Bus Wash Rocks!

Written on December 10, 2008

Well everyone, I am truly blessed. Bus Wash is in fact everything it's cracked up to be. Although being on Bus Wash adds a whole new stressful element to your tent life, your day makes it worth it.

We leave the farm by bus at 6:30 a.m. and are dropped off at the Main Jail in Santa Ana to the back parking lot. We are responsible for the general upkeep of the parking lot and for washing, drying, and vacuuming the Orange County Sheriff Department's buses, vans, squad cars, etc. We also clean the Deputies' office here at Main. There are soooo many perks that make this job such a coveted position.

• We get to drink Sparkletts water. It had been months since I had had bottled water.
  
• We get to wear hats that they provide for us here.
  
• We get to walk around the parking lot unsupervised as we clean the vehicles.
  
• We get to chew gum! I chewed a piece of gum today! Can you believe that?
  
• We get to drive police vehicles! It may be just in the parking lot but still, have you ever driven a cop car?
• We interact directly with and in very, and I mean VERY close proximity with Deputies. And they don't nut up on you or get crazy like they do at the farm or anywhere else.

But I think the very best part about this job, aside from being in a relaxed environment with my friends and outside in the shade all day, is THE MUSIC! That's right people, we have a small radio on Bus Wash that we can listen to, one thing I have truly missed. Don't get me wrong, we work hard. We clean anywhere from three to five vehicles a day on top of cleaning an entire office. And I am talking about prisoner transport buses here.

It's quite a welcome change of pace, and it makes each a day a little bit more relaxed.

It's nice to have a job that lets you forget that you are in jail when you're busy, but from time to time you will be having a good ol' time washing a bus and splashing around and talking and stuff, and then you look down and realize that you're still wearing county blues, and that when you leave you still have to go back to your "home," which is a tent with about 75 other dudes.

The only bad thing is having to go back to the farm and the drama that awaits me there. Without going into too much detail about the circumstances, I will say that for the second time since I have been there, serious tension exists between the brothers and Asians, and the Southsiders. Which means that if anything "pops off" the woods and the brothers and Asians "click up" or join forces against them.

I don't want any part in it. I am coming up on my home stretch here in about a week and I have managed to do it without having to incite any kind of racially fueled riot or involve myself in any physical violence. I am a lover, not a fighter. I just want to go home, without having to be here any longer than is absolutely necessary. I am keeping the peace, and with it my good time and work time. Everything here has stayed on a steady complicated track. Things rarely stay easy for long. I miss Richard. And I am almost at the point where I will have 30 days left. It's hard to believe. I am quickly approaching the end while trying to keep my head out of the future, and in the now.

Pray.