Tom’s officially on vacation now.

Anyway, I’ve been gathering MP3s and Tom’s going to rip my CDs so I can condense them. I’ll burn them in alphabetical order by artist, rather than by title.

Frosty the mouse escaped again today, but Tom and I caught him.

All 3 baby pigs are going to be going next Wednesday. One pig’s enough. Tom said he’s considering taking them to this little pet store in Casa Grande. He thinks we may have a better shot at doing business with them being a small place, rather than some big chain.

I’m going to have Teddy Bear in a big tank, the males or females in the other big tank, and males or females in the small tank with the plastic cage on top. I’ll put any bullies in with Teddy Bear till they chill out. I’ve found that sometimes all I need to do is separate mice that fight for a short while and that’ll calm them down.

I finally heard from Mary, who’s by herself in our old room. Nancy left for prison. I was glad to read that it’ll only be for 3 years, which means she’ll probably only do about 1, but was utterly stunned to hear she’ll have a lifetime of probation. Yeah, that’s Arizona for you. Imagine having to report to your PO twice a month forever. Ugh! I’d abscond for damn sure!

She’s been under a lot of stress. She answered some of my questions, but not all of them. She said she really appreciated the thing I sent her from Helen on letting good things happen. She says if I have any more self-help tips on positive thinking, etc., send them her way.

I totally sympathized with her when she told me she was burning up there. The AC’s been broken and she’s sweating her ass off. The cell she’s in is the warmest one there too, but at least it’ll be cooling down soon. When I got up at 5:30 this afternoon, it was 84° in the house. Tom’s got to start remembering to turn the AC on once it hits 82°. I was like - can’t you feel the heat?

Anyway, she said she put in a grievance for high-powered fans before someone has a heat stroke, but of course, there’s no way she’ll get that.

Then, sounding like someone with quite a crush on me, all the while saying she feels like we’re “sisters,” she went on and on to praise me and say that after being quiet for a while and just putting up with it, she stuck up for me when people would talk shit about me, telling them I had a heart, was beautiful, talented, etc. (I assume she was referring to when Myra, Mindy and Peaches were giving me shit through the vents). Not that I could care less about what other inmates think of me, but that’s very sweet of her. Her crush is kind of cute and funny, too. It’s not like she’s some mean, ugly, pushy butch. I just don’t know how I could’ve been so blind to it for so long! Being blind to Palma and Teddy Bear for so long was one thing, but I saw Mary every day for 4 months, and she was right under my nose for 9 days!

As for Teddy Bear, she wracked her brains and could swear there was no ring, and she says the bear’s hardly worked there since I left! Could it be because it saddens her to work there? Hmm… not even Palma’s been there in the half a year I’ve been out, or else she’d have told me about it. Even that one’s hard to believe, and she and I certainly weren’t as tight as the bear and I were. Again, I have a feeling I’m connected somehow to Palma’s long absence.

She said she was shocked when she learned it was the bear I love, but after she stopped and studied her, she said she could understand, saying she’s sweet and innocent, yet very strong and intelligent. She said she couldn’t tell me if her weight’s changed or how long her hair is because it’s been that long.

Her own hair, though, is below the middle of her back. Finally. Her hair grows so slowly. She’s also gained weight and is 127 pounds. I’m sure she looks better now than she did when I last saw her. She was too thin when I left. She’s not even 10 pounds heavier than me. But 127 is suitable for her height of about 5’ 3” whereas 120 on a 5-footer is too much. When pulled straight, my hair’s a couple of inches above the crack of my ass.

She told me her 7-year-old son sees her on weekends.

She never did tell me if she slipped Ida my note, so I’ll have to ask her about that.