Last week.
When I leave the prison for a hospital visit, a guard escorts me. This time it was a guard I'd had before, which was nice, because we could catch up on the things we talked about last time he escorted me. His name is Andre. He has two kids, brothers - so we talk about them a lot.
The visits don't happen very often, just a couple of times a year. For about a week I get tested, evaluated, treated, and retested and then they send me back. For better or for worse, nothing has changed.
It was nice to come back to find the things from Ambassador Palaeno in my room. The book he sent me was great - Cohdopia is really a beautiful place. He also sent me some bay leaf mints, which he said I might like. I did like them - they have a strange taste, but the kind of strange taste that makes you want to eat more of them, not less. The mints were minty, but also kind of - "green" is what I want to say, but green isn't a taste.
I didn't see many birds while I was gone, just some gulls, but they were beautiful. The birds I see every day here are a lot less impressive on first sight, but I like their songs better - anyway, I doubt a gull would want to come into my room.
They had postcards at the hospital gift shop, some with the same kind of gulls I saw. Andre and one of the nurses I know got me a few different ones and I sent them to Sean. Someone will read them to him. I think he'd like the pictures.
It's a strange feeling, being away from this place. I'm reminded how big the world really is, how many people there are, all doing the things they do everyday. It can get lonely. Sometimes I miss it here - which is probably the strangest thing of all.
Now that I'm back, I'm looking forward to a few things - getting in a game with Diego, talking to a few new friends, maybe watching some Aahnrühd. Maybe I could even give it a try.
It's a nice night. I think I'll go down to the yard for a while before lights out.
The visits don't happen very often, just a couple of times a year. For about a week I get tested, evaluated, treated, and retested and then they send me back. For better or for worse, nothing has changed.
It was nice to come back to find the things from Ambassador Palaeno in my room. The book he sent me was great - Cohdopia is really a beautiful place. He also sent me some bay leaf mints, which he said I might like. I did like them - they have a strange taste, but the kind of strange taste that makes you want to eat more of them, not less. The mints were minty, but also kind of - "green" is what I want to say, but green isn't a taste.
I didn't see many birds while I was gone, just some gulls, but they were beautiful. The birds I see every day here are a lot less impressive on first sight, but I like their songs better - anyway, I doubt a gull would want to come into my room.
They had postcards at the hospital gift shop, some with the same kind of gulls I saw. Andre and one of the nurses I know got me a few different ones and I sent them to Sean. Someone will read them to him. I think he'd like the pictures.
It's a strange feeling, being away from this place. I'm reminded how big the world really is, how many people there are, all doing the things they do everyday. It can get lonely. Sometimes I miss it here - which is probably the strangest thing of all.
Now that I'm back, I'm looking forward to a few things - getting in a game with Diego, talking to a few new friends, maybe watching some Aahnrühd. Maybe I could even give it a try.
It's a nice night. I think I'll go down to the yard for a while before lights out.