Day 4, 6/26/21 - Sat.

Yep, I'm not going to lie. The entries are 100% mine, but I am using AI to correct my notes and occasionally generate a picture. Don't like it? sue me, sometimes it looks good.

“Fairly decent night's sleep. I remember being awake a lot. Four days feels like four decades. Man, imagine the cats in here forever or what seems to be. Thinking of lots of story ideas, not getting much down. I need notebooks and pens, hopefully once I get to the Camp. Average day in the SHU, the rather small brunch was pretty good. Food & Books are my whole world now. Trying to keep T. and my old life off my mind.

FROM THE HALLWAY: 'It’s your Mom’s Vagina!' came from down the hall. I think that is from some movie like American Pie or something.

Spicy Cheap Steak was the highlight of our day/night.”

Notes for Day 4 (Four Years Later)

Looking back, the Day 4 entry was significant for two reasons.

First, it marked the beginning of my documenting meals. If you stick with this journal, prison food—which is the same thing seven days a week—becomes a big part of my future entries. Because I'd done a lot of reviewing on Google Maps previously, I had this idea that I would start reviewing the prison food, get pictures of the meals, and then publish them on Google Maps when I got out. Now, I could have used a contraband phone to sneak pictures, which would have been dangerous and not quite worth the risk. Or, once I got to the camp, I could have bought a photo ticket (yes, inmates take pictures of themselves for various weird reasons), but I was considering smuggling out some food and taking pictures. That too carried risks, as all photos were processed by the guards. It looked like my food reviews would have to be limited to words… for now. The one good thing this pursuit did, when I had nothing else to write about, was always provide blank pages to fill with different descriptions of the prison cuisine.

Secondly, the "It’s your Mom’s Vagina!" outburst, which no doubt was a guard’s response to something an inmate said or asked, was the first time I encountered a hilarious CO everybody called “Game Time.” Since there are no clocks in prison (at least not in the SHU), when COs would do their rounds, inmates always asked them, "What time is it?" This particular CO always responded, "It’s GAME TIME!" He seemed to barely take his job seriously and wasn’t all business like many of the others. It’s a dangerous, thankless job, but he made it seem easy and appeared to love his gig. However, he and I eventually ended up having an issue, but that is for another time and entry…

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