It's funny, you know? This story's hero could almost have been the kind of person who is smarter than the jocks, solves everything with a slide-ruler and sarcasm, and never bothers to examine his relationship to the "normal" world and why he feels rejected by it. An internet meme might have him wearing a fedora. Instead, we have someone who has basically traded all that in for sort of a modern path to enlightenment I guess. Non-attachment to ego, and a self-knowledge and acceptance that allows him to bring compassion (albeit a charmingly world-weary version of compassion) to his interactions with the beings of the world.
I like this story. The guy's a good role model.