I think I mentioned that they shut the heat off to our building about ten days ago. Immediately after that, we had a cold snap. Most everyone has been sleeping with their clothes on to stay warm at night. This morning, I noticed that when they called “chow” for breakfast, hardly anyone went (maybe 20 people). It isn’t a surprise to me – everyone is staying bundled up under their covers. I have been keeping warm during the day by doing sit-ups and push-ups, so no real issue for me. The more bothersome issue is that they are requesting our winter jackets back on Tuesday. Everyone is concerned because we are all wearing them not only during the day, but some of us use our jacket as an additional blanket at night. No big deal – let the prisoners suffer. Out of sight = out of mind.
The library is closed on Saturday, but a group of us went there this morning at 8:00. The C.O. did not show up, so we all had to go back to our unit. They got rid of the book drop box & the only reason some of us were there were to turn in their books. Too many guys were saying they put their book in the dropbox when in actuality they never returned it. I think this is the 3rd or 4th time I have shown up at the library Sunday morning and it wasn’t open. Must be nice to have a job you just show up at whenever you feel like it.
There are two songs in Spanish that our teacher asked us to download. These books are supposed to be helping me to learn some key phrases due to repetition in the song. Funny that I have been here for 3.5 months and I had to ask someone how to download a song because I have never done it before.
My friend Steve Welker was here last week. He is learning French by watching a video of two guys speaking French. Underneath it has not only English subtitles, but also French subtitles. He said this is a great way to learn spoken and written word at the same time. They should have something like this on our tablets. These tablets are so under-utilized; there are so many more things they could be doing with them – both educationally and recreationally.
I realized today that I have been in a negative funk all week. I decided to use something to jar me back into positivity. I went to the libary after lunch (when it was open) and found three books on my list – which never happens. Normally you can only rent out 2 at a time, but the librarian let me check out all three. I am using this as the positive action that will vault me into having a positive future week. Not only is it better to be a positive person, but I think it makes time go faster. Fast Times – here we come!
