What's In Your Bag

 

 

When I post here I try to say insightful things.  And every once in a while I do.  But sometimes I like to use this space to record the most mundane of details.  As an avid reader of history and especially biography, I'm fascinated by authors mining seemingly trivial descriptions to set context or probe character.  We are obviously in unusual times, so documenting random life events can actually make for an interesting snapshot in time.

With that in mind, here's a list of what's in my work bag, which I shuttle back and forth from home to work every weekday since I've been going in full-time for 2+ months (after not setting foot in the office for 4 months prior):

 

 

* Folder with a hand-recording of hours for the week, a print-out of all projects/proposals I'm working on, random other docs I need to review, and some scratch paper.

* My School District issued laptop, which serves as my sole gateway into School Board information and which sits next to me when I'm at both my home and work laptops.

* One set of over-the-ears headphones for all my Zoom calls, and a separate set of earbuds for all my phone calls.

* Charger for phone and laptop.

* My packed lunch for the day, which is two turkey and cheese sandwiches, an apple, and a pear.

* A pack of back-up medical masks.

* Head lamp to navigate biking home in the dark (and to be seen).

And that's it.  The irony is that I bought a brand new work bag right before the pandemic, because my other work bag, durable and beloved as it was, was well over 10 years old and was falling apart.  In that work bag are all the accoutrements you might expect, like pens and business cards and tissues and change.  But in the bag I've been toting around the past 60+ days, which by the way is a random black backpack I got for free at some event years ago, I've streamlined things.  

Can't wait to use that brand new work bag.  Til then, it's back and forth, load and unload, day in and day out.  And so the world turns.