Day 10.

A rare steak, a real Caesar salad, and a beer. That’s what I want when I get out. People have asked, and that’s the answer.

And things I can’t wait to do: trim my toenails and fingernails, and shave.

A new study started last night. Gray t-shirts. All men, about 15 of them; half of them look like college kids with their Justin Bieber haircuts and basketball skorts. Ever since they arrived, there’s been urine splashed all over the walls and floors around the urinals. What is it with men who pee all over the place? Do they have no control, or do they just not care?

I’ve done quite a bit of reading since I’ve been here, but not as much writing as I’d hoped. I’ve made a lot of notes and I’ve done a lot of mental work on the high school diary project, but I had planned to dive into the text and edit a draft. This afternoon, the cute 25-year-old boy 3 beds down, who is into bodybuilding and art, asked me what I was working on. (I don’t mix much. I spend any free time we have with my books and computer, not running around with a group watching movies or playing games or chatting chatting chatting, and I guess it’s obvious because people keep asking, “what you are doing?” “Trying to ignore you, why do you ask?”) I was looking at Facebook when he asked, but I said, “I’m working on a couple projects.” He said, “What projects.” (It’s not like anyone is in a hurry; I suppose if you want to draw somebody out, you’ve got plenty of time.) I said I was working on a script for a short film. He was impressed and intrigued. He said that his brother had wanted to go to film school but their parents had forbid it and made him go to Texas A&M instead. That broke my heart. We had a nice short conversation and he wished me “good luck with that.”

So, of course, I spent the rest of the afternoon working on the script like crazy because I don’t want this kid to catch me on Facebook when he thinks I’m a big fancy screenwriter. A little attention from a cute young man is what it takes to get me motivated. Pathetic.

Today is wild. Starting with urine collection at 6 and ending with a blood draw after 2 a.m., we’re doing ECGs, glucometer readings, blood draws, and vitals signs all day long. I don’t mind so much that it’s hectic; it makes the day go faster. I don’t like wearing the ECG pads all day. They chafe and make me itch like crazy, and when I pull them off at night they pull a layer of skin with them.

We hate the new gray shirts, coming in here for their little sissy-ass 5-day study, pissing all over the bathroom floor. We hate them.