Tuesday Does Come Fast

I was waiting for the afternoon yard unlock yesterday and I was talking with one of my dorm mates who is also waiting for his transfer. He has been waiting 10 weeks since he completed the fire fighting training class. He was telling me a former dorm mate who transferred to a Fire Camp back in December and was rolled-up (returned) in January. This former dorm mate tested positive for drugs (marijuana) and was sent back here in January where he had to serve 90 days before returning to Fire Camp. I have a very strong opinion regarding these inmates who test positive for drugs. His 90 days are up and he asked the relief CO (by the way this particular CO only works on my tier on Mondays and is a very personable nice man) to call over to the Fire Camp assignment office to see if he was transferring this week. The CO did call over there and he is transferring tomorrow to a different camp then he was in back in December. This is normal procedure because once an inmate gets rolled up from a camp, he cannot return to that same fire camp. When my dorm mate was telling me this I thought I should ask the relief CO to check on my status. I didn’t know these things were done and I did ask the regular CO if he could call over to this same office a few weeks ago but he told me when he calls no one is ever there and my best option was to write them. Hearing the story about my former dorm mate made me realize there is a way to find out my status.

The unlock arrived and the relief CO was at the door. I did ask him if he could call that office for me. He seemed a bit reluctant but did take my information and said he would call but gave me no guarantees. He also told me to come back later to see if he had an answer. It was almost 1:00 pm and this relief CO ends his shift at 2:00 so he only had an hour to call, but I was optimistic. I went over to the basketball court for the afternoon session of the PFT Plus Class. I figured I would participate in the class of 2 students and when it was over I would see the CO. The Monday class is the easiest of the week and I didn’t even break a sweat when it was over. At the conclusion of the class I still had 30 minutes before the CO went off shift and the same amount of time for my scheduled phone call. I figured I could get in a 100 very fast burpees and went over to the CO. As soon as he saw me, he shook his head and said, “I called but there was no one there.” I thanked him for his effort and this really shouldn’t surprise me. Yes, I would have liked to know in advance, but it was not to be.

After hearing this news I headed over to the telephones and saw my friend standing in front of them. I also noticed that no one was on the any of the phones and this is when my friend said, “The telephones are out of order and no one knows when they will be back on.” This is not surprising as well since I wanted to call my wife to see if she spoke with the Captain earlier regarding the status of my transfer. Also, I was looking forward to speaking with my children. Now none of this was going to happen and once again I have until this afternoon to see if I receive a transfer ducat.

The telephones have been relatively un-newsworthy until yesterday and now there is no telling when they will be in operation again. With some good fortune this could be the last time I have “technical difficulties” assuming I am transferred to fire Camp which would be tomorrow. I had two disappointments within a matter of minutes, but I just smile and shake my head while saying, “It figures.” These are insignificant issues in my life and although it sometimes seems as if there is a conspiracy against me, I accept all these non-events. I briefly spoke with my friend as he was holding out hope that the telephones would work so he could make his telephone call. We realized the telephones were not coming back on and I headed over to the Harvard Wall.

I can take solace in the exercise part of my day. In the morning, I essentially did 2 hours of exercise between the PFT class and my person exercise. In the afternoon I did another 2 hours between the PFT Plus and my personal exercises. Taking Sunday off from exercising proved very beneficial, as I had a big exercise day on Monday. I embarked on a 90 minute session on the Harvard Wall. I had plenty of time in the afternoon yard and I was going to stay out for the entire yard by-passing the 2:45 unlock. I did not have to concern myself with the shower because I had priority due to my Instructor job. The 90 minute session on the Harvard Wall went by very quickly. In fact, I play a little mind game with myself – I do 45 minutes bending with the left leg and then another 45 minutes leading with the right leg. I listen to the radio and try to look at my stop watch after counting a specific number of songs. The first 45 minutes I looked at my stopwatch well before the 45 minute change-over mark – switching from one leg to another. However, on the second 45 minute session, I went over by one minute before I finally looked at the stopwatch. This means I was very focused on the exercise and I put those 2 earlier negative incidents in their proper place which was no longer in my mind. Some people seemed to get bored with these types of exercises, but I am always able to play mind games which always helps me to pass the time.

Before I go any further with my afternoon yesterday, I have to mention those inmates who get rolled up at Fire Camp for positive drug tests. These inmates do have to stay here 90 days and do lose some time on their sentence. However, they are always sent back to fire Camp and take priority on someone like me who has never been but has been fully trained. I am all for second chances; however, these positive drug tests are more than second chances. Being in the Fire Camp Program is a privilege – not a right- and it should be treated as such. There are many inmates who return here because of these positive drug tests only to return to test positive again. Some are even given a 3rd chance and are sent back to fire Camp. I don’t understand how this works – this is prison and essentially the Fire Camp Program is a second chance for all of us. It gets us outside the prison walls and we get a chance to give back to society. I understand addiction because I am a compulsive gambler and for me something is wrong with the system if these inmates continue with what brought them to prison. I don’t have the answers, but something needs to change. It is hard to help someone who doesn’t want it, but there has to be something available. Hopefully, with all the discussion surrounding the overcrowding issues and recidivism rate something changes to help these inmates. If nothing is done, the cycle continues for those inmates inside and outside of prison.

I ended up doing 91 minutes instead of 90 minutes on the Harvard Wall. As I completed the exercise, I headed back to my dorm. There was yet another CO relief on duty who actually let me in 10 minutes prior to the closing of the yard. These 10 minutes provided a bonus to me as I got the number 1 slot in line for the shower which was coming on very soon. I’m not sure if it is such a good idea to be first in the shower because the water is scalding hot which stays this way for almost the entire time I’m in the shower. I managed to not burn myself and get through the shower. I used the Head and Shoulders which is very fragrant and gives me a new level of clean.

I have mentioned how I like to cook the rice for a long time and last night I cooked – actually heated – the rice for almost 2 hours. As the rice was cooking, I wrote and waited for the mail call. It arrived but there were only two outside letters for our dorm. Strangely, neither one of these letters were for me. Apparently, the mail delivery is once again very slow.

After writing, I was ready for my rice and tuna fish dinner in mustard. I didn’t go to the dining hall for the Chicken Alfredo because there were no rice or beans. The rice and tunafish dish did hit the spot and I even had some of it with my tortilla – sort of like rice tuna fish burrito. I’m not sure how that would sell at Bagel Express but for the time being, it did hit the spot. My dinner was over and it was onto more writing while I waited for “Heroes” to come on. I was hoping that I would have been at Fire Camp watching the show, but this didn’t happen. “Heroes” has been on Hiatus for the last several weeks – I think the same of amount of time that I have been waiting about 6 weeks to go to Fire Camp and I am still here. I wonder if I will see the final episode for the season here or at Fire Camp?

It took me awhile to remember what was going on in “Heroes” but once I got up to speed I really enjoyed the program. The show concluded and I got ready for bed. I got to sleep a little past my usual time and seemed to sleep 90 minutes before waking up. Thankfully, this only happened twice last night, not like the previous night. I did have a dream I remembered. It was regarding my transfer to Fire Camp and I dreamt I didn’t receive the “transpack” ducat this afternoon. The dream actually felt like a replay of last week, and I waited for the ducat but did not receive one. I guess this is my subconscious way of preparing me for the worst. I sure hope my dream is wrong, but if it doesn’t happen so be it and I will set my sights on next week.

The PFT Class went well until the end. When we were doing the mile run, the alarm went off during our last lap. We are required to stop whatever we are doing and get down on our stomachs. Everyone did this without incident and we stayed down on our stomachs for about 4 minutes. The all clear signal was given and we were up and running.

The class ended just in time for me to wait in line for the store. I didn’t get to the store last month but really I am okay. The process for the store started out slowly but since the CO reversed the numbers, I had a good chance of going in the morning. He called my number and I eagerly approached with a completed list in my hand. I was dressed in my PFT Instructor uniform which not acceptable for this CO. He instantly told me I need some kind of “blue” clothing and wouldn’t accept my list. This was news to me because everytime I have gone to the store in the past six months, I have never had my blues on and I had no problem. When he told me this, I didn’t know what to do because if I ran back to the dorm and got my blues, the CO would have skipped right over my turn. I didn’t say anything to him although I really wanted to and was about to go back to my dorm when one of the inmates standing near the store offered me his shirt. This inmate whom I didn’t know heard the conversation and was about to take his shirt off. Before he did, my friend was standing behind him and quickly gave me his shirt. I thanked the other inmate for his generosity but felt more comfortable taking my friend’s shirt. Apparently wearing the blue shirt over my uniform was good enough for the CO because he let me gain access to the caged in area at the store window. I was so grateful I was able to get in at that time because if I had not, I didn’t know when I would be able to go next. I purchased a pint of vanilla ice cream for my Bunkie and a snickers bar for my friend. I was thinking about giving the ice cream to my friend but he is trying to watch his weight so I gave him the snickers instead since it has less calories. My Bunkie was very happy to receive the ice cream and I also gave him 6 soups since he has very little. He has been a good Bunkie and I am happy to feed him.