Or perhaps it is this:

I always hated my fraternity, but living there was unavoidable. Only the geeks lived in the dorms. In the fall of 1973 the U.S. still fought in Vietnam, but the war held little interest and less attraction for a group of future engineers studying at MIT. At 6:30 every night, we took a vote -- what to watch on television -- and every night, Cronkite lost -- to "Star Trek."

The straw poll concluded, some twenty or thirty of us gathered in the living room ringing a 27" RCA television (what work had gone into the purchase of that appliance -- research, cost comparison, competitive bids). Though leather would have been better, black Naugahyde was all we could afford, and couches covered by the stuff were filled with brothers jammed shoulder to shoulder. The room was blue, on the walls hung copies of the work of famous impressionists. The upperclassmen said it gave the room class. I always thought the pictures a sham. Take them away and you'd expose us for what we really were: a bunch of little boys, their first time away from home, pretending to be adults.

This man comes from a privileged background, obviously bright, motivated enough to study at a science and engineering school. What you do not know is that just before the Thanksgiving break of his sophomore year, he failed every mid-term he took, forcing him to withdraw from the school. At the same time, his parents died in a car accident, and his father's business partner absconded with all the money from the company till (he sent a postcard from Antigua with a lame apology).

This man has problems!!