Letters from the Inside, Sarah Pender, #16

Kelly,

Just finished working through an architectural magazine--Habitus--Not my thing--too fancy. I like middle class homes the best. Like in the Midwest, homes that range from $90,000-$350,000--that's my speed. I think these ultra-rich, million dollar plus homes are a waste of resources. Even when they are made with landscaping, ponds, etc., it's still a waste. Anyone who can afford to spent 1.5 m of 4 m on a house can just as well spend $750,000 or 2m and use the other half to help make the world a better place.

Wastefulness bothers me.

My sister is the materialistic one in the family. She'd love that stuff. I can't justify or even feel good in my ind, owning a home with 5 bedrooms when I have no children and a small extended family. Seems ridiculous, like owning four cars for two people.

I like the handmade paper you sent. I once made paper using a sieve and pulus and added flower petals for design. Pretty.

Not been feeling happy. It's so hard to get out of a funk one I'm in one. I think being captured in this room is getting to me. Nine months in this cell 23 hours a day. Makes me want to bang my head and gnash my teeth.

Or sleep 16 hours out of the day.

I like the Sci Am article on depression. It makes sense, but in my case, I've gotten depressed, solved my issues at hand, and now have no energy or motivation to actually implement them. I hate this.

You speaking on technology, sounds like me when it came to new contraptions while I was out. What I figured out, though, was that all the TV/Cable/DVD connectors are color coded, so it's easy to plug one into the other. Red, yellow, white. Piece of cake. And that wireless router? Get help. Setting up the network is easy--but only after someone shows you the first time, which of course, it only takes one time. Anyway, I understand your technology dilemma, though I had a much better excuse for being backwards about it. :-)

Good luck!

My friend has a BlackBerry Bold and loves it! She can get internet, email, texts, radio stations, pictures, videos, and reception even if she were standing in the middle of the Gobi desert. She seems to love it, so I guess it's worth the investment for one. Better than a flat screen for a room you never watch tv in. Silly.

Only you can get a billion % off discount on slim fit leather pants because you are a 4. With the obesity rate so high and bikini season over with, the world is flooded with sizes 8-14. True story. But KUDOS to you, cuz that shit rocks. I'm happy @ size 10-12. Looking for to getting back to it. I enjoyed gaining weight out there. Food is comforting. YUM!

That sucks that your insurance doesn't cover acupuncture. My stepmom out in Seattle has coverage for acupuncture, massages and other alternative medicine. Can't you swithch companies w/o your premium going up?

I am scheduled to be released from solitary, 20 December. I will be moved to a dorm setting, where I will have a roommate and we will not be locked in our cells. I will be given a job and the opportunity to engage in programs or outdoor recreation activies with other offenders, like volleyball, jogging, etc. I will be able to use the phone when I want, shower freely, order food from commissary and most important, be able to hug my mother at visits. I am very much looking forward to it.

They don't really parole in Indiana. Parole is not an early release thing, it's a babysitting mechanism after being released on your regular outdate.

My wife is at Rockville Correctional Facility. She is the woman who helped me escape. I am not allowed to write to her nor am I able to even write freely about her. The DOC censors my letters. It's infuriating.

Congrats on placing 2nd at another story slam!!! I don't know your pigeon story, so I look forward to hearing that one along with how you place in the Grand Slam. Doesn't it feel good to know you are talented at stuff?

Never been vacationing to any place exotic or real special. My family is from Zimbabwe, though, so I've hear many neat stories, seen a thousand photos, and slifes of the bush. They say Africa gets in your blood. Romances you. Makes you hate it and love it so much, you never want to leave.

How long will it take for you to wrap up your civil case? And wouldn't you want to do jury duty at least once? It seems to me that you'd be an impartial member, for sure. So many people are judgemental these days and commit heinous acts of their own, by over convicting people.

Repressed anger manifests its ugly head.

How'd memoir writing class go? You keep so busy with neat stuff to do. Life is good, huh?

I can't believe you have written Reid off for drinking Ensure. Maybe he has Crohn's disease!! Although, he's still a creep, since I am convinced that his g/f doesn't know about you, or the extent of what he'd like to be doing with you.

I appreciated your 11 Sept stories. I was in jail at the time, having been there about one year. I remember the breaking news coverage and once the towers fell, they cut of our tvs and so there we all were, making up theories. Most of us agreed we were under attack and it would start WWIII. We plotted that if the enemy hit our cities, we would likely be unguarded and leave. We had grandiose schemes.

It is late. My head throbs. Time to lay down. I hope you are well.

Life is good.

Sarah