There are two definitions of "mania:"
The common definition is "excessive excitement or enthusiasm; craze;" as in "Brazil has a mania for soccer."
The medical definition is "Mental illness marked by periods of great excitement or euphoria, delusions, and over-activity."
I guess you'll have to decide which one fits this story.
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I was born a fraternal twin. Rob, my twin, came out of our mother's womb first officially at 11:57 p. m.; I, Dave, came out eleven minutes later officially at 12:08 a. m. so we have different birthdays. It just so happens that Rob was born on December 31, and me on January 1, so not only are our birthdays different, but even our birth years. This accident of birth was quite prophetic, however, because Rob and I could not be much more different.
About the only things that Rob and I have in common are that we have the same color hair and we're the same size, and essentially - with minor deviations for growth spurts - always have been. As adults we're both 6 feet ½ inch tall, and weigh 171 pounds, give or take 5 pounds depending upon the time of day or year.
Rob is, and always was, better looking, smarter, more athletic, more outgoing, and more popular than I am or was. He was class salutatorian in High School while all my grades were average; he was the starting point guard on the basketball team while I was the team manager (towel boy); he can bench press close to 300 pounds while I can bench close to 150; he was Homecoming King while I had to take a female cousin to the Homecoming Dance because I couldn't get a date; he has a big cock while I have one slightly smaller than what I've heard is average; women have always swooned over him but not so with me. Now, with both of us at thirty years old, he has a B. S. from Princeton and an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business Management while I have medical lab technician associate's degree from Harper Community College; he makes in the mid six figures while I make in the mid five figures; he lives in a mini-mansion with an Infinity pool in the back yard while I live in what could most charitably be described as a "starter house" with a mud hole in the back yard.
In view of all of these differences, you would think that I was jealous, surly and beaten down and that he was arrogant, pompous, and cheerful. In fact while he is cheerful all of the rest of these characteristics have not shown themselves (except some jealousy on my part that has recently crept up). Rob was always kind to me throughout the times that we lived at home, during summers when he came home from college, and after we both started working in the same metropolitan area; in fact you might even say he was "protective" of me. Anyone he was associated with who treated me badly he no longer associated with, so I wasn't bullied. He has always treated me nicely and never condescended. I was even best man at his wedding, and he was at mine - of course the toast that he gave at my reception was much better than the one I gave at his, but no one brought that up because Rob would not have liked them to.
So what does all of this have to do with mania? Actually it probably started as a fixation, morphed into an obsession, and finally became a mania, so I'll start at the fixation stage.
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When I first met Rob's college girlfriend Cathy I was actually speechless. In looks she's a 5 foot 5 inch version of Kate Upton, including boobs so big you wonder how she can walk without a back brace. In vivacious personality and kind-heartedness she's a clone of Kate Beckinsale. She's also almost as quirky as Lady Gaga, and as smart as Natalie Portman, with her B. A. from Princeton and M. A. from The University of Chicago. In reality she was a more ideal woman than anyone I could possibly have imagined, and I quickly fell head-over-heels for her. Always kind to me, Rob interceded on my behalf with Cathy and got me out of my tongue-tieidness (is that a real word?) and smoothed things over so that I actually learned to talk to Cathy although I always remained star struck.
Rob and Cathy were very compatible, despite Cathy's quirkiness, which Rob didn't share - at least I didn't think that he did. Their politics were the same, ideas about social activities, where they wanted to live, almost everything. About the only two things that they were miles apart on were opera and football. Cathy loved opera and Rob hated it with a passion. Rob loved football, and Cathy hated it even more than Rob hated opera.
Rob and Cathy married the year that they both got their masters' degrees, and I couldn't be happier because that meant that I could get to often be in Cathy's ethereal aura. After every time that I saw her I had the greatest masturbation session that night!
At the time of Rob's bachelor party, a couple of weeks before his nuptials, there was an incident that got me closer to Rob than ever, and for once it was me who did the gracious thing instead of Rob. The groomsmen had seen to Rob getting plastered, and one minor (it's minor now because after that night it never happened again) problem he had was getting aggressive when he had too much to drink. I never really drank much - I simply would nurse a single beer an entire night, or pour out half before getting another one, just to fit in.
Another drunk at a night spot we were at goaded Rob into a fight, and even though drunk Rob nailed the sucker, knocking him flat and dislodging two of his teeth. Before the bouncers got there I switched sport jackets with Rob, my plain drab blue one for his sparkly green one (he's also a clothes horse), and told the groomsmen to get Rob the hell out of there through a side door, which they quickly did. Meanwhile I went up to the prone asshole and pretending to assist him rubbed the blood from his mouth and teeth onto my knuckles and even intentionally cut one of my knuckles on one of his teeth.
When the bouncers arrived they inspected my right hand, and I admitted to hitting the prone asshole, and they held me for the cops. The unconscious drunken asshole was taken away by ambulance. My mindset was that if a criminal record came of this it would have less effect on my career than Rob's, and they couldn't collect any money from me because I didn't really have any whereas they could potentially get big bucks from Rob.
The cops arrested me even though some other drunken nightclub patrons who were nearby told them that the other guy had picked the fight (apparently the prone bastard wasn't liked by others there). Fortunately the only sober groomsman, who had come back after Rob was whisked away. got the witnesses' names and phone numbers.
To make a long story short, Rob bailed me out the next day. The prosecutor dropped the criminal charges after a month in large part due to the statements from the other nightclub patrons who had developed so much animosity toward the prone asshole that they stretched the truth in my favor. The asshole settled a civil suit against me within six months because he found out that I didn't have any money and the witnesses were willing to stretch the truth for me at the civil trial too. Rob gave me $1,500 to pay the asshole off.
Needless to say, Rob was extremely grateful but I told him that it was the least that I could do for him after how well he had always treated me.
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