How I Mark Time In Here.
Breakfast today was pancake bread, syrup, Cheerios, and a half pint of milk.
Time on the inside looks different from the outside. Meaning our calendars are broken down differently. In the free world, people tend to use the seasons — like planning a vacation for the winter. A lot of people on the inside break up the yearly calendar by sports. Right now it’s football season, and in February it becomes basketball season. Football ends just in time for the NBA All-Star Game.
After basketball you’ve got the new football league, the AFL, but it really hasn’t caught on yet — still too new. In between football and basketball you’ve got college basketball events like March Madness and the bowl games for college football. For the people who don’t watch football and basketball, there’s NHL hockey, which starts the end of September. And let’s not forget my NASCAR fans — they have their races that lead up to the Chase, which is like the playoffs for racing.
If sports aren’t your thing, then you’re following your favorite TV series. Also, everyone I know watches Love After Lockup and Love During Lockup — because why wouldn’t we. Then we’ve got the Love and Hip Hop fans. There are more reality shows, but too many to name here. The popular scripted shows, of course, are The Walking Dead, Marshal, and American Horror Story. These are classics, except Marshal, which took the place of Yellowstone. Regardless of what you watch, you’ll get a TV routine. It beats watching a calendar.
I know football season runs from the end of August to January. The Super Bowl takes place in February — that’s six months. Then the NBA goes until June — that’s almost a year. The summer months are usually trash because of the lack of sports. This summer I learned about tennis and started watching that. It’s just one more way to make your time go by. The reason it works is because you’ve got something to look forward to next.
I know that every Sunday and Monday during the months of September to January, there’s going to be a football game on. And if I’m lucky, I might catch a good movie, or a commercial that gives me the heads up on one coming during the week. Doing this keeps you from going stir crazy and constantly marking off days with no hope. Trying to sleep your bid away — that’s a saying we use for people who never leave their beds, only get up to eat and shower, and some don’t even do that. It’s a major sign of depression. That’s why it’s better to develop a routine.
It keeps you mentally a part of the world without missing it so much. So if you hate the idea of sharing a TV with people who may watch football all day on Saturdays (college) and Sundays (NFL), then my advice to you is:
Move Smart and Stay Free.
-TJ
Behind the Number 
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