Ok sorry i've been absent. John's home and that always takes me down a bit. I saw this on the news and felt I had to share this.
I hate sexual predators. I feel they deserve death. I especially hate teachers who prey on their students. I feel sorry for the victims they leave in their wake.
That being said.
The Student who was molested by this teacher is the luckiest boy alive.
I know I know. If this was reversed I'd be calling for the male teacher to hung up by his private parts.
But as a former 14 year old boy myself , let me say to the victim, "Way to go son. You won a victory for every 14 year boy who ever lived." CNN showed a full body photo of her. She belongs in Playboy after she serves her 5 years in jail for making this kid the envy of every other boy in school.
I'm sure any women are seething about this. But trust me if the jury on this trial has even one kid who stared at his teacher with lust, it'll be a hung jury.
Now before you think ill of me, no it not just because this was a boy having sex with a older woman that I think this. It's a boy having sex with an incredibly hot older woman.
If this was just some plain everyday looking woman I'd be saying lock her up and throw away the keys.

Camp part two
After I was dropped off at camp by my police escort, I was herded with all the other boys milling around into the large central cabin for breakfast. The Cabin had the name Robin Hood in huge letters over the large double doors. While eating the dry cereal they gave us (one flavor, corn flakes, no sugar) we were given the rules. I didn't pay any attention. I was already trying to figure out how to get out of there and get home.
After I was done eating one of the camp workers started passing out postcards from the camp. We were all supposed to write "cheerful" messages back to our loved ones and let them know we were having a good time. I raised my hand.
" What if we are not having a good time, or haven't made up our mind yet? I mean after all we just got here."
The man in front ignored me and kept talking. "The first thing we'll do every morning is write a postcard. You can write as many as you like. We'll review each one to make sure nothing.....Inappropriate is there." I looked at my empty postcard. I thought about what to write. After a few seconds I wrote one line and handed it in.
The rest of the speech was about how why we all did questionable things in the past we would all learn valuable skills, and how to be better citizens. Hopefully we would all learn the value of community, and that we should respect the law.
Good god I thought, what did these kids do to be sent here?
The man finished his speech with, "Any questions ?"
I raised my hand again. He looked at me a second and finally pointed in my direction.
"Don't you think it's funny that you're telling us to repect the law, in a cabin named for one of the most famous criminals in history?"
Again my question was ignored.
Another younger man began reading off names and giving us cabin assigments. I was given the Little John cabin. This turned out to be good. It was just 20 feet away from the main cabin where the camp directors slept. And where the only phone was.
After we got to the cabin, the counsler in charge of it came up to me and said, "You need to write a new postcard."
"Why?"
"You wrote", he said looking at my postcard,"Get me out of here! We like to keep our messages back home more upbeat. If you could write something about having a good time and that you miss them or something we'd appreciate it."
I sat on my bunk and wrote, "Really another one of your great ideas Dad. I can't tell you how I feel about being here. Love Tom". I addressed it and handed it back. The counsler looked at it and said, "Much better!"
"What's your name", I asked.
"Little John", he said smiling.
"No really".
"You are to call me Little John." He smiled even more. He turned around and walked out the cabin.
"Oh God," I thought to myself, "I'm in hell."
Within five minutes of him walking out I was beaten up by the other kids. My hat was stolen and my overnight bag was gone though for any money. (I kept it all in my sock. No one was stupid enough to look in there.) I lay on my bunk thinking, "It's going to be a real long two weeks."

Camp part one.
I was very excited about going away to summer camp. I had never been away from home for any length of time before. (Unless you consider the almost 5 months I spent in the hospital after Steve shot me. Not the most fun time to be had.) My best friend George was always being sent away to camp or various other places. He seemed to enjoy himself.
So after Dad exiled John and Geno for what he called, "Acting like inbreed Missouri hicks", (Mom and her family are from Missouri) I began to prepare to go to camp.
Dad had been told by people he worked with at the Park Police in Kewanee about the camp. Apparently he had been complaining about the,"Slacked jawed yokels pretending to be his son's" one day. He said he'd like to just ship them all away for a few weeks and get some peace and quiet. One of Dad's friends an actual Police Officer overheard Dad and told him about the summer camp, "Camp Sherwood Forrest". He said it sounded like a great place to send me for a couple of weeks.
Dad was skeptical at first. "How much would it cost?"
"It's free."
"Sign him up!" Dad actually smiled when he told me about it.
He still smiles about it.
It may not of cost any money for me to go, but I'll admit Dad spent quite a lot of money to buy me things to take with me. I got a new fishing pole, and tackle box, new clothes to wear, and even a new hat.
Which still puzzles me. I've never been a hat person.
But I'll admit I loved this Hat. It had the Enterprise on it.
The day before I left it stormed out. Hail fell from the sky and tore my Mom's garden to shreds. It turned out there was one of the biggest Tornado outbreaks in the midwest's history that day.
"Maybe God's trying to tell you something", my sister said. She was always trying to ruin anything I enjoyed. I just ignored her. Dad told me to get to bed. I had to be up at 6 to get ready to leave.
I barely slept at all that night I was so excited. I was afraid that if I fell asleep, Dad would oversleep and I wouldn't get to go.
At 5.30 I could wait anymore and began to get up and get ready. Very loudly I might add. At 6.30 Dad and I left the house. I looked forward to two weeks of fun away from my family. I was so happy to be leaving I didn't even pull any mean last minute pranks on Rose.
Dad and I drove in his car to the police station. Dad looked around with a slight frown on his face. "I guess this is where the bus is leaving from." We went in and Dad talked to a police officer sitting at a desk. I didn't hear what was said. I was too busy looking around at the cells in the back. I remember thinking, "I bet this is where Geno is going to end up."
Dad turned around and said, "Ok this is where I leave you. You'll get a ride in just a few minutes." Dad looked at me, clearly uncomfortable, and said "Um....You be good....Have a ....Good time......Bye." And with that he was out the door.
I smiled. I knew with Dad gone I was one step closer to going to camp, where I had visions of sitting by a lake shore fishing all day.
After about 10 minutes of impatiently waiting for a bus to pull up a squad car drove up with another boy in the back. The officer got out and looked at me and said, "You the other boy going to Camp Sherwood Forrest?"
I smiled and nodded. "Well get in. We don't have all day." He opened his trunk and I put my stuff in. I jumped in the back of the squad car with a big smile on my face. The little boy next to me obviously didn't appreciate going to summer camp as much as I did. He sat next to me with a big frown on his face. I tried talking to him about how cool it was going to be. I even offered to share my fishing pole with him, because I didn't see one in the trunk for him.
From his lack of response all I could tell was he didn't like fishing.
I tried a different subject.
"Isn't it cool we get to ride there in a police car?" I leaned forward. "Hey officer can you turn on the lights and siren?" Both the Cop and the Boy next to me looked at me like I was insane.
Trying yet another subject I looked at the boy next to me and asked, "So you ever been here before?"
He looked down at the floor of the car and muttered softly, "Yeah."
"Wow, it must be a great place if you want to go back."
"Nah they're making me."
"Ah", I said. It became obvious that this must be some kind of mamma's boy who didn't want to leave home. The rest of the ride was spent in silence.
I was just about to nod off in the backseat when the Police Officer said, "Here we are boys."
I looked out the window and saw the sign. A big smile grew on my face.
"WELCOME TO CAMP SHERWOOD FOREST" My smile faded.
In slightly smaller letters the bottom of the sign read, "For troubled youths."
Suddenly the next two weeks did not seem like they were going to be much fun.
"I'm going to kill Dad." I muttered to myself.

I started this in Feburary. I wanted to finish the whole story now, but was afraid everyone would forget by now about this. So I'm reprinting yet another blog (Hey it's summer, time for reruns.) Tomorrow I'll finally finish where I was going with this after 4 months.

TV can be a bad influence on a weak mind.
Directly across the street from us in Kewanee were two households that had a total of 7 Teenage girls. Three Draminski girls and four Shinkevich girls. This meant that during the summer of 1975 Geno and John couldn't walk out the front door without sticking their chests out and sucking in their stomachs. If one or more of the girls were actually outside sun bathing Geno and John would make excuses up to get into fights with each other just to try and impress those girls.
Geno and John could be laughing and joking with each other about something they saw on Monty Python or a movie they had seen, but the instant one of them saw a girl across the street they'd jump on the others back and begin to wail away. The minute the girl would vanish out of sight they'd stop and start talking again like nothing had happened.
As late spring progressed into early summer their bruises began to mount up. As did their ripped shirts and torn jeans. Everyone began to joke about how much they were fighting to impress the girls across the street. Dad had even began to take their fighting as routine. (However one time he did go outside and spray them down with a hose to make them stop.)
Everything began to get more then a little silly the day John watched an old movie from the 1950's called Ivanhoe.
Ivanhoe was one of those old movies about Knights and Jousting. (Actually it had a lot more to do with that, but all John saw were guys riding around on horses with long sticks slamming into other guys riding around on horses with long sticks.) At the end of the movie the hero and villain Joust over the fate of a woman they both love.
John thought that was just the coolest thing he had ever saw. The next day I saw him sitting outside on the back porch staring at his ten speed bike. I knew he was deep in thought because every now and then he would scratch his head and frown.
The next day everyone on our block was treated to the sight of John on his bike (Which he had spray painted silver with black letters that said Silverstreak) with a trash can lid for a shield and a push broom for a Lance racing against Geno on his old crappy bike with just an old mop for a lance. They started about 5 houses away from each other and peddled rapidly towards each other. With a loud bang they crashed into each other and John went flying from his bike.
Miraculously John was unharmed. (I know if I had been involved there would be a mop sticking out of my head to this day.) Geno stood over him and taunted him for falling off his bike. To my amazement the neighbor girls instead of seeing this as the heights of stupidity, actually seemed to be impressed with them. This of course just encouraged them on.
Soon Geno and John were "jousting " with their friends Charlie and Joe, the Lasky boys, and at least one of Vinny the Vampire's kids. (I know it would be a simple matter of looking up his real name, but for almost 30 years I've only thought of him as Vinny the Vampire so why change now?) Despite their best monkey like attempts of being safe, injuries began to mount. Black eyes and bruises soon began to spread among all the contestants. However the two worst injuries were not caused by themselves but by me.
My dog Duke would watch the jousting matches behind the fence in the back yard. His barking would get louder and louder as the day went on. One day for no apparent reason I can remember I let Duke out in the middle of one of the matches. It was Geno against Charlie. Duke ran straight for Charlie. When Charlie saw Duke heading straight towards him he began to peddle as fast as he could away from my dog.
Unfortunately for Charlie he was going up a slight hill.
And he was a little fat.
Duke pounced on Charlie and his ten speed and they all fell over in a loud crash. Charlie landed right on his face and didn't move. As my brothers and the other boys ran towards them Duke began to shake the bike's back tire back and forth in his mouth.
When my Mom and Dad found out what was going on they were furious. Dad suggested only brain dead idiots would crash bikes together on a busy street like we lived on. He demanded that they stop at once.
So of course the next day the jousting matches were held in the alleyway behind the house.
Again for no clear reason I can think of I did something very bad. I had gotten the idea from another movie called the Great Escape. I had already tried it out on my best friend George to great success. (Well for me anyway. George was less then thrilled.)
As Geno and John were racing towards each other down our alleyway I pulled tight a rope I had tied to a pole across the alley road. Geno ran smack into it. Unfortunately for Geno I had misjudged where it should go and it caught him right about the eyes. His head was pulled back and he went flying from his bike to the ground below him.
John saw the rope go tight in front of him and veered out of it's way. Sadly for John he steered his bike right into Dad's parked car.
I almost made into the back door before they caught up to me and began to beat the living crud out of me. Of course this was just the right time for Dad to look out the back door.
When it was all over we were all punished. I was punished for nearly decapitating one of my brothers. Geno was punished for still doing those stupid jousting matches. John was punished for still doing those stupid jousting matches and for putting a big dent into the side of Dad's car. I was punished once again for making John put a big dent into the side of Dad's car.
Mom and Dad decided they needed some time away from all of us. Of course them going on a vacation and leaving us at home wasn't even worth considering. So Geno and John were shipped of to stay with some relatives for a week or so. (Dad split them up. Geno went to one of Mom's brothers, and John went to one of Dad's brothers.) I was looking forward to going to one of my cousins house when Dad informed me I would be going to Summer Camp for two weeks.
I was stupid enough to think I might actually enjoy myself there.

ego and SUPER EGO

When I was a young man (16) I would often say, "I am Hernandez. That is enough!" in a dramatic way. (usually in a equallly dramatic Peter Pan type pose with my hands on my hips) What's odd is it gave me some weird sort of confidence to get though whatever the crisis of the moment was.
Latelty I've found myself thinking it again. And again it's given me a weird sort of confidence. My ego so long buried seems to have resurfaced with a vengeance. It's like an old friend that has been gone for years, yet once back is so comfortable.
I hope he sticks around this time.
My vertigo flared up recently. I refused to let it get the better of me and kept moving around thinking to myself, "I am Hernandez. This is nothing. I am Hernandez. That is enough to beat anything." I just wanted to make it though the day.
And not only did I make it though the day, I made it though the night and the next day as well.
I once saw a psychologist who told me that while I seemed to have no self esteem I had a huge Ego. I thought it was funny at the time.
But he was wrong. I was plenty of self esteem.
Just a lot more ego.
And pride in my family name.

was going to write something funny and witty.
but i've been told i am not funny or witty.
damn.

Enjanerd.......what happened to you?

Actual Conversation
I was getting some gas earlier today. While I was there I picked up a newspaper. Standing in line I began looking at the front of it. There was an article about the new Iraqi government. Behind me was an older man in his mid 50's. He saw the newspaper and made a loud hmmmph noise. I ignored him. He again made another noise. I still ignored him. Finally he said, "That's all Bullshit. We shouldn't be messing around with those godless communist over there."
Damn.
You see my big weak spot, is when someone says something so outrageously stupid I feel the need to respond. I turned around and said (with a smile on my face), "Actually they're not communist at all. And they are very religious. Some might even say fanatical so."
" Hmmmph. It's all an act. We should just blow those damn communist away." He leaned very close to me. "Those Godless communist." He said it like he dared me to correct me.
I looked at him for a second. Part of me just wanted to tell him what an idiot he was. But the more mature part reliezed that he was an idiot when he came in and he was going to be an idiot when he left. And there would be nothing I could do about it.
So instead of correcting him I smiled, paid for my gas and newspaper, and started to leave. The Idiot smiled and said, "Bet you think you're not so smart now."
I stopped at the door and lowered my head. I let out a little sigh then turned and smiled back at him.
"Actually I was thinking you were an idiot when you came in, and you're going to be an idiot when you leave." I smiled even more. "But you have a great day."
And before he could say anything else I left.
Sometimes I wonder why people don't like me more.