Stress and the Spirit

I love my pathophysiology class. I probably learn more in it then all my other classes combined. Today, we briefly touched on the issue of stress-related disorders (think depression, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, anxiety disorders, etc.). My professor, Dr. Sam, basically told us that these conditions did not exist 30 years ago. Why all of a sudden do we all have these chemical imbalances that effect our health? The simple answer is stress. Or is it?

Are these disorders caused by chemical imbalances? Well...sort of. We all have stressors in our lives, both good and bad. And we all have methods to cope with those stressors. We cannot control our likes and dislikes to certain things and our internal reactions to them. What we do control is the behavior we display. That is what makes us uniquely human. We are not forced to react on those most base feelings. We have a higher level of reasoning and thought process that allows us to interpret our life events. And this is where we run into trouble. It is not the stress that causes chemical imbalances it is our perception of the stress.

We all know that everyone responds differently to stressors. For some, a test might be a huge cause of stress and pressure while others actually enjoy studying. Why? It's all in the perception. It's not the test itself giving you stress, it's how you feel about the test. Some typical stressors actually can lead some people to thrive. An easy way to tell that someone is not effectively coping with stress? Asking questions with no answers. "Why did this happen to me?" "Why does nothing in my life ever go right?" "What did my friend/child/parent do to deserve this?" When our mind can't come up with these answers, it causes stress. We need to be able to answer these questions and satisfy our brain in order to reduce our stress level. When we can't answer these questions, our brains freak out and we end with the chemical imbalances that "cause" disorders. In short, we need answers.

What in our culture really offers answers to these questions? We live in a me-first world that says there is nothing more to life then being alive, having fun, and making ourselves happy. How do we cope when we can no longer do those things? This might seem like a contrite answer, but it's not meant to be. We've lost our spirituality, or sense of a deeper meaning and purpose. We don't have answers to these questions anymore. When I think about some of the most spiritual people I know, they don't struggle with these questions. Not that they necessarily have it all figured out and have answers to everything but they've come to a place where they are OK, they can cope with these questions. Faith offers us the most important coping mechanism of all: the ability to see things outside of ourselves and the first glimmer of insight into questions that are way to big for us to handle. If you look at it that way, I think maybe reading C.S. Lewis is the single best coping mechanism a person could ask for. The moral of the story? Get out there and get some stress relief- gospel style!

A Friend Indeed

In honor of my friend and fellow blogger Ben's adding me to his list of blogs and writing a very nice little entry on his blog about me, I've decided to return the favor in a non-conventional way. By posting an awkward fake-looking picture of him in my blog! This picture was taken when Ben was here for our friends Meg and Scott's wedding and we went to Atlantic City with Kim R. There's also pictures of Ben gambling but I'll leave those off. For his sake. So here it is, Ben in all his glory. I swear I didn't photo shop this.

Somethings You Can Never Say Too Much

I found this video today called The Miniature Earth. If you've seen it before, watch it again. Or watch it for the first time. It's a message we can't hear too often. Wanna go deeper then a flash movie? Check out Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ron Sider. Or anything other book by him for that matter. I hope you feel blessed today.

Placing My Bets on the 6 Months Part

In high school, I went on a kick of reading Christian dating books. I read I Kissed Dating Goodbye, Passion and Purity, Letting God Write Your Love Story and a few other more obscure ones. In college I read the rules. None of them worked very well for me. So when I was at Border's recently and found How to Get a Date Worth Keeping: Be Dating in 6 Months are Your Money Back I was like whoa! This is the book for me my friends. And yes, it is from a Christian perspective. And no, it is nothing like I Kissed Dating Goodbye. Joshua Harris would die if he ever read this book. So I'm giving it a try. It certainly can't make things worse.

My first "assignment" is to assess my dating problem. So for a month I have to keep track of all the guys I meet who are 1) new to me 2) have enough of an interaction with me to want to ask me for a date and 3) have a way to contact me to ask me for a date. So I started counting on last Thursday. Last weeks total was 3. I'm not allowed to analyze it. It is what it is. 3. I think this weeks total will be 1, but we'll see. We're only two days in. So that's where I am. Wish me luck and go get yourself a copy! It seems promising!

The New Adventures of Caitlin and Christine

Tonight was an interesting night. Here's a little rundown.

Christine bakes pumpkin bread.

Caitlin is studying Pharmacology and gets bored. She decides it would be a good idea to fill the bathtub with water and attempt to float the rabbit in it on a cookie sheet. She begins to fill the tub with water.

The carbon monoxide detector goes off. Caitlin stands on chair and waves a cookie sheet at it. Christine calls resourceful boyfriend/house husband and opens windows and doors. Carbon monoxide detector continues to go off.

Christine calls Emergency Maintenance. No answer.

Christine calls the Fire Department. No answer.

Freak out and call house husband.

Christine calls 911.

911 operator tells us to go outside. Christine and Caitlin layer up and go outside, taking out the trash on their way. May as well kill two birds with one stone.

Christine and Caitlin freeze their butts off.

Christine realizes that bunny is still loose inside. Christine and Caitlin perform emergency rescue operation, with Caitlin holding her nose. Christine holds rabbit in her coat to keep her warm.

Maintenance calls back and is annoyed.

The fire truck arrives.

Maintenance arrives.

Maintenance informs us the detector is bad. The fire department leaves. Maintenance takes detector and leaves.

Christine and Caitlin come back inside.

Caitlin irons place mats in her zebra print pajama pants.

Maintenance man returns and installs a new carbon monoxide detector.

Christine feeds maintenance man pumpkin bread and he leaves.

Christine and Caitlin lament that none of them were even remotely hot.

Margarita Thursday

Caitlin: "$2 Margarita Wednesdays? I'm so there!"

Roommate to Caitlin: "It's a good thing I don't tell the boys how much you love margaritas. It'd be very easy to take advantage of you with that information."

Huruma at it's Best

Just a little quote from our former President Bill Clinton in his acceptance speech for an award from Africare. Clinton stressed that "you don't have to patronize poor people; you just have to empower them." Addressing the need for new attitudes towards African aid and development, he called for the United States to ask what we can do "with Africa, not for Africa." Ahh so refreshing that someone in this country is capable of intelligent foreign policy.

Christmas is Coming!

I know you all probably aren't think about Christmas yet, but I just found this little gem in my inbox. It came from one of my youth ministry newsletter thingies. Add another movie to my Christmas viewing list. The Nativity Story looks amazing! I haven't heard too much press on this one, so tell your friends.

NPR=Love

A friend just sent me this great NPR piece on Christianity. I've heard the idea of the southernization of Christianity before and experienced it myself in Tanzania. I'm sure many of you that have traveled below our lovely equator have experienced many similar things as Philip Jenkins discusses in this interview. I think we could all benefit from being aware of what's going on in the world, especially when it comes to our faith. Listen. Enjoy. Tell me what you think. Thanks Rob!

Some fellow globe-trotters

After utterly screwing up the making of guacamole today (I'm still not entirely sure where I went wrong) I abandoned Mexican cuisine all together and dined on Indian for my supper. While at the grocery store, I picked up some naan bread. Once I began eating it, I thought, Ah! this is like the chapati I had in Tanzania! It was then that I realized I must have more. And more. And the most cost effective way to have more is to make more yourself. So I look up "chipate recipe" on google. But it's really spelled chipati. So I get no results. But I find this awesome website. About this really cool sounding film. That has been shot all over the world. So I start reading the blog and these people seem cool and they have fun adventures. And all of a sudden, I wanna be back in Africa so badly! Or globe-trotting. Or just be out of the US for awhile. But I'll just have to live vicariously through chapati. You should check out their website, Unveiled Studios, especially all you film productiony inclined people. And if anyone talks to them, tell them how you found them. And tell them I'm single.

Squeaky clean and minty fresh

For lack of a better way to fill the void left in my life by a canceled pathophysiology class, I thought I'd take this opportunity to tell you about my soap. I'm not talking about just any old soap here. No no no. You won't find this stuff in CVS. This is 100% organic, fair trade, and environmentally friendly. I ADORE this soap. I've never been much of a product loyalist before but let me tell you, sister, I have seen the light! Did you know that your soap has crazy petroleum derivatives in it? Ew. I know what you're thinking. You must give me the name of this wonderful product. Well....I will! It's Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap. And the stuff is amazing. The company calls it 18-1 soap. But there are tons of ways to use it. So far, I've used it on my body, in my hair, and on my teeth. I can't say I recommend it on the teeth unless you're in a pinch. That was a weird experience. And it was a pretty ok shampooing experience. Other uses I have not tried but would like to include: laundry detergent, dish soap, produce cleanser, and general household cleaner. I will also definently be taking it on my next camping trip because...it's one soap that does everything you could possibly need and yet is environmentally friendly. It helps to fulfill my deepest fantasy of becoming a hippy. Anyway here's the website. I bought my soap from drugstore.com where it's just a smidge bit cheaper. But you can buy it on Bronner's website by the GALLON. I don't know about you, but gallon definitely says good to me.

Diamonds Simply Aren't a Girl's Best Friend

Ever since my trip to Tanzania and rooming with my dear friend Kim, I have become very convicted about diamonds. Blood diamonds. Conflict diamonds. Diamonds in general. They're so...artificial to me. We've created this equation that says man+diamond=happily ever after. The sad fact is that in many diamond producing countries man+diamond=death, starvation, relocation, or suffering. I know that I would not want to walk around with something on my finger (especially not if I live in Africa someday) that symbolizes generations of pain and suffering and white domination. Not to mention the fact that diamonds are not even that rare or that valuable. Debeers just holds back their stock to drive the price up. If you've ever had any doubts on the issue just check out this article on allafrica.com. You can find out more about the movie at its official site. You can also get more info from Amnesty International (just type conflict diamonds into the search bar on this site and you'll get even more results) and Global Witness. Law & Order even touched on this issue in last season's "Solider of Fortune" episode. This is truly a human rights issue that affects every one of our lives. We do have the ability to make a change in people's lives. I know it's a lot of links but click them! Do the research. Be informed. Make a stand. Whatever you decide to do, don't be content with ignorance.

Experiments in the Kitchen

Ever since moving into my new apartment, I've vowed to be a more adventurous cooker. It's hard sometimes. The last thing I feel like doing after class is making myself food. I'm always hungry and tired, but somehow I make it. The latest in the series of "food purchases to broaden my culinary horizons" was tofu. It was on sale. I like sales.

I used my tofu in two grand experiments. The first was a stir-fry. I sliced the tofu into thin strips and then sauted it in some butter and spices. Then I dumped it into a frozen veggie stir-fry mix and added tequila lime marinade. It was good. The tequila lime was a little over-powering and salty. I should have cut it with some water or juice or something. Or maybe just used less.

Tonight's tofu experiment was much more brave. I decided to make tofu parm. I crumbled up bread and mixed it with flour and spices and then coated the sliced tofu in it. Problem one arose in that the bread was too big despite my best efforts and didn't really stick to the tofu. So I decided to pre-bake it for like 10 minutes to get that nice crunchy coating. This did not work either. So I went ahead and dumped on the sauce, added the garlic, sprinkled on the cheese and baked it for about 20 minutes. The finished product was...nothing like chicken parm. But it wasn't bad either. It just kind of tasted like sauce and cheese with some mushy stuff. Almost the same consistency as mozzarella. So yeah. It really wasn't bad, but I don't think I'd use that procedure again. Next time, I think I'll stick to the established recipes for first tries.

Consumerism

I have never been much of a fan of capitalism. Or at least not lately. But I'm a lousy socialist sometimes too. But whatever my econmic tendencies are, I found Marshal Brain's post, "The Price of Things" to be a real eye-opener. In it, Brain helps us to see the discrepancys in what we pay for the products we buy. He wants us to "calibrate your 'price gauge' with the prices of some common objects from everyday life." Just think of all the captain's chairs Martha Stewart could have by now....

Sin Never Tasted So Sweet

Presently I am sitting in a chair, relaxing. At 8am on Saturday. Why? Because they're paying me! That's right I'm working. I'm doing a one-on-one which means I sit with a patient for 12 hours. And they were kind (or maybe crazy) enough to give me a laptop. And when given a laptop and nothing to do, I will always choose to update my blog. I have nothing to do because my patient is sleeping. Not because I'm a slacker. So don't even think it. My patient did ask me if he could go to Club Mystique though. So maybe my day will get more interesting...

How could they?

Immigration is a very politically, and sometimes emotionally charged issue in this country. I know how I feel, and I'm sure you know how you feel. But regardless of how you feel, this article has to break your heart. I'm afraid that as a nation (and when I say nation I mean white nation) we're starting to become almost fanatical about preserving ourselves from the outside invaders. And we're willing to go to great lengths to remove them. Personally, I just don't see the harm that these people, illegal or not, have on our nation. They are simply looking for the same thing we all are. A better life for themselves and their children and their families. And they work harder then any of us ever have to get it. Yes, I suppose they do sometimes but a strain on our social services system, but if we all weren't such tight wads and looked out for the good of our fellow man as we should, that wouldn't be such an issue. I read another blog on this article in which the author was cheering the increase in wages. But what about all those business that are going to have to close now because they don't have anyone to buy their products? I'm not an economist, but I don't know how anyone could possibly look at this as some sort of victory. What happened there is a tragedy. It's sad, it's awful, and it makes me want to cry. Just another reason I'm not proud to be an American.

I heart you!

I heart you. . .South Jersey because gas is $2.25!

Boogie down

Friday has finally arrived! And Friday means...no classes! I've never had Friday's completely off before. And I'm totally loving it. I got up late, made waffles, and am currently relaxing on the couch. I really needed it. I've been trying so hard to catch up on my reading. I literally have hundreds and hundreds of pages of reading to do every week. It's slightly...overwhelming. But I think now I'm only a week behind instead of two. Now that's progress.

Now that I'm pretty well settled in to my apartment, I'm still absolutely loving it. It's just so peaceful and comfortable and homey. It still needs some stuff (such as a light in the living room and perhaps some chairs on the balcony) but it's practically perfect. I went home last weekend and it was so hard. I got all weirdly emotional when it was time to leave. Such a dork.

Despite all the chaos of this program, there is one bright spot. Dr. Sam, my pathophysiology professor. He's one cool dude. I love his class. He's so funny and it feels like being in a real class in contrast to some of my nursing classes which have been a little like...fluff. But Dr. Sam...he's from Egypt. And he has this awesome accent. And every time he says enzymes it gives me chills. I have to get some audio of him up here so you can understand what I'm talking about. Anyway, he's awesome.

On Saturday, I'm going down to Atlantic City with my roomie and some of her friends. It should be a pretty interesting time.

The Importance of Being Ernesto

Now that I'm all settled into my apartment and (FINALLY) have internet, I get to update! Our move-in day was awful. We didn't end up getting in until 5pm. Christine got in an accident, I was so stressed and grumpy from the Complex just not calling us ever to tell us we had our CO...but once we got in it was ok. Verizon lost our account so our DSL didn't work and they were like well it'll take two weeks to get the account in so we can turn it on...and we're like UNACCEPTABLE. So we got cable. Finally. Yesterday. Most of the weekend was spent moving, unpacking, cleaning, and organizing. Did I mention the HURRICANE? We moved all our possessions in a hurricane. And our apartment is fabulous. I should not have even worried about it. Everything is working out great. Someday, once it's all really nice, I'll post up some pictures. I love my room. I love it, I love it, I love it. Roommate things have been perfect and she has some crazy friends whom I've met.

Living here is crazy sometimes. When we go downtown, it's like driving in to another country. The area we live in is predominantly Hasidic Jew and Mexicans. It's a very strange combination. You drive downtown and there are people everywhere walking and running and riding bikes. Except....they have on black suits and huge hats and prayer fringes hanging out. Everyone that doesn't fit that description and isn't a woman with an insane number of children in tow, is standing on the street corner, waiting for someone to drive by and yell out a job so they can get a job for the day. It's very differant and sort of endearing in a bizzare way. I've never gotten so many dirty looks from people while driving. I think it's the blonde hair. Or the fact that people just happen to run into the middle of the street frequently and then look at you as if Hello! How could you have the nerve to DRIVE ON THE ROAD? *Glare* I've only almost died twice. The weirdest is when the men push back their little curls so that they can LIGHT UP THEIR CIGARETTES. So strange. Today, we went into town to pick up plans from a building company for a friend of my roommates. The company is owned by Hasidic Jews. We walked in and everyone immediately turned and stared at us. We stood there. Someone finally looked us both over and asked if they could help us. Christine told them what we were there for. The girl looked at me and said "And you are?" I was just like...uh I..uh..with her! So we stood there again. Everytime someone walked by the window they stared at us and gave us the once over. I squirmed. Then from behind the conference room door came a whole line of men, who all glared at us. And finally we got our stuff. Then we high-tailed it out of there. The whole thing was slightly surreal.

Class has been very high-stress. Everyone FREAKS OUT at the drop of a hat. The "adult learners" in our class panic, freak out, and ask a bajillion pointless questions and tell stories. I'm like SHUSH just let the Prof lecture! I mean the poor Prof couldn't get through more then a bullet point without being interupted by a whole class discussion. It was driving me nuts! Plus out professor freaked out when we had a conflict with a room and went on a whole tirade about wanting to our PDA's to have sex with her PDA. I'm glad I don't have a PDA to "share fluids. The nursing professors are like...too nice to keep control. Today we had a Doctor for Pathophysiology and he kept wonderful control of the class. And things went smooth and questions were appropriate and moderate. It was lovely and normal and lectureish and I finally took notes. It helped so much. But I have SOOO much reading to do. Ok but I'm done whining now.

Pet Peeves

Pet Peeves. . . . People that can't spell my name.

My name, for every one's information is spelled the CORRECT way. Caitlin is an Irish name that is not pronounced like it is here. It's more like Cathleen. Anyway, it's not some bastardization of Kate and Lynn. It's it's own unique name with it's own unique spelling. Then, the 80's has to come along and suddenly everyone gets together and decides to name their children normal things but spell it all screwed up. So now you have Kaitlyn, and Catelynn, and Katelin, and I'm like SPELL IT RIGHT! So now, my perfectly normal, spelled correctly name is an anomaly. And everywhere I go people spell it wrong. Because their niece or their granddaughter, or their cousin spells it Caitlyn or Kaitlynn and of course you must too even though it's completely WRONG. So when that happens I smartly respond, yes well I spell mine the traditional Irish way. Because it's an Irish name. And I look Irish. And it's better. One C, two I's, no E's or Y's. So bite me.

Panic....and definetly not at the disco

Today has been a bit of a hectic day. One of those in which nothing seems to go right. I didn't get nearly as much done as I had planned packing wise. But I did pack a lot. And run errands. And talk on the phone for four <4> hours. To four <4> different people. Yikes! I'm uber popular! Anyway, so my panic moments. Two so far. I say so far because there are still 44 minutes left in today for something to go wrong.

Panic #1: After we signed our lease, I was under the impression all was well. We could move in whenever, just bring the rent check. So Christine and I decided to meet at 9am tomorrow to move in. I called the Complex to tell them and to double check on the rent amount. And the lady (whom we shall cal Snappy) was like uh no...you have to wait for your CO. At this point I so remember the other lady (Talkie) specifically telling me we had our CO. So I'm like...oh. When doesn't the inspector come? Snappy replies..oh well anytime really but usually between 10 and 2. We'll call you. I respond, "But we live a half hour away." Snappy pauses for a moment and retorts, "Well you don't have to move in tomorrow." No silly but I was PLANNING on it! Then I'm like but wait! The gas people are coming to turn on the gas. And she's like but oh, you can't get a CO without gas, so that could create a problem. I'm like AHHH! So I call Christine who is like AHHHH. And I'm like AHHH. And we're like AHHH again for good measure. So then I call the gas company who after some confusing arguing is like but you're on the schedule for the morning and we'll be there as soon as we can. So needless to say AHH hopefully we get our CO and can move in at a reasonable time.

Panic #2: I go to pick up my health forms at the Doctor's today. They grumble and complain and hand them over. Minus half the stuff I needed! Which was annoying enough since they've had them since the 15th. Then I find out the hospital has STILL not faxed them something. So now I have to call the hospital AGAIN to have them re-fax the papers I don't even know where for my drastically over due health forms. Grrr.

And finally the general panic is...packing! Still not done. But at least there's some stuff in the car to take tomorrow. So that redeems me a bit I suppose. But still...stuff to pack. But since I'm not leaving at 9am I can get up early and work on it tomorrow. Yay! I thought you might enjoy some pictures of the packing process. This, keep in mind was the beginning of the process. And remember I'm not really moving out, but kind of splitting my life.

Note the randomly barren walls and the opened drawers. I hadn't even started packing clothes at this point.
The irony of this picture? That's not packing mess. That's what my room looked like all summer.
Packing of the beloved shoes.

Perhaps the most overwhelming thought of all of this is knowing that it must all be unpacked and put away. I wish I was Samantha on Bewitched...

All the cuddly critters

Today is very uneventful day. Yesterday, I got my BRAND NEW LAPTOP. That's right. BRAND NEW LAPTOP. It's shiny. And fast. And wonderful. I've been spending most of today transferring files, syncing browsers (I heart Google and Firefox!), downloading applications, and hating Apple in general and iTunes and iPod specifically. Tonight I'm going to a Pampered Chef Party. Because every student in debt up to their eyeballs and living in an apartment they can't afford needs over-priced gourmet kitchen gadgets! Mostly it's about the free food. And the opportunity to stare at and caress the over-priced gourmet kitchen gadgets. And dream about what you buy if Sallie Mae had a category on their loan application to send money to "Caitlin's Over-Priced Gourmet Kitchen Gadgets Fund." Oh the ecstasy.

In my endless quest to make you adore me, I thought I might share with you a little slice of the farm.

1. My puppy. Name: Jersey Age: 14 1/2 Nicknames: Jerz, Waz, Elvis, Fang, Yellow Dog, Jun Blotz, Bookie, Shatzie

2. Cat #1 Name: Sarai Age: About 3 1/2 Nicknames: Black Cat, Missy, Pissy, Princess, WhyWhy, Little Feet3. Cat #2 Name: Mesa Age: 2 years Nicknames: Miss Mesa, Mesa Pesa, Badger, Stinky
4. Guinea Pig Name: Pumpkin Age: Stinking old Nicknames: Piggie, Pig Pig
5. Fish Name: Mwenge Age: 1 year Nicknames: Fish, Whatever the hell your name is

Ei Aye Ei Aye Ohhhh

Pet Peeves

Pet peeves . . . People that don't know what chicken salad is.

Girl: What's chicken salad?
Panera Bread Worker: It's....chicken...with mayonnaise.
Girl: Does it come on...like a wrap or something?
Panera Bread Worker: We don't have wraps. It comes on bread.
Girl: oh

I heart you!

I heart you . . . when you call me swell.

Less Cash, More Splash

As move in day looms closer still and I begin to stress about packing, I figured I'd share my passion for decorating with you. I don't claim to be a good decorator or anything, but I'm thinking that I'm pretty ok at putting together a cohesive room on a budget. I have to say that Kim's kitchsy oriental room looked great and was remarkably cheap. We ended up using a set of bamboo patio blinds spray-painted black and trimmed in chopsticks painted red as her head board. How fun is that? But now that it comes time to do my own room, I'm getting a little anxious. I don't have much of a plan. Aside from colors. Brown and turquoise. I pulled them from my lovely ikat quilt from Target. The pictures just don't do it justice. Other then that I think I'm trying to get an ethnic look, although no particular ethnicity. My furniture situation is a little interesting. I bought this bed and the matching night table from Walmart, which is great, perfect, and exactly what I was looking for. It and the desk I got are, however, a bit modern. Do modern and ethnic go? They're going to have to. Then the real problems start. I have this great antique oak dresser that's just sitting at home not really doing much and instead of buying a dresser, I'm going to bring that one. But in my head it SO DOESN'T WORK. So hopefully either a) it won't look as bad as I think it's going to b) it will fit in the closet or c) I can come up with some fabulous way to make it match. I'll let you know how to goes.

My next major concern is a lack of flat surfaces. I want to keep them relatively clutter free. I'm trying to get more of a simple, clean look here. A lot of the pieces I want in my room to give it that ethnic flare, however, happen to need a place to go. Fortunately my desk comes with that nifty little shelf. I just hope that'll be enough space, along with my night table and possibly dresser top unless it goes in the closet.

Anyway, as I'm sure you're aware, I'm super excited about moving. I've been doing really well on my budget considering I had to buy furniture for my room, everything for my bathroom, etc. My whole living space is pretty much courtesy of Walmart, Target, and Value City with the exception of a few items. It's the way to go.

Things I most love about my new apartment: hardwood floors, ginormous window in my bedroom, dishwasher, washer & dryer, roommate that comes with a bunny :)

Huruma Who?

As I frolic, head-on, into a new stage in my life I decided that it was time for a new, more sophisticated blog. I think I've done a lot of growing up in the last 4 years. So here I go.

Why this blog? Well, I was kind of inspired by my lovely friend Megan on this one. While we were both back at our Alma mater, Asbury College, for graduation, Megan made a comment about her mother and her interesting nursing stories and how she should write a book. I am about to enter nursing school (my first day is the 5th) and I thought the world-at-large might appreciate some tales from the inner sanctum of the hospital. And while I don't think I'm quite book writing material, a blog!, now that I can manage. I'll try not to talk about poop too much.

In addition to being about to enter nursing school, on the 1st I will be moving into my very first, post-college, off-campus, no rules just right apartment. I'm too excited to even begin to tell you about it. I will be rooming with a lovely person named Christine who I met at a financial aid night. So far we seem both really similar and really different. I enjoy contradictions.

So what can you expect from this oh so stereotypical blog? Well, lots of stories about icky gross medical things. Tales of two single 20-something post-college girls learning to make it in the big bad world alone while incurring something like $50,000 in student loan debt. Annoyingly opinionated tirades on politics, religion, current events, and humanity in general. And probably a few book reviews thrown in for intelligent post-modern free-thinking woman cred. That's me in a nut shell.