8 years!
8 years, at 85%, plus a strike!
Arson with Great Bodily Injury.
It's a STRIKE, and you have to register for life!
And can you just imagine job-hunting...?
"What were you in prison for?"
"Lighting two people on fire with gasoline ,sir."
So you think somebodies going to hire you?
Yepper, I sure do!
And they do, repeatedly, easily, whenever I have to job hunt.
Planning, buddy, planning.
(And preparation, too, of course.)
So, how do you make this happen for you?
Well, actually, there are many things you can and should do now.
Start building new attitudes, for when you get out.
Appraise your current skills and take advantage of any kind of teaching available to you inside.
This needs to include personal assessment, and honest personal assessment.
(* And do NOT absorb those 'prison attitudes' even though you have to live with them in there!)
Do you have a drug problem?
Deal with it.
An anger problem?
A violence problem?
An attitude problem?
Deal with them!
But first you have to assess them properly.
Here's part of what worked for me.
You start by designing what you are going to need in order to make it work.
You have to work to pay the bills.
How?
What exactly are you going to do?
Are there any programs available where you are?
If so, what are they?
What is the employment market like with those skills?
WE had x-ray students who apparently couldn't be hired later with their criminal records, but it saved the state money on x-ray techs at our prison.
I saw sewing machine repair students who said their teacher told them it pays $30 hr.
I said to ask how many hours you work each week, since I never heard of a lot of sewing machines being repaired instead of replaced.
Apparently there's a market because of sails and awnings, but not a big market and people tend to keep their jobs for years. Who wants to work maybe 10 hours a week for $30 hour and be unemployed the rest of the time?
Or, how about a computer class? It's all book-work, the program is gutted, and definitely no internet access.
So,
A) What's the job market like in this skill?
B) Do they hire felons?
C) Is it going to pay enough to live on?
There's a lot of further questions we'll get into more in depth later, but for now let's stay on topic.
Do you have a drug problem?
Then quit.
Now this is actually a very complex subject.
Quitting doesn't just mean you no longer do drugs!
Oh no, it's much more complex than that!
What're you going to do with that time, that energy?
I mean, if you hang out on that same corner, you're going to do drugs.
Period.
Trust me.
If you hang out with those same friends, anywhere, ditto!
What do you do when one of them wants to say hi to you and says, 'man, let me get you high. I'm so glad to see you out,'?
Well, here's one secret...
The feet don't' stop!
I know you like these people, (some of them at least,) but the feet don't stop!
Shake their hands, love them to the best of your ability in this short moment, but the feet keep carrying you on to your new life.
You are who you hang out with.
That is hardwired into you, fact.
Don't destroy any good memories you had!
Treasure those good memories always.
But now it's time to move on.
So, the 'simply quitting drugs,' portion in itself is actually more than just the 'no drugs.'
It's the beginning of a whole new environment of opportunity, if you choose.
It's your life, build it the way you want it.
So, exactly what do we need to make this new life?
Well, food, clothing, and shelter to start with, and leisure-time, too.
You have to relax or you aren't going to make it, period, again.
So you have to have a job that pays enough to get by, and this job needs to be easily replaceable, in case of whatever.
It's not stable ground, if your job is a one-hit wonder!
And when you start working you are going to need to develop you leisure-time properly.
If you just go hang out on the street corner, (no, it's OK, I'll be fine, I've got a job now,) you're gonna crash-and-burn.
So you need to develop yourself a hobby or some way to play.
And finally, you are going to need something spiritual, for your soul, or your Karma, so to speak.
The three frequencies of all energy in the universe:
Yin, Yang, Young.
If you have anger problems, or violence problems, deal with them.
You can't just do a class and say, 'problem solved.'
It doesn't work like that.
(*See 'You win, you quit, or you die trying.')
You also need to try to learn to spot your weaknesses in advance and eave before it gets to that point.
Or whatever your problems are.
We can almost always find a way to leave, or let go, if we can catch the problem soon enough and actually make the choice.
There is a certain point that, if you learn to spot it, you can change the direction you are going.
This is part of the 'Fail-Safe Rules' you're going to develop.
Fail-Safe Rules work like this; when you get really tired, you make stupid mistakes, and you know this. You make the same one, repeatedly, so, you design a fail-safe rule that protects you from this behavior and you always follow this rule.
One example is keys: Train your hands to never let go of you keys except in the ignition, or in your pocket!
Period!
You won't lock them into the trunk or car ever again.
Touch them in your pocket last thing before you actually shut the door.
Make this an ironclad habit and it protects you when you're too low on energy to think.
These possible classes you may get to take inside, vocational ed?
What are they, again?
Out of the ones where I was at, we had welding and auto repair, that sounded like they might work.
I might be able to get enough of an education there to actually use it outside.
So, this fulfills those three tests,
Job market; hire's felons, and pays enough to exist for now, and build for the next step.
Oh, didn't I mention that?
This is only a stepping stone!
You don't want to be a mechanic for the rest of your life, do you?
No.
But it may pay you enough to start with, pay your bills and let you get solid ground to stand on.
You see, that's the most important thing of all right now.
Solid ground to stand on.
And that's what you're working towards.
After that, the sky's the limit.
Learn to control yourself and you can go just about anywhere you ever wanted to go.
*VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:
What's on your Bucket List?
Write it down!
Get started!
You're gonna be dead before you know it!
Arson with Great Bodily Injury.
It's a STRIKE, and you have to register for life!
And can you just imagine job-hunting...?
"What were you in prison for?"
"Lighting two people on fire with gasoline ,sir."
So you think somebodies going to hire you?
Yepper, I sure do!
And they do, repeatedly, easily, whenever I have to job hunt.
Planning, buddy, planning.
(And preparation, too, of course.)
So, how do you make this happen for you?
Well, actually, there are many things you can and should do now.
Start building new attitudes, for when you get out.
Appraise your current skills and take advantage of any kind of teaching available to you inside.
This needs to include personal assessment, and honest personal assessment.
(* And do NOT absorb those 'prison attitudes' even though you have to live with them in there!)
Do you have a drug problem?
Deal with it.
An anger problem?
A violence problem?
An attitude problem?
Deal with them!
But first you have to assess them properly.
Here's part of what worked for me.
You start by designing what you are going to need in order to make it work.
You have to work to pay the bills.
How?
What exactly are you going to do?
Are there any programs available where you are?
If so, what are they?
What is the employment market like with those skills?
WE had x-ray students who apparently couldn't be hired later with their criminal records, but it saved the state money on x-ray techs at our prison.
I saw sewing machine repair students who said their teacher told them it pays $30 hr.
I said to ask how many hours you work each week, since I never heard of a lot of sewing machines being repaired instead of replaced.
Apparently there's a market because of sails and awnings, but not a big market and people tend to keep their jobs for years. Who wants to work maybe 10 hours a week for $30 hour and be unemployed the rest of the time?
Or, how about a computer class? It's all book-work, the program is gutted, and definitely no internet access.
So,
A) What's the job market like in this skill?
B) Do they hire felons?
C) Is it going to pay enough to live on?
There's a lot of further questions we'll get into more in depth later, but for now let's stay on topic.
Do you have a drug problem?
Then quit.
Now this is actually a very complex subject.
Quitting doesn't just mean you no longer do drugs!
Oh no, it's much more complex than that!
What're you going to do with that time, that energy?
I mean, if you hang out on that same corner, you're going to do drugs.
Period.
Trust me.
If you hang out with those same friends, anywhere, ditto!
What do you do when one of them wants to say hi to you and says, 'man, let me get you high. I'm so glad to see you out,'?
Well, here's one secret...
The feet don't' stop!
I know you like these people, (some of them at least,) but the feet don't stop!
Shake their hands, love them to the best of your ability in this short moment, but the feet keep carrying you on to your new life.
You are who you hang out with.
That is hardwired into you, fact.
Don't destroy any good memories you had!
Treasure those good memories always.
But now it's time to move on.
So, the 'simply quitting drugs,' portion in itself is actually more than just the 'no drugs.'
It's the beginning of a whole new environment of opportunity, if you choose.
It's your life, build it the way you want it.
So, exactly what do we need to make this new life?
Well, food, clothing, and shelter to start with, and leisure-time, too.
You have to relax or you aren't going to make it, period, again.
So you have to have a job that pays enough to get by, and this job needs to be easily replaceable, in case of whatever.
It's not stable ground, if your job is a one-hit wonder!
And when you start working you are going to need to develop you leisure-time properly.
If you just go hang out on the street corner, (no, it's OK, I'll be fine, I've got a job now,) you're gonna crash-and-burn.
So you need to develop yourself a hobby or some way to play.
And finally, you are going to need something spiritual, for your soul, or your Karma, so to speak.
The three frequencies of all energy in the universe:
Yin, Yang, Young.
If you have anger problems, or violence problems, deal with them.
You can't just do a class and say, 'problem solved.'
It doesn't work like that.
(*See 'You win, you quit, or you die trying.')
You also need to try to learn to spot your weaknesses in advance and eave before it gets to that point.
Or whatever your problems are.
We can almost always find a way to leave, or let go, if we can catch the problem soon enough and actually make the choice.
There is a certain point that, if you learn to spot it, you can change the direction you are going.
This is part of the 'Fail-Safe Rules' you're going to develop.
Fail-Safe Rules work like this; when you get really tired, you make stupid mistakes, and you know this. You make the same one, repeatedly, so, you design a fail-safe rule that protects you from this behavior and you always follow this rule.
One example is keys: Train your hands to never let go of you keys except in the ignition, or in your pocket!
Period!
You won't lock them into the trunk or car ever again.
Touch them in your pocket last thing before you actually shut the door.
Make this an ironclad habit and it protects you when you're too low on energy to think.
These possible classes you may get to take inside, vocational ed?
What are they, again?
Out of the ones where I was at, we had welding and auto repair, that sounded like they might work.
I might be able to get enough of an education there to actually use it outside.
So, this fulfills those three tests,
Job market; hire's felons, and pays enough to exist for now, and build for the next step.
Oh, didn't I mention that?
This is only a stepping stone!
You don't want to be a mechanic for the rest of your life, do you?
No.
But it may pay you enough to start with, pay your bills and let you get solid ground to stand on.
You see, that's the most important thing of all right now.
Solid ground to stand on.
And that's what you're working towards.
After that, the sky's the limit.
Learn to control yourself and you can go just about anywhere you ever wanted to go.
*VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:
What's on your Bucket List?
Write it down!
Get started!
You're gonna be dead before you know it!
2014-3-30-47
