Happy New Year friends and family!
I stayed up until midnight for the first time in years. I flipped through channels watching musical guests and then at 12:00 the big ball dropped in New York: 2022. Yee Ha! I’m feeling good about the year. But before I get into what’s ahead, I’ll catch you up on the last few months.
The first thing that comes to mind is that our Superintendent got suspended. He was really progressive and was pushing the whole philosophy called “normalization”. He got the idea from Norway where their prison system is apparently really successful. He was trying to create a more humanized environment in here: relaxed the dress code, encouraged staff to speak nicely, allowed fast-food fundraisers, etc. We don’t know why he got suspended but it doesn’t seem he’s coming back. So far his changes have persisted, for the most part.
Someone else to leave was an inmate who fell down she stairs and died. It turns out he was a serial killer in the past. Most people reflected that he was very considerate in his day-to-day interactions, though. I had played ping-pong with him several times. But if I had known about his dark side I might have let him win more often. Ha joking - gotta keep a sense of humor in here.
Otherwise, my health is pretty good. My Pilates efforts lasted most of last year and taught me a lot. But yoga is my true love. I’ve been getting a lot from it again, as I continue to figure out some (now old) injuries. And once a week I teach a friend of mine. He wants to touch his toes.
Our Covid numbers are low but our “restriction status” remains high. I’m pretty sure I got it again in September. I had achy bones, chills and the usually stinky areas around here smelled unusually good for a while - the upside of the virus. Visits are allowed but they’re only an hour, you have to sit six-feet apart, wear a mask, battle to hear what they’re saying, and you can’t hug. Torture.
On a lighter note, my mom gave me the idea of starting a “gratitude jar”: everyday you write down what you’re grateful for and put it in the jar. I started one at work and got people to join in. Whenever it’s someone’s birthday we all buy ourselves some iceceam and read them out loud. It’s been fun. (You can order various snacks weekly - the ice cream is really nice here).
For Christmas they cooked us each a Cornish game hen - holy cow! It was the best meal I’ve had in here. It was hot, juicy, AND seasoned! People couldn’t believe it and some even fainted. For New Year’s we got a piece of steak, which is a tradition. Although some people claim it’s been horse meat in previous years, this year was a small but thick beauty. I’ve been eating mostly vegetarian trays but still eat meat a couple times per week. Savage, I know.
It snowed on Christmas night. The next morning there was lots of untouched, soft powdery, snow. It was so nice and brought back lots of memories from when we lived in Utah (age 9 - 12). The picture on this blog is from that morning. Somebody made that lovely snowman and there’s a photographer who walks around. I took my glasses off because they were getting spotty from snowflakes. In case you don’t remember what I look like, or perhaps you don’t recognize middle-aged me. I’m the one on the right :)
For anyone who remembers about the “great reveal” (my monthly calendar reveal) you will be delighted to know I have seven calendars this year: wildlife, nature conservancy, birdlife, S.P.C.A., etc, and surfing! Beside the surfing one, they’re side-by-side, top-to-bottom on a cork board. It’s like a little wall of calendar.
Which leads me to some big news: January 6 was my halfway mark. Yup. Just another three years and four months to go. Yikes. But it’s nice to be over the hump. Actually, I think of it more as turning a corner. At first you’re going into the corner. At some point that changes: there’s a shift in momentum, you see different things and you’re on your way out. I’m at the beginning of that now. Weeeeeeee.
It looks like the college program I was enrolled in when Covid hit might be resuming in March. To prepare, I’m taking a correspondence class from University of Oregon this term. It’s the reading and study of a book written by a Chinese, Nobel Prize winning author. It’s fiction but informs about the country's last fifty years. And it’s kinda crazy. It’s written from several perspectives, most of which are reincarnations of the main character into a donkey, ox, pig, dog, monkey, and then a large headed boy. It called Life and Death are Wearing Me Out. I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy, so that title really makes me chuckle.
And that, lovely people, is about it for now. I hope you are all well. I hope to hear from you. And know that I genuinely do think about each-and-every one of you as time marches on.
All my best and love,
Barrett
Check out my next blog: An update from February 2022 - June 2022
Comments