Monday, October 12, 2009

My Grown Up Backpack


I can't remember the last time I carried a backpack.  Well, wait, that's a lie, I do remember.  It was high school.  However, when I transitioned to college, I lost the backpack in favor of a supersized tote type bag.  These were pretty standard backpack substitutes at OU, and without one, well, you looked a little odd.  I continued this supersized bag trend when I entered graduate school but upgraded on the quality of the bag, hoping to look a little more professional.  The supersized bag wasn't big enough though, so I transitioned to a mega-gigantic-could-fit-a-small-family-in-it sized bag.  After all, a typical day for me consists of being a teacher, a counselor, a supervisor, a graduate assistant, and oh yeah, a full time student.  All of these roles require a lot of stuff, and a lot of stuff means a big bag!

My days on campus have gotten longer with each semester, and now I'm typically on campus or working twelve or thirteen hour days  (homework and writing not included.)  I don't mind the long days so much as I mind carrying around a mega-gigantic-could-fit-a-small-family-in-it sized bag full of stuff.  Soon after this semester started I noticed shooting pains in my neck and right shoulder where my bag rests.  I've also noticed my shoulders are beginning to look uneven from the mega-gigantic bag.  Just in case you don't quite believe the weight of the bag, let me tell you that when I get it the car and sit my bag in the passenger seat, a light in my car starts blinking that the passenger airbag has been disabled.  It thinks my bag is a small child, awesome. 

So after a several months of increased pain and complaining, Matt convinced to upgrade from the one shoulder behemouth bag to a more structured, smaller bag.  (I later found out "smaller" is  relative term.)  So, after weeks of looking, I settled on this Coach messenger style laptap bag.  I was hoping for the Fendi messenger, but unfortunately its costs more than I make in two months, so that was out.  After purchasing the bag, I came home excited to clean out my old bag and transition to my new, more condensed, grown up bag.  In my old bag I discovered 18 pens, 5 Zone bars, 2 packages of peanut butter crackers, 8 tubes of lip gloss, 4 Starbursts, 2 water bottles, 2 addressed and unmailed cards, a million paperclips, 3 pairs of earrings, 2 bracelets, 2 bottles of perfume, 2 hair rubberbands, a student coupon book, a bottle of Advil, and a pair of sunglasses.  All of this on top of my textbooks, planner, ipod, wallet, and notepad.  No freaking wonder my back hurt!  I was carrying a small convenience store with me!  So, after trying to guess how old the Starbursts and crackers were (I later decided they were too old), I decided I should really make an effort to downsize my school "necessities."  I mean, who really needs 5 Zone bars and an entire jewelry box with them 12 hours a day?  So this is my public resolution to downsize my life and transition successfully to my new, non mega sized bag.  The fact that I have new fabulous bag should certainly help :)

4 comments:

Kendall and Brooks said...

Super cute and professional!

Patricia said...

I love your grown up backpack! So stylish. I also love that you admitted to the random contents of your bag. The last time I cleaned out my bag I had about the same amount of randomness, plus a couple of spoons and forks. Just in case.

Jacci said...

So funny. You don't even want to know what you find switching DIAPER bags. Whole different ballgame. But glad you found a cute bag you love!

MellowDee said...

Love, Love Luv it! The bag is fabulous and I hope you are enjoying it. Traditional backpacks are sooo 10years ago!