Chapter Twenty-Five YMCA – Swimming at the Y

Chapter 25 of the Autobiography... Letter Y, Y.M.C.A.

Chapter Twenty-Five

YMCA – Swimming at the Y

  When my brother, sister, and I were all much younger, we spent quite a bit of time at the YMCA. We would mostly be to swim during open swimming hours. My mom would always take us there. I remember my mom couldn’t swim and that was so interesting to me. My brother and I could swim like fish though, so we had a blast. This is where I learned to swim so well. I remember, to swim in the deep end or use the diving board, one needed to swim the length of the Olympic size pool twice. It always scared me to take the test because half of the pool was ten feet deep and I was afraid of drowning of course. The first time I slipped over the edge into the deep water is all it took for me to learn though. At that point it was just like the old times, sink or swim. I made sure I swam too. In the beginning it was mostly awkward splashing, but I got much better at it over time. 

  My brother and I would go all over inside the YMCA at those times. Though our passes restricted us to some areas, mostly due to our age, we still managed to explore the weight lifting gym and the racquetball courts. At the end of every day that we spent in the YMCA, all three of us kids were so exhausted that I don’t remember a single time that any of us managed to stay awake for the whole ride home. As we got older the crime increased at this location and it got to be sort of ran down. Between those issues and scheduling problems we didn’t continue going there. I still miss going there. I was always so active and had so much fun. Maybe one day I’ll purchase another membership and return there for my workouts.

Easter Sunday

Journal entry...

4-24-2011

Day 7 Easter Sunday

  Today I had an excellent phone call home. My whole immediate family and one of my best friends were at my house cooking out for Easter Sunday. I don’t get a chance to talk to my brother, sister, or my friend Jordan either, as they aren’t usually at my house when I call. It made me feel really good to talk to them and hear their concerns about my wellbeing. It only shows that they care. I get a chance to talk to my brother every few weeks at most so it made me feel at ease when I heard he was being optimistic since I last saw him a month ago, as he was arrested for an OWI the night that he came to visit me. I was happy to hear from Jordan as well, and especially glad to find out he has been staying out of trouble, staying sober, and spending lots of time with his newborn son. This means a lot to me because I don’t want any issues to arise that may make me feel uncomfortable to be around either of them after I get out. The highlight of my day was talking to my nephew Logan. He told me that he loved me and he misses me. It made me want to cry honestly. I told him I should be home by Halloween so we can go trick-or-treating together. I haven’t seen him since October 30^th of last year since that is the day I was arrested.

(Counselor Note - Huh?)

~J. Doe

Chapter Four: Dirt Bike – My First Set of Motorized Wheels

Chapter Four of the Autobiography...  Letter D, Dirt Bike.

 

Chapter Four

Dirt Bike – My First Set of Motorized Wheels

Around the time that I turned twelve years old I came across a 125cc Honda Enduro dirt bike at a garage sale. I managed to talk my parents into buying it for me so I could ride with my brother. It was in excellent shape for a bike from the early 80’s. It was a nice white color and ran great. It just needed to be cleaned up a little bit. So after we brought it home I took a little time and pressure washed the decals off and did some minor detailing on the engine. At the time of getting the bike I had only rode a dirt bike once and I crashed it. So it was going to be an interesting experience learning to ride this one. I had a friend who’s family owned an auto mechanics shop on the edge of town and they had a significant amount of property that we could ride on. My brother had his own Yamaha dirt bike that he rode, and my friend rode an old moped. We would ride up and down this trail behind the shop for hours. The trail led along the side of a corn field and had an area toward the end that it widened out a bit where we had room to turn around and ride back the other way. There would be mud and dirt and dips and ruts along the trail that made it less boring. One day after I got much better at riding, my brother tried riding up next to me to race me down the trail and he somehow managed to get stuck into a rut that sent him off the trail to the left and into some trees. He came to an immediate stop in the middle of the V of two trees that almost sent him flying over the handlebars. Luckily he wasn’t hurt bad. A couple of bruises and twisted front forks and bent handlebars is all he ended up with. He was still able to ride back afterwards. After that day we were a little more careful, but the problem was the farmer who owned the property that we were riding on decided to sell the property to be developed. So I was back to square one with trying to find a place to ride at. I couldn’t ride it on the streets and didn’t have any property of my own to ride on, so I thought about the bicycle/horse trail that goes for miles in the country near my house. In the winter time it turns into a snowmobile trail so I didn’t think it would hurt if I rode on it with a dirt bike in the summer. I would ride my dirt bike down the sidewalk at an idle speed to the entrance to the trail and would ride up and down it for hours. It went all the way beyond the next town over but I never went any further than the next town. After being stopped by the town Police and told that they didn’t care if I rode on the trail as long as I wasn’t bothering anyone. They just didn’t want me riding it down the sidewalk to the entrance to the trail. They wanted me to push it six blocks from my house to the trail before I started riding it. It didn’t seem so bad. So one day I was out riding the trail with a friend of mine when we noticed an ambulance going down the interstate that ran parallel to the trail. We continued following the ambulance down the trail until we came across the car accident it was responding to on the road. So we just sat and watched the scene for a while until things started clearing out and then I drove the bike back into town. It was a hot summer day and the breeze felt good out there riding with the wind blowing through my hair. When I got off the bike at the edge of town I noticed it was kind of warm from riding it all day. So I pushed and pushed and pushed the heavy bike down the sidewalk. Sometime along the way the bike got away from me a little bit and was leaning at such a hard angle that it wanted to fall over completely and I couldn’t lift it up on my own. So I stuck my leg underneath it for more leverage but the muffler ended up laying flat on the back of my bare right leg and the burning made me let the handlebars go and grab the bike and fling it off of my leg. But it wasn’t in time to stop it from burning half of the back of my leg. It literally melted the skin right off of my leg and it was just hanging there. I had my friend help me get the bike upright and we pushed it to his house so I could put some ice on my leg. After I realized the ice wasn’t going to help any at that point I started the bike up and hopped on it and rode it home as fast as I possibly could. That day when I parked it at home, it was the last time I ended up riding it. I sold it not too long after. I still miss riding my dirt bike even though I got hurt. It was a learning experience for me.

Prison Cell Cooking: Tacos!

Written on March 5, 2011....

   Today I signed up for a phone call at 6:00PM so I can tell my family of the outcome of my staffing yesterday. I slept all morning after breakfast until lunch. Then after lunch my cellmate went to a visit to meet his step-mother. He hadn't met her ever before, apparently. So his Dad and her came today. Unfortunately he missed Rec due to this again. I had to give him shit about it later and told him he'll have to work out twice as hard Monday. LOL!

   The rest of my day was spent reading for the most part. I got a letter and greeting card from my Mom saying this was the first week she hadn't received a letter or call from me and she was worried. After sealing her envelope, she must have gotten my letter, because she wrote, “Just got your letter today” on the back of her envelope. I couldn't wait to call home at that point. I don't like my Mom worrying about me. So at 6:00PM I called home and talked to her for a while about my staffing. She seemed neutral about the whole thing. She is mysterious in that way. You can hardly ever tell how she feels about something and she usually keeps what she thinks to herself, unless you ask. So since I didn't ask, I don't know. We talked about my brother and his job, and my Dad and his ongoing medical problems. The conversation was happily ended by me talking to my favorite nephew, Logan. “Logi Bear” was telling me how he was playing his game on the computer with his Nana. I told him I missed him and loved him, and hoped I could see him soon. He replied likewise and nearly made me cry. I miss him so much!! I ended the call as usual by telling my Mom I loved her and would write or call when I knew more about what was going on.

   For the rest of the night I kept thinking about my nephew and the phone call. Later I made prison-made tacos. I used Raman Noodles, jalapeño chips, cheddar cheese, and Cheetos. I mixed them together and added water to cook them. Once I let it sit and it got thick, I split it in thirds. One for the swamper, one for my cellmate, and one for me. We each wrapped ours in flour tortillas, crumpled Doritos over the top, and added hot sauce. It was delicious! I got compliments from both of them, along with others from the unit who could only smell them. After eating, I cleaned up and read my book until after midnight when we shut off the light.

Until tomorrow...

~J. Doe

In Time of Test, Family is Best.

Written on February 26, 2011....

   I woke up today thinking about nothing except my potential visit. The weather has been nice all week, and we have blue skies this morning. So as long as my brother's schedule at work doesn't conflict with coming to see me, my Mom and he should both be here today.

   After breakfast I reluctantly went back to sleep. I was afraid they would come tell me I had a visit, but not give me time to brush my teeth and whatnot before it. I woke up for lunch and the swamper came and told me I had a visit. But when the Sgt. came to get me, he said it was a visit for my cellmate, not me. So I went to lunch and he went to his visit. After lunch I prepared for Rec while admittedly hoping they told me I couldn't go because I had a visit instead. I went down and worked out hard while trying to sidetrack myself from the fact that I saw that it was now snowing and I probably wouldn't get a visit. After Rec I came back to my cell and was about to get ready to shower when the Sgt. Came and told me I had a visit! I was so happy to see some of my family!! I hadn't seen my Mom in over a month, and my brother since October. We talked about a number of different things. His new job, people we both know on the “outside”, how the family is doing, how this blog is doing, and how things are inside here. It didn't matter what we were talking about, in my opinion. I was just happy they were here! Our visit was over at 3:30PM, so we said our “I love you”s and goodbyes, and I went back to be strip-searched prior to returning to my cell.

   I had dinner right after coming back, so I gave my meal away since I had had a burger during my visit. I also got another letter and more pics from my Mom when I got back. The rest of my night was spent reading and occasionally looking at my pictures. There is one of my nephew who looks like he is trying to make a scary face for the pic, or he's trying to scare whoever is taking the picture. Either way, I can picture him saying “RAWRRRRR....” when I look at it. So every time I look at it, I say just that: “RAWRRRRR”! It makes me laugh just thinking about him doing it! I bet my cellmate thinks I'm crazy though. Anyway, now for some more reading until bed.

Until tomorrow...

~J. Doe

A Day of Paperwork.. and Strange Silence.

Written on Tuesday, February 1, 2011

  For the most part I slept the majority of the morning other than getting up for meals and head counts.  Around 2:30 PM the 2nd shift Sarge passed out everyone's canteen orders, slowly but surely.  After he finished canteen he started on mail.  Today everyone got copies of their monthly balance and transaction sheets.  They show details of an inmate's funds.  I also got an updated visitation list that now included my brother too.

  In addition I received a copy of my 'Personal Accountability and Goals sheet.'  I filled one out immediately after coming to DCI, but after being here this long, having had some study options, my answers now differ from when I first got here.  So, I'll have a copy from then and now to take with me  to A&E for staffing. 

  Other than that, I spent the evening reading and writing.  I didn't go out to help the swamper tonight because the Sarge wasn't going for it.

  The snow is really coming down and the wind is blowing at 35 mph so this has prevented my cellmate from leaving to boot camp yet.  Anyhow, now I'm going to eat, read and lay down to sleep hopefully.

Until tomorrow...

~J. Doe

Family Support Feels Good

...finishing the writings of January 26, 2011

  At 7:15 PM I got to make my call home.  It was nice to talk to my Mom.  It's always nice to hear from someone you care about.  She said everyone is doing well at home and she asked if my sister was approved for visitation as she'd like to come visit this weekend with my parents as long as the weather was decent. I let her know my sister was approved, then asked how my brother was doing.  She said he had some job offer near Middleton.  Apparently it's for a CNC machinist related position, which is his specialty, but the distance is the problem.  I know he hated driving back an forth from Madison for his last job, but hell, if they paid me enough I'd drive wherever.



  My brother was originally the one who asked if I was interested in doing some sort of daily log noting how everyday life is in the Wisconsin Prison System.  I thought it was a great idea and just recently started, while figuring I'd only have a small amount to write about every day.  Well, after starting this and writing daily for only five days, I've realized there is a lot more to write about than I thought.  I just want to be as descriptive as possible so anyone who reads this can get a full visualization of how it's like in here.  I just hope my brother can keep up with typing these for me.  I'm sure I have much more free time to be writing than he does. 



  If anyone has any questions for me please feel free to post any questions and I will respond to them as soon s I receive them.  Or, if you'd like to write to me personally I'd enjoy having a pen pal to communicate with. 

(His address was given but this was before he was told I felt it important to keep it more anonymous.  If you are really interested in writing you can contact me and if I don't see any reason not to give his address information to you I'd be more than happy to offer it.  email: prison.gates@gmail.com  facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PrisonGates  or twitter:  http://twitter.com/prisongates   ~ "3rd Party")



  I'd like to let my brother know how much I appreciate him posting my logs for me as I know it will be time consuming.  I hope somebody takes some kind of interest in reading these as well.  I'm not quite sure if something like this would be interesting to other people or not, or if my writing style is even interesting enough.  I guess we'll have to see...  For now I'm going to read some of my book before I call it a night.  Until tomorrow...



~ J. Doe