Day 77 (12/8/14) 50 women with 50 different personalities

It’s Monday, a start of a new week. I feel like it’s going to be a good week. 

Thought of the day: Sometimes you have to let things go, so there is room for better things to come into your life. 

We had a few tiffs today. Fights over the TV, the newspaper, and cleaning. With 50 women and so many personalities, we are never going to always get along. The morning started off with two roommates fighting over when to clean their cell. One of the girls sleeps until lunch everyday and the other is up early. Well, the early bird likes to clean before lunch, but cant because her roomie is always sleeping. So, she waits to clean after lunch. The resentment of not being able to clean when she wants, has to be building up and today, she hit her breaking point. She decides she’ll clean when she wants to, so she goes in and starts cleaning. She wakes up her roommate in the process and they get into a screaming match. The early bird gets mad and wants to switch rooms. But, the grass isn’t always greener and she realizes that moving isn’t a smart move, so she backs off and doesn’t clean the room. But, she’s still mad and as she stews about it complaining to everyone that will listen, she decides “Screw it, I’ll do what I want to do and I’m cleaning now”. Then round 2 started up. They eventually cleaned their cell and by the end of the day, they had squashed their fight. 

The newspaper is a daily fight. We have people grab the newspaper and take it into their cells before anyone has read it. Then there’s “Butter”, who usually gets the paper first, let’s no one read it until she’s done and she keeps the sudoku puzzle section all day while she works on it. This really pisses people off. Now, we have “Crazy Donna” (who was transferred here from Patton State Mental Hospital) who interrogates everyone about the paper if she can’t find it to read it and once she gets it, she guards it with her life. She won’t share and she hoards it in her cell. She was reading the comics and hoarding the local section, so a woman asked to read the locals and she refused. She was “reading it”. But, she wasn’t reading it, so they argued about it. The woman attempted to pry the newspaper out of “Crazy Donna’s” hands. No luck. She left extremely frustrated. 

The TV channel selection is usually a “majority rules” selection. But, some deputies will not change the channel if people are in the middle of watching something. That’s what happened tonight. The deputy turned on the TV and Storage Wars was on. Two women sat down to watch and the deputy wouldn’t change it. So, many inmates kept complaining the entire time. “Are we really watching this ? I can’t believe someone is watching this”. Blah, blah, blah. I actually like the show and didn’t mind watching it. Plus, it was something different for a change. The thing is, the two women were nice and said you can change it at 8pm after the episode they were watching was over. Because, it was a marathon on and the deputy wouldn't change the channel if they were watching the show, they could have manipulated the TV programming all night, but they didn’t. If I don’t like what’s on TV, I’ll read a book. It’s not worth the energy getting worked up about it. The only problem I have with the TV is the women that yell “TV courtesy” when they are watching their show, but if it’s not what they want to watch and they’re not watching TV, “they” have no courtesy and get loud. It’s very irritating, selfish, and rude. I look forward to the day I’m home and I’m watching my own TV. What I want to watch, when I want to watch it, at the volume I want, and to be able to fast forward, rewind, pause, and rewind. :) 

Day 64 (11/25/14) Ever have a bad day...in prison ?

It’s another day and I’m feeling annoyed. I’m not sure what it is. Ever have a bad day ? I try and stay positive everyday and do my own thing and stick to my routine. But, today, I am just moody. I think these women are taking a toll on me. See, on the outside, you have a bad day and you can get away from it. Definitely not here. It started with breakfast. The walk to breakfast is no longer enjoyable. At first, I loved getting up and being able to just be outside and walk to the chow hall. Now, it’s miserable. It’s really cold, so your up at 3:30-4:00 in the morning walking outside in the cold. We have a little old lady who shuffles her feet and walks very slow. One of the deputies put her at the front of the line, so we had to walk at a snails pace in the cold. It was not a fun experience. I am really not a morning person either, so I prefer to not talk. I want to be left alone, eat, and go back to bed, but got stuck next to “chatty Cathy” this morning, who would not stop talking. She talked my face off on the way to the chow hall, in the chow hall, and back to the chow hall. I was nice and polite, but when I got back to my cell, I was over it and complained to my bunkie how annoyed I was. I felt bad, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. The worst part was the sound of dragging sandals. Half these women can’t pick up their feet when they walk. So, you hear the horrific sound of sandals dragging. You can hear them coming from a mile away. For some reason today, it was like nails on a chalkboard. I want to yell for them to pick up their damn feet when you walk ! My bunkie had to tell the story of the deputy and what she did to poor Wyonna 100 times today. Every time the story got more and more exaggerated. I guess we’ve all done that before when telling the same story over and over. 

Someone hijacked the newspaper today and took it to their cell so that wasn’t even an option for anyone today. It was found later. Someone had used it as toilet paper and it was covered in shit. Wonderful. 

We couldn’t agree on what to watch on TV. It was really a frustrating day. We have a lot of new women in our housing unit and we have a lot of our “old timers”. Then there are the “know it alls” and the “bossy bitches”. I’m tired of the “bossy bitches” telling everyone the rules and then not following them themselves. Then there’s the “TV monitors” that when they are watching TV, they always yell “TV courtesy please !!” But, when they aren’t watching TV, they are loud as hell. It’s a housing unit of 56 women, with all sorts of personalities living under one roof. Sharing one newspaper, 5 phones, one TV, 14 TV chairs, and 5 showers. Considering all that, we get along pretty well and at the end of the day, I’m glad to be in this housing unit dealing with all the annoying and irritating women than sitting in my cell in lockdown. Nothing was as bad as Housing 3F. I can’t imagine how I’d be if I were still in there. That was mental torture. This is probably the most I have bitched since being in here, but I’ll allow myself to slip from being positive once in a while. As another day passes, I am thankful for what I have. I remind myself to be happy and grateful for what I have, because it sure could be a lot worse.