As I Reminisce...

July 10. It's been exactly one year since my release from "disney land". Pretty proud of myself for makin it this far, as 97% of all felons sentenced to community control violate their court ordered agreements and get sent back to where they came from, with about 50% violating within the first six months.

I'm sittin here bloggin and I think about those days when I was sittin in jail cell A4 last year. Talkin with Mike about his car dealership business, gettin whooped at a game of chess with Big Al, playin poker with my dawg Rip. It was one hell of a time there.

When I first got transferred, I went to my jail and didn't say anything. I just went to sleep and tried to pass the time as quick as I could. Unfortunately for me... it was loud as hell in there. At the time, it was me, Charles, Rick James (real name 0_o. This guy was cool, but he was off his rocker! Every single morning he would sing songs from church as loud as he could), Morris, and this crab named... what was his name again? Eh, I forgot. But he was a crab. A pincher. Always stickin his hand out for a freebee. Fuggetaboutem.

I slowly but surely got aquainted with them, and in a short period of time, we became good friends. We talked about everything. From our charges and possible sentences to horror movies. I actually made a list on the movies I was gonna watch when I was there, still have it today. Still haven't seen those movies yet xD.

Chuck (aka gramps, for bein old as hell) first got me started on playin chess. He taught me the rules and everything, and I picked up pretty quick. On the 3rd game or so, I checkmated em with a queen and a rooker guarding. Nothing he could do but pay me a soup xD. Good times...

I remember this one dude at the bottom cell. He had ways to sneak in things that weren't supposed to be anywhere near a jail. All we had to do was pay a couple soups and have a light, and we were good. And I would chill with my dawg Kevin, the jit, and we'd talk about stuff we did in the past. Oh! And my dawg Bong (real name xD) would tell me about his days as a stick fighter/muay thai boxer, which was cool as hell, because I want to get into the same thing. Everyone was cool with everyone. We all got along.

When most people think of jail, they think of fights and people gettin raped. Those people watch too much movies -- that happens when you go down the road. Actually, a couple weeks after I got in there, everyone was into studyin the Bible! Every Sunday, we'd get into a little group and give our own interpretations. Of course I still keep that same Bible with me even today.

Maybe about a month into it, people left, either because they were sent down the road, or they were released. And new people came in. I remember this one guy who was half Thai, and he had this Chinese symbol on his neck. I couldn't help but grill the kid everytime he looked up at our cell xD. But we got to know each other, and he was pretty cool... at first. We chilled out together and he introduced me to Pomade! Never thought about usin it till then xD.

Alot of new fish at that time, but I remember this one guy we called Alabama, who came in there with cigs (don't ask me how he snuck it in xD). He had em in bags, so no problems there. I remember him because this guy was fiendin for a cig so bad he almost killed himself the same day he got there by takin off the bulb in the shower and tryin to use the wires to light his cig -- with the shower on xD! He was sent to the hole for a week.

That was also the time I met Mike and Rip. Rip was crazy. He just didn't care about any consequences. But he was cool with me, even though at first I almost fought em and the Thai kid xD. This is what happened: Rip and some other folks wanted to take our bunks to room in with Rick James. They paid one idiot with two soups for his bunk, and they were gonna throw Mike's stuff down the balcony. And me? I was asleep the whole entire time, I'm serious. But I wake up when I hear the bars roll and I see mats and books and shit everywhere, and that's when they told me. Thai boy tried my dawg Mike by throwin books at em, tryin to piss em off. Mike was outside our cell, locked out. So I looked at Thai boy (by starin at the guard mirror, you can see everything from the reflection) and I ask him, as loud as I could, "Wanna take my bunk too? Try it and I'ma dangle ya ass off this balcony. Keep throwin them books and I'ma pull ya ass through these bars kid!" And he stopped. Bars roll, and everything goes back to normal. I asked Rick to help me out if anything happened, and he just stared at the ground with his arms crossed. He had my back though. True story. Still can't believe how it all went down without anyone bangin. Thank God.

And weeks later, when Big Al stepped into our A-pod, things changed right then. Dude was atleast 6'11 and wider than I am tall. Rumor was he played for the Jaguars in 2000, as defensive tackle, but I couldn't find out for sure. He was an expert as chess, and dude had about 1k on the books, so we were loaded on commissary. That was awesome. Problem was when he takes a shit, he didn't cover up (when you #2, we had this thing where we clip our blankets to the bunk and the table, so we can shit in peace xD), so we had to ALL leave the room. We didn't want to see that. But he was cool though -- he taught me alot of things that I still remember to this day, like "Kings Defense" on chess and some of his football training (this ab workout in supersets. Friggin brutal). I also found ways to workout, like stuffin all our blankets in our netted bags and liftin em like weights... not too heavy but it worked. I also tied one of my jumpsuits to the bars and used it as a punching bag. I remember everyone lookin up at me when I hit it cuz of the echo xD.

Oh, and this other guy came in like a couple days after Al. Dude got caught with about 600 plants (don't ask me what kind they were, let's just say tomato for the sake of censorship xD) and a bunch of pills. Biker dude. Sensitive soft spoken guy, but he was cool (his girlfriend was hawt!!). And Sagastume (I think that's how it's spelled), who was originally from Guatemala, was put in with my dawg Julio Vivas. How can I forget him? That guy taught me the correct way to make goo (jail house goulash, made from noodles, cheetos, chips and tuna XD. Hell yeah! Good for the heart xD). But anyways, he was cool. He helped me out and I helped him. Mutual respect.

I remember the 4th of July of last year too. We had barbeque turkey and a hamburger with some peanut butter cookies. Out of all the meals we ate, that was the best... and it still tasted like shit. Usually we ate turkey soup every Friday, and I think spaghetti every other Thursday. Why am I talkin about food? xD

But July 8th was my court date. That day had arrived. Me and crab guy was chained up and hauled off to court. I ran into a couple of my buddies from B-pod (like two years prior) and we chilled out while we waited for our names to be called. I remember the C.O's treated us like we were dogs. They can all take this t(-.-t) and shove it.

I walks into the courtroom and immediately I see my mom and my cuz (best friend since we were kids), and some hot girls waitin on their boyfriends (hey, I was in jail... couldn't help it xD). Of all judges, I had the one with the worst reputation... Judge Barron. But I had a trick up my sleeve >;-P! I had hired a lawyer prior to my first courtdate (I think on June 9th, forgot) and he got me off, to be reinstated to community control, with two years probation, which I'm still on today. Thank God for bein with me on my courtdate (I owe God alot! Dunno how I'm gonna repay...).

So I go back to my cell and I tell em what happened. They were happy for me. I was happy for myself! It was only a technical violation, but my points were already over the limit... I was supposed to go down the road... I have to thank God again for showing mercy. But they didn't release me until like two days after. When my time came up, I said goodbye to everyone in A-pod, gave dab, shook hands, and took some numbers for contact outside the cells. I was finally released! Put my clothes back on, signed some paperwork, and went out for some fresh air (I have no idea if I have readers at this point, but lemme tell ya sumthin. You all take things for granted. And everything you take for granted can be taken away from you. A good toothbrush, toothpaste, hell, toilet paper, was a valuable commodity, not to mention Tabasco sauce! My dawg Rip kept us with a supply with one of the coolest C.O's I'll ever meet!) and real sunlight! I kept the Bruce Lee shoes I got in jail though xD! Good times and bad... all memories now.

Wow, I wrote alot! If you read this, it's cool. If not, it's just me thinkin and reminiscin... RIP! (ROSS!) HA! PUSH IT TO THE LIMIT xD!

Shoutouts to Rip, Rick James, Morris, Chuck, Mat Perkins, Kevin, Big Al, Tommy Gunz, Juvenile (looked just like em xD), Julio Vivas, Sagastume (R.I.P), Cruz (What he said? xD), Bong, and everyone else in A-pod... keep ya head up. Yall be out soon.