Back from the East...in theory

I was so ready to be back from Ohio.  It was great and all (that may be an overstatement...it was actually crazy and intense) but I was over it.  My body, however, is still is on Eastern time.  Pretty much crashing by 9pm and up at 4:30am.  It'll be really interesting to see how much Hawaii jacks up my schedule.  Anyways, below is a picture of my view every morning during my commute.  It was a really pretty drive. 

During my last weekend I ventured out to the Ohio State Reformatory...also known as Mansfield Reformatory...also known as the prison from The Shawshank Redemption. 

The building was really impressive  Very pretty.  Very creepy. 

Photo op with Red

The prison held over 3,000 prisoners.  In the West Cell Block the prisoners were able to have 4 to a cell and it was where the more well behaved prisoners were housed.  They actually were able to vote a cell mate out of their cell if they chose.  It's like a messed up version of Survivor.  6 stories of cells. 

After taking this photo I was browsing Instagram later that evening and saw the exact photo on there...same angle, same cell number.  Not sure what the appeal was of that particular cell for multiple people to be drawn to photograph that one...when there were plenty to choose from...but it was a bit creepy. 

I found multiple books throughout the tour but this one caught my eye, of course.  Insurance Ed...even in prison.  Ironic. 

This prison is a popular one for music videos.  Godsmack shot a video here and Lil Wayne shot his Go DJ video here and featured the above gold cell.  I watched the video after the tour and still couldn't see the gold cell.  So if it was in there it was probably like a 10 second shot of it. 

I did the self-guided tour with audio and that was creepy enough just hearing about the various ghost reportings.  I would imagine the overnight haunted tours would make me pee my pants. 

The new prison is situated directly behind this one.  There were several windows where photographs were prohibited since that would mean taking photos of the new prison.  The new prison is max security.  I glimpsed out the window when it was yard time I guess.  Makes you wonder all the stories of everyone filing out of the building one by one. 

In other news, I acted like an adult today and went to the dentist to get my filling replaced.  Only after attempting to get out of it like a child.  When I got there they couldn't find my chart.  I told them it was all good I could just leave.  They weren't playing along.  Turns out my chart was already in the back room.  After two people then asked me what tooth it was they would be working on I again wanted to get up and run.  I thought "well I KNOW you have my chart now...maybe you should be the one telling me what tooth it is?"  I asked for Nitrous, which is something I've done for any filling I've ever gotten, and the nice lady agreed.  But 2 seconds later another lady came in and asked if my tooth was sensitive at all.  I said no then said "um why does that matter for me to have the Nitrous?"  The first nice lady said it didn't and she really didn't know why the other lady asked.  It was then that I said "Ok it IS going to be the dentist giving me the shot right?"  In other words I didn't want any of these ladies who really seemed a bit lost doing anything other than putting a nose mask on me pumping feel good drugs out.  So I get the nose mask on and have a momentary thought of "wonder if I should've mentioned I took 2 Xanax before I got here...nah."  So by the time the dentist comes in I'm feeling allllll gooood.  I managed to tell him "listen your job is to do this with zero pain got it?"  He laughed and said he would do his best.  Ok not the answer I was looking for.  I want guaranteed no pain buddy.  (A co-worker once told me I'm pretty introverted and just roll with things for the most part but when it comes to the dentist I don't even hesitate to say whatever comes to mind...he nailed it) I did my typical questioning of if I'm really numb even though I can't feel half my face....just to be sure...and before I knew it the whole thing was over.  It was actually one of the smoothest ones I've ever had done.  I told the dentist I was impressed when it was all over.  A plus from me doc.  I went out and announced to the front desk lady that I survived and half expected her to offer me up a sticker.  Instead she asked me for my credit card.  Because, oh yeah, I'm an adult.