#92 Prison requests and thanks

Prison requests and thanks

Today is what many sports fans around the country know as “Selection Sunday”, where later tonight CBS (and ESPN) will dole out the 65 teams that will be participating in the NCAA Tournament, which begins Thursday. This is gonna be great!

I have watched so much basketball the last few days my eyes had to be replaced…joking!

Anyway, let me get to the title, which is slightly misleading. I wanted to blog today before the games began on a couple of issues. First, I mentioned to you guys that I needed a new computer, because my CD drive does not work and well…this computer is old! I told you about one reader who asked me if I could use USBs (memory stick) to install the software by using another computer, then to port it to my computer. I was not sure it would work, but I had nothing to lose.

The reader send me $20 to buy a USB and try it, I mean, what did I have to lose? I used my mom’s computer to install the software there, then save it to the USB. I then took the USB to my computer, and used it to install on my computer, since my CD drive does not work. There were a few kinks in it, and I had to try a few other things, but in the end, I got it to work.

So my thanks to that person who emailed me about that idea, and even great thanks for the gift to help me get that done. What this means now is that I can get to making prison cards, prison encouragement certificates and other things. IF I can find my past works that I did before, then I am right back in the game, but if I lost those due to my system recovery a month ago, then I have to start over.

I am kinda excited about that, because I really wanted to get back to doing some creating, maybe I can generate some income from it.

Second, I had a few emails from people who used to read my posts at a site called Daily Strength. I left the site months back out of frustration, and one or two people there. But a person asked me to come back and share some posts, because she thought it would help some new members there. So a few days ago I went back and posted a few of my “retro” blogs.

A day later I had a couple of messages and a few people wanting to add me to their friends list. I took the time to answer the message I got, and figured to post a few more, which I did. I read a lot of those posts on their forum, many of them I read saying to myself, “I think I can help answer that”. But to this moment I have not done so yet, maybe soon, but not just yet.

The reason why I hold out on that is because I have to get the temperature of the place before I start to answer people’s questions. Sometimes people talk about their problems NOT to look for a solution, but to look for an “amen corner”.

You know what I mean by that?

The assumption is that every person that goes to prison support sites is looking for answers. That isn’t true folks. Many do, yes, but lots of people go there looking for pity. Someone will go there and talk about the hell their man is putting them through, as if it is a daily soap opera. Now, this CAN be a situation where you can get help or advice, but sometimes the person who wrote it isn’t looking for your help, they are just “venting”.

That’s a term that the internet has made quite common.

The problem here is that sometimes when people do that, they are not helping themselves, nor anybody else. Some people on prison support sites are not looking for advice, they are looking for sympathy so they can have some stature.

When you go to a prison support site with your problems, make sure you go in the “solutions oriented” mentality. Go with the idea that maybe somebody can help you, not with the “oh woe is me” mentality.

It’s funny because I have been accused of the “woe is me” on my blogs by people who read one or two of my blogs and felt that this was a prison blog of somebody who has given up on life and hates everybody and doesn’t think the sun shines anymore.

But when I blog, I try to share what I can from an honest point of view, not sugar-coating anything, and not kissing any butts of any prison support site. But, as a person that has been in prison, I understand what some of those guys go through, so I can share that with people who are looking for understanding. I never said I knew it all, I never said I can speak for all inmates, but when I blog, I try to help you understand where I am coming from, and if possible, how you can overcome this situation.

I have days where I feel like crap too, life after prison isn’t nearly as easy as you think, and if you have followed my blogs the last few years, you know very well what I mean. But after all that, here I am, still blogging, still trying to help, still trying to get my life on track. So I blog because I love to write, and because there are people who need to read what I am sharing. If I do it right, I will get support, which will allow me to write more, and create more stuff to help people, which in turn may get me more support, which allows me to write more and create more stuff to help people, which in turn may get me more support…

You get the idea.

So anyway, I will keep it short today, I have been delayed from my short story of “Defending Job” but I am working on that…too much basketball on tv is my excuse. Until then…