The Things I Carried

An inventory for restarting a life.  (And not as interesting as the things Tim O’Brian carried.)

Clothes

• 1 jacket, faded black leather
• 

  That's it...

  1 sport coat, brown (that needs to be re-tailored)

• 3 pair pants (one business, one casual, one business/casual)
• 3 pair shorts
• 2 sweaters
• 10 t-shirts, with assorted faded images
• 1 long-sleeve athletic shirt, black
• 10 pair boxers
• 10 pair socks
• 5 pair shoes (one boot, two sneakers, one leather, one rock-climbing)
• 1 tie (c’mon jobs)
• 1 belt, brown leather
• 3 hats (one baseball, one knit, one beanie)
• 1 balaclava
• 1 rain slick
• 1 scarf, grey wool (knitted by my mother)

Electronics

• 1 widescreen HP Pavilion dv9000 laptop (far too big for travel but so comforting to have)
• 1 cracked 8GB Microsoft Zune, green
• 1 Canon PowerShot A1000IS camera
• 4 batteries, rechargeable
• 1 battery charging dock
• 1 five-piece electronic adaptor set
• blank CDs, various
• 1 USB mouse
• 2 pair earphones
• Electronic wires, various

Toiletries

• 1 bottle shampoo
• 1 bottle conditioner, fun size (compliments Hyatt DC)
• 1 bar soap, fun size (compliments Hyatt DC)
• 4 tubes toothpaste (1 full size, 3 random fun size)
• 1 razor (10 blades)
• 1 can shave cream
• 1 bar deodorant
• 2 toothbrushes
• 1 bottle anti-cavity mouthwash
• 1 bottle moisturizer
• 1 bottle face scrub
• 1.5 boxes floss
• 1 bottle astringent
• 100 count cotton cosmetic rounds
• 1 bottle Pepto-Bismol
• 1 nail clipper, gold
• 1 trim scissor, stainless steel
• 1 towel
• 1 washcloth
• 1 suction powered toothbrush holder, panda shaped

Personal

• 1 America passport (freshly signed and ready for use)
• 1 wallet (containing typical wallet things)
• 1 multi-tool
• 3 novels (Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep; Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being; and Charles Bukowski’s Post Office)
• 2 blank books (both elegantly bound – one in brown leather, the other in orange canvas – gifts from Bill Tucker)
• 2 decks of cards (1 for traditional use, 1 to use as bookmarks)
• Pencils and pens, assorted
  

  Complete with a ticket stub from my last trip.

• 1 linoleum carving block
• 1 set linoleum carving knives
• 1 bag googley eyes, assorted sizes
• 1 five-year journal (that has sat blank all summer)
• 1 mix CD (Freeway in Mind compiled by Chris Longano)
• 2 game CDs (Half-life and Fallout)
• 1 DVD (the Hangover)
• 1 flask, stainless steel (filled with Sri Lankan coconut rum)
• 1 MagLite
• 1 pair Aviator sunglasses (to reassume my lost “London look”)
• 1 box condoms
• 5 jars vitamins, assorted
• 1 bottle liquid vitamin E
• 3 tubes Chapstick, black
• 1 miniature plastic Buddha (for luck)

It’s discomforting to see three packed bags amidst piles of discarded possessions and tell yourself, “all I need to live is in those three bags.”  I’m staggered by there shear amount of stuff that I’ve managed to accumulate.  Goodbye things.