Letter Eight of Thirteen to Mom From Jail
Mail screened at LCDC
Tuesday
1 April, 2008
2:00 PM
Work has been okay the past two days mainly because we have been getting out at 9:30 AM instead of the usual 12:30 PM, Believe it or not it makes a huge difference in my mood for the rest of the day. It may however be a false sense of contentment for a lot of people actually only like four or five are getting out and I think I am either happy for them or I have tricked myself into thinking that I am leaving soon as well.
The cell mate I have had for the past week was here when I left for work and gone when I returned and I now have a new one. I had been on the bottom bunk the first two nights I was in here (Jail) and from then on I was on the top bunk for the forty some other days. I was moved to the bottom again today. I was and remain somewhat disappointed in the change. Everybody else meaning the four or so other inmates and the guard that I spoke to said most people like the bottom bunk and those that made the change probably thought they were doing me a favor. Thanks Guys! I already miss the window view and staring at the ceiling as apposed to the metal frame of someone else’s bed. Damn! I haven’t tested it out yet, I am Protesting! It looks too cramped and Closter phobic. Plus I am not sure how it will effect my sit-ups, Damn!
I had been running short on paper or at least I thought I was. Around twenty sheets or four stamps worth. So I ordered more today and also one of the guys who is getting out “Hulsey” a previous cell mate of mine gave me what he had left because he knew that I like to write. Only like five sheets but it was still nice of him.
Don’t tell Jon but I also ordered two birthday cards for him for $1.50 each. I haven’t ever seen them but I just happened to notice them on the “canteen” list this morning. I hope they fit in a regular envelope otherwise I wont know how to mail them. I ordered one Spanish one, I thought I could make some kind of jail joke as to why it was in Spanish, but that’s kind of cool huh? 28? Uh-oh! He was supposed to take the Bronco to an appointment yesterday at 4:00 I haven’t been able to get a hold of him for the past two or three days, I mainly hope that it wasn’t too hard on him, there goes the pen! Cool completely 100 maybe even 102% dead! Cool! I also ordered another pen today it should get here Friday morning, good thing that I had two. I want to keep the empty one for sentimental reasons but a clutter person would certainly have me toss it so I probably will but I will have some kind of ceremony for it like flushing a dead fish down the toilet.
I received two more letters from uncle mark, one from Paul and one from you. Big mail day so that was cool. Paul’s are sarcastic and funny, Mark’s are funny and serious English lessons and yours are heartfelt and funny not preachy as you sometimes express concern for. I laughed out loud at the idea of your clay-mation people demanding through the glass to “Let Thomas go!” Thanks mom I love you!
The weather here has been crazy from the little bits of it that I can see, Colorado snow to sunshine in minuets. Thirty some days isn’t bad its just when I think that I am only half way done with my sentence that it makes it seem longer, so I have to stop that and get rid of the only.
I got the pictures that you sent and they are great but the stupid red stamp that say Screened at LCDC bleed of the back of “the beach landscape” and all over the other, “you and Beak” Damn-it! I want to complain and probably could with a good result meaning whoever stamps the mail waiting for the ink to dry before putting it all back together, but I am always to shy to ask for anything and prefer to just be pissed. If it happens again I will complain. Is that your beach, or a different one? It’s Rocky!
Wednesday
2 April 2008
8:50 PM
I just got in from outside around 45 minuets ago, so I guess its not just getting but I am just now catching my breath. I had been playing 21 a basketball game with five other guys, I wasn’t very good but it was still fun. The object is to be the first to 21 baskets, my top score was four. I hadn’t been planning on going outside and was kind of pressured into it and with me being passive I didn’t put up a good enough argument to stay inside. I was extremely tiered when I got back in and probably could have fallen asleep for the night but tonight is my night to do a chore. I chose sweeping and mopping the pod. It is easy enough it just that I have to wait until 11:00 to start so I am now drinking a cup of coffee but still don’t think I will have any trouble falling asleep after I finish my chore because for some reason I am really tired tonight even before playing 21.
I had been fairly content Reading Aristotle’s “Politics” but kept getting interrupted by bored people who wanted to talk. It is nice to talk to people but I don’t really like listening to stories even though I am or at least can appear to be a good listener even if I am thinking or saying something completely different than what I am thinking about. I don’t feel too bad about that for I am not really trying to make friends but I guess some others are. It is easier or more “fun” having people to converse with but it does seem that you have to be cautious as to what you say and who you say it to for gossip travels faster in here than it does amongst a group of teenaged girls.
It was crazy how nice the weather was outside it was warmer out there than it is in here at 8:00 PM but being all boxed in it doesn’t really feel like outside. I guess in my head I have just been pretending that it is still February and even if it looks nice and sunny it is still cold.
One more day of work and I then I am off for two but I don’t need the break as badly as I did last week because for the past few days we have been done by 9:30 AM. I took a nap today from around 1:00 to 3:00 PM but was still tired, maybe from my book or maybe from the lack of cardiovascular activity over the past forty days and actually even over the last year or so. That’s crazy that that is the most activity I have done outside of work for years. I didn’t have a heart attack and was able to breath al be it heavily throughout the 45 minuets of running around. I think that is was probably good for my lungs to get some “fresh air” into their depths as apposed to smoke.
Anyway I am going to shower in the tiny 2×2 metal box with a power hose nozzle for the shower head and then struggle to stay awake as I read my dry but only book until I can do my chore then I will crash only to wake again some four or five hours later.
Thursday
3 April 2008
7:20 PM
I got a new cell mate today, the guards bring them over in groups of four or so and every one that is in the pod and not at work watches to see who moves into where. At first it appeared that I wasn’t going to get one but one of the new guys had gone upstairs then came strait back down. By that time I was no longer paying attention until one of the guys at the table I was sitting at grabbed my attention and pointed to the guard inside of my cell. I thought I was going to get into trouble for my third blanket was just thrown on top of my bed instead of being neatly folded at the foot of it. I went to my cell and respectfully addressed the officer. He asked me if I could do him a favor and move to the top bunk. I said sure and explained to him that I liked it up there better. So I moved my stuff crappy mattress and all up to the top bunk and left the room only to watch my new cell mate move in and make is bed. I guess I was pretty judgmental from the get go and had hoped for any of the other new guys mainly because of how he looks. He has breast length bleached hair and an ornate mustache, He is scary looking not in a big mean guy way but in a crazy weird scary guy way. He looks like Nate if Nate was three feet shorter and had a beaten up body presumably from drugs but who knows. He has Knives Tattooed on his forearms and not nicely done but home or crappy prison tattoos of not pocket or table or even steak knives but of big Rambo knives. He is of an extremely small stature an even I could take him if I ever needed to witch I am sure I won’t for if I take him anywhere it will be to the medical cart for he seems sickly. Is it still wrong to be judgmental of prison people? I guess so for I am starting to realize how close I have actually come to going a few times now but still this guy looks the part or at least one of the stereo typical parts. Actually he looks like a 65 year old alcoholic who is actually on 35. A look into one of my many possible futures, I suppose. I actually don’t know much about him other than he will be here until June and most likely will be my cell mate until I get out. I now wish that he was a short timer and that the quick turnaround with the cellmates I have had would continue. Why couldn’t I just get a “normal” guy!? He actually seems nice in a weird guy way. I think it is because he is all drugged up on psyche meds as he told me in a soft weird way. Med Rounds come around 7:00 and the nurses hadn’t brought his meds from his previous pod (Two South) a pod that I haven’t heard great reviews about. So I haven’t asked him what happens if he doesn’t take his meds and I don’t really want to find out. He said that he takes like four different kinds and the nurses would be back around 10:30 to give them to him. Is that soon enough?
The whole situation is kind of funny because just the other day (Tuesday) I asked Kristen who she thought was around more crazy people between the two of us. I think I got my answer a couple of hours ago. I don’t want to be superficial and judgmental because I know that mental illness is a real thing but why couldn’t I just get a normal cell mate? Anyway he seems really nice but has already scattered bible stuff all over the desk, I don’t mind him having or being into that stuff, I just like the desk to be clear without me having to touch that stuff, not for fear of being struck down I just don’t like it right in my face telling me that I am naïve
So other than all of that everything is about the same. My spirits are high for the most part save the occasional worries about what the hell I am going to do when I get out. I have my top bunk back and it is my weekend whatever that means. I think it just means that I will read a lot and sleep in.
Saturday
April 5, 2008
7:30 PM
I had forgotten to use this page so I thought I could use it now for the math problem you had proposed to me.
Once ounce of mail cost $.41 cents or one stamp 9 sheets of paper, envelope, ink and stamp equal $.58 cents fourteen sheets 9 with ink and 5 with tiny staples equal 2.2 ounces or $.75 cents.
How many ounces per sheet?
How many sheets with ink per stamp?
I am pretty sure that my math is faulty but it appears that each sheet with ink weighs aproxementally 2/10th of an ounce (.154oz per sheet) allowing for six sheets of my chicken scratch on both sides per .41$ stamp or ounce. Each sheet costing just under .07$ cents to mail anywhere within the continental United states. So one through six sheets require one stamp Six to twelve sheets needing two stamps to reach there addressee and so on… I( think you can check my math by dividing 1.4 by .58, it should be around .154? sorry no calculators in here…
Friday
April 4, 2008
7:35 PM
Well I was trying to decide what I was going to write about tonight or more so what I was going to start with for I normally write about the whole day anyways. I didn’t want to and wasn’t even going to mention my new cell mate but he just tried to “jack” my spork! It may have been an accident, he did miss his meds again this morning but I feel like it was intentional and now I am weary about all of my stuff. The spork isn’t the best thing I have but it is still pretty important in here. It is not the spork that I had originally received while in intake it is actually the third.
When you first arrive after Booking where they take your finger prints and now a retna scan, they move you to Intake where they watch your behavior to see if you are going to hurt yourself or someone else or if you are crazy or not. If deemed sane then after three or four days you are move to General population (GP) If deemed crazy then you are off to 2South, I was able to trick them and was sent to GP. This is where you receive three wool blankets, a sheet a pillow case a mattress cover along with a crapy plastic coffee cup that contains a small tube of toothpaste (Fresh Mint) a toothbrush also crapy, The “Maximum Security” crapy soap I mentioned a previous letter and the coveted orange Spork. I pulled mine out for no particular conscious reason and noticed its poor condition. It only had one prong and had been chewed flat resembling more of a tiny beach shovel than any kind of eating device. I thankfully found the courage to ask the guard for different one and he reluctantly exchanged it for one that was in much better condition. I actually didn’t receive a crappy platic coffee cup at that time, it was a tiny take out Styrofoam one, even crappier! But back to the Sporks, this better spork became one of my possessions and I took care of it for I remember my first experience in jail that it really sucks if something happens to it. My first go around in here I had left my spork on my first dinner tray and never saw it again. But anyway this spork was with me for two or three weeks I cant really remember but I know it made it to South Frank with me for I remember want ting to write all about how while “cutting” with this device witch is more like just pushing and wiggling on the side of a bigger piece of “meat” until a piece breaks free, my beloved spork snapped in two. I was upset on the inside but tried not to show it by begrudgingly finishing my meal with the remaining stub of my friend.
After finishing my meal I brought the two pieces of it to the guard and respectfully requested another one, he took them and said he would see what he could do. A little bit later in the day I noticed a stack of sporks on the desk and became upset but not angry or surprised that I hadn’t received a replacement for that is just how it works in here. You have to be patient and just wait. I revieved my replacement latter that evening and luckily it was one of the “good” ones witch only means it is not mangled with someone or who knows how many others teeth marks. I washed it the best I could with my Maximum Security by advice of the guard and after a meal or two I once again had a spork that I considered mine. That Brings us back to tonight and the attempted “grand theft spork”. Earlier tonight during laundry service my cellmate had left his supper crapy spork out on one of the day room tables witch is not advised if you care about it for that is how you loose it. Anyways both of us were making out evening drink, him coffe and me tea, I stepped out to use the Litter Box while my tea steeped. When I returned to the cell it was empty and I noticed my spork on his side of the shelf with his stuff and his crapy spork was next to my cup as if it were mine. Nice try, the two are easily identifiable in crapyness so that even a toddler could tell witch one was better.
There are two types of sporks that I have noticed in here and then varying degrees of defects to those types that determine the crappyness. The two types are of crappy and less crappy. The crappy one being of a darker orange color with only one tong and the less crappy being a lighter orange although seemingly more brittle then the crappy has two tongs. I am glad that there is such a disguisable difference between the two for I have concer about my cell mates hygiene who I have seen gumming my spork. His tooth brush hasn’t moved from where he placed it since he moved in, I know because there is a piece of brown something stuck on it that would have moved hd the brush been used, plus he still has the toothpate that they give to you wile in intake. When you leave intake you get a different kind of toothpaste and this guys says he has been in here since the beginning of march. This helps to show how I have been trying my best in this seven by ten foot cell took keep my distance form this guy, for I yet to notice his most certainly bad breath.
So I had taken a break from writing this and when I returened to my cell I saw that one of my multi-vitamins was missing from my pack. I know because it was missing from the middle of the thirty day supply and as I written about before I take them in order helping me to count the days, all of this is just to convenient to be a mix up. And now I feel like I have to watch all of my thing like a hawk wich will be impossible while I am at work this weirdo is lurking around in the only place in this place that I get any personal space. Shit! It makes me me more mad about all the God stuff and “Character First” stuff he has scattered all over MY desk.
Saturday
April 5, 2008
8:00 PM
I just worked out the math problem you had sent me. I think I figured it out but I am not to sure for I am not to good with decimals and fractions that seem to be the key components of the stamp problem. I volunteered to work today but only for the lunch shift 11:00 AM to around 1:00 PM. All I did was through/place salt packets on trays as they rolled by me on a line accumulating something different from someone different along their way to different PODS. Today we had hotdogs, So one guy pulls a tray from a rack and places them on another rack another inmate then grabs from that stack and place the trys one by one onto the rolling line using each try as a tug boat to push the previous. So; Bread, two hot dogs, salt (that’s me!) pepper, beans, two sugars, ketchup and mustard, all over the previous and a cookie and then stacked and counted again before being placed onto a cart bound for one of the Pods… It is total dummy work and I don’t feel much like going into a more elaborate description of the line right now… The important part is that I got six hot dogs! Yum! I guess.
Anyway I am going to hop into the shower and try to mentally prepare for the week ahead if that is possible.
Sunday
6 April, 2008
9:00 PM
Hey Mom here is last weeks happenings, sorry for the short entry tonight, my hand and eyes are tired from writing other people back, mainly just Erin. Don’t worry nothing too exciting happened today other than speaking with you on the phone and you were apart of that so… Anyways hang in there…
Love,
TAH
