"With words, I have knit my shroud and will bury myself therein." - Richard Matheson, 'Mad House'

Dear Readers, Fri. 11/20/20

Ladies and Gentlemen, please allow me to announce the Grand Opening of Club 89! Some management! New location! Our DJ, C3PO, is currently playing the 12" version of "Blue Monday '88' by New Order.
So... I have a little news, obviously. Nick and I were both moved out of cell 12 (formerly "Club 12") and into 89 because they got a new guy in a wheelchair and they needed to put him there. I'm not sure if I mentioned, but cell 12 was a "handicap" cell, meaning it was as large as a 4-man cell, but only has one bunk bed and a handicap toilet with a large sink you can wheel a chair up to easier.
Our counselor told me they were bringing someone in last Fri., a week ago. I was kinda "sweating it" 'cause I didn't want to be put in just "anywhere" or with just "anyone." I know I've griped about Nick in the past, but we have a good routine going and I do like him in a lot of ways. He can be a total "dick" sometimes, but whenever he pisses me off, he always does something to make up for it & put me in a good mood. That's a lot more than I can say for most of the guys I've been in an actual relationship with.
Club 89 is on the top tier of the unit, so now we're out with a whole different group of people. Nick especially doesn't' like that 'cause he doesn't know any of these people since they split up the tiers shortly after he got here. He doesn't know anyone, and all his buddies are on the bottom tier. Plus, most of the guys on the top tier are the loud and trashy/disrespectful type.
One really bad thing about this cell is that the sink leaks constantly and gets worse when you use the sink or when someone upstairs (in D-North) flushes their toilet. (Eww!) I'm sure that's not healthy.
I had a headache last night - continuing into today - and couldn't hardly sleep all last night, and I kept listening to it leak (multiple drops) all freakin' night. I ended up getting up around 2-3A and emptied out the trash can we use to catch the water. It was only 4-5 inches from the top.
Fucking ridiculous.
I spoke to Couns. Kelley about the leak today and he pretty much just blew it off & acted like we'll just have to deal with it. He did say he'd put in a work order to fix it, but I strongly believe he just said that to blow me off. He's on vacation next week & I'd bet money that he never actually put in a work order.

Sat. 11-21-20 5:38p

I'm currently sitting in my bed listening to Micahel Jackson sing "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" on C3PO. Charlie the Giraffe is in the window with his leg in the air. It's the freakin' weekend, after all.
Last night/early morning was fucking horrible.
Since I didn't sleep the night before, I took one of Nick's pills to help me sleep & put in some earplugs so I wouldn't have to listen to the constant drip of the sink.
When I woke up a little after 5A and put my feet on the floor, it was completely wet. The trash can - which I had emptied out before I went to sleep - had overflowed & there was water all over the floor.
Fucking disaster.
It was a huge mess & I was already really groggy. Nick acted like he was just going to stay in bed & let me take care of it. I told him that I could use some help since he had stuff on the floor too (we both have boxes under the bed & my bad with my legal stuff/typing is under there).
It was such a pain in the butt. My legal stuff got wet & all my typing paper is ruined 'cause now it has a yellow stain from the manila envelope it was in. Just what I need - another expense.
The only thing good about this cell is that it has a great TV show. We can see two TVs just a bit to the left out the window in our door, and we can see two others at a much greater angle to the left (I can only see them with one eye at an angle & my right eye is blurry so I have to use my left eye - weird angle).
Anyway, that makes this a popular cell - at least for those who don't know about the leak. I've heard that some of the black guys are pissed off 'cause we (white guys) were moved in here.
Boo-fuckin'hoo!
It's not like I asked to move here. There have already been offers to "buy" the cell. The two (black) guys in cell 80 offered $50 each for us to trade with them. I've heard that we could probably get $100 each for it.
Nick has said that he's not in a hurry to move again & would prefer to move to the bottom tier anyway. He also kinda likes the TV view. I agree with him, but this sink issue has got to be fixed.
We showed our CO how the sink was leaking & he said he called the Lt. about asking the emergency plumber to come over, but we were told that he doesn't have access to the tools he needs on the weekend.
Apparently, emergencies are only supposed to happen during the week.

Fri. 11-27-20 2:44p

It's the day after Thanksgiving & I'm sitting here at the desk listening to "Easy Lover" by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins on C3PO.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving & for those of you in Europe, I recommend it as a great tradition to start. It's my favorite holiday after Halloween.
Now that I'm on the top tier, we're out in the morning this week on the quarantine schedule & for once I am glad to be out in the morning. Both yesterday & today the bottom tier was locked down at 2p instead of 2:45p according to the regular schedule.
The reason for this - according to what I heard - is that senior staff are claiming that we're "short-staffed." What bullshit! I know that there is a CO in every unit - just like there would normally be. They're not gonna leave a unit without a CO (although from midnight to 6A they have one CO work both north & south sides of the units when most everyone is asleep).
This was just some lame-assed excuse to screw us over again. And on a holiday, too, when guys are trying to call their families.
They had us walk to the outside of the Chow Hall to pick up our meals yesterday like they did before, but every other meal has been brought to the units.
According to a recent memo, it appears that there are only two units still on full lockdown, A-South & D-South. A lot of guys are saying that they "heard" the compound will be going back to normal next month ("Inmate.com"). I sure as hell hope so, but from what I read in the paper, the earliest they would start distributing the vaccine would be Dec. 13.
I am just grateful they've finally come up with something! Thank goodness! I need some fresh air! Maybe next year I can get the hell out of this place & transfer to FCI-Marion like I want to.
In other news... they did another UA (pee test) last week - the day after we moved to this cell. Thankfully they came to the cell this time instead of dragging us to the Visitor's Room & wrecking our free time out of the cell.
We were able to get a work order to fix our sink put in this week, but for some reason, it has barely leaked the past few days. Although it's good because I can now sleep without the constant drips & fear of flooding our cell, it's also bad 'cause whenever they do finally come to fix it, we need it to be leaking so they don't blow it off. You know that if they came to "fix" it & then decided that it didn't need fixing, our cell would flood that same night.
By the way... I have decided to try & promote #GONELONGENOUGH further & I hope all of you will spread it around. It relates to prison issues, including but not limited to the following: Reduce federal & other sentences to 65% of time served; Abolish mandatory minimums; Fair sentencing based on actual harm caused to the community; Prison reform in general. Please pass it along!
Until next time, I wish you...
Love & Blessings,
KJ
#GONELONGENOUGH

PS - Please note: I respond to all comments, but staff here are lazy jerks & mix up the pages when they copy my mail, so it's often confusing which ID# goes with a certain comment. If I miss you, I apologize.