What were you like as a teenager?

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Sorry to hear your Mum died. Were your parents Christians? If you ever need to, I can explain things in a non-religious way? My Mum has a big vocabulary. She was reading and writing from 18 months old, and could fluently read and write by 3 years old.. and at 3 she was taking books out of the library to read... and by the time she was six she had read a lot of the adult books in her local library... She is like a walking dictionary... She is also an author, and if she needed to, she tends to be able to learn western languages without any issues.
It was expected that I would follow suite, but me and languages... Forget it! My English isn't great either! If it wasn't that my Mum is such a great teacher, I would not have much of an English vocabulary at all! (My Mum is a natural patient teacher, but she has never done teaching if that makes sense? It was her Mum taught both her and her older sister to read and write quite early in age. They lived next door to a library which I believe her aunt ran.
Though my qualities and my Mums are in different areas, I do think a lot like she does. Very different to how my Dad thought. If I am found to have asperges, my Mum also has it, and I believe my dad was a NT. I used to marvel how my dad could befriend people so quickly as if they had known each other for years.

I owe my love of books and writing to my mother as well. She taught me to love books and music from a very young age. I don't think I would have learned English if not for her. A teacher said I was stupid and would never learn English. I wound up getting a Master's Degree and all of my jobs have involved the use of language in some capacity (teaching, writing, proofreading and library work.)

Uptight and socially awkward

Same as now

Except stupider now

Thank you Mountain Goat, I'm not actually sure what things you mean but I appreciate the sentiment. My mum died quite a while ago, so it's not as painful to talk about it as maybe people expect. Also we weren't very close, to put it fairly bluntly. To answer your question, my parents were both Catholics and my mum was devout to the point of obsession.

As a teenager, I was obsessed with various countries. I went through phases where I studied everything I could get my hands on about Japan, Spain, Argentina and England.

I haven't changed much in that regard. I'm still fascinated with learning about different cultures today. I am still interested in Spain, Argentina and Japan, because of the tennis players from those countries. Denis Istomin also led me to research Russia and Uzbekistan. I don't think I would have paid too much attention to Uzbekistan if I hadn't become an "IstominFan."

It is the fifth anniversary of the day I became a fan of Denis Istomin.

I don't know what I'm like

I managed to be bullied by my peers without getting any sympathy from those in authority. For all I know, teachers, coaches etc. thought I deserved the bullying. In my senior year, a kid one grade below me (I was still 16 at that time) sucker-punched me in a stairwell and knocked me unconscious for a moment. I would think that nowadays somebody would call an ambulance in that situation, whereas nobody at any level showed any concern as I recall. He did this because I had tried to stand up to him.

I was very social and sort of a "bohemian" type of person. (as someone told me) Needless to say that was all an elaborate act

Things with my peers became sour when I reached my teenage years. Prior to that, it wasn't too bad, perhaps because most children are 'unworldly' to varying extents in the first decade or so of their lives.