lightening

Provide me time and space, and I will find a way fill them. This is true of deadlines and my bag. I never said /what/ I would be filling these with. ;)

Today I will attempt to discuss lightening my bag, at least my current (mostly failing) attempts to do so. I love my bag. I obsess about my bag. But it is big. It gets heavy and even bigger. I have no really clear good reason to carry all the silly things around that I do. At least not all the time. I use my bag while grocery shopping and if you add in a quart of milk and juice and things, it will get even bigger and bulkier.

Last week, I laid out all of the items and asked E if he could help me limit.

He couldn’t.

I’ve been reevaluating every single item I carry. I’ve been leaving pieces of paper on site if I do not need to urgently consult with it when I’m not at that site. I’ve been remembering to remove course materials after that session unless otherwise needed that day. I haven’t yet found an answer to my food dilemma. I haven’t carried my laptop for the past week. I’m having mixed feelings over that.

Another factor to this desire to lighten is that I’ve recently been the recipient of numerous comments (some overheard, some to my face) wondering if I was a high school student. I’m sure in another decade I’ll be pleased to hear those remarks, but it has made me rethink the image I portray on the street. (Why they think a high school student would be in a business attire is beyond me).

I’m looking into new bag options. It saddens me, but I see that if I am given the space I will fill it with the heaviest possible items. I swear that sometimes I must have some dark matter hidden away inside. I love the comfort of a backpack, as it distributes weight evenly and allows my hands to be free to do other things (such as knit). I’ve been through Ravelry several times over (with additional help from Sara and I just haven’t found an existing design which I like. I want something sturdy, light, waterproof (or at least water resistant to a limited degree), and professional looking with a penguingirl twist. It needs to be able to hold my essentials, which includes some knitting and US letter sized paper; ideally it would leave my hands free and distribute weight. I’m not sure that I want a felted item. It would mean needing to find a new solution in the warmer months. Ideas? I’ve been looking at many bag companies and sites. I have some ideas and will need to find the time to sketch them.

While I have enjoyed my two-piece composition book and calendar solution, I missed my filofax and the ability to keep reference material with me and move it around as needed. I like the A5 size. I like the ability to have one item to misplace.

I found myself with some time Tuesday late afternoon before a class session at AMNH and found myself inside a B&N. Imagine my excitement when I started leafing through various calendars when I discovered a binder which looked to be about the size of my filo but with smaller binder rings. I have been carrying one sheet of A5 filo paper around for months to do measurements. I pulled it out gingerly and found that it fit! I flipped the bonded leather (eww, will that bring weird searches here?) binder over and read the price, $24.95. The sign said 20% off. At that point, I determined it sold! A comparable A5 filo is much more!

My big black one (which I’m weighed almost empty, perhaps with 20 sheets inside) weighs 822g. My new one (which is RED) while completely FULL with calendar (for this quarter) and lots of other pages is 818g! I’m currently looking into calendar options for 2008. I do not need a week on two pages. My deadlines are not that much and it’s too much wasted space and weight. I think I will purchase a week on a page with a two week spread. R, my coworker who I converted to A5 filo-land, is looking at a vertical yearly planner, but he only uses the filo for work at one site. I bounce around.

I took some pictures of the two this afternoon but they turned out horrible. When/If I succeed I’ll upload them to flickr and somehow update this post.

Lastly, I may soon find my wallet lightened as well. Not by calender pr0n but by the fact that Kinokuniya Bookstore just opened a branch near Bryant Park (on 6th between Staples and 41st), also known as “very close to one of my clients”. It is a beautiful store of three floors and a very impressive knitting, crochet, and tatting collection. I was very good today and refrained from purchasing anything despite walking around with a book for a good amount of time. A Japanese-language blog which I cannot read has two pretty pictures of the new store here.

• Category: tools
• Tag: filofax, shop