Headphones

After the “chicken transaction” was complete and my soup was made I didn’t feel like doing much of anything except for watching the football game on television. As I sat down next to a member of the dorm who just joined us on Saturday, I put on my new headphones in order to hear the television. This new dorm member looked around at everyone who had headphones and back at me; he asked me how he could get a pair. This seeed like a very innocent question; however, this dorm mate was of another race and I didn’t know how to answer the question properly. Fortunately, another dorm mate answered his question which was to see if he could borrow headphones from a member of his race. Unfortunately, for this inmate no one of his race had headphones to lend him. He was very disappointed when he heard this news.

I was disappointed because this dorm mate who resides two bunks down from me and who is an older gentleman (probably in his late 50’s) has been extremely nice to me since his arrival. In fact, as he was lying down in his bunk he saw me standing by my locker and when he saw me he let out a big smile and said, “You’re the guy who is always running outside”. Please keep in mind I have never seen this inmate until he moved into my dorm on Saturday. I sheepishly said, “Yes, that is me running around the track.” Then we proceeded to get into a discussion about running and exercising. He then told me he wants to start running because “I make it look too easy.” As soon as he said this I could feel chills running down my back (these were GOOD chills) and I said “Thank you and if you need any help please let me know.” I thought to myself do I really make it look easy and am I being an influence on other inmates because of my actions certainly without trying. Whatever the case this conversation made me feel very good because I am doing the right things and I am a good person.

Getting back to the beginning of the headphones story; I was certainly disappointed to learn this dorm mate was not going to receive headphones. I have an extra pair in my locker since I received my portable CD on Sunday. (By the way the portable CD comes with “ear buds” – essentially dual earphones without the headpiece which sit directly in the ears – me having smallish ears, the ear buds are a little large so it takes some adjusting to get them to stay in my ears but they are much better than the other pair which short out often.) I know offering this dorm mate my extra headphones would be against the inmate “rules” so I kept my mouth shut.

All night I was dwelling on how absurd it is that I cannot give this inmate something because of the “rules”. As I have written before I was going to practice good sense in situations like these because I have witnessed these “rules” being broken from time to time. I went to sleep still thinking about this – obviously for some reason this really bothered me but I knew I couldn’t put myself in jeopardy no matter how badly I felt. As usual I woke up around 6:00am and did my normal routine. I went into the television area to watch the morning news and I saw the “headphone less” dorm mate standing near his bunk. I noticed that everyone around him were either asleep or away from their bunk. When I noticed this I immediately went back to my locker (which was five feet away) and pulled out my extra set of headphones. I quickly checked one more time to see if anyone was looking (which they were not) and tapped this dorm mate on the shoulder. As he turned around I said “Here, these are for you” and handed him the headphones. I took him a little off guard because he had just woken up and certainly didn’t expect this. He took the headphones and said “thank you”. This took all of three seconds and I felt so much better. No one saw this and I believe I did practice good sense even though I broke one of the rules. Maybe if I didn’t have the running/exercise discussion with this inmate I probably would not have thought much about the headphone issue but I did and I did what I thought was right.

As I was returning back to the dormitory from breakfast this morning I saw the “Coach” and the lead Instructor. I needed to give them my information so they could get me on the list to become an Instructor. Fortunately I had this all written out and in my pocket so I made my way over to them. I gave them my information and the “Coach” told me there was one position open right now and three coming up very soon. He is finishing the current physical training class tomorrow so he doesn’t want to bring anyone on this week but a new class starts next Monday. He should be able to bring one person on next week and possibly bring me on the following week. We did talk about my status and he was concerned that once I was cleared that I would be placed into a training class right away. I told him about my paperwork delay and he said that could hold me up for 30 days but after that I could be ready to go into a class. Apparently, inmates with my status whether it is A1A or A1U are getting into classes very fast. This is good because it means I can get to fire camp faster but it is bad because the “Coach” doesn’t want to bring someone on only to have them leave in a month. Right now I am not too sure on when or if I will start as an Instructor. I should have a better picture of this next week, but whatever the case I do need those clearances so I can get to fire camp as quickly as possible.

I attended the training class which is given every morning and afternoon for those inmates preparing for the physical training class. No matter what happens I will continue attending this class because I need to stay present with all the instructors and the “Coach”. There is one particular Instructor who I have been somewhat friendly with and he was telling me about how the doctor has prescribed an energy drink for him because of all the working out he does and it is helping him maintain his weight. This would be something I need to talk to the doctor about and if I could get this it would be a great supplement to my vegetarian diet.

This week is a big week for dinner for me because tonight they are serving Salisbury steak. This is not actually steak it is soy. This is just like eating a soybean burger (aka Boca burger) so I can truly eat the entire meal. Also on Wednesday dinner is my favorite, pizza and pasta in a marinara sauce. I have had this meal only once in the reception center because I was transferred this day before it was served again. Apparently the pizza and pasta meal is served twice a month which is another little thing for me to look forward to. Wow, twice in one week I don’t have to give or trade away any of my dinner, I would call that a good week!