Strange Weekend

Early yesterday morning, I received the “ducat’ to officially reinstate my status as a PFT Instructor starting tomorrow morning. Of course, there is a possibility the race I belong to might be locked down starting tomorrow due to the incident on Friday afternoon. Apparently no decision has been rendered yet since the Captain of the yard is off duty until tomorrow. I certainly don’t want to go into lockdown because that would mean I, along with members of my race, would be relegated to the dorm for at least a few weeks. I have implemented some contingencies for this happening as I do have a very good indoor workout so I will be fine. Also, if there is a lockdown, it couldn’t have happened at a better time for me since all my training requirements have been complete for the transfer to fire camp. I will find out more tomorrow but I am not that concerned. If I am at lockdown then I will resume my normal routine as instructor – and if not –so be it.

The afternoon yard was opened only briefly for the upper tier, but as soon as it opened the alarm went off. I could see the CO’s rush to the upper tier and a few minutes later, they had two inmates in handcuffs loading them into the “hole.” They were of a different race than mine and a different race than the incident on Friday. There must be something in the air and I am strongly hoping for the transfer to fire camp quickly so I don’t have to witness any more unfortunate events. There was one thing I discovered from a fellow dorm mate regarding all this “yard drama.” I thought certain things were required of me due to my skin color. Certain things are required only if I am notified since I am over the age of 35. Apparently, I would be not be penalized if I did not do something since it was not asked of me. However, if it were asked I am required (got that?). The key phrase is “boot up”. When I hear this (which I hope I never hear), I am obligated because of the color of my skin. This was good news because I was never told of an age restriction and now I know.

The clocks went ahead last night which means today is only a 23 hour day which is always good in a place like this. In the past when I was a free man, I would change all the clocks in the house well in advance of the 2:00 am time. I would always frustrate my wife because the entire day before the clocks were to go ahead all of our clocks were already changed. Well, things have changed and yesterday I had only 2 clocks to change – my stopwatch and my watch. I did change these earlier in the day and I even confused myself as I looked at my watch and realized dinner was going to be 3 hours late. It was only 2 hours late since I forgot about the time change. Now I know how my wife felt! I was itching to change other clocks but there really aren’t many inside the dorm. I did manage to change one of my dorm mate’s clocks who is an Instructor and I changed his stopwatch without him knowing it. I did overhear him give the incorrect time and I chuckled only to tell him I had already changed his watch. He was actually grateful because he said he would have forgotten.

In honor of “Spring Forward”, I went to sleep at 9:30 which was actually 10:30 pm. It was a good thing I went to bed as early as I did because I was woken three times during the evening by the CO’s shining their flashlights as they walked through the dorm. This was the usual crew who has cut down clotheslines in the middle of the night. They didn’t do this tonight, but they did make it a point to shine the flashlight on everyone’s face as they walked through. Normally, the CO’s are in and out of the dorm within seconds ensuring everyone is in their bunk. Last night, one CO took his time illuminating the flashlight on each face. This woke me up and I watched as he seemed to take pleasure in waking everyone up at 2:00 am. I’m sure he was just doing his job as required but his method was certainly very different than the other CO’s. This went on for the rest of the night and just when I got to sleep I could hear the footsteps, keys, and feel the light of the flashlight on my face. I managed to stay in my bunk until 6:00 am and the sky was still dark due to the time change. My dorm mates did not do well with this change and many of them were still asleep as the unlock came for breakfast which was even 20 minutes later than usual.

Once again, the CO who gave me a hard time last week was on duty and I made it a point to ask for the vegetarian tray. I am having no problems whatsoever. The walk back to the dorm was more quiet than usual and the unlock arrived very timely. No one in my dorm seems to know what is going on and really only time will tell.

As I looked out into the yard, I did see members of my race, but not members of the other race which were involved in the incident Friday afternoon. This was good news for me because it means I can have a normal program starting tomorrow morning as I go back to being an Instructor under the new coach. I am all for a normal program but I have learned to be flexible since things seem to change quickly and nothing is for certain.

(Typist’s note –a little concerned here since Monica hasn’t talked to Paul all week)