backpack

[mrissa]

Here are my magic words for the day: "I'm afraid that's not going to get done today." Just quietly, cheerfully, calmly: "I'm afraid that's not going to get done today." And then on we go. The one that is striking me hardest is that I need a new backpack. My old backpack is disintegrating, and it's disintegrating in a way that leaves the exterior intact while causing the interior to flake all over anything you put in it. I had to dispose of an otherwise perfectly good set of Calvin College playing cards, a Christmas gift from mattgritter when he was a freshman, because they had been in the backpack when it started to go. But do I have time to go shopping for a new backpack today? I do not. So I will find a duffel bag or something else in the closet, and we will move on with the schedule. (Canvas bags from previous World Fantasy Cons are very fine for what they are, but they have no pockets and do not close and therefore are not carryons, to my way of thinking. At least not for the trip out.)

What I really want -- sorry I'm hung up on this -- is my old backpack. You know the one, scottjames: the one I took to France with us. Yes, that was more than a decade ago. But it was an awesome backpack. It was green canvas, and the pockets were the right size -- big enough for my graphing calculator, small enough that I didn't try to stuff too much crud in them or forget what was in there -- and it sat just right on my shoulders, and it smelled right from the minute I first put books in it, and I loved it. I mended it several times. Then I got home from college for a break, and my mom expressed horror that I had been mending a green backpack with whatever threads in my prepackaged college sewing kit I expected not to use for anything else -- pink and bright purple, mostly -- and a black backpack appeared at Christmas. And it's been fine, very serviceable, never dumped my stuff all over O'Hare or anything like that. But we never emotionally bonded. It was always a strictly functional relationship, me and this backpack.

And maybe I'm past the point in my life when I can love a backpack. Maybe a girl passes a certain age and her relationship with her backpack just loses its magic. I don't know. I don't think I'm willing to give up on finding my backpack yet. I may end up settling for a backpack, but first there will be a search. And the search will not be today, because while I have had four real meals in a row now, plus a snack, I'm still a bit shaky and not going to push the issue. After my return, there will be the search for the backpack. Hither, thither, yon, and possibly Bigdale if I get desperate and can't find anything at hither, thither, or even yon. Wish me good questing. Backpacks can be very elusive. Especially if you don't want Dora the Explorer on them.

Comments

[zalena.livejournal.com]

Bartleby is my hero.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Sorry?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Which "sorry?" is to say, "I don't get what you're saying here," rather than, "I am possibly sorry Bartleby is your hero," in case lj has compressed intonation out.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartleby_the_Scrivener

I also prefer not to, but sadly don't wish to end up impoverished or in prison.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Ahhhhh: "I would prefer not to." I see.

I'm not universally saying things won't get done today -- they will, as they must. I'm just saying I have to sort out and label the things that won't, for the sake of my own sanity.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

I think more people need to do this.

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

Dunno...I still have my (allegedly) green canvas sack from my undergrad days, which makes it...hmm...nearly 17 years old. And at 40, I still use it (and my newer one) all the time. Pedestrian life requires it, I guess, though, so I'm not sure it counts as anecdotal evidence that girls don't grow out of their backpacks...:)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

But you had already bonded with it, yah? So there's some continuity of backpack love?

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

For sure. It still bears the scars of all the buttons I've attached to it over the years: Knowledge is Power (HIV), I Read Banned Books, a commemorative for the Montreal massacre (Dec 6).

[greykev.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember Burlington Coat Factory having a decent selection of backpacks for adults. that was ... three years ago? whenever I bought my heavy blue jacket.

I have owned the same backpack since jr high. My brother found it for me by the side of the road, and my mom sewed one of the straps back on, and we pinned some rips shut with safty pins.

It has gone camping and to conventions and to California. it shed for a while, collected ants and cookie crumbs, and is still the first thing I reach for when planning a trip where I'll be carrying stuff around.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I remember the ants and cookie crumbs quite vividly.

[greykev.livejournal.com]

I've tried to be a better houseguest since then. :-/

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

You've been the world's easiest houseguest since then. I blame California for the ants.

[greykev.livejournal.com]

I blame my cluelessness in not removing the gingersnaps from my bag.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, and I did tell you about food, you just didn't think of them. Could have happened to anybody. If it had been here, there wouldn't have been ants ready to pounce any minute. Stupid ants. I hated those ants.

[greykev.livejournal.com]

I think ants are a necessary evil. the problem is California not getting cold enough to make the ants hibernate (or whatever they do) during the winter, so the nests keep growing and growing until everyone has their fill of tiny scavenging insects.

Though the 1/3 powdered milk, 1/3 powdered laundry soap, 1/3 Borax crystals treatment has worked wonders for my folks' ants. Er, if mass death is a 'wonder'.

... or may be you have not reached the OTHER age of it

[aet.livejournal.com]

It is not truly love, but I have been "I will neither wash nor mend this backpack any more! Just couple of last times and to garbage it goes!" with this one for nearly two years now (I mean, I kind of accidentally mend or throw it into the washer repeatedly, not that I carry a "possibly stink bomb" bag):

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/50797989@N00/49687701/)

(I blame the bright colours - I am just too hungry for colours to get rid of it before I lose something due to backpack failure)

Re: ... or may be you have not reached the OTHER age of it

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

That is indeed very vivid!

[laurel]

I recommend eBags for research on backpacks or any other bag. Sure, you can't smell 'em there or feel 'em, but it's fun to look around and see what is available.

I ended up getting Kevin a carry-on from eBags that's meant to hold clothes etc. for a weekend or longer-- the nifty thing is that it's a backpack. Kevin likes the backpacks. Of course that's the backpack for clothes and longer trips; he has a smaller backpack for smaller carry-on or schlepping about town. (He got a very nice backpack at Target some years back, they seem to carry some nice Eddie Bauer backpacks in the camping section in addition to all the ones in the luggage and (when appropriate) back to school sections).

[laurel]

Oh-- I've had that weird flaking thing happen before when a messenger bag gave out which I loved dearly and had used for many years. And that led to a lengthy quest to find a nice black messenger bag that didn't have noisy velcro and had just the right pockets and so on.

(Other quests have involved looking for just the right black purse and the perfect black hat).

[callunav.livejournal.com]

Just out of, you know, idle curiosity, did you happen to find happiness in a black messenger bag somewhere?

[songwind.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you should just figure out what you want and make a backpack to your own specifications. I have no clue as to your aptitude or desire in the "sewing from scratch" department, but ladysea made the kids some really cool drawstring backpacks with hardly any planning and no pattern. It seems a more structured sort of conveyance might be fairly simple with some prethought.

And of course, your final paragraph just set my silly movie-line addled mind traipsing into the land of Clueless.
"I like him, but I don't love him. Like, I like my Sketchers, but I love my Prada backpack."
"But I love my Sketchers!"
"That's because you don't have a Prada backpack."

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm not much for sewing. My mother is, but she's got a lot of projects already.

[ellarien]

I'm more of a shoulder-bag person, all the way back to secondary school and leather satchels, but I got a Jansport backpack for the China trip and am quite happy with it so far. It would be even better if I had a laptop sleeve that opened at the short end.

[ckd]

hr_macgirl and I have both been pretty happy with our Jansport backpacks, which (since we both commute on foot) get lots of use. The main problem with them is that their line turns over every so often, so by the time we're looking for a new one they have long since stopped making whatever design we are already using. (Right now, for example, I'm using an Air Orb, which is no longer available.)

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I am currently in the tug-of-war which is old canvas WFC bag as carryon versus pretty green embroidered silk thing I got at the Indian stuff store this summer as carryon. I actually realized this morning I have no backpacks in functional shape anymore, which is sort of sad.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I keep thinking maybe an embroidered satchel from one of the Hmong craftspeople's booths at a local art festival might be just the thing, but I never seem to think that when there is such a festival available.

[pameladean]

Midwest Mountaineering and REI have both had backpacks that I yearned for. I don't know if you would love them, but there was a lot of variety, and they were serious backpacks that you could put heavy stuff into, and they had a huge variety of pocket arrangements. I didn't get one because I couldn't afford one at the time, but when the free one from Target wears out, I am going to have a grand time.

P.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I had already pegged REI as "hither." Also I will probably get more socks while I'm there. Some of my SmartWool is getting loved to death.

[miz-hatbox.livejournal.com]

Smartwool! Yay Smartwool!

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

I've been picking at the perfect shoulder bag for some time. I don't like to buy runners-up, so it's been a while. I have a Wiscon bag that's close-- right size for a notebook, not terribly huge, feels sturdy enough-- but I'm not sure if I want to add a pen-and-keys pocket or not at this point. It's backpack material rather than cloth, and in my head, I need a welding torch or something.
My mother thought I should get a new backpack because mine was hair-oily grey at the top. It never occured to her that I could wash it.

[reveritas.livejournal.com]

i had much love for my Land's End backpack, which was purple, and was the Lighthouse version, i think. it had my initials monogrammed on it as a gift from my mother. i just checked the site and the backpack is much different than it was in '95 when i got it. alas, it was stolen out of a laundromat in lincoln, ne. i too have never found the PERFECT backpack since then.

[scottjames.livejournal.com]

I know the backpack of which you speak. I had an identical one (except for color), which disintegrated after approximately ten good minutes. So, so much for backpacks for Scotts.

I'm still using an Eddie Bauer messenger-type-bag from... junior or senior year of college. It's still in good shape, but I'm trying to not use it too often, in order to make it last longer.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Did we buy those together or separately? I forget.

[scottjames.livejournal.com]

Separately, I'm pretty sure.