Solitude

I woke up this morning after a quasi-restful sleep at the usual time of 5:00 am. I stayed in my bunk until 6:15 am because there was nowhere for me to go being a Sunday. I believe I have now come up with a routine weekend program and it does involve listening to the radio until it is time to go to breakfast. The rice cereal was very good. I didn’t sit with the usual table mate because he stayed back in the dorm. I finished well before my dorm mate but was considerate and waited. As we walked back to the dormitory we spotted four deer on the hillside behind the prison. Normally there are cows on this hillside but we spotted a family of deer sitting beneath a tree resting. It was a very peaceful scene and provided a few minutes of not thinking about my current surroundings. It is very fortunate this hillside is visible from the yard because I do know the outside world does exist. There is sometimes when I do get caught up in the “four walls” of confinement but when I look at the hillside it gives me some piece of mind. Seeing the deer family sitting lazily in the grass was a wonderful sight even though it was a small moment, I had a smile on my face after seeing it.

Once back at the dorm I decided to start writing as soon as I arrived at my bunk. I did want to watch the early NFL Playoff game between the New England Patriots and New York Jets. I was indeed finished writing at the start of the game. I joined a few of my dorm mates in the television area where I watched the first half of the game. Usually, I take one of the weekend days off from exercising, however; the weather was much too nice to sit inside and watch football. I decided to go out for the afternoon yard and exercise even though it should have been a day off. I wasn’t exactly sure what type of exercise I wanted to do since I ran 11 miles the day before. I knew I was not going to run because it is a rarity that I run two consecutive days in a row.

Once I was outside I decided to do the Super PFT Plus routine. After finishing the exercise routine I headed over to the pill call line in order to pick up the protein drinks. I was happy to receive the drinks for the 4th day in a row. The only negative about receiving these drinks is I must consume both cans at the window. The C/O takes my identification card and doesn’t give it back until the cans are empty. I believe this is a security issue which ensures I am the one consuming the protein drinks and not giving them away. I will have to figure out a game plan because I cannot envision myself running significant miles after consuming the protein drinks. Yesterday I somehow managed to do almost an hour on the Harvard Wall but it was much more difficult than normal do to the protein drinks.

While I was doing the Harvard Wall exercise a few other inmates started doing the same exercise very near to where I was doing mine. I have never understood this concept because even when I worked out in a Health Club there could be 18 empty stationary bikes while I worked out on the 19th bike and invariably someone would choose the cycle adjacent to mine. This is exactly what happened yesterday afternoon. Oh well, they only stayed a few minutes and were gone so I had the entire wall to myself. When I finished I did catch the next unlock and headed back into the dormitory. As I arrived back into the dorm the New York Giants/Philadelphia Eagles NFL Playoff game was on the television. Due to my compulsive gambling over the course of my adult life I had no favorite teams but now I that I am in recovery and the fact that my 5 year old son is now following football I must say the New York Giants are a favorite of mine. Especially since my son received a Tiki Barber jersey for Christmas. I showered and washed my clothes and came back for the second half. It was unfortunate because my son’s (and mine) team did lose in a very close game. Once again it was very nice to watch a game I had no desire to know what the point spread was nor did the game have a bearing on my financial well being. I watched the game as a fan and it would have been good if the Giants won but life will go on and there is always next year.

It was time for dinner and I decided not to go to the Cheeseburger dinner. It appeared I would only get cheese not peanut butter since there weren’t any beans on the menu. My dorm mates tried to convince me to go since there some type of ice cream on the menu for dessert. I respectively declined. The entire dorm with the exception of 2 others went to the dining hall for dinner. I stayed back and cooked rice and beans. While they were cooking and practically all of my dorm mates were at dinner I enjoyed 20 minutes of solitude. I entered the television area and for the first time in my prison history I changed the channel on the television. I changed it to the World News since I haven’t watched this in a very long time. I enjoyed the broadcast and the peacefulness. It was the best 20 minutes I have had in almost 6 months.

The solitude was over when my dorm mates returned from dinner. I quickly exited the television area and went back to my bunk. The rice and beans were almost ready and I ate them at my bunk. After washing my dishes I decided to finally read my book “Cold Case”. Somehow I did get through almost all of it. Currently I only have 60 pages left to read. It was fast approaching 10:00 pm which meant “lights out” for me. I have some kind of bad streak with sleeping because I keep waking up in the middle of the night wide awake. I woke up at 2:30 am but settled down to fall asleep shortly thereafter. I did wake up at 5:00 am where I got out of my bunk to start the day.

The weekend was over which is always good and this morning was the continuation of the PFT class. I do enjoy the early start to the day by going to breakfast at 6:30 am and starting the PFT class at 7:15 am. The PFT class was commencing on the basketball court and once again I have been tasked as the lead instructor for my group. I do enjoy this because I like being in-charge even though it is a very small role. Unfortunately, I cannot take the lead or back pace since I have 2 of the student/instructors on my team and the Coach made it clear they must take these positions during the walks and runs. I did assign those instructors their roles and had a few other “in-charge” duties. This being only the second day of the class, we only covered 6 miles walking and running. The class does get progressively more difficult as the days go by. I found myself doing practically all of the cadence calls because the fellow instructors on my team were somewhat silent. A few hours later the class ended and the PFT Plus class started. I exercised in the PFT Plus class but I needed more miles under my belt. I ran 5 miles on my own which gave me a total of 11 miles. The morning went by so fast and it was time to come back to the dorm for the lunch break. Of course, I didn’t eat much but I was able to wash some of my clothes as the weather got warmer as the day progressed. I was able to wash the thermal and undershirt prior to the afternoon session which meant I had much less to wash later on.