Day 62 - 8/23/21 - Mon.
- mainemoviepirate
- 41 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Journal Entry:
“Up around 6:15. Had big, elaborate dreams, but I recall only one detail: I was going up and down the cascading (which I don’t think it cascades anymore) front of the Hobbs House in ‘Keag. Looking for something or carrying something. That’s all I got. HLR drink/meds. The lights were on, so I just chilled. It’s Monday. This place will be swarming with ‘Job-Doers.’ I thought I would have escaped them in Prison, but not so. Probably worse here than any place I’ve been. Definitely the worse place I’ve ever been confined to.
Skipped breakfast, sitting in the commons, looking out the windows to the beautiful day after ‘the Storm.’ Wasn’t much here, but some places got slammed. Looking outside just enhances my desire to move this thing along. Start with Steve and go from there. Explore every avenue: appeal, medical. Be ready when you-know-what happens, because it’s coming. I can feel it.
J.L. just came and told me the Camp Counselor, Larkin, is probably going to announce visitations are cancelled and two units in the main prison are under lockdown. Probably coming here soon. The way people come in and out of here, this COVID is a motherf*cker, no matter which variant is popular this week. Easily done 300 words. Need to start shooting for 900 words. Worked a lot on Outer Justice. The not-whale story arc is definitely going to be Book 3 or 4, because I want to introduce the Bu-Shawnee and the smuggler named Hawke. Plus, I want Books 1 and 2 to be the intro to the series—the main characters being rounded up and an anthology-style Book 2, 'First day at the office' type thing. Crazy amount of writing done before Lunch, even. That’s the way every day should be.
Overcast, now, slight rain. My spirits will not be dampened. I will prevail. Got to get ready for my Lunch gig. Wahoo.
LUNCH: Chicken Tacos, white rice, beans, creamed corn. Oranges. Ate some, put nothing in reserve.
What might be my last kitchen gig for a while went off without a hitch. Because after lunch, outside recreation was cancelled, and we were confined to our bunks. Looks like the COVID lockdown 2.0 is here. Maybe. Good thing I had just emailed Mom and T. and warned them they may not hear from me for a while. Let’s see what happens when 3 PM rolls around. One good thing is I got plenty of notebooks and pens. It looks like they are moving Smoke’s stuff out. I bet he tested positive. That’s not good. He is but three CubiCells from me. But I think of all the contact with the others he has had. It is going to burn through this place, I can feel it. And I thought we were done with this thing. Surprise! My spirits are still not dampened. I will prevail. No matter what.
Finished Just After Sunset, started Sound of the Beast: History of Heavy Metal. I never realized what a major, if not THE major, player Black Sabbath was in the birth of the Heavy Metal Genre. Makes me want to find all my old CDs and start collecting again. Someday. Random Stephen King thought: I had seen the Cat from Hell filmed—it was in the Tales from the Darkside Movie. Cool. Also, it was originally published as half-a story in Cavalier Magazine, with the readers encouraged to submit an last half/ending. Super cool.
Back to This World Update: Nope, it wasn’t COVID, but I suspect they hauled Smoke out for the legacy of Angel’s Phone. Don’t know for sure, but the guy next in the row is gone too. Maybe Smoke was just moved, don’t know yet. But there might be more to the story; only time may tell. Supper is going on as scheduled, so I did my Cup/Cleaning up Gig.
SUPPER: Pork Pieces, BBQ Sauce, coleslaw, rolls. Some kind of dessert that might have had peanuts; didn’t eat much.
Everything got lifted after supper. Went to TV room, watched most of a movie called Collusion with Ben Kingsley and Anthony Hopkins and a bunch of young actors. Seems like there was a real life ‘You’re in my Seat’ moment, but as I write this, I can’t recall. They were watching The Time Machine (2002) with Guy Pearce, and then parts of Limitless. I can’t keep bouncing back and forth. I went back to my CubiCell for the Journal and Chill. Mom answered my email. T. did not. I sent one back to Mom. I hope everything is okay with T. Old World.”
Notes for Day 62 (Four Years Later)
Full Day. Much to talk about. But I want to talk about just one: COVID. Had this pandemic never happened, I would have been sent to prison in early 2020, as my early sentencing was indefinitely postponed because of the shutdowns. Eventually, at the extreme urging of my Attorney, Steve Smith, (which is another story: see my upcoming 2255), I volunteered to be sentenced (by Zoom) in late 2020. The Pandemic was still raging, and many horror stories were coming out of the prisons about the Bureau of Prisons’ mismanagement of the Global Health Crisis. Also, because of my multiple medical conditions and the uncertainty of the virus, my self-surrender was delayed until June 2021. This was okay with me, because it gave me time to research all the legal threads I wanted to pull and try to unravel this fabrication of a criminal case. But I was way too ignorant and inexperienced with legal, criminal matters. My real legal training wouldn’t happen until I was behind bars.
I am not going to go into whether I think the BOP mishandled the crisis. Most of the medical staff I dealt with in Prison were totally professional; some seemed to actually care about their patients. Yes, Prisoners with medical needs are still patients. I think the majority of the issue comes from the overall bureaucracy and inefficient way the prisons are run. I spent over two months in some form of Solitary Confinement, which is a form of punishment for problem prisoners. When it is used as a form of generalized medical treatment, that to me seems like a form of cruel and unusual punishment for getting sick. Maybe someday, we will see some sort of Class Action suit against the Government for their treatment of human beings. I doubt it, but stranger things have happened.
