Shawshank wasn’t supposed to call until tomorrow.
He was panicking when he called. “I’m really scared,” he said. “I’m the only one not taking part in the hunger strike“. I don’t know if the three episodes of OZ he’s watched in his lifetime are stuck in his head, but god only knows what he thought was going to happen to him if he ate what could arguably be considered the worst chicken parm in existence.
Eventually, he settled down enough to have a normal conversation and gave me a bit more information than last night. A few people decided they were going to protest their “unlawful detainment”, believing they’re being held illegally because they’ve “already served time”. There’s nothing illegal; they’re all getting their court dates, albeit as video conferences rather than actual court appearances. Any delays in their removal is due to travel bans or issues arranging flights out of the US.
The facility’s ICE captain came in while Shawshank was on the phone with me, and he left pretty quickly. He called back after dinner to give me more details, namely that they don’t plan to release any of the ICE detainees at this time. A neighboring county announced tonight that they will be releasing some of their detainees; however, that won’t include anyone being held on charges of violent, drug, or sex crimes. So, pretty much no one in Shawshank‘s unit would be eligible.
It sucks donkey asshole, but it is what it is.
Tonight, I got tipsy in the tub. Actually, I’m still tipsy. I created a drink I’ll call the Tubslide from now on.
It’s good. I did manage to shave, eventually, but I’m either a bit drunk or just exhausted, so I should probably go to bed.
And there was no weed involved in the posting of this post.
Happy Sunday. All holidays have been cancelled. Sorry for the inconvenience.
I’ve got a load of laundry in the washer. I made an early morning trip to Dunkin. I sold Shawshank‘s longboard, and grabbed a bagel while I was there. This weekend, I’ve learned a valuable lesson about Facebook marketplace: don’t offer a bunch of Wii games with the option to buy either single games OR the lot of them, because then you end up with a bunch of people all wanting Super Mario Bros. and no one wanting Wii Fit.
Not that I blame them, I didn’t want Wii Fit either.
While I’m still waiting for his paperwork from the Canadians to arrive, two letters from Shawshank arrived yesterday. He’s been writing almost every day, which is nice. I receive a letter or two in the main a few times every week, and he has an outlet. Yesterday’s letters were from last weekend and the beginning of the week. I can tell how he’s feeling based on his handwriting. It was pretty obvious he was upset and stressed about the hunger strike, or as he calls it in the letters, “the hunger games.” However, he was doing better by the end of the last letter. He’s proud of himself, in a way, for not just going along with the crowd.
On the other hand, he really needs some help with his choice in reading materials. In a way, I understand why he’s enjoying the Twilight series so much. It’s familiar content. The movies were some of those that we’d put on automatically if we saw them while flipping through the channels when we still had cable. We binged the series on a few holiday weekends off. His memories of snuggling under a blanket and watching cheesy vampire bullshit probably color his opinion on the books. If the library cart showed up with the Outlander series, he’d be hoarding those in his room instead.
Hold on tight, spider monkey.
This morning, I was cruising on Amazon, looking for a boxed set of the Twilight series. It was partly shits and giggles, because it’s ridiculous that he’s loving them so much, but also because he’s loving them so much. I didn’t want to buy him just Eclipse, as I don’t have the series at home, but I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money on a set, either.
And then I thought, Fuck this young adult vampire romance shit, let’s give the man something a bit more challenging.
And that’s why on Thursday or Friday, he’s going to have a brand new copy of House of Leaves.