First real weekend in COMO

Well, after Friday's intense day of work, I decided I needed to get out and see/meet more normal people in this city. Friday's work day consisted of dealing with rapists, murderers, and mental retarded rapists and murderers. Most traumatizing experience of the day, I was stared at by a patient (he pretty much stared through my soul) and forcefully pelvic thrusted continuously for about 5 min.. I really don't know how I didn't scream or vomit, but I just acted like I didn't see him. What the hell are you suppose to do in that situation? The best part of Friday's work day was karaoke. Yep, it was awesome. I was they're backup dancer for Nsync's "Bye, bye, bye." It was very entertaining. Ok.. let the work day hurry up and end! ... That afternoon, I met up with a family friend of the Pigott's, and we went bouldering. It was tough, but a lot of fun. Something different for sure. After that we went to meet some of his friends at a bar (Room 38), then to his favorite sushi restaurant downtown, Sake. It was nice to actually hang out with someone normal, or more around my personality than what I live or work with.

Saturday, I slept in and took Boomer to the dog park on the south side of town (aka Fancy side of Columbia). We met a girl and her dog for a doggie date at Twin Lakes, which is an awesome dog park with two lakes (get it? twin lakes), and a lot of land to run around. Dogs were everywhere!! That afternoon, I went to Cooper's Landing. Cooper's Landing is a rivershack-like place on the MO river. I met some people, ate some awesome authentic Thai food at Cooper's, went on a boat ride, built a fire on an island, and watched the sunset on the river. It was getting late, so we started to head back to Columbia. On our way, we stopped at the Hitching Post at Hartsburg. This is where I ran into the people I met the Tuesday night before... Umm.. Let's just say I got to drive a 1984 Ford Bronco on back roads and through the creeks. The back of the Bronco read "Maximize the Moment," which I obviously did. How did I maximize that moment? Well, of course, by driving with a skinned coyote around my neck!

Sunday.. Oh Sunday.. was phenomenal. I went to church, then headed back to Cooper's. I met a guy from there from Saturday, and we rode bikes to Katfish KT's. Katfish KT's is a campground on the MO river that has a stage over the river, and free blues and "Naked Hippie BBQ" every Sunday. Everyone from Saturday was there, and we all just drank and danced to some blues, baby! The bike ride to Katfish KT's was about an hour, and we stopped at the largest oak tree west of the MS river on our ride there.. HUGE tree. On the way back, I'm pretty sure we stopped at a meth lab. Not going into details, because I don't want to freak y'all out.. but I'm glad I had someone with me. Ok, the day wasn't over just yet.. We got back to Cooper's and the band was terrible. So, we loaded up and went to Broadway Brewrey for one last beer and food. I ordered the buffalo burger with muenster cheese, roasted root veggies, and a blonde ale. Good day, good night. Boom!

Monday... Monday was started a new week in a new building. Minimum security versus maximum security. Don't let this fool you.. I was still working with extreme murderers, rapists, and intense messed up people. I will give some examples of minimum security patients, just so you can imagine what the maximum security patients are... 1. A raped several men in his life, killed a prison staff member, raped cell mates multiple times. Some incidents included sitting on cell mate's face while giving him a bj; while cell mate was acting like he was asleep, A strangled him and told him to turn over. You know what happens next.. B made a 6yr old suck him manhood, while he fondled the little boy. B also raped others.. C killed his mom with a ceiling fan blade, cut her chest open with the blade, and ate some of her heart... D raped a 2, 3, and 5yr old... these are just a few examples of the types of people I work with daily.. in the minimum security. I like this unit moreso than max because today I played basketball, lead an exercise group, and played other random games to incorporate social interaction. So, after just a glimpse of the the population I work with, you can now see why I have to enjoy my time here... So, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays I do CrossFit. Do I like it? It's fun meeting and working out with people.. however, they don't cut up as much as my running group does back in MS (aka Running Bitches, aka WP). PS- I miss y'all!