From Dragonfly: Television

Last night is the first night in more than 4 months that I sat and watched a TV show. It was the Lifetime movie about Gabby Douglas. I really liked the message of hope and determination in the movie. I'd say that I liked the end of the film, but as tears were coming to my eyes toward the end, the televisions were abruptly turned off and everyone was told, "get ready for 9:30 count." Everyone said, "ugh," at the same time, wanting to just finish up the last seconds of a movie we'd been watching for nearly 2 hours. But, here, we do not do our time on our terms, the C.O. is in charge of the televisions and if she turns them off, we must pile up our chairs, grab all our belongings, and start shuffling ourselves back to our rooms.

It's weird how little television I've watched here. Back home, I could be seen, nearly every evening, sprawled out on my couch, laptop on my lap, watching one of my shows: Doctor Who, Scandal, Downton Abbey, Big Bang Theory, The Good Wife, Shark Tank, Idol, etc. But here, there is no couch to sprawl out on, no laptop to be surfing the web on, and even if I start watching one of these shows, it would likely be turned off before the end, or people will start talking so loud that I would not be able to hear it (even with the earphones we have to wear). I tried several weeks to do Big Bang Theory, but people were just too rude to let us actually watch the show. I guess when I am home, I'll have plenty of shows to catch up on.

I, actually, never bought one of the radio options that allow us to hear the televisions. I was given one to borrow, but it is broken, and, so, whenever I watch the televisions, I borrow one from a friend. Lola has the mp3 player and one of the radios, so I borrowed from her last night. In our old unit, there were two television rooms that actually had sound, but in our new unit, every television requires a radio/mp3 and headphones. There's nothing weirder than looking into a television room with no sound and everyone is just staring at a television with headphones on. Then, simultaneously, everyone will laugh. It's like they are all in on some joke that you didn't hear. Today, for Superbowl Sunday, it'll be yelling at the television, once again, with everyone wearing their headgear.

Interestingly, Superbowl Sunday is a federal holiday in prison. Not literally, but they are treating it like one. In order to give staff time off, they are closing the kitchen early and giving us boxed dinners (I hear they are treating us to a couple hot wings). We will all be in our units all night, with most the televisions playing the game. I can't say I care much about the game this year, none of the teams I really care to see are playing.

I'll probably spend the extended time inside working on the locker organizer I'm making for Lola. It's truly an original, as I am teaching myself many new stitches. I even signed the bottom of one of the pockets. She'll have it for a while here, yet, so she'll remember who made her the organizer. Not that she could ever forget me. Ha!

South has one week left here, and she's officially counting down her days. She'll say things like, "tomorrow is my last Monday here," or "when I get home..." It's so real for her. Tomorrow, we have someone else going home. She's been locked up 10 years and is finally being released. There's a beautiful poster hanging outside her room with a suitcase on it that says, "we all come with baggage, thanks for helping us unpack ours." I thought that was cool. Various people are signing the poster and wishing her luck. I don't know her all that well, but I know she'll be missed and many people are excited for her. Ten years. Wow.

It's cold, here, today, and it's going to be icy again tonight. This may cause more extended television days. We shall see. Last time we had an ice storm, we were held in our units for three days. I pray that isn't the case again. It makes for very long days, and I'll have to borrow another radio to watch some television... something I hope to continue to barely do throughout my remaining time here in Carswell.