Weird Day

Yesterday was an extension of the weekend and I went back to the dorm when the yard closed for the lunch period. I wasn’t coming back out until dinner and subsequently evening yard. I was thinking about coming back outside for the afternoon pill call and then doing another workout after receiving the protein drinks. However; once I noticed the size of the line I decided to pass. Also, the afternoon yard never opened because the C/O’s were searching one of the dorms. Apparently the inmates in this dorm (not my dorm) were quite intoxicated and were verbally abusing the C/O’s. Verbally abusing the C/O’s is never recommended especially when one is drunk. The C/O’s ended up handcuffing 6 members of this dorm and leading them to the “hole”. In addition to carting these inmates off the C/O’s basically turned that dorm upside down and threw out 3 large carts full of assorted items. The C/O’s seemed to be enjoying themselves while they were tossing up that dorm and I certainly can’t blame them since what those inmates did wasn’t exactly the brightest move. So the afternoon yard was cancelled for the upper tier and I once again took I easy.

I decided to go to the cheeseburger dinner so I could get out of the dorm and eat some baked beans. I received a rather ample portion of these baked beans (which was good for me but not for those around me! That was a joke!!) and they weren’t too bad. As I received my tray, the very nice C/O whispered to me if I needed a telephone call to come see her later in the evening. She was the C/O who turned me down on Sunday when I asked her about the telephone call. She was extremely nice last night as she almost apologized for not being able to give me a telephone call on Sunday. I thanked her and quickly explained that my family was on the East Coast and my children would be asleep this evening but I may need a telephone call the next day (today) and she said “sure, no problem” all I needed to do was see her in the office. When she turned me down on Sunday I knew she wasn’t turning me down as an individual, she couldn’t give anyone a telephone call and I understood. There are some very good C/O’s and she is certainly one of them.

Lately both the dinner and breakfast service has come much later than usual. Since the dinner service came late the evening yard was delayed. I wasn’t sure if the evening yard would even open but it did shortly after 8:00 pm leaving only one hour before it’s closure. I went outside and found my friend. Our walking routine suffered a setback last night due to the late opening of the yard and my friend needed to sign-up for a telephone call. I had signed up earlier in the day and could not sign up in the evening since we are only allowed one sign up per day. There are some inmates who ignore this and sign up for two telephone calls per day but I prefer to abide by the rules.

I made it back to the dorm just in time for the start of “Heroes”. One of my dorm mates was able to save me a seat. The supernatural “Heroes” is more popular than the action adventure “24” with inmates in my dorm, this certainly worked out to my advantage because otherwise I would have nothing to watch. “Heroes” ended and it was my bedtime. As I laid down last night I realized it was the 7th month mark since my sentencing date. This meant I am over the hump towards the 1 year mark because now I only have 5 months to go to reach 1 year. The months do click by rather fast and soon I will reach the end of my sentence which should be this time next year. Technically I have 17 months remaining on my sentence but with fire camp this will be reduced. The reduction is based on my arrival at fire camp so the sooner I get there the sooner I get to reunite with my family. I do see the next few months going by fast because as each month passes they continue to go faster and faster. I miss my wife and children tremendously and I want this journey to end as soon as possible but the only way I get to be reunited with my family is living one day at a time for a lifetime. I look forward to next year but have to concentrate on today because it is making me a better person as each day goes by.

This morning as I woke up at 5:30 am after a typical listless sleep, I looked out the window and saw that is was raining fairly hard. I was hoping the rain would stop so it wouldn’t interfere with the outdoor activities such as the PFT Plus class and my exercising. Once breakfast time came around the rain had stopped but it was colder than it had been in a long time. After breakfast and after returning back to the dormitory there wasn’t much time before I would go outside. I spent a few minutes reading another recent copy of a local newspaper. The unlock came to go outside so I could go to work. I made my way outside with my dorm mate who is also an instructor and it quickly became evident it was going to be a weird day. We waited for the yard to open but it did not open until almost 11:00 am. At this point it was much too late to have the PFT Plus class. In fact at almost 10:30 am all the Instructors decided to do other things. Prior to this although the yard was not opened the alarm went off and I was face down on my stomach for 20 minutes which is a long time so something must have happened. All these alarms hopefully don’t foreshadow bad things but lately it has become part of the normal routine – at this point the yard was recalled (closed) and I went back to the dormitory for the lunch period.