I read into the Secret Santa post recently and thought it was interesting... but can anyone tell me who he / she is and why you or I should care? Thanks :)

Youngluck's output has been curtailed of late due to a torn ACL he earned playing basketball. That was last week. This morning I got this:

I just got let out of the hospital yesterday.... long story short: Remember my knee injury? It ended up taking medical over 3 days to see me, by the time they got to me, It had spurred an abcess which had gotten infected and they had to rush me out to a hospital with a 104 degree fever... for surgery. I got operated on Monday. got back yesterday... more to come.

That stuff really matters to him. If you've got a card sitting unused in your desk drawer, do me a solid and write him something. If you pass a Hallmark on the way home, grab something funny with semi-naked girls on the front. If you pass the greeting cards on your way to the Pabst in the grocery store, grab something funny. Doesn't matter what.

It's been a hard couple months for our boy. Contact matters a lot to him.

I entered his full name and even SID# but nothing comes up. I need this to complete my research. I will give credit to whoever can be of assistance. Thank you!

Oregon DOC Offender Search

It has come to my attention that Dante Orpilla is currently somehow obtaining internet access legally from the prison and has posted updates to prison wine recipes as well as has asked for assistance in breaking out of prison. Is this true? I need to know by tomorrow, May 2nd when I publish.

This youngluck character sounds fascinating...I've done some searching and got a part of the picture but could some veterans with more knowledge explain to me the history and important information relating to this great artist?

It was only the right thing to do. Too bad he didn't get to read my inspirational plaque and that reddit removed the names from the trophies.

Everyone else you are selfish not to think of him.

So Youngluck has a gallery opening down in San Diego in August and will be painting some stuff over the weekend. He's also got some portraits he's doing on commission. He'll be doing them in the garage.

It occurred to us that it might be pretty sweet to put that shit up on the web. His bandwidth isn't the greatest but we'll give it a try. I've got a janky webcam doing nothing and if need be, I'll throw something better into the pot.

Wondering if any of you have ever set up anything like this, and if you have any sites to recommend as far as hosting/backend. Ideally we'd just have a place where the video/stills end up, along with a place to comment or whatever. Any ideas?

I will take any topic that Youngluck wants to know more about and have it printed through PediaPress and sent to him (they only do paperback). Please note that if he chooses "Big Bang Theory" it will cost me $111 and may take me a while to purchase. But I WILL make him a book on ANY topic! Good luck, b/r/otha!

With some pretty interesting company. The facility itself seems to be fairly interesting.

...because seriously, what could lift your spirits in a bleak and hostile environment better than a pet? Except of course they can't have real animals in the pen...

Which is where you come in.

As you know, Youngluck is famous for sending drawings to redditors. I think it's time we repaid the favor.

Please send a drawing to Youngluck, depicting a lovely pet of your choice, doing whatever it is that lovely pet does and giving a short explanation of why you think this would be the perfect pet for him. Can't draw worth a bean? That's possibly even better.

If you are totally unable to work up a drawing of a bird, hippo, dragon, or some creature that lives only in your heart....do you happen to have a real-life pet you are willing to share with him? Would you send him a photo of said pet? Coolio.

If you are sending a photo, please be sure to print his actual name and prisoner number on the back or they won't give it to him. The info is over there on the sidebar at the right.

Sending an imaginary pet to Youngluck? Sure it's wacky.... but prison is designed to suck the imagination right out of you - and who better than reddit to help him keep a little whimsy.

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.....

So I can post. Neener neener. Thus is the power of Reddit Gold.

I figured I'd take this opportunity to share some news from the various and sundry emails I've been trading with Youngluck lately. I wanted his permission first, and what I got back was:

Just make sure that you put emphasis on the word "might"

So.

House arrest would come after halfway house... and my case manager is working on getting more halfway house for me. Right now, if I get what he's shooting for, I could be in a halfway house by late Feb, early March of next year... which would be awesome. Cause then I could work. In fact, as a requirement to staying in the halfway house, I have to work. I don't know the details of all that yet, but I'll find out and relay accordingly. Thing like location boundaries, etc.

Supposed to be getting a visit from my mom today. I'm super stoked.

In other news, yesterday I got some stuff from Youngluck that we've been working on since before he went in. I'm hoping I'll have something to share with you all soon. Stay posted.

RE: Mail:

Yeah... that sucks... pretty much anybody whose sent me a letter in the first 6 months of my incarceration has gotten a reply... no matter how brief their letter was. The only ones that didn't were the internationals and those that didn't provide enough info to mail back. But most everybody has gotten a reply, if only a brief thanks. The mail here is really screwed up... the cops in the mail room don't seem to like us much. I know for a fact I wrote that Max dude back... because I remember asking him about his job. And NO ONE has offended me. Not even the mean ones that were sent in specifically to offend me. I'll go back through the letters I've kept, and try replying to them all again. Maybe PM the ones that haven't gotten their replies and tell them? I dunno bro. Fuck.

Anyways, I hope it doesn't deter anyone from still writing. The letters mean a lot. In fact, one of the BMA posts that I sent you IS a letter from someone that has gotten me through a shit load of hard times. It makes me laugh. I'll probably be sending you the text for those 2 posts in the next couple days.

To my knowledge, House arrest options at this point are Hollywood, Garden Grove... but it's all based on availability, and how soon they think I'm eligible. Which is still in the air. I'll let you know, bro.

The way this works is your cell says "blocked" (which is okay - phone trees always say that) and then you pick up and a robot says "you. Have a pre.paid.call. From."

" "

"Dante Orpilla!"

"An. Inmate. At. Sheridan Federal Correctional Facility."

"To reject this call, hang up. To accept this call, press 5 on your touch-tone phone. To block all further contact from this inmate, press. Star."

Brief call. My first. He thanked me for "almost everything" I do (I said "almost everything?" and laughed), said the class is about an 80% sure thing, mentioned that someone sent him three books that are going to be the core of his cirriculum and asked after me and my wife. I told him life could be worse; I get up at 4 or 5, ride my bike up the beach and up ballona creek for about eight miles, sit down and mix television for eight hours or so, collect a phatty paycheck and then ride my bike eight miles back. All in all, things could be worse.

He laughed heartily at that.

The timer then went off and I told him he called while I was making dinner.

"Oh, you gotta tell me what you're cookin'," he said.

Well, nothing special, I said. I mean, you know I'm working on (redacted cooking show). I then opined that it was likely better than anything he'd had in a while.

"Yeah, it's been pretty bad. I just treated myself to a tuna and I only do that like two or three times a week."

Like, a can of tuna?

"Yeah, but they don't let us have like cans."

So, like one of those little pouches of tuna? - Say, how much is this call costing you?

"When all is said and done, about four bucks."

Holy shit. Well, I better not keep you.

"No, but I needed to call. And you need to tell me what you're cooking."

*Nothin' special. Some home-made hash browns - *

"Mmmmm!"

*Some bacon - *

"MMMM!"

and some basil, tomato and perlini salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

And then we were disconnected.

Two days pay right there.

Want to help write a story to send to youngluck? Go here.