May 1, 2021
Let’s see, how can I update you on my day? It is Saturday evening and we just watched O Brother, Where Art Thou? again. I always like watching the part when they are performing the Soggy Bottom Boys original song for a political rally and how funny George Clooney and his two accomplices are with that crazy song and the way they dance is so funny.
I am a little sore all over but more on my forehead and sides of my arms from sunburn. We couldn’t play the game of softball we were scheduled to play because they are fixing the anchor for the cable that the bat is attached to behind home plate. So I went over to the sand volleyball courts and, boy, did we have some good games and the guys know how to play. After I broke the rust off a little I started playing a little more aggressively and my hand and wrist were feeling OK.
Doc
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May 1, 2021
I’ve had a good day. I’ve been sorting through my clothes and putting away some of the winter things and getting out some of my summer things. It can still be chilly in the morning and I seem to have lost my slippers. I was down on my hands and knees looking for them and F was in the living room. When I told him what I was doing, he went and got some slippers I had bought for him for his birthday. He doesn’t wear them because he’s such a Nord—gamer nerd talk for person who loves cold weather, from Skyrim. So I slipped them on even though they’re size 12. I’m amazed I can walk fine in them and that they stay on! But I look down at my feet and they’re the size of Hobbit feet when I’m wearing these slippers. Lol!
Jennifer
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May 2, 2021
Good Sunday evening to you,
I am really sore today. I had to get up early before breakfast because I was so sore although my sunburn has subsided. Yesterday I went to bed at 1:30 AM after watching Sherlock Holmes II movie that I thought I had seen and had not, or missed parts of it due to distractions in my busy life before all of this.
The air temperature so far at night with the fans has been pleasant and very similar to A/C but from about 10 AM to 10 PM it is pretty warm and humid and miserable in here. Especially after coming in from rec after 2 hours in the direct sun on a sand court.
Let’s see if anything else is new, they slammed a honey bun in a guy’s face for his birthday and then passed around a laundry bag for people to donate something from canteen because he doesn’t have any family support. He was so thankful. Then because it is prison they smashed another honey bun in his face. Then he had to eat both of them.
Doc
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May 3, 2021
Wow, honey buns in the face. But I guess it sounds harmless, like comedians throwing around pies.
I think that’s nice that there are roses there. Are the gardeners inmates or do they get outside contractors? That would be a pleasant job, although it would be one big long sunburn.
OK, for most of the day I just worked on the book and since it’s all about your case, you already know everything that is in it. Lol So let me try to dazzle you with some facts in general that you may not know.
Flamingos bend their legs at the ankle, not the knee. (I would be surprised if you don’t know that because you have probably observed that with your own eyes. I have only seen flamingos in the zoo in Toronto. I never saw one when we were vacationing in Florida. At least not just wandering around. Were there any flamingos at Busch Gardens? If so, I saw them there because that was one of my parents’ favourite places to go after Disney World & Epcot.)
OK, I like this next little known fact. Roller coasters were invented to keep people from sinning. In the 1880’s a businessman set out to distract New Yorkers from brothels and saloons. He built America’s first roller coaster on Coney Island which was very immoral at the time.
The shortest commercial flight lasts 90 seconds and it is between two islands that belong to Scotland.
The letter Q does not appear in any state name.
You cannot eat a polar bear’s liver and survive. It has too much vitamin A in it for a human body to handle.
Yes I remember those Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes movies. I think I watched both of them. Or maybe there were three, I can’t remember. They were amusing.
Jennifer
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May 4, 2021
The NFL draft is on TV these last 2 days so guys are going ape over that and hoping their team gets the best players out of the college ranks.
OK, let me explain our schedule a little here at Waki compared to Blackwater. Here we stay up until 11 PM on weeknights and have movies, usually usually one a night, with DVDs and on the large flat screen in the living areas of the dorm. Usually all PG ratings and semi current movies or old classics that people’s families donate to the program.
I have over 2000 DVDs in storage that I could donate, but I would have a hard time parting with some of them, my copy of My Name is Nobody and my director’s cut DVDs of the greats like Troy, Gladiator, Rob Roy, Raging Bull, On Golden Pond, Out of Africa, of course Gone With the Wind, When Harry Met Sally, Castaway, Fight Club (with Brad Pitt), 7 (with Pitt and Morgan Freeman). I could go on and on but they just called stand by for chow so this session is going to get cut off.
Doc
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May 5, 2021
Yes, I would love to hear about your DVD collection. I just assume that everyone loves movies but even my kids aren’t as into movies as I am. I’ll tell you more about my collection and you can tell me about yours. I know there will be some overlap but it will be fun to hear about the ones I haven’t watched. Did you know I haven’t watched On Golden Pond? I know it’s a classic but I never saw it. And I have not seen Brad Pitt in Fight Club. But I’ve seen all the others you’ve mentioned.
Here are some of the ones that are part of my personal collection. (By my personal collection, I mean that they don’t belong to S.) I’ll start with some of the older ones:
First off, I have about 35-40 Cary Grant movies. I haven’t seen them all but the ones I have seen are so funny. He’s a great comedic actor. Four Hitchcock movies: Suspicion, Strangers on a Train; The Wrong Man; I Confess. Some classic romantic comedies: Adam’s Rib, Woman of the Year, The Philadelphia Story, Bringing up Baby. Casablanca. (I’ve seen that one more than once.) Gigi. (Set in Paris, a musical.) An American in Paris. (I haven’t actually watched that one yet.) Mrs. Miniver. (Great World War 2 movie. Funny fact, it’s about a family and the actress who plays the mother, Mrs. Miniver, was actually dating the actor who played her son in the movie.) The Scarlet and the Black. (Gregory Peck as a Catholic priest and Christopher Plummer as a Nazi. It’s based on a true story and takes place in World War 2 Rome and Gregory Peck is hiding Jews from the Nazis, along with getting Allied POWs out of the country when they escape and make it to the Vatican. Amazing true story: When the Nazi commander Kappler was imprisoned when the Allies took over, Father O’Flaherty visited him monthly in prison. He was his only regular visitor and eventually the former Nazi became a Catholic and was baptized.)
I have all three movies that Rock Hudson and Doris Day were in: all crazy funny. Plus, a collection of other Rock Hudson comedies. Cat on a Hot Tim Roof (with Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman sweating and arguing and finally realizing they’re still wildly in love with each other.)
Now into the modern ones: Contagion. (All the rage now because everyone thinks it’s like covid. I actually bought it as a library discard long before covid.) Every Mission Impossible movie (the ones with Tom Cruise. We also have one season of the original series.) Jack Reacher I & II. (Also Tom Cruise.) The Princess Bride. (Best romantic, adventure, comedy movie ever.) Thirteen Days (such a well-done depiction of the Cuban missile crisis.) All the Jurassic Park movies. I liked the Jurassic Park movies but not in an obsessive way. I think Jurassic Park is the sort of movie that every house in North America probably has a copy of. We also have not one, but two collections of the first six Star Wars movies. I don’t know how we ended up with two collections. In any case, the kids were obsessive about those and watched them over and over again. But interest faded as they got older and we did see some of the more recent movies but I’m not even sure we saw them all. Now we’d rather watch Doctor Who.
To be continued…
Jennifer
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May 6, 2021
It got up to 90+ F today and I went out to rec but just stayed under they shelter and they had music playing for the first time and the guards and inmates were having a a dance off. It was quite good and funny at the same time.
The 2nd vaccine shot has me running a little fever and run down a tad. I am sore all over.
I hope you are doing well with your crew and surviving the covid lockdown.
I hope this thing takes a spike down for a change than up. I am saddened by the death toll in sone of these countries that have limited medical care and access to the vaccine. The news is terrible around the world now, especially in India and some smaller countries that are just now facing their 3rd wave. Some people due to their religious beliefs refuse to take the vaccine.
I am contemplating taking a shower but the water is so hot and the temperature is so hot that I can hardly stand the thought of it. It cools down later so I may hop in for a quick shower then. My sunburn pain has calmed down and I only have about 200 sand fly welts to heal up on my arms and legs so otherwise that is some good report. FCOL LOL NO COL
Thank you, by the way, for praying for Dad. He seems to be doing better.
Doc
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May 7, 2021
I am feeling terrible right now. I am having all of those side effects from the 2nd shot of the vaccine. I cannot believe that I am still having those nasty side effects. Aching all over (arthralgia), no energy (malaise), chills and night sweats (body’s natural reaction to fever), headache. I had no sniffles or runny nose and cough this time, but that did not hit me until later after the 1st shot.
I laid down and fell asleep at 12:30 and woke up at 3 when they yelled for chow/dinner and I was in La La Land and had no idea what time it was and when I fell asleep or anything. Crazy, eh!
I am getting exhausted just typing on this keyboard and trying to sit up on the very uncomfortable chair.
I am still trying to get through the summons but when they make comments like Hyrah and Skynnah don’t even remember who their mother or father are, that is so much a lie and I have proof that it is a blatant lie.
I am going to watch a movie if I can stay focused and then go to bed. When I was a medical intern, I would have to stay up for 48 hours sometimes. fcol
Doc
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May 8, 2021
Florida has just opened up and taken the mask mandate off. So hopefully we’ll be able to ditch those here in prison. I hope also it opens up to contact visits and my daughter can visit with my grandsons and I can hold and play with them.
Doc
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May 8, 2021
… I forgot to tell you I met an interesting inmate yesterday on the rec yard. His name was Brian Winchester and he wanted to ask me a few questions about wrongful death lawsuits. He started out by telling me he believed in my innocence and was very familiar with my case and the controversy surrounding my wife’s death. He said he was sorry and if there was anything he could do to help me or advise me, he would.
He then went on to ask me if I heard about his case and I told him his last name rang a bell about a case in the Tallahassee area about the same time as my case or maybe a little later. He said that he had a high profile case in Tallahassee after mine and he asked if had heard about the duck hunting killer case and I had to admit I had not. Anyway, he did not tell me details of his case, only that he was facing 3 life sentences, so he took a plea for 20 years?? So he admitted to guilt and pleaded out in front of the judge.
He asked some questions about wrongful death lawsuits that he is facing now. He was a financial adviser and had a substantial amount of money like myself and Samira. He did not get into details. He just asked who I used for the wrongful death suit. I told him all the names. To give you a little historical reference that I may have told you about, it happened before I was even charged or indicted with Samira’s death and was being held in the county jail on false charges of attempted interference with child custody so that, as Georgia Cappleman admitted, was a way to keep me in jail while they tried to build a case against me in her death.
Doc
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May 9, 2021
When I was at the Tallahassee Democrat reading about your case I ran across that name Brian Winchester more than once. I’m reading about the case now. The victim was Jerry Michael Williams. He went duck hunting, they thought, and initially concluded that he had drowned in Lake Seminole and been eaten by alligators.
After they found his jacket with his hunting license, his wife had petitioned to have him declared legally dead. She then married a mutual friend, Brian Winchester, who had also helped her to purchase a large life insurance policy on her husband shortly before he died. This all happened late 2000. After pressure from William’s mother, the case was reopened in 2004. At this point, investigators knew that it wasn’t alligators because alligators don’t eat during winter months. But there was no new evidence so nothing came of it.
But in 2016, Brian Winchester was arrested for allegedly kidnapping Denise who was now divorcing him. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison—the day before the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced that they had found the body of Williams. In May 2018, Denise was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and accessory. She was found guilty when Brian testified that he had shot her husband at her request when their initial plan to stage a boat accident had failed. (The plan had been to make it seem like an accidental drowning but when Mike fought back, Brian had shot him, according to this article I’m reading.) Denise was sentenced to life in prison. There are A LOT more details than that, but that’s the summary. It was a high profile case going by all the articles online. According to the article I’m reading now, his deal was that if he testified against Denise, he would not be charged with any crime relating to the the death of Jerry Michael Williams. So I guess he’s just serving the 20 years for the kidnapping of Denise.
I’m so sorry that time and time again Hyrah and Skynnah have had people using their names to line their pockets and act like they really care. If they really cared, they’d fight to get you out of there so that Hyrah and Skynnah can have a full-time Dad back!
I just realized that today is Mother’s Day. I hope that’s not hard on Hyrah and Skynnah. My heart goes out to them. Do your brother and his wife give them a way to celebrate their Mom and remember what an incredible life she had?
As I’ve told you, we’ve just skipped Mother’s Day around here because of homeschooling and I was never the sort to tell my kids, “you know, there’s this holiday called Mother’s Day…” lol We skipped it in the sense that we never made it about me. When my father was alive, he would bring my mom up here and we’d have a Mother’s Day meal. So I think my kids came to see it as being about Grandma, not Mom.
Jennifer
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May 10, 2021
I am finally feeling a little bit more like myself this evening and I have been getting caught up on your letters. I am intrigued about your movie collection which is almost as big as mine. Lol
It is a little cool spell here. It only got up to mid 80s F today. I know that is a heat spell for you Canadians but here it is a welcome cool front with a mild breeze which is welcomed tremendously when we depend on outside air coming in through the windows with screens for our temperature control. Fcol
There are about 15 windows on each side and spaced arbitrarily so there are some lower bunks with a window right at the head and then some with no window and no evening breeze. I am a top bunk in the corner and I only get a little breeze float up at night. My bunkmate hangs his towel up from the window to dry so it steals the air. From the window we have a view of the rec yard and trees and sky beyond the razor wire and old guard tower like in the movies. Nothing exciting. Sometimes I watch the guys playing softball and basketball and volleyball to see my potential competition. lol They are starting a volleyball league and were practicing today. I don’t know if I want to spread myself that thin. I may later in the spring or early summer. If I get my schedule down and my stamina. That sun really gets to you after about 2 hours a day…
To get on the top bunk we have a metal locker that is about 10” high and then the bunk is about 5’6” high and I stand on the locker and jump up and turn in the air and land on my butt on the mattress and my feet are dangling above the locker about 3’6” and the guys in the pod are all amazed when I do that, especially a white guy at 53 y/o. They look at me like I have performed some amazing feat. No one else in the dorm can do that to get up on their bunks. I feel young but sometimes my butt gets a little sore.
Doc
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May 10, 2021
It sounds active there. I’m glad. I miss my long walks but these days I really don’t want to risk covid. It’s not something I want to get when we’re this close to the end of it. It would be like being one of those poor soldiers who dies hours before a cease-fire is signed. Both C and I have trouble taking a deep breath when our acid reflux is acting up and our sinuses are bad. I wouldn’t want to throw covid into the mix at this point. This third wave seems to be the worst of them here.
I hope you don’t lose sleep over the heat. I find it hard to sleep when it’s too hot. Of course, I find it hard to sleep when it’s too cold. I guess I’m like Goldilocks with the porridge: too hot, too cold, just right. Lol It is currently 24* in the house. I like that. It can go up to 27* before I start to feel too hot. If it drops to 20*, I’m bundling up.
Today I got on the rowing machine and while I was using it, I watched a documentary about the Brian Winchester case. Now, of course, I don’t trust these shows after what they did to you. But it sounds like he really did it since he confessed and testified to murdering his friend at Denise’s trial. In one area, and one area only, there is a similarity between his case and your case. The real killer isn’t serving time for the murder. It was Denise who was charged with first-degree murder despite that she wasn’t even there. He only told police where to find Mike’s body after she didn’t want him anymore. He was in her truck with a gun and talking about killing himself and she got the impression, maybe her, too. She somehow eluded him and went to the police afterwards and he was charged with kidnapping and assault. At his trial, she read a victim impact statement and begged them to put him in prison and never let him out. She said she was sure that he would kill her and said that it was a choice between her life and his life and she begged the court to protect her life.
It’s odd. If they really were partners-in-crime, she certainly took a risk by going to the police when he became unhinged and showed up in her truck like that. If it were me, I’d be inclined to avoid the police.
I had an Eastern variation on beans and biscuits for breakfast today. I made some biscuits and then had them with some leftover dhal. It made me feel like a Pakistani cowboy. Lol
I’d actually like to visit Pakistan and see Mohenjo Daro. Also, Harappo. It’s in the Punjab.
Interesting fact: a lot of Bollywood actors come from that region. The region is in both India and Pakistan.
I read somewhere that the British recruited for their Indian army from the Punjab. Apparently the Sikhs take fighting seriously and train their boys from about 4-years old on in combat skills. I don’t even think they wear helmets, just their turbans. I’m probably getting this all muddled up, but based on a movie I saw, I think the turbans are supposed to provide some kind of supernatural protection. It was a hockey movie where Rob Lowe coaches a team of Sikhs. They didn’t want to wear helmets when they played hockey because their turbans would be enough. Anyway now I’m looking it up online. No Sikhs fighting in the British Army wore a helmet in WW1 or WW2, to the point of mutiny, if necessary. Apparently the turban is a symbol of courage and self-respect. So to take it off would be to deny one’s beliefs.
The lockdown in Ontario has been extended to June 1st. That really doesn’t surprise me. Have you heard from Addison? He must be doing something good out there because I read online that California has gone from worst to first in battling covid! As of the end of April, they have the lowest infection rate. So I’m glad to hear that.
Getting back to the Winchester case, she was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to murder and accessory after the fact, all based on Brian Winchester’s testimony that she plotted it with him and that she was the driving force behind it. As I mentioned, her appellate lawyer got the first-degree murder charge dropped. She’s still in prison doing time for the other charges but in the end, no one is actually doing time for the murder itself. Very strange.
Jennifer
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May 12, 2021
I was finally able to get on the kiosk. It has been rainy here the last 2 days and the inmates have all been hoarding the kiosk and and phones because rec and canteen have been cancelled.
To give myself a little break from answering the now 2 court summons I have been served I have been reading a free ebook on my tablet called Outlines of Greek and Roman Medicine by Dr. James Sands Elliott MD circa 1913. It is very interesting on the history of medicine and early physicians and surgeons.
The heat and humidity the past few days is so intense that I have not stopped sweating and I hardly ever sweat. These fans make a lot of intense noise and I get no benefit from their air flow. Sounds like I am sleeping on a wing of a prop airplane on a tarmac runway in holding position for take off every night of my miserable life here at night in this dormitory. Mexico and my underneath bunkmate snore like grizzly bears in deep hibernation. And let’s not even go into the odor of 100 other inmates whose main staple diet from the food we are served is beans. Black beans, brown beans, pinto beans and their side effects.
My big toe joint is so sore from playing sand volleyball and over extending it. It is the one I had surgery on from severe injury my senior year in high school. That is how I got interested in Podiatry. My arm is still sore from the 2nd vaccine shot. My pillow is too small and hard so my neck is killing me. My hands smell like bleach because I had no gloves to wear while washing my clothes in a mop bucket. Otherwise I can't complain. lol col
See, it could be worse than the quarantine lockdown you are facing in Canada right now. I always use that stupid phrase, well it could be worse.
Doc
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May 13, 2021
That Outline of Greek and Roman Medicine sounds interesting, especially how it goes into the origin of medical terms. I love words and their origins. I found it on Project Gutenberg so I may give it a go.
A room full of 100 men eating beans is not a good situation.
Yes, I use that phrase a lot too, “It could be worse.”
Jennifer
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May 14, 2021
We had a memo in the JPay inbox from the warden that we are to be inspection-ready every morning now, just like the extreme Gestapo rules they were doing at Blackwater if you remember the month before I left and I was struggling with TC and his clutter and doing laundry all the time and having dirty laundry everywhere from half the pod’s drug dealers. He hanged it all up to dry after washing it, making our room look like a Chinese laundry from the 1800’s in San Francisco. Lol Then it would get damp and cold in the room at night.
Here everyone is so inspection ready all the time that I am the one who is always scrambling to get my bunk and personal stuff in order.
I have my first official class today at the chapel called Boundaries??? I will fill you in on what that’s all about.
Doc
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May 14, 2021
I just got back from my first class here at Waki. Boundaries is a class based on the book, Boundaries. I have heard of the book from the New York Times bestseller list and in bookstores’ top sellers shelf back in the 90’s. I never bought it because there were so many self-help books on the market back then and so many AA-based addiction and recovery books and they really had no application to my life. I stand corrected, the book deals with more than just addiction. It is about setting boundaries on your everyday decisions that cannot only affect your joy, happiness and success, but those around you that you love the most.
… I liked that the instructor said that there are people in prison, and quite possibly in the class of 30 to 40 inmates, that might be wrongfully convicted and maybe fully innocent and looked at me. He looked familiar and lives in Tallahassee.
Doc
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May 15, 2021
I looked up that book Boundaries. I read the description at Amazon. It sounds interesting. Let me know if you recommend it.
I had a dry cough last night which scared me because, of course, that’s a covid symptom but I don’t have it this morning. It happened after I brushed my teeth and that often makes my mouth dry, plus S is still sucking all the moisture out of the air with his dehumidifier. If covid weren’t a thing, it would have never crossed my mind that it was anything more than dry air. Plus, I haven’t been anywhere for weeks now. So if covid came into the house, it would have come in through the mail or on a package. I don’t know how common that is.
Now every time I feel the slightest twinge, I’m tempted to go online and see if it’s one of the unusual covid symptoms. Yikes. If it’s possible to think oneself into getting it, I would probably do that. Lol I had to stop watching House MD because it made me feel like I constantly had a terminal illness.
Jennifer
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May 16, 2021
We had a cold night last night for Florida this time of year. It got down to the upper 40’s. Lol That would be a warm spell for you Canadians. For us Floridians that is freezing.
Today is uneventful. So far I have no callouts. That is rare. And they have not called for rec. I stood in line for canteen and they were out of 90% of the items I wanted.
I went to rec yesterday and I was glad I went because they are starting a volleyball tournament and they are going to have 8 3-man teams and I was the 24th guy on the list. It doesn’t start for a month so I hope my hand and wrist are healed by then.
Count time…
Doc
* * *
May 16, 2021
False alarm. Inmates do some of the most stupid things sometimes to try and get you off of the kiosk. If you ever get a letter and it has a lot of ignorant typing or if you think it is not me, disregard and realize someone tagged into my tablet or got on the kiosk when I thought it was count time and I forgot to log out. That is what exactly what just happened a few minutes ago.
Guys also like to look at your account and movie and song list because they are jealous or don’t have money or they don’t use their money wisely to have their own music list. They would rather spend it on junk food or getting high.
… I’ve had a few people get upset when I don’t return emails. They don’t realize that the emails can get held up by the screening process, especially if they use words that cause the letter to be blocked. You and I have very few letters that are blocked because we know what words to avoid or how to get around it. It was especially frustrating when you were telling me a long story in parts and one part was missing. It was like a good movie on TV at Blackwater when they would go into count and shut off the TV right in the middle of it, or a sporting event.
And now it really is count time…
Doc
* * *
May 18, 2021
Good morning, I am hoping to try and get a bottom bunk today since one is opening up. The bad news is he was a good volleyball player and I enjoyed playing with and against him. He is a younger guy and I think he will do OK on the outside. He needs to polish his language skills, or his four-letter ones, anyway, and then he says he has had addiction problems in the past and will need to overcome the daily struggle and temptation that will come along with that for the rest of his life. If he messes up in the State of Florida they will baptize him with a real lengthy sentence in the future and he needs to definitely do some deep thinking on that whenever he is tempted.
I sit here listening to inmates who have all of these excuses on how their lives got all screwed up and blaming everyone else and the system for them being here, but I hear very little about taking accountability and having remorse for their bad actions and decisions.
Doc
* * *
May 19, 2021
… they’ve opened up the vaccine to everyone who is over 18 this year, so that’s everyone in the family except J. But just signing up for it doesn’t mean getting it right away. I’ve been on the list for awhile and haven’t gotten called in for even the first dose. Oh well.
J and I did a BBQ outside today for the family. For some weird reason S went out and bought some hamburgers and buns. I think he went out and bought the burgers because I made some remarks about not caring whether I starved or not due to the complete financial ruin that our lives have become. He made some remark about no one starving under his administration (or was it regime?) And then went out and came back with burgers.
We’re going to be watching another Batman movie tonight. The last time we watched a Batman movie together, we talked about Jungian archetypes afterwards. Humanity seems to have about five different stories that we tell over and over again in our collective consciousness. I made a remark at the time that so many movies end with everything burnt down and someone saying to the hero, “What are you going to do now?” I said that the answer is always “rebuild.” And then C said that sometimes it’s also that they’re going to all travel somewhere else and start over there.
In terms of movies, we’ve also talked about the journey theme. It’s definitely in The Hobbit. The hero goes on a journey and learns something important about himself. And returns home different. (Although Bilbo Baggins might be the one exception there in that he returns home and remains, more or less, a comfort-loving Hobbit. It’s Frodo who is never the same after his journey.) I also see the constant theme of sacrifice in all the heroes. Every hero is a person who sacrifices himself in some way—his comfort, his safety—for the good of others. So that’s another universal theme. The sacrificing hero.
Jennifer
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May 19, 2021
I just got back from rec. Bad news. Playing 2 on 2 volleyball I had to lunge for a ball and tore my upper hamstring (rectus femoris muscle/tendon). Ouchee. This one really hurt and I stretched but there was a big wait out on the rec yard to get the net. We have to set up the net between 2 steel poles and then when we get done we have to take it down and check it in along with the ball to the rec supply storage area. One inmate has to leave I.D. for the ball and one for the net to make sure it gets returned and in good condition, otherwise your account can be charged for malicious damage that is not normal wear and tear.
Another bad news was the sergeant gave the lower bunk to someone else, but they may not have a bottom bun pass and I do. But mine is temporary from the right hand and wrist fracture and b/l knee injuries. It expires in August but I hope to be full go by then. If I don’t stop having these other injuries I may have to have a permanent one. Lol col
This letter may get cut short. This day has been full of threats of inspection ready several times. They did have a shakedown crew on the compound with a portable walk-by metal detector and they seemed to have left around noon, but they may have come back after lunch. Sometimes they just walk around slowly on the compound to make everybody get inspection ready and only hit one or two dorms.
I am going out for a sick call to try and get all of my medicines filled. It has been over a month now and I have been to medical 2 times and they only filled a couple of my meds. After that I have my second class in Boundaries and that I am actually looking forward to. Although sitting on a hard pew with no padding for 2 1/2 hours is a little bit tough.
Doc
* * *
May 20, 2021
There’s an almost pre-tornado look outside. I know they’re calling for rain today. With four years in Texas under my belt, I certainly know a bit about tornados although I couldn’t understand why they would make us all go stand in the storage closet for it. It was a rough room where we kept all our luggage and boxes and the shelves went up to the ceiling so if anything happened, it was guaranteed that boxes of books or suitcases filled with personal items would fall on our heads.
Despite watching Twister more than once, I’ve never figured out where the best place is to be in a tornado. I’ve heard it’s in a ditch and that actually sounds better than a house just because if the house falls in, that would be painful. Being in a car seems hugely dangerous unless one is driving away from it. Or under an underpass. At one point, they told people to take refuge in an underpass, but I’ve also heard that that’s NOT good advice. Psychologically, I understand why people don’t want to get out of a car and into a ditch. For one thing, by then the ditch would be running with rainwater. We had a tornado—although really it was just a bit of a down draft—touch down and take out a neighbour’s tree about ten years ago. It was so dark out we didn’t really know it had happened until it was over. As I recall, we had the curtains open and were looking out the window, which is probably the least safe place to be. But we don’t have a basement and the only other option, I suppose, would have been to all go sit in the bathtub. That’s another thing I’ve heard. Go sit in the bathtub. I usually just pray and then leave it to the angels.
No letters from you today, but I know there’s something glitchy about JPay. I had trouble sending you my last letter and I’m going to have to go back and make sure that it really did go through. When I tried to check my Sent folder, it gave me an error message. Oh well. We persevere.
Some doctor humour for you:
What do you call a student that got C’s all the way through med school? Hopefully not your doctor.
What do you call a doctor that fixes websites? A URLologist.
What do you call 2 orthopaedic doctors reading an EKG? A double blind study.
Why did the doctor tell the nurse to walk past the pill cupboard quietly? So she wouldn’t wake the sleeping pills.
Did you hear about the optometrist that fell into his lens grinding machine? He made a spectacle of himself.
What happened when the man tried to search for information about impotence on the Internet? Nothing came up.
Jennifer
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May 20, 2021
… I just finished watching the movie 1917 and if you like war movies, as I know you do, it is one for the ages. The main thing about this movie is the cinematography is unique for any type of movie, almost like the Sound of Music, and how the cameras drifted in and out. It really showed the horrors of war and the struggles of trench warfare at its worst.
It has a good moral message and I won’t spoil the movie and its intrinsic storyline and main events. Good visual effects. Anyway, watching that was my only main event of the day. The compound was closed down half of the day and I am a little sore from sitting for 2 hours on an uncomfortable chair.
I’m out of time again, so good night and talk to you tomorrow.
Doc
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May 21, 2021
Thanks for recommending 1917. It looks like a good one.
I know what you mean about uncomfortable chairs and 2 hour movies. I can stand it for half-hour shows like Superstore. But lately when we put on a movie, I haul out a moon chair that I folded up and put away because there’s no room for it in the living room. It blocks the path when I use it but once we’re watching a movie, no one’s getting up anyway. Last night we watched the Amazing Spider Man 2. The movie was OK but the conversation afterwards was better. C and I talked a long time after that about heroes, including the ancient ones, and how at some point, they just have to jump off the building and trust that their instincts and special skills will work. And how when they do things like that, it’s always for others and never for any personal gain. As opposed to so many of the evil villains who are inside protective armour and fighting and destroying entirely for personal gain.
Jennifer
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May 21, 2021
I am a little aggravated because while I was out to chow and helping Mr. Fogle, they came with the inspection team and found my spring water bottles and coffee styrofoam cup behind my locker and said something about it. This place is a little too petty and aggravating at times.
To stay in this dorm you have to be compliant or they ship you back to your original camp. Blackwater was not that bad when you add it all up and actually was more faith-based. We had a dynamic ministry with Momentum Church there and it was air-conditioned to the extreme.
If you would take the good points of both prisons and get rid of the bad it would be a lot better and these inmates would be changing their lives for the better and saving souls along the way.
I finally asked Mr. Fogle what he was put in prison for. It was quite shocking.
He unfortunately does not have a lot of remorse for the heinous crime he committed. I remember back in about 2010 seeing and hearing about it in the news, around the Orlando/Lakeland area. What they called the Church Shooter. You can look it up for me because he jumps around and I will tell you his side of the story. His name is Jeremiah Fogle.
Out of time…
Doc
* * *
May 22, 2021
Wow, I just read the whole Mr. Fogle story. It’s not pretty. He killed his wife and then shot two pastors at the church. But years earlier, he had killed another wife and been charged with manslaughter.
Lawless is on Netflix so I’ll put it on sometime.
I just got the email from the pharmacy!! I’m going in 15 minutes to get the vaccine. Yay! But I hope it doesn’t make me feel crappy. Oh well.
Jennifer
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May 22, 2021
… Mr. Fogle started out his story at the point where his second wife asked him to go to church with her before they were married, but living together??? She was a deaconess at a Baptist (?) church. He says he did not want to have anything to do with that kind of church. Anyway, he went on and on and I will make it short.
He went to church and the pastor and her aunt convinced him that they needed to get married since they were already shacked up and living together. He says he didn’t want that and he felt pressured, but he went ahead and they had a small church wedding. Then he said the day after they got married she told him out of the blue that they were having a party after work at her work. She called him and told him she would be a little late. She had never done that before. Then at 5 PM she said the party was still going on and she might be late into the evening coming home.
He was assured by someone that she was not at a party and was out wh_ring around. Well, you’ve read the papers so you know what happened after that.
He gets into this almost ecstatic stance on calling people out and acting like he is a prophet to tell them if they don’t get right and stop their evil ways, God is going to take them out. He just doesn’t understand how God allowed him to kill his wife and not the pastor who he thought she was having an affair with. He is almost mad that he did not kill the paster and his wife because he said he shot them in the head and cannot understand how God did not allow them to die, too. Is that not the most crazy thing you have ever heard?
Doc
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May 23, 2021
Wow, that is quite the drama, and very creepy.
I just glanced at the window, it’s early, early morning, barely light and I saw something fly overhead. I’m not sure whether it was a bird or a bat. It happens all the time in the evening if we’re outside, it reaches that point where it’s no longer birds overhead, but bats. I retain a classical concern about bats based on seeing movies where people go into caves and the bats all come screeching out, flying practically on top of them. But as long as the bats stay up high and don’t sweep down towards me, I don’t run inside screaming. lol
Our family is a mixed bag when it comes to fears. The kids hate spiders. I ignore them. They vacuum them. K loves snakes. I jump a mile high. Same with mice. Although I feel sorry for all the dead mice that the cats catch and sprinkle around our property to show off their hunting prowess to us.
Ontario is cautiously re-opening but very slowly. My vaccine has left my arm soar, even my fingers feel stiff, but I asked him to do it on my right arm instead of my left. I didn’t want my stronger arm and hand to be feeling it.
And what will I be doing today? Hopefully making a bread pudding and a vegetable curry. I know this vaccine might leave me tired so I’ll try to do that sooner rather than later. I’ll finish this letter after I get some things done around here…
Just got a letter from you. K and I had just finished watching Lawless, which was on Netflix. I wouldn’t call that a movie as much as I would call it an experience! I liked that it was based on a true story. I’m glad they all settled down in the end, but wow, life was strange and weird and terrifying in those backwoods with the law official, Rakes, being more evil than any of their customers or competitors.
Jennifer
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May 26, 2021
Wow, is it hot here, in the mid 90’s today and very little cloud cover and hardly any breeze. There’s limited movement on the compound and no classes. I wish I could go to class just for the A/C. I don’t know if I told you but the regular library and the law library have no A/C and they hardly have any air flow, with just a few stationary box floor fans and they put those near the law clerks in the typist room.
I want to put in for law library but with this heat I don’t know if I can stand it, but soon I will have to make more copies and start on my 3850 and 9.140 appeals. I’m hoping that the State of Florida and the powers that be come to their senses and acquit me before it gets to that and the long delay they can use to prevent me from prevailing in that and making it public record.
My Dad had a setback this past week and got a severe stomach virus and fever and night sweats. I think his body is still fighting off the covid and he is still having symptoms. It has been going on now for a week and he has not seen the doctor or even went to urgent care to help give advice or admission again to the hospital. I am going to call him and made sure that he is drinking plenty of fluids at least.
Most people that developed malaria and dysentery died of dehydration, not the diseases themselves. Especially at war times when the water supplies are the main culprit, causing the diseases and then the soldiers would not want to drink anymore of the tainted water. We should learn from history and people, even modern day, suffering with the symptoms of covid should realize they need to stay well hydrated and if unable to do it themselves, go to the hospital or ER clinic and get forced I.V. fluids and electrolyte replacement…
Doc
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May 27, 2021
Another aggravating start to my day. We were awoken at 5 AM after just getting back from breakfast when the sergeant came in and said be inspection ready by 7 AM and make sure all of your property fits in your locker or they are going to be taking extra items that don’t fit.
I have so much legal work and personal things I am working on to spread the word of my innocence, along with a few books, magazines and other written material for all that alone to fit in my locker—along with my meds, extra clothes and Bible, it is not happening. I kind of OK doked them this morning because there was an open bunk and locker that I put my extra newspapers, magazines and letters, and I made it through inspection. What a whehhhh!!! moment as Snoopy would say after avoiding a major catastrophe or almost losing his best friend Woodstock—wipe his forehead and in his doggy tone say whehhhh!!! And then him and Woodstock would just sit back and giggle until he would fall off the roof of his dog house and/or Woodstock would fall out of his nest because he could hardly fly. Lol
Those times bring back good memories of youth and watching the Peanuts cartoons on TV.
Doc
* * *
May 28, 2021
… I can’t believe it is already Friday. It is also Memorial Day weekend here in the States and I am missing another holiday with family and friends, thanks to the State of Florida and now I hold the United States Supreme Court accountable because they have been made aware of this travesty and have kept a blind eye, a deaf ear and a soft tongue when it comes to my case and to justice.
I wish I had a lawyer like Tom Hanks in this movie I am halfway through called Bridge of Spies. That was a movie that came out when I was in and out of jail in 2015 and so stressed out even when I was out, I was so depressed that I did not feel like going to the movies. Plus, it was hard to go out in public with a GPS monitor on my leg and people saw me on the news at night being destroyed by lies and false allegations and then to go to the movies and have everyone stare at you and stay 20 seats away from you like you have a plague a million times more contagious than covid.
I definitely felt what Jesus felt along with the likes of the Elephant man, the hunchback of Notre Dame, and Ted Bundy all combined, though only one on that list was deserving of the public ridicule and ostracization.
I am going to watch another History of the US episode with the class today, and try to get rid of my headache. And I pulled my hamstring running to first base yesterday in a softball game. I thought I was healed up enough but I did not stretch good enough before the game because they were rushing to get the game started and I was pitching.
Anyway, I am out of time and I will talk to you later. I hope you are having a splendid day.
Doc
* * *
May 28, 2021
It’s snowing right now. I think that might be a record. We have a rule here in Canada, no snow after Victoria Day. Victoria Day was last Monday. All Canadians are supposed to know that they can plant their gardens and not worry about anything freezing. About half an hour ago it was just rain, but now it’s big heavy snowflakes, the kind that melt as soon as they hit the ground, but it does violate the contract that we Canadians have with Mother Nature. Lol
Jennifer
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May 29, 2021
… oh I watched Joker with Joaquin Phoenix last night. Wow. What a performance. He deserved the best actor for the century for that one. It is a very deep movie and for a DC comic based theme it went way beyond that and deals with a lot of social issues. I won’t ruin it for you if you have not seen it except to say that Joaquin Phoenix gave a performance of a lifetime.
Doc
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May 29, 2021
I started a vintage crime novel last night called Trial and Error. It’s about a middle-aged man who is told by his doctor that he only has a few months to live, if he’s lucky and takes it easy. (Aneurism.) He’s always had a comfortable, sheltered life and he wants to do something important before going out. He invites some of his wisest associates over for dinner and puts it to them hypothetically, what could a man truly do to make the world a better place for others? There’s a literary editor, a former Army Major, an Indian, a man with a lot of society connections, a clergyman. This story was written in 1937 so someone suggests assassinate Hitler or Stalin or Mussolini. And that leads the conversation to murder. All except the clergyman, who believes in the sanctity of life, think that the greatest good someone can do is kill someone who is making other people’s lives miserable. This hasn’t occurred to the dying man but he starts to really consider it. It’s just a matter of who. That’s where I’m at now. He’s leaning towards NOT killing Hitler because he talks to someone else and that person tells him that there’s so much anti-Semitism in Germany that some other leader will just rise to take his place. Anyway, at this point, he’s thinking someone whose making a small group of peoples’ lives miserable. But he’s led such a sheltered life he doesn’t know too many people, particularly amongst the huddled, miserable masses.
I have so many British novels that were written in the 1930’s and they’re all concerned about Hitler, but I can tell you this, not a single one of them sees what’s coming in terms of the true horror of it. They think there will be war but they have no idea how bad it’s going to be. It’s actually very poignant to think how in 1937 people could just sit around and talk in theory about what was happening in Germany and then in 2 years, it was going to completely decimate their world, bombs would start dropping on London and millions would be dead by the time it was over. It’s probably for good reason that we don’t see things like that coming. After all, we didn’t see covid coming.
Jennifer
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May 30, 2021
Last night C and I watched a movie called Snowden about that guy who left the CIA and told the press about the mass surveillance being done on everyone around the world. I mean, technically, they can be watching us through the cameras on our computer/phones, reading our emails, social media messages. No privacy. I wasn’t even planning on watching this movie but it was on Netflix and I put it on while I was waiting for K to get her dinner. Then we were going to watch an episode of Superstore. Anyway, C and I both got into it and agreed we’d watch the rest of it later, which we did.
Well, I proved, once again, that necessity is the mother of invention. If I run the oven while the
dryer’s going, all the power in our house goes out. (S, being an electrician, has wired this house in such a way that he feels it saves money.) Anyway, I wanted to make some biscuits for lunch and we don’t have a power outage if we use just the stovetop when the dryer’s running. I remembered reading about fried scones so I tried that and they worked nicely. Very tasty. I think I liked them even better than baked biscuits. I’ll be doing them again for tea they went so quickly, so I’ll finish this letter later…
WOW. Just finished watching Joker with the kids. That was, as you said, the deepest, most profound movie EVER… about a civilization that is indifferent, that uses people, that forgets about them and doesn’t consider itself its brother’s keeper. It was intriguing to me that before he became the Joker, Arthur was just disintegrating in his efforts to try to function in that world but when he just went full all-out Joker he seemed to find himself and come together. It was dark, of course, but somehow, he integrated. I think that’s why people liked it so much. They’re disintegrating and they saw this character come together at the end. It’s deeply disturbing, in one way and calming in another. Mental illness is made worse when you feel like you can’t be yourself.
A week or so ago, the kids and I actually watched the Christian Bale Batman movies and in them, Mr. Wayne, the father, is a good guy. But, in Joker, of course, it’s played very differently. I could talk for hours about this movie, because you’re right, it was so deep and compelling. I was hooked right from the start. You’re right, Joker isn’t a character to imitate. That wouldn’t be the point of the movie anyway. I think part of civilization’s weakness is that we imitate rather than be authentically ourselves. When we watched the Christian Bale movies with Heath Ledger as the Joker, he was a frightening creature that we just recoiled from. Which was what they were going for, I’m sure. Joaquin Phoenix was brilliant. It was still disturbing but it was so well-done and so understandable that he would end up the way he did. Best performance ever.
Jennifer
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May 30, 2021
I was up half the night killing fire ants that were all over my bed. They were coming in through a crack in the ceiling. Thank God I only got bit a few times. I had to caulk the crack in the ceiling with a whole tube of toothpaste to keep them out.
Doc
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