Today marks thirty-six months incarcerated.
I have spent the last sixteen months at my designated prison.
I have excelled and successfully completed 20 courses which include Evidence Based Risk Recidivism courses that are created to help in our rehabilitation.
These last three years have had their ups and downs. I thank God each and every day for guiding me to Him. I have learned so much, and have had enough time to evaluate the things of my past. There are memories that have sparked in my mind in which these days I ask myself, “What the hell was I thinking”. I continue each and every day finding new ways to better myself while continuously walking on the correct path to a positive lifestyle and away from any wrongdoings.
On this day, I decided to sleep in, so after staying up to watch a movie, I put my ear plugs in, covered my eyes, and doze off. I awoke at 6:33am for a few minutes after dreaming I lost my last baby tooth, then fell back asleep. Oh yea, I have never mentioned that to this day, one baby tooth remains standing, as I never had a tooth under it to push it out. As it holds on for dear life, I take care of it as much as possible, wearing my retainers every night to make sure no teeth move out of place giving it a way out.
I’m up and out of bed by 10am ready for the morning count. I stand side by side with my roommate, Mr. Garcia as we await the officers to walk by. They reach the main door to the Glasshouse and a neighbor yells, “Count time, coming in the main door”. The officers complete their count and exit the Glasshouse, which gives me time now to head to the bathroom, brush my teeth, clean my retainers, and rinse my face.
Count clears, Mr. Rivero is waiting for me with his wheelchair so we can head to lunch. We are hungry, as they call lunch an hour later than usual, and we head over to the dining room. Mr. Rivero didn’t care for his scrambled eggs and potatoes, so being they didn’t serve us much from the start, I was grateful to have his portion. I wheel him back to the unit, drop him off at his room, stow his wheelchair away, grab my cup of coffee and water bottle, then head to the chapel. Already several others are waiting for me to set them up with a movie in the personal televisions. I enjoy this so much, as I tell them to select a movie, then go sit at a television and wait for me, that I will do the rest, and every now and then I pass by to see how everyone is doing and if they need anything. I can’t really afford to provide drinks or snacks for them, but at least if they did need something, I could help them with it at that moment.
After the English Christian service completes, and I start preparing things for the evening Spanish Christian service. I believe I will be singing a worship song this evening, so I practiced with Mr. Ramirez, who plays the guitar for the small band we have. 3pm arrives and the chaplain is asking us to head back to the units. I arrive at the Glasshouse and Mr. Campos has a plate of food ready for me. Today it was garbanzo beans with sausage, chorizo, and different vegetables and spices, jalapenos and yellow rice, with a small side of plantain chips. Thankfully it was amazing like all the other things he makes for us, and I was able to eat early which I rather do than eat so late before bedtime.
They just cleared the 4pm count, as we wait now for the first move that I will head to the chapel and prepare for the song a little more before the service. Rec moved was called and off to the chapel I go. I begin setting up the microphones and guitar, and am able to spend nearly one hour practicing my vocals, and adjusting the volume tabs on the soundboard. Everything is in tune and ready to go, as the Spanish Christian leader arrives and without asking permission connects his tablet to play his music, even though the two band members and I are trying to practice a few minutes before service. This is not the first time he does this, and the other guys have already mentioned to him not to sabotage our time. He did not seem to care, and continued doing what he was doing, then came over to the front, grabbed a microphone and said we should all sing together. As we continue trying to practice, I notice something sounds different with my microphone and it sounds like I am yelling through it, so I try to adjust. After we play the song, I head to the soundboard, and I notice that he adjusted all the tabs that were in use. Situations like this are tough to deal with at times, but all I did was stay calm, adjust the soundboard and walk over to my desk to organize some papers. I have learned to manage myself during conflicts like this one thanks to the specific courses through Psychology and the most recent course I started taking in the chapel by the name of “Faith-Based Conflict Management”, which is being lead by our Chaplain Hostler.
The service ended, and one of the Jewish inmates who is in a wheelchair arrived at the chapel to speak with the Rabbi Chaplain, I noticed he had wheeled himself over to the Chapel, so I offered to wheel him back to his unit when he was done, and he thanked me. Once they finished we closed up the Chapel and the Rabbi escorted us as I wheeled Mr. Frank over to his unit, then we walked back to my unit, and said goodbye to the Chaplain Estrin.
It is still early, so I sat in my room, overlooking the Glasshouse, from the top tier, eating a few saltine crackers with my crunchy peanut butter. It is only crunchy because I add roasted salted peanuts to the creamy “Peter Pan” peanut butter. Tomorrow I begin a new course in the Chapel being taught by Chaplain Kulungo, our Muslim Chaplain. The course is “Embracing Interfaith Cooperation”, we have a total of 34 persons in the class, and it is scheduled for seven weeks, every Monday at 2pm. I can’t wait to see what this class brings to the table.
Time to wait now for another 20 minutes before calling mom. Then I am thinking of calling Mr. Bermudez to see how he and his family are doing, shower, and enjoy the rest of the evening before bedtime.
Thank you Father God for another good, positive day in this life. I ask in prayer that you allow me a good night sleep and a chance to wake up tomorrow to do bigger better things. Watch over my family, friends and loved ones, and please don’t ever stop guiding me and building my faith. In your name I pray, AMEN.
