Checking into the Veteran Affairs hospital

The probation officer was able to secure a ride for me to get to the VA hospital.  This is where the fun really began for me on a lot of levels.

I hadn't sleep in two days, so I was extremely exhausted.  I had walked miles and miles, and was extremely sore.

For the past 5 months or so, I had been confined in a cell by myself and only let out every three days for a shower.  I was deemed a security risk because I fought with the police shortly after arriving at the jail.  So, now I am around hundreds of people.  They all are talking to me because I am new.  They all walk by and say hello.  After being in prison for two years, particularly a violent prison I was in, I had forgot how normal people acted.  You become accustomed to being anti-social.  So trying to take all this is was overwhelming.  All I wanted to do was be assigned a room and go there and hide.

This was so different than from the first time I was released from prison.  In Virginia prison, things had been relatively safe.  It was like a bunch of guys just living together.  In the Florida prison system, things are a lot different.  Also I was housed at a prison for people taking psych meds.  This camp was extremely violent and volatile at all times.

After being here a couple of days, I am slowly starting to break out of my shell.  I went out to smoke a cigarette and came back inside and there were dogs.  Lots of dogs in the lobby.  WTF???  Turns out they were rescue dogs and therapy dogs with the Southern States Rottweiler Rescue.  I loved it.  But it made me emotional as hell.  Why?  I don't know.  But it's been like that a lot over the past couple of years.  I have been an emotional wreck for whatever reason.  Anyways, I started talking with their photographer (who was extremely gorgeous) and discovered her husband was currently deployed and had dealt with his own issues with PTSD.  Another point of adjusting to regular life, I was continuously looking around like I was doing something wrong for talk with a woman.

Anyways.  This is just the beginning of a long road.