The first one...stuck in NJ.

So I'm stuck in New Jersey. Like most other people in New Jersey, I want to escape. This isn't as easy as it might sound. If it was, the entire state would be un-populated except for those paid to be here, like the cast of "Jersey Shore" or "The Sopranos". Kinda like Wyoming, but with more hand guns, rats and hair gel, and less rifles and sheep.

I am originally from Upstate New York. This is about as far from most of New Jersey as you can get philosophically. I was brought here to accompany my husband when he got a job at Princeton University. I didn't exactly fit in, and hated almost every minute of living there. Don't get me wrong. There were a few gems to be found in the vast quagmire of snooty-snotishness. But overall my self and my little Hyundai were much misunderstood, and maligned. I got a lot of crap from my husband about how miserable I was, and how I was causing him to be unsuccessful at his job of being a professor; how I couldn't understand how hard life was for him, because I had never done anything "hard". So, to save my marriage and my sanity I set out to do something "hard", and in the process maybe find my way out of the dark place that was Central New Jersey.  I was about a quarter successful. The marriage thing didn't exactly work out the way I had hoped. I wound up leaving Central New Jersey for the even more spectacularly dysfunctional place known as Northern New Jersey. But I was very successful in finding something "hard" to do with myself. I am now a 3rd year medical student at New Jersey Medical School in beautiful Newark, NJ. I am working very hard to achieve Escape Velocity to get the Helen Hayes *out* of NJ, and back to somewhere a little more sane. The irony is, the guy who brought me here in the first place didn't get tenure at Princeton, and achieved Escape Velocity several years before I did, and is now living happily in a totally different state. Pretty messed up, but not totally unexpected.

What kinda keeps me going these days is the craziness that is my life. My crazy friends, the crazy situations I find myself in, the crazy things that go on around me. All of that is the wind beneath my wings, because if not for the crazy amount of laughing that I do, I probably wouldn't have made it this far. So this blog isn't going to be so much about me and my musings, as it will be postings of the craziness. And I do mean that in a good way. I will blatantly steal funny postings off my friend's FB walls and messages. I will relate stories of things that happen to me and my friends from all walks of my life. Sometimes I will just sit back and tell stories about all the great people I know. I will also tell you all about the great under $10 wine I'll be drinking, and other cool stuff I do, see, eat and drink. I will *not* make things up, though some of the stories will seem like it. I will try not to rant too much. I will try not to get too graphic about stuff I see at the hospital. I will never intentionally be mean (except to Dick Cheney, and that's just not my fault), and if you see me going out of bounds on that, call me on it.

So that's about it. I'll go get me a glass of wine, and maybe do another posting to let you know who the potential cast of characters are. I have several pools of people I know from various parts of my life. Each pool has its own potential for craziness, but usually in totally different ways. I have a big family, friends from home, friends from med school, friends from high school, college, Princeton, massage school, people I've worked with, patients, attendings, residents, and all kinds of others. If you're reading this, you probably fall into one or more of these categories. I will eventually write about you, in all honesty (and if I don't you're not being crazy enough, and you really should get on that for me). If I ever write something you don't want me to, just tell me and I'll edit. Its never my intention to piss anyone off. I love all my friends, and just want to share some of our zany antics, a la "Scooby Doo". Maybe I'll give you a pseudonym if you want...because I know everyone wants a cool pseudonym. Just let me know.

Oh yeah. And Shannon, I am warning you now that I *will* directly cut and paste anything I deem worthy right into this blog. Because you really are that special. Really. But I will give you proper credit, so we can be famous together.