Bags: a fetish
/We all have our little fetishes, items that in most realities we need only one of but in this reality we find ourselves — for lack of a better term — collecting.
In no particular order, mine include:
wooden boxes
leather bags
cocktail glassware
hats
gin
This is by no means an exhaustive list.
The topic arose when my Lovely First Wife gave me last week the most amazing leather bag I have ever seen. I realized that I might have, well, we won’t call it a “problem,” but a decided lack of self-control. Let’s examine the evidence, shall we?
My oldest bag:
This is actually a Soviet-era military map case. I bought it when I was the choir director at the Newnan Presbyterian Church to carry music back and forth to the church.
It opens up to reveal a clear plastic cover, plus straps for pens and compasses and stuff. Elastic bands (movable) held one’s maps in place.
The straps for pencils were too thin for modern American pencils—damn Commies! However, I have to admire the thought given to the design: that little rectangle of leather under the pencil straps is there for the points to slide under, thus protecting maps, etc., from smudges. No idea what the snaps and straps at the bottom were for.
My next bag: I always used my own computer at school for work, because I started when no teacher, much less a media specialist, had a computer on their desk. When I graduated from my Mac SE/30 (yes, I lugged that thing to and from school every day, and I still have the computer and the case) to an actual MacBook Pro laptop, I needed something more suitable. My first Targus:
It’s still in good shape, although the zipper is coming unstitched in one place. It was padded, had interior pouches, etc., and when you open up the face…
…oooh, all kinds of storage. This went with me to school, to GHP, to the theatre, everywhere. I still use it. If you were to hire me to speak to your group, to give one example, I would show up with this.
When we started acquiring iPads, I needed something more “lightweight” just to go out to the back yard or to travel with, so a fabric Targus was next:
Again, lots of pockets and storage. Because it’s never just the iPad or the laptop: it’s pencils and pens and WASTE BOOKS and folders. Until this week, I used this for my work at Backstreet Arts.
When I moved to the State Dept. of Education in 2011, I no longer needed to carry my laptop to work. (The only reason I was still carrying it to school was that by then I had developed all kinds of materials for my work in the media center that involved programs/applications that the school system wasn’t providing: InDesign, Pixelmator, FileMaker Pro, etc.)
However, I still needed to carry papers back and forth to Atlanta and the iPad traveled with me on MARTA so I could read or do the crossword puzzle on my commute, so I found another leather bag:
Again, many many pockets and storage areas.
Then I retired for good, and you would think that I no longer needed bags. You are not thinking clearly.
I don’t remember where I got this one; I think I got it to take to the burns, but the long strap is actually a waist cinch and the lower straps are to go around your thigh — a configuration that doesn’t work so well when you’re wearing a kilt. It has been dead useful for traveling, though.
Small and handy, water-resistant, it’s perfect for storing all kinds of stuff in order to make losing your passport and itinerary and cash all at once that much easier. It will be heading to the Rhine River with me the day after As You Like It closes.
And now the grand finale! Behold!
It’s huge, and well-constructed.
It holds my AYLI script, notebook, and files, plus my Backstreet stuff, plus room for a water bottle, plus my laptop. The front pockets contain the laptop charger/cord and cables for sound at rehearsal. Then…
…another file pocket on the back, and a phone pocket on both sides. I used one for pencils until three days in I finally saw that one of the dividers inside had straps for pencils. It’s the little things that give me a frisson, you know? Of course, it’s heavier than anything I’ve ever tried to tote around, but THAT’S NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW PEOPLE.
Why my Lovely First Wife decided to give this to me, I have no idea. It’s not Christmas, my birthday, or our anniversary. Seems a bit much for Valentine’s Day. Whatever the reason, I am not complaining. A spouse who understands your fetish — and indulges it — is beyond rubies. (Wait… what’s this year’s anniversary gift…?)
So how are your fetishes doing?
