Day 18

They are taking us on a walk tonight! I missed the first group, because it was during my dinner, but in a few minutes, we get to go outside! And, needless to say, that will be nice. We also got our first paycheck today for the first 2 weeks we were in here. My dad picked it up and will deposit it today, then I can spend all that money online! Hehehe! But seriously, it's nice to see some of the fruits of my efforts and remember why I am here.

Yesterday was sort of a long day, especially boring, especially lonely, especially, especially long. Everyone was angrier than normal without any extra reason. I was not glad to be in PPD. Today was better. I think that was largely because of the particular distance from being done: 17 days in and still 25 days left.

I think that days may sometimes be harder and harder until we reach the halfway point, until the number of days left is less than the number of days we have been here. It almost seems like that middle portion is bound to be hard. Whether we were here for 40 days or 40 years, that period when it seems like we've been here forever and yet we're still not even halfway done is probably always the hardest.

Anyway, whether the stormy period is over, which I doubt, or not, today flew by. Dad dropped off some more books for me, and just the sight of that something new was definitely exciting. Aunt Lou also let me download anything from her Audible account, which was wonderfully generous. She didn't mention that she has only purchased Blink (an excellent book I've already read) and Eugene Peterson's "The Message" translation of the New Testament, which I downloaded, and listened today to the Book of Matthew.

All in all, all the new books, the paycheck (which, once deposited, will buy me audiobooks as needed), and the generally better mood around the building definitely will make the next 24 days pass more smoothly. I think right now I'm going to go watch "Man Versus Wild" on Discovery Channel.