Five Months In

(Another Condensed Version)

Doing mundane simple things seem to take a long time in a place like this which is a good thing. I certainly have plenty of time to do whatever task is in front of me. I returned back to the dorm at 11;00 am and needed to do some of those mundane simple things like wash my clothes in the sink, shave, and shower. In the afternoon, I spent in my bunk writing and reading. The mail came yesterday afternoon and I received three more letters from my dear friends. They were all from my friends in the GA Program. I am a very fortunate and blessed person to finally embrace this program because it provides me with so many benefits. One which is the incredible friendships I have established in my short 21 ½ months associated with this program. Even though I have not attended a meeting in over 5 months I still feel connected to the Program thanks to my incredible friends who have taught me and continue to teach me the value of recovery. This is truly wonderful and I am a grateful compulsive gambler in recovery.

The forecast called for rain today and I was hoping the rain would either end early in the morning or hold off until the afternoon so the PFT class could be held. Due to the rain, there was no early breakfast so I went with all of my dorm mates to the regular breakfast.
We went to the normal dining hall which I like because I am not subject to any humiliation from the “no-meat CO”.

I finished my breakfast and headed back to the dorm in the rain. When the yard opened it was pouring down rain. I knew we weren’t going to have the PFT class which obviously upsets my normal routine so I needed to make an adjustment for today which was to read. I took a break from reading to look outside and even though it was still raining I saw the lead instructor working out underneath one of the overhangs. Apparently, he is worse than me when it comes to exercising! Around noon it stopped raining so I went outside to do the Harvard Wall for an hour.

While I was watching the news this morning, across the bottom of the screen came the headline: PRISON OVERCROWDING ULTIMATUM – Judge gives governor 6 months to find solution. I was waiting for a more in depth report on this but I never saw it. During the morning, one of my dorm mates came back inside from the yard and he had been talking to a few other inmates about this. According to them, they saw a news report and they told my dorm mate that Governor Schwarznegger has until June of next year to release 73,000 inmates because the prison system is overcrowded by this number. If the governor doesn’t do this, the judge will turn the prison system over to the federal government and they will start releasing prisoners. Allegedly, this action is a result of an overcrowding lawsuit filed a few months ago in relation to the deplorable health care within the system. For some reason I cannot make any sense what was said by the inmates who saw the news report. I believe it is someone’s biased opinion of what was reported which doesn’t necessarily reflect the true picture. Today marks five months for me on the inside or better stated – five months in. My sentence calls for me to serve 24 months without a fire camp commitment but when I get there my sentence will be reduced further. I would very much like to believe my sentence will be reduced even further with the news today but I can’t. I have to keep my mind on the overall release date of July 17, 2008 and if I get released prior to this then it would be wonderful! I have heard all kinds of rumors in these past five months and when something happens I will believe it then. I do think something has to happen because the overcrowding has hit critical mass. However, whether it has anything to do with the reduction of my sentence is something I choose not to focus on. What I must focus on is getting back to my family as a better person and the only way this can happen is by staying in recovery. So far this has provided me with a new and purposeful life. There is no reason not to believe this wonderful life will continue as I work my recovery everyday. Life has gotten better and will continue to get better as I stay in recovery. I thank God each day for providing me with this incredible life.