Letter 53

July 7, 2011

Dear Mom,

Hope you are getting by okay and keeping stress levels lowered. Got your letter of July 1st and thought I'd shed some light on the darker areas of my life. I'm doing about as well as I imagine anyone can, the situation being what it is. The thing with the law library turned out to be a groundless worry on my part. I've got many of those. All is still go, in other words.

The books I received from the now surly property guy are: P.S. Your Cat Is Dead, A Perfect Crime(Spanish edition), Spanish/English dictionary, Outliers, Power of Now, crossword puzzles and games, and the Blue Book of English.

J sends his thanks to you for his picture that (shockingly) made it past the censors here. He also wants me to include his reasoning for wanting that version of his picture. Due to his many failed escape attempts, they are being very cautious about letting him back in an open population environment and as inmates aren't generally equipped with cameras, he's lost all the pictures he collected of himself. Something close to that anyway. Yes, I know the pictures taken of us by the D.O.C. are a crime to look at...mine was taken after three days with no sleep.

I don't really know who Mr. Herrod is, but safe to note I haven't spoken to anyone from the education department since remembering about the GED test. Not to honk my horn without cause, but I'd been encountering drugs since long before I got to high school. Weekend warrior since the last part of the 7th grade. That was why I had such a hard time adjusting to the move to Mississippi. New friends equaled no or poor quality chemicals.

I'm a bit irritated at the speed the dentist gets around to things here. It is likely not his fault, but it seems I've got to repeatedly ask for some attention by the forms we get (in my case used to get) from the law library.

Ears ringing, palms itching...I'm either having a reaction to medicine or going to receive news soon!

Much love and regards,

James