Twenty-four Hours - Prison Version.
The following is an account of how I spent the twenty-four hour period starting midnight on March 8, 2005.
00:00 Worked on
Cross Sums puzzles while listening to classical music. This takes place while sitting on my bunk.
00:30 Climbed down from bed; I have the top bunk on a double bunk bed. Went for a walk to the bathroom, took care of need to empty bladder. Had one slice of American cheese split into quarters on four Saltine crackers. No refrigerator to raid, but good thing to have some food in locker. Opened up can of Diet Coke. Continued to work on
cross sum puzzles.
00:50 Finished working on cross sum puzzle number two and started work on puzzle number three.
01:00
Mendelssohn's scherzo from
Midsummer Night's Dream playing on the radio. You never know when you will hear a familiar piece of music.
01:50 Losing concentration on cross sums. Back to reading "
The Broker" by John Grisham. Mine is probably the last bed with light still on. My light is a forty watt lamp that clips onto my headboard. Taking off pants and slipping in between the sheets. Alone, sigh.
02:30 I really should get some sleep. Take off headphones and turn radio off, turn light off. Night Night. Lights come back on in only four hours at 06:30 AM.
06:30 Lights on. I'm still pretty tired. Roll over for a few extra minutes sleep.
06:50 Climbed down from bed, off to bathroom, emptied my bladder, brushed my teeth, made my bed. Our beds must be made by 08:00 AM Monday through Friday. While you can sleep through breakfast, I have only missed it once. I prefer not to have the correction officer whack the bunk with his nightstick when he comes around at 08:00.
07:00 Breakfast is served.
07:20 Had two bowls of raisin brain and a mini cinnamon bun. Finished off the rest of the Diet Coke I opened at 00:30.
00:30 Back up to my bunk to read and sleep. Not able to get under the covers.
08:00 Up to page 217 of "The Broker" but I am tired; time to nap?
09:00 Time to go to the Rec yard? On the other hand it rained hard yesterday, so the yard is probably muddy. Decided to stay in bed instead.
10:00 Fire drill. We all put on coats and go stand outside the building.
10:05 Trip to bathroom. Took care of some business.
10:15 Washed out two Diet Coke cans. Reading up to page 223. Guess I did more sleeping than reading.
11:15 Count time. Proved I could sit up. Now up to page 257.
11:50 Up to page 289. What is for lunch? Hot Dogs, in ten minutes. Let me check what is for dinner. Dinner is not all that tasty either. I will have tuna fish from my locker. Quick pit stop to the bathroom.
(Halfway there. Are you hanging off the edge of your seat yet? No? Probably shows you are a normal person and that my day to day existence is not at all that noteworthy.)
12:00 Back to reading, skipping the hot dogs. Will make tuna later.
12:05 Lunch has now become a group activity. Some sort of tuna or salmon dish. Back to "The Broker".
12:25 Up to page 306. Time to make lunch. Be back.
13:40 Lunch all done, dishes washed and put away. No sink to leave them to pile up in. Meal was for two. Six ounce package of salmon, chopped onion and garlic, four ounce can of mushrooms, eight ounces of spaghetti. About one half-hour prep time. All gone. Tasty, economical, low fat, high protein (25 grams per serving). Now off to finish my book or sleep, whichever comes first.
13:45 Got distracted. Opened can of Diet Coke, added squirt of lemon juice, (what a bright idea) sometimes takes me a while to figure things out. Wiped down top and sides of locker. Tonight is weekly cube compliance inspection. Back to reading.
14:40 Finished "The Broker". Grisham claims to be using a thirteen-year-old word processor. One does not have to have latest technology to accomplish great works. Let us see what I can turn out on my
Wordsmith 250. Imagine the possibilities.
14:40 What to do now? Maybe some typing? Bathroom break. Then try some cross sums. My synapses should be snapping well with all that great protein for lunch.
14:50 Listening to classical music and doing cross sums.
15:45 Still listening to music. Going to type letter asking for free cross sums booklet. Will skip dinner at 16:00. Still full from lunch.
16:20 Letter and envelope typed. Needed to use two stamps. One for
S.A.S.E. I now have only four stamps left till next Tuesday. Put letter in mail box and stopped off at bathroom on the way back. Still waiting for the mail to be sorted.
16:40 Found out a new rule tonight. You are not allowed to seal any mail going to a company. I had sent three changes of address letters out yesterday. Today they all came back. Since we do not use self-stick stamps, I was able to soak the stamps off. I then typed three new envelopes, borrowed some glue, and affixed the stamps on the new envelopes. I then returned them to the mailbox unsealed.
17:10 Took a peek at Sundays New York Times. Put it at the bottom of the stack to be read in date order. I am not going to be mailing anything out tonight; I guess I will do some newspaper reading. I need to take shower before 20:00 since the concert or other special programming usually starts at that time on
WNED. For now, I am going to veg out with a book. Next big event is the 17:25 PM count. Last time we have to actually sit up for count.
18:45 Count time has come and gone. I finally got out of my bed. Took a walk to dishwashing sink and rinsed out two Coke cans. Ate cheese sandwich with three slices of cheese but I am still hungry. Going to take a shower and get comfy for the concert. I think it might be Beethoven's Ninth. So let me go off to shower and then come back and relax a bit before 20:00. Wait a minute, I have been relaxing all day, but as they say, when in Rome.
19:30 Showers still full. Had conversation with a couple of other inmates. Ate a peanut butter sandwich. Listening to radio and doing cross sums. Enjoying Diet Coke and a Hershey bar.
19:55 Wrong, Tuesday night is opera night on the classical station and tonight is one by
Verdi. Wednesday and Thursday are west and east coast symphony nights. Back to some more cross sums. Somebody just gave me a three cookie pack of double stuff Oreos. Two of them are gone already, trying to hold off eating the last one.
21:25 Last count of the day. You do not have to be sitting up for this one. Jumped in shower right after count and returned to cross sums. Found out I made an error six or seven steps back. Now time to do some newspaper reading. Ate another slice of American cheese and four saltines.
23:20 Broke out third Diet Coke of the day. Now going to be one short since I only budgeted for two sodas a day. Took two decongestant pills. Found the error in the cross sums.
23:59 Well that is it. Twenty-four hours
New York State prison style. I am off to start reading "
London Bridge" by James Patterson.