After lights out last night, I fell right to sleep and slept rather well. My back was killing me due to the rock I slept on. Lights came on at 6 AM, much to the dismay of the room full of disgruntled prisoners. Apparently lights used to go on at 7, but today was a new beginning. The new warden is putting down the law, and things are going to change around here. Not for the better for us inmates. Last night, all I could near was the ice machine dropping ice with a huge bang every 15 minutes. The dormitory housing unit has this constant locker room smell that I’m sure I’ll never forget.
I got up and brushed my teeth, took a washcloth to my face, and get dressed into my brown uniform. Breakfast chow was served at 7:!5 or so. Breakfast consisted of cereal, banana , 2 cartons of fat-free milk and some sort of pastry. The cereal was disgusting and tasted like cardboard, the water that they called milk didn’t make it any better. I ended up tossing out most of breakfast and jaded back to my barracks. I was trying to figure out how to get my PIN# and PAC#. The unit counselor is on vacation this week and won’t be back until next Monday. I tried to talk to the (staff sergeant?) but he wasn’t seeing anyone until 1 PM. He ignored my knocking request.
I headed back to my bunk area to change into some shorts and tee shirt. There have been several prisoners that have helped me through this transition. Most are in either “B” block or “A3” block. Some have given me shorts and shirts for exercise, someone gave me shower slippers, my roommate gave me soap and deodorant, and someone else gave me a decent toothbrush. I still am feeling like I don’t fit in just yet but people are noticing that I’m new and are introducing themselves. I decided to go work out, so I put on shorts and tee shirt, but laced up my prison-issued steel toed boots. These boots are very uncomfortable and my feet are killing me. Several guts are looking for some size 10s, but no luck yet.
I started to walk around the paved track in the yard today. Unfortunately, I could feel a blister forming on my left foot. I put 2 pairs of sweat socks on to prevent this, but the socks are as cheap as they come.
I saw a guy shooting baskets at the basketball court and asked if I could shoot around with him. He invited me to shoot some hoops–something I haven’t done in 6 or 7 years. I eventually found the range and made some shots. I thanked him (Tom) for letting me shoot around with him and headed back to take a shower and change back into my uniform. Lunch chow was called and everyone was excited, as they were serving burnt hamburgers. They served a really good apple and large soggy french fries, which I gave to the guy sitting to my right who was just scarfing down the chow.
After lunch, I went back to “A’ block and started writing this lengthy journal. I looked up at the clock and noticed that it was about 1:10 PM. I jumped up and headed to the Staff Sergeant’s office. There was a significant line that had formed, and there was a long wait. I finally was able to get my PIN and PAC #’s. I immediately headed over to the library to see if I could log into the system. Success! I looked at my account to see if Ihla was able to send some funds so I can get some needed supplies from the commissary. To my surprise, she had loaded the account with $400. I bought some telephone minutes and started to add my contacts. Just then the computer kicked me out after about 10 minutes of data entry. I had to wait 15 minutes before I could log back into the system. I met a couple of guys from FL, one named Kevin and the other named Doc. Doc was going to find me some sneakers. I took the necessary surveys and headed back to “A” block to finish my journal.
We just had a count. Nobody is allowed to talk during the counts. Chow was called just now. I don’t know what it was, but I’m officially on a prison diet now.
I’m running out of paper to write on. Luckily, the mail with duplicate information arrived today. This will hopefully hold me through until commissary call. I’m using a golf pencil to write with tonight, so it’ll be an early night. I swapped out my rock-hard mattress for an old one with the guy who runs the laundry. Hopefully I’ll sleep better tonight, but I’m not sure it was a good trade. We’ll see how my back feels tomorrow.
