had had hair on my head for 42 years, and then God thought
it would be funny to rip my life apart. Then He has his "children"
ban you from their church services because they think its contagious,
or they demand that you say it was free will and you prayed and asked
for it. No offense, but God does make mistakes, and this disease is
proof.

As to why I feel I have nothing to smile about, it is primarily the
effect that this disease has had on my life.

I was happy before. I had a family, a home, and a career. I had a
glowing track record of 20+ years as a computer consultant, but now I
have been tagged with this disease, which is right out in the open for
all to see, and my credentials mean nothing.

I had to leave North Carolina, and go to Wisconsin to find some work.
It pays considerably less than what I had gotten before the AU, but I
had to take it. My best friend Betty and her kids have been my family
for over 16 years. I had to leave them behind, so I could find work
to keep a roof over their heads, and food on their table (none of the
kids' fathers do anything for them). Betty's eldest daughter is
married. Betty and the other three kids are staying in my house, so
they would not end up on welfare (like Katina more than likely is).
Betty is a manager for O'Charleys (so you don't think she doesn't work
for a living). I want it so her kids can have a stable home and go to
school. Her second daughter is a Senior in High School, and I want
her to follow her dream of going to college, so I have a college fund
that I set up years ago just for her to go to school.

When this crap hit, I lost the contracts first, because no one would
work with someone with this disease. I no longer had a professional
appearance (hat or no hat). Consulting firms would not hire me
anymore because I had this disease, and they told me so. They could
not market me. I tried going as an independent consultant, and no one
would let me in the door because of this disease. This is all
perfectly legal in NC, because this disease is not one of the
protected "sacred" diseases.

You probably don't understand why having to leave your family could
possibly make anyone angry. I guess, you think I should be doing
cartwheels. I am sorry, but I love Betty, and have been around her
kids most of their lives, and love them as if they were my own. (I am
so glad that the Klinefelters prevents me from parenting a kid,
because if I were to knowing pass this disease on to a kid, I would
have to turn myself in for child abuse, like my parents should.)

Finally, when I had my photos here, people complained that I wasn't
smiling. I have always hated having my picture taken, before and
especially after God gave me this disease. Anyhow, I stated that in
NC, they tell you not to smile for the Driver's License pictures. I
was called a liar by someone that has probably never been to NC, and I
can pretty much guess has never lived there. I have 10 friends that
back me up on what they tell you at the DMV Office in Graham, NC,
where all of us had gone to get our licenses renewed. The other
picture was one I took when fiddling with my web cam, because someone
else wanted a picture. I was looking down, because I was getting a
reflection of my PC in my glasses. I was not posing.

That's it. I'm through, and signing off.

Stein