Christmas Songs

Once the PFT class was finished and I washed my clothes, I headed to the pill call line and I must reiterate there are some pretty interesting characters. The line was very short and I had a conversation with one of these inmates behind me. I had no idea what he was saying; he spoke with a very thick accent and his words were making no sense to me whatsoever. I just smiled and nodded my head as he spoke. Thankfully, the wait was minimal and it was my turn at the window to receive the protein drink. Many of the processes here are manual and computers are not used at all in some instances. He told me they ran out of protein drinks and to come back later at night. I didn’t think much about it at this time and hoped they didn’t run out of medications for the people who truly need it. I saw the lead instructor and told him not to bother waiting in line since there were no protein drinks left.

I went back to the dorm and listened to Christmas songs that were playing fast and furiously on the radio. I would like to say that I am enjoying these songs but that would be a lie. In the past I always enjoyed the songs but now they are somewhat difficult to listen to. I heard the Chipmunks song which reminded me of my son and I had to laugh so it isn’t all that bad. Also, my current situation has prevented me from stringing up lights on the house and the tree – my goodness the lengths I have gone to get out of this! Just joking, but at times putting up the Christmas lights seemed like a burden but now I long for all the “accessories” that go with Christmas. However, the next few days will pass and there is no doubt that I will be sad. I do know my family is in an incredibly loving environment and will have a very Merry Christmas.

The daily dilemma of whether to go to dinner was upon me again. The entrée was spaghetti with meat sauce and I was hoping to get plain pasta. Maybe I could have placed the peanut butter over the plain pasta and had peanut butter pasta! Who knows it could have been the next culinary delicacy. Unfortunately, the pasta and meat sauce were a package deal and I couldn’t get the plain pasta so I settled for peanut butter and soup.

My day of eating was complete and I settled into reading the rest of CREEPERS. The book was good even though I am not a fan of horror which certainly fits this novel. It moved along very well and I was amazed as to how the author could take one spellbinding evening and write 359 pages on it. All in all it was a good novel. My dorm neighbor lent me his Eagles CD “When Hell Freezes Over”. I instantly thought of my wife because 10 years ago we saw the Eagles in concert when we lived in Vegas and we danced to “Peaceful Evening Feeling” on our wedding day. Both of these were happy memories and I was not sad, I just enjoyed the songs and after having those two pleasant memories I stayed in the moment. It was a very good way to conclude my day.

This morning was very cold – in the 30’s – I understand New Jersey isn’t even this cold. I had to keep moving this morning to stay warm. Today was the coach’s last day before going on vacation.