I got caught in a deluge walking home from campus today, and I decided drying out my bag was also a good excuse to clean it out a bit. There are days when I feel too burdened, or too unfashionable, and then I’ll go with a purse or something for a change. But in the end I like having everything I could possibly need, and you can see the whole list below.

1 pair sunglasses
1 tiny sewing kit
1 red iPod ca. 2007
1 extra set of iPod earbuds
1 voice recorder
1 Flip video camera
2 AA batteries
2 scraps of paper ( one white, one orange)
1 14-inch piece of heavy duty thread
6 pieces of yarn, ranging from 1 to 6 inches
2 hair clips (one white, one silver)
2 paperclips (one silver, one red)
2 Moleskine notebooks (one black, one blue, one red)
3 rubberbands
1 piece of paper folded in preparation for cutting a snowflake
1 tube of .5 pencil lead
2 blue hair binders
1 folded nametag
1 packet Splenda (from Seattle, oddly)
1 photo card reader
1 photo card case
2 USB thumb drives (one red, one orange)
2 mechanical pencils (one for writing, one for erasing)
2 pens (one working, one used up)
1 double-ended twist pencil (one end red, one end blue)
1 moose hair
1 Columbia reporter’s notebook
1 plain-colored school notebook
1 passport
1 cell phone
1 piece of fish jaw
1 packet of horrible tea that tastes like cigarette smoke (so I can see if someone agrees with me)
3 MTA subway cards (2 used up, one with one ride left)
1 receipt from Target in Maple Grove, MN
3 business cards with quotes scribbled on the back
1 small spoon
2 ear plugs
1 glue stick
2 sets of keys (one mine, one not)
1 almost-empty tube of lip gloss
2 Alaska river rocks
1 airline baggage receipt
1 full wallet bag (more library cards than dollars)
$2.56 in change
28 Forever stamps

And of course my camera, but obviously that’s not in the photo.

Some other things I often carry: crochet hook, nail clippers, permanent marker, tiny colored pencils, tiny scissors, book(s).