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 :)