Uh-Oh Tuesday!

Yesterday, the afternoon yard opened only a few minutes late, and I was back into the yard walking toward the basketball court for the afternoon session of PFT Plus class. A few inmates did show up for this class, and we, the instructors, decided on doing the very easy Monday class. I was up for another session of the very difficult Friday class, but no one shared my feelings, so I was outvoted. Yes, the Monday class is very easy, but with the temperature approaching 94 degrees, even the easy classes become challenging. One of the other instructors who was here last year said the temperature reached 118 degrees in June. Now that’s hot!!! I certainly hope I don’t have to experience temperatures like these because it would mean I am still here and not at fire camp. Anyhow, the class went off without a hitch. After the class I wanted to do another 45 minutes on the Harvard Wall and did so. This gave me 2-1/2 hours’ worth of vigorous exercise for the day, and in spite of the rising temperatures, I felt very good when I was done.

As I completed the Harvard Wall, I met up with my friend, and we talked a few minutes together before I went inside for the 2:45 p.m. unlock. I had my friend all to myself, and of course we talked about the possibility of being transferred this week. My friend found out there are 5 openings at one of the fire camps in southern California. He didn’t know if these openings fit our category, but it was an encouraging sign. My friend was still awaiting word on his alternative plan. We once agreed it would be great if we were both transferred this week; however, we came to the conclusion that we should not share a dorm. The fire camp both of us want to be transferred to has 2-man dorms. We thought we would be pushing our friendship a bit too much if we were to share a dorm together. I agree, and as long as we are at the same fire camp, that is all that matters. I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high as we spoke about the fire camp transfer since I thought I would have been gone by now. My friend has taken my place venting about the transfer to fire camp. We both wondered what would take place the next day.

The 2:45 p.m. unlock arrived, and I went into my dorm for my afternoon ritual. Yes, I washed my clothes, and I forgot to mention that one of my dorm mates had bleach on Sunday which he gave me along with a plastic bag. I was able to soak my very used workout underwear in the bleach, and they came out just like they were brand new. I was amazed how white the underwear turned and how freshly clean they smelled. I am no longer scared to wear them as they are very clean.

After washing and hanging my clothes, I had secured the first position for the shower. At this point, I went back to my bunk to wait for the shower to come on, and I made myself a late lunch. I did make the PB and banana sandwich, which was delicious. I also ate the other half of the power bar. I am getting enough nutrition, but I feel like a bottomless pit. When I finished the PB and banana sandwich, I still felt hungry, so I had some crackers. I had to separate myself from the crackers or I would have eaten all of them. I finally stopped myself from eating and listened to the radio while still waiting for the shower to come on. As I was listening to the radio, I discovered the San Francisco Giants were playing the New York Mets which meant I could listen to the game on the radio. This would be the first Mets game I have witnessed (or at least listened to) since they lost Game 7 in the National League Championship series last October. This will give me something to do in the evening besides watching Heroes. The shower finally turned on, and I got in very quickly. Yes, the downside to being first is the shower in the shower is the prospect of being scalded as the water is extremely hot. I did my best to go quickly, but it took me a few minutes to get underneath the showerhead. The water finally got a little cooler, and I went about my business. I was in and out in no time as many of my dorm mates were waiting.

I returned to my bunk where I started writing but was interrupted when the mail call arrived. I received 3 items in the mail; 2 letters and 1 notification that someone had sent me a book or books. This was very surprising since I was not expecting anything. I wonder who sent the book or books and which book or books are they. I won’t find out until I go out to R&R to pick them up. This is always an adventure, and I am hoping to pick them up this evening, or if for some reason I am being transferred to fire camp this week, I can pick the package up when I take my property to R&R. This would be the best scenario, but who knows. Anyhow, the other letters were from dear friend who I have not heard from in a while and my mom. As I read my dear friend’s letter, it contained “The Secret.” Apparently, my friend has incorporated “The Secret” into everyday life, and it is working wonders. The odd think about this is my friend does not have any idea I have heard about “The Secret”, and as I read the letter, I got chills. I can’t wait to read it and apply it to my everyday life, even in here. My friend’s letter had a great deal of excellent information, and I was very inspired while I was reading it. Again, I have so many blessings in my life and so many special people in my life. I am so grateful.

Normally, I refrain from the weekly offering of filet of fish dinner; however, last night baked potatoes were on the menu with the filet of fish. I haven’t had a baked potato in a while, so I thought I would go to the dining hall just for those baked potatoes. I thought the dinner release would arrive earlier than it has been because the day seemed to go better with the release; however, dinner was once again after 7 p.m. There is a long lag between yard closure and dinner. Yesterday, I passed this time by writing and just relaxing. The dinner release finally arrived, and it was off to the dining hall. My “real” vegetarian meal does consist of eating fish; however, I cannot eat that fish patty, so I invoke my vegetarian status. Last night I was very fortunate because, in lieu of the fish patty, I received not 1 but 2 baked potatoes and 2 packets of peanut butter. My life has been so simplified over these past 10 months that I was very happy to receive the 2 baked potatoes. I ate them along with the salad and spinach. I wasn’t exactly full from this dinner as lately my appetite has seemed to increase. I wasn’t sure if I was done eating for the evening as the baked potatoes were a good change of pace, but I wasn’t full. I returned to the dorm where I did make a PB&J sandwich to satisfy my hunger. This was not a weird happenstance, but I felt I needed to eat more, so the PB&J sandwich fit the bill.

Last night was not an evening yard so I was relegated to the dorm for the evening. The evening was shortened considerably due to the late dinner release. I had completed all of my writing so I listened to the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants game on the radio. I tuned in just in time to hear my Mets commit 2 errors which led to 4 runs and a 6-1 lead by the Giants. My Mets did not fare too well as they ended up losing 9-4. It was good to listen to the game in spite of the Mets poor play.

Last night was also a “Heroes” night, and I made my way into the television area at 9 a.m. to view the episode. There are only 3 episodes remaining in the season, and I was not very impressed with the episode last night. My dorm mates were getting very bored with the episode, and for the first time all season, several of them departed the television area before the end of the episode. If this continues, my dorm mates may give up on “Heroes” and switch back to “24.” It is a good thing that now, after last night’s episode, there are only 2 more episodes remaining. I think my dorm mates will endure the last 2 episodes, but if the action does not pick up, “Heroes” may not be on the dorm’s viewing schedule next season. Hopefully, I will be at fire camp before the next television season starts (September) because, if I am still here by then, I might have pulled out all my hair by then! Anyhow, the very disappointing episode of “Heroes” ended, and it was time for me to go to sleep.

Amazingly, I made it all the way through the night without getting up once! I really believe this has something do with the hot weather. I do seem to stay in my bunk when the weather is warmer as opposed to cooler. I’m not sure why this occurs, but it does seem to be the case. I had a dream-filled night, and the theme of people’s faces changing continued. I had a dream that involved my wife, but although my wife had the same name, her face did not look anything like her. Her voice was the same, but it was as if another person had taken over. I was sort of shaken when I woke up because I couldn’t believe this was actually my wife. Unlike the previous night’s dream where my GA friends had different faces and I accepted them as my friends, last night I could not accept this being my wife. Yes, it was very strange.

It was time for me to get out of my bunk and start my day. My early morning ritual was the same, but today is Tuesday, uh oh! This means the ducats for the fire camp transfers are out later in the afternoon. I have tempered my optimism because I have been disappointed over the past few weeks. Even my friend’s alternate plan will take another week or 2 to come to fruition. My expectations were low, and normally my hopes would be high, but my hopes were constantly wavering. Also, today was day 1 of the PFT class, and that cycle was starting all over once again. I completed my morning ritual, and the breakfast release was later than yesterday. Interestingly, a memo was circulated yesterday regarding the breakfast release this week. I was very impressed that there was a method of communication to us inmates from the CO’s; however, after reading the memo, I thought something was going to happen, but it did not. According to the memo, breakfast this morning should have been earlier than usual. As it turned out, it was later than usual. Not many of my dorm mates read the memo and those who did interpreted it differently than me. I thought I was going crazy, so I asked my dorm mates to read the memo again. When they read it again, they did agree with my interpretation that breakfast should have been earlier than normal. At lest this validated that I was NOT going crazy. I have to realize not many people, both inmates and CO’s, think like I do, which is why I have to remain flexible. I did remain flexible and got to enjoy most of the Today Show.

I was able to view a segment on the Today Show which displayed alternative sentences handed out by judges. These were alternatives to prison for nonviolent offenders. These sentences ranged from community service to wearing a billboard which stated “We will not steal from Wal-Mart”, to a woman being left overnight in the woods to fend for herself (in response to her crime of abandoning kittens in the woods). There appears to be a very forward-thinking judge in Ohio who hands out these alternative sentences, and the reason why he hands out these sentences is “Prison does not work.” Yes, that was the direct quote from the judge. Unfortunately, one of the examples came from California which has the nation’s most overcrowded prisons. At the end of the segment, Matt Lauer made a comment which stated he thought these alternative sentences were a great idea because the prison systems all across the country are overcrowded and “screwed up.” Unfortunately, my state of California seems to take the opposite stance on sentencing, and there is one state legislator who has gone on record saying, “There is no such thing as a nonviolent felon.” California has adopted the “tough on crime” stance and does not appear to be leaning anywhere near these alternative sentences. Could it be better or worse than California’s recidivism rate of 70%? It is interesting how things work out because had there been an early release for breakfast, I would have missed this segment, so it worked out very well.

The breakfast release arrived, and it was off to the dining hall. I refrained from putting my peanut butter into the creamed mush because this may have led to my stomach problems on Sunday. I traded away my egg for more creamed mush and was satisfied with breakfast. I returned to the dorm where I would wait for the work call in order to start the PFT class. The wait wasn’t too bad (45 minutes), and before I knew it, I was going outside to start the PFT class. The temperature was in the 80’s at 9 a.m. this morning and rising. This was the warmest day since I arrived here back in October. According the “old coach”, if the temperature reaches 90 degrees, the PFT class has to be suspended; however, according the “new coach”, the temperature has to reach 95 degrees for the PFT class to be suspended. I had to bite my tongue when the “new coach” spoke of this. I really wanted to ask him why the discrepancy, but I remained silent. In fact, I remained silent for the entire class. I must admit the “new coach’s” lack of organization does drive me crazy, especially with the first day of class. He is all over the place, and very little gets done. The class met for 2-1/2 hours this morning, and we only got in 2 miles of jogging and little else. The “new coach” loves to talk, and he did so today. I found some shade and kept out of the way counting the minutes for the afternoon.

Honestly, the PFT class goes by quickly, but this morning it dragged on because we didn’t do much. I prefer to keep moving, and boom, before you know it, the class is over and so is the morning. Quite the opposite occurred today, but I did get through it without getting myself in trouble. Speaking of getting in trouble, one of my fellow instructors received a write-up for not getting down right away when an alarm sounded. This happened last week when it was raining, and he was searching for a dry spot, but the CO took offense to the fact he did not get down right away. This is significant because he, too, is waiting for a transfer to fire camp, and this write-up will delay the transfer even further. He does have some recourse to defend himself, but usually, these are not overturned. It really is a tenuous existence as I wait for the transfer to fire camp. I have no intention of doing anything wrong; however, last week I did the same thing as my fellow instructor. The only difference was a CO was not near me when I found a dry spot to lie down on. Conceivably, I could have received a write-up, and thankfully, I did not. I am holding my collective breath until I am safely at fire camp. I felt bad for my fellow instructor, but there was nothing I could do.

The long, drawn-out, PFT class day 1 finally came to a close, and I went inside by dorm for the lunch period. The class cut the lunch period shorter than usual, and I only had a snack of almonds as I prepared to do some running in the afternoon. The lunch period was over very quickly, and it was back outside for the afternoon session.