Journal Entry: Dennis Zeedyk-01/18/2025

Journal Entry

Before I came to prison, one former prisoner I know told me not to play sports. He said you can walk around the track and work out, but playing sports is not a good idea. If you get hurt, it will take awhile before you can get the care you need. Plus, some people bring the intensity of sports back to the cells and you may have problems. I thought that made sense to me and now I actually see it. A guy I know named B.C. and I talked a couple of times because he is from Indiana about an hour south of where I live. He hurt his knee playing basketball and now he hobbles around the unit waiting to see a prison doctor to determine the extent of his injuries. It looks like my friend’s advice was good.

A few days after I arrived, I did not yet have a combination lock for my locker. One prisoner gave me an old combination lock becasue he said he did not know the combination, so I could have it. I thought at the time that having a combination lock without the combination was about the stupidest thing you could give a guy. My cellmate said he thought he knew a guy who could help out and took it from me. About 1.5 hours later, a guy showed up and gave me the combination. He said he figured it out using “a cloth.” I don’t know what that means exactly other than the fact that I now have a combination lock that I can use.

When I arrived on 1/3/25, a winter storm blew in a few days afterwards. As a result, I had not yet made it to commissary or the laundry. After having worn the same pair of underwear for three days, I told my cellmate I really wanted to take a shower. He rustled up an extra towel for me and brought me a clean pair of underwear from some other inmate. The next day I sat down to a guy I had talked to a time or two and mentioned that I had taken a shower and felt better, even though I was wearing someone else’s boxers. He laughed and said, “you got your underwear from me.” We had a good chuckle about that. He will probably be getting out the next few days and said he will leave me his thermal underwear because the commissary does not yet have them, even though I have been here for over two weeks.

Given that I now have more time to think, I started drafting personalized letters to each of my kids, giving my thoughts on life that is directly related to them. I don’t want to make it so long that they cannot memorize it or anything; I just want to give 3-4 key pieces of advice for them. For my oldest son who is out of college, it is to stop swearing, save 20% of his income and invest it in real estate and how to properly treat/date women. I am still working on the letter for my daughter who is a freshman in college and for my freshman son. The latter is the hardest because he is still young, but I feel good about doing it.

I finished drafting a book report this morning & sent it in. The book was called Overthrow and each chapter was about a country where we overthrew their democratically elected leader for reasons of our own. It was one of the better books I have read in the past year or so.

I used to be a huge Stephen King fan. I started reading one of his books and found that his stories just don’t have the allure they used to have. I must have graduated to “heavier” books that have a stronger message and mean something to me and civilization at large.