Mad as Hell. Now I remember why I have been ignoring the television.

I was lucky to be able to watch Jeopardy at 7:30 PM for the last three nights. [It is Thursday as I write this.] Tonight as I went out to see about watching the show, I found that both the televisions were on the same channel. It was a second rate movie about basketball being shown on ESPN2®. I know this movie has already been seen many times here at Camp Run-a-Muk. The sad part is there were only about three inmates watching on the "little" TV.

As I mentioned, we have two TVs. One is in the main Rec area and is a large screen (35 inch?) and the other is in a glassed in corner of the Rec area and is smaller (21 inch). Now I know I am in prison and I have no rights, but the issue here is about protecting my own sense of self and keeping myself safe from harm. It would seem perfectly logical to ask the three inmates to allow me to watch a show and they could join the others out in the main TV area. Reasonable, yes, logical, yes, but in prison those two words have very little meaning in terms of application according to Webster’s.

What I have found is that in order to avoid putting myself into a "threatened" position (either emotionally or physically) it is best to not put myself in the situation in the first place.

That is what works for me. The ironic part is that if it was not for my efforts they would not even have the second television at this time. I was the one who fixed the destroyed antenna connection at the back of the set. BTW it was damaged by one of the inmates. Had I not fixed it, we would only have one television.

There begins the problem. I gave an extra effort to be sure the television set was fixed. Next, I began to feel entitled to some sort of pull over the choice of programs, the users... I mean fellow inmates, are quick to confirm that I have nothing coming.

Moral of the story: do not worry about the television, read a book, type a post for the blog, or write a letter.

I have read over sixteen books in the last six weeks. And the great thing about reading is there are no commercial interruptions.  ¶ 7:46 AM