Work and Play, part two

Today we went to hack up some new dirt. But before I get there I need to explain a project that I'm working on. My mom sent the Power Grid game components - all of them, including cash (play $, of course.) Most of the week I spent copying the cards and main board. I got Tony to help with the cards and Johnny was supposed to do the main board. We got carbon paper to do true copies of the original, not dumb-looking free-hand ones. Unfortunately, Johnny was daunted by the size and detail of the board so I have to do it myself. Looks like it will be a monster job.

Yesterday afternoon I spent two or three hours just prepping the boards: taping the carbon paper tightly, followed by photocopies of the board on top of the carbon paper. I was only able to finish 7 of the 42 cities before we had to go to sleep so I decided to marathon through the night knowing that there was a good possibility of working in the fields the next day. By 3:30 am I was dead on my feet so I finally hit the sack, leaving only 7 cities remaining to trace.

At the usual time - 6:30 am - we got the call for Two hoe to get ready. Reluctantly I got my clothes on and got my usual bowl (actually a cup) of oatmeal, thinking we would be going out in about 30 minutes, after count cleared in the dorm. Silvey had a sore throat and already had a play to get out of work: he dropped his ID off with some laundry buddies so he could say that he lost it. Brilliant!

After I finished with my oatmeal I headed back to bed and dozed off again. I woke up to Silvey tapping my bunk.

"What time is it?!" I asked.

"Almost 8:30. You're about to be called out to work."

"Man, I was expecting a break like we've had earlier this week. Oh, well..."

The patch we were hitting was newly broken ground and had very large, very hard dirt clods that caused the hoe to merely bounce off, even if you hit it with force. We gave the ground at least eight passes and I helped lead the chant with "lean with it, rock with it" in alternating order with the guy in front of me. Not bad for only four hours of sleep.

I was also called to the mailroom to pick up a package. After standing in line for 30 minutes I found out that the package was from Office Depot. Apparently they thought that an inmate needed a business card holder and a catalog. I needed or wanted neither. The business card holder was denied anyway and I gave away the catalog after briefly poring over the pens, pencils, and other office products. Maybe someone is interested in the 70 types of white paper available 24/7 online or by phone.