Wise-walker TP07

I met some friends for dinner last weekend and one of them, Jonathan, was carrying a really cool messenger bag.  I'm crazy about bags and when he showed me his black, waterproof Wise-walker and the insane amount of compartments in it, I knew I had to get one to carry my camera.  

I'm not very impulsive about bags - I usually think a lot and trawl many shops before making a big purchase - but this bag really stuck with me and first chance I had, I went down to Cumulus in Wheelock Place and honed straight in on it.

Wise-walker is a series of bags made by the Japanese company Nomadic Inc.  They're not very easy to find here, nor do a lot of people use them, but fans love them because they're durable, practically laid out and hold a lot of stuff.

My new Wise-walker cost $152 (with a ten per cent discount) and even though I was coveting the black version, I had to get it in white because that's all the shop had left.  It's made of waterproof tarpaulin (although the bag itself is probably more water resistant than waterproof) and I actually asked the lady in the shop if I could try wiping stains off the display piece with my wet tissues.  Not kidding.  I'm really clumsy and I really needed to know that most stains could be cleaned.  She was very patient with me, and I could not be more pleased with my choice.

I love my big tote bags but they usually come with only two or three pockets and everything keeps getting lost in the depths.  Small things slosh around and get lost and I ultimately end up frustrated.

The TP07 appeals to the organised person in me.  I'm very messy and destructive but there are small pockets of things that I like to keep organised.  Having a perfectly organised bag or diary, for example, keeps me really energised.

The bag even comes with a map of its pockets and suggestions on how to use them!  Perfect for the anal retentive.

I love that they've provided for your cellphone, magazine, books and even games.  

As you can see, the TP-07 has thirteen compartments, right down to a net pouch that holds your waterbottle so that it's not lolling around in the bottom.  Perfect.  

Here's how I first loaded mine:

Left to right, top to bottom:  Starbucks flask from David, Narcisco Rodriguez perfume, pouch with panadol and other bits and bobs, Aesop handcream, lip balm from Ann-Marie, Vera Bradley wallet.  You know, sanitary stuff for just in case, random stickers, my office pass, my keys with Totoro, the little soot guy Wai Kit got me from Japan and a Starbucks thumb drive.  My diary and wet tissues.  My pencil case and phone.  The only thing missing is my camera which, duh, we all know where that is.

The front flap of the bag folds up to reveal the bulk of the pockets in the front of the bag, complete with a little rubber outlet for your earphones.  You can zip the whole thing up, so it feels fairly safe and compact.  The cellphone pocket is located right in front for easy access and even though I didn't put my cellphone there to start with, I do now.

I have no idea why, but organising the items and labelling them made me ridiculously happy.  In front, I have:

1) Keys.
2) Pads (everyone seems puzzled by my just in case stance until they suddenly need one).
3) Office pass.  For this alone, the bag was absolutely necessary.  We all keep standing in front of the office door and fumbling about for at least ten minutes.
4) My diary, kindle or any other small books I may be toting along.
5) Handcream, lip balm and perfume.  I use these three things very often and now I can just reach down into the bag and grab them right away.
6)  Cellphone pocket.

There's still one empty pocket in the front that I have no use for, and at any rate, keeping it empty means the front of the bag is flatter.  The cellphone pocket is padded and most of the other pockets are made of plastic mesh, so if anything spills, clean up won't be too crazy.

The flap unzips to reveal the main compartment.  This is where any other heavy stuff goes like my wallet and my camera.  You can't see the netting but my flask is nestled very comfortably there.  I like that it zips up and then folds down - double security for travelling. 

The back of the bag has four padded pockets for electronics and the like.

I've got my:

7) Phone (now in the front)
8) Wet tissues
9) Pencil case

The brilliance of this massive compartmentalisation is that I've stopped carrying useless nonsense like ticket stubs or receipts in my bag.  If it's not meant to be in any of the pockets, it goes in the trash. 

Rebecca (thanks!) took this picture of how I wear it for work with my chinos, purple shirt and grey batwing cardigan.  I think it looks fairly rugged, in a good way.

When she saw my Wise-walker, she exclaimed because she has one too!  We spent a blissful half hour talking about how rare it is and how we organise our pockets.  The next day, she brought hers and we took nerdy pictures.  (Or at least Amanda did, chanting "And one, and two, and three" in a creepy voice like an aerobics instructor, while we winced and giggled).

I think it looks nice even with a slightly more formal top and purple pants  Hers is a three-way tote, messenger and backpack in a nylon-ish material.  It might even have more pockets than mine!

And finally, I love this bag so much that I proceeded to fully satisfy the tiny neat freak in me with an homage through drawings.

Um yeah.  I know.

Oh!  And as you can see, the gathering went great!

What's in my backpack

I love handbags.  Love them.  I went through a phase a couple of years ago where I could name every designer handbag I saw from Balenciaga to YSL.  For a long time, I would stand outside the Loewe boutique in Ngee Ann City, longing to touch the thin, dumpling-like skin one of their Nappa Aires.

I don't have the money to support my addiction, however, and sometimes, when you're straggling between buildings with heaps of worksheets, books and assorted knickknacks, you just want practicality.  In this department, my Dakine backpack works every time.

And for some reason, I love looking at what people have in their backpacks because it tends to be a lot less precious than what people carry in handbags or purses.  I've been toting mine for the last two weeks and here is what I carry in it.

My Dakine (gotta love that colour scheme) is quite a hefty one with many little pouches and hidey-holes for better organisation.  The front pouch on the bag is made of insulator material and you could pop a cold can of coke in there on hot days.  I, however, use it for tissues and unmentionables.  People don't like to talk about pads in such posts but I like to keep it real.

My favourite compartment is the one right in the middle for the sheer number of pockets that is has.  The phone-sized pockets are conveniently foam-lined so that your stuff won't get scratched up and when I travel, I put my passport and valuables in the hidden pouch so that they're protected by two zips.

I'm terribly disorganised so compartmentalising things really works for me, whether in my head or in reality. 

This is the rest of the junk that I keep in the main hold of the bag.  The number of notebooks fluctuates depending on whether I'm making story notes that day.  On weekdays, the padded laptop slip pocket holds stacks of worksheets for marking.  On weekends, it holds my folded exercise gear.

It doesn't look particularly glamorous but I kind of enjoy how tough my backpack makes me feel - like I'm still that teenager who was brought up as a boy, bullied and who felt like she could kick the shit out of anyone who came too close. 

Mostly, I just like having my hands free.

Good like that

Even though my parents were out of town during the festive season, I had an awesome break filled with friends, food, random dancing and just enough alone time to feel rested.  

My mother is adamant about new clothes during Chinese New Year even if I'm hanging out alone at home, so I started the season with a breezy owl tank I bought in Krabi.  It doesn't quite match up to the Wallace and Gromit crew neck of 2007, but then, nothing really beats Claymation.  Cheeeeese.

I packed my little neon crossbody from Victoria's Secret and took a walk in the rain to get coffee.  (Thank you MacDonaldisation.  Even as the streets are silent, we can count on the Western joints to be open.)  

I am digging travelling light - the less you carry, the less you realise you need.  This pouch comes with handy compartments and was just big enough to stuff a rolled up scarf in.  Also packed: Starbucks card (duh), cards, money, delicious Coconut Grove Bath and Body Works hand sanitiser, EOS lip balm in Summer Fruit, Pure Seduction Eau De Toilette, keys and my phone.

         

Some cool houses on my walk. The area is filled with old shophouses that have been turned into residences or shops and I love how the moulding often looks like icing on a garishly-coloured cake.

After a very cheerful walk in the rain (not being sarcastic), I went over to my friend, N's home for dinner.  We started the evening off with cheese, hummus and Serpico, Al Pacino's first huge film.  It was tense and funny in equal measure and slightly strange in the way that movies from the seventies tend to be.  I highly recommend it!

At some point, there was a debate about the merits of heading out for the rest of the evening, and I suddenly found myself in Clarke Quay, dancing like it was 1999.  (I can attest to the fact that nobody really danced that year.  We all sat round the TV watching the celebrations, waiting for Y2K to get us and for everything to shut down violently, leaving us shivering by candlelight.  Of course, that never happened apart from a few fireworks going off.  We said, "Is that it?" and were all in bed by 12:02.)

We had an awesome time fist-bumping and singing "We Are Young" to bad live bands before finishing off with an early morning McDonald's breakfast, as you do.  

On the second day, I met with E and S for a very pretty high tea and a walk in the Botanic Gardens.  Like a dolt, I forgot my camera so iPhone pictures and overwrought instagrams will have to suffice.

I've never had tiered high tea before and I was really excited to be served three layers of sweet and savoury doodads that looked worthy of Downton Abbey.   Some of the desserts were slightly strange and as S pointed out, fruitcake is nobody's friend, but overall, it was a very well-balanced and filling selection.

My favourite kind of dessert: a heart-shaped macaron with chilli-chocolate ganache.

We had a very intense conversation about raising children, smacking and psychopaths (there was a link, I promise you).  A couple had brought their toddler son for tea and he was running wildly around, dragging himself along the carpet as children are wont to do.  Things came to a head when he knocked over a lamp and dented the lampshade while his mother was busy on her phone. 

"You little monster," she sighed indulgently as he crawled behind the curtain.  "Come here.  I said, come here.  Do you hear me?"

Tongues were clicked and judgements were made.  (I'm not suggesting the boy was a psychopath, mind.  S just suddenly piped up, "What if you had a child and suddenly realised they were a psychopath?!" and we stared at each other in mute horror.)

To walk off our fullness, we headed to the Botanic Gardens and took a stroll in the drizzle, talking in English accents.

When I was a kid, the Botanic Gardens was one large, well-manicured path winding through swan lake and topiaries.  Over time, they've expanded and put in lots of sculptures and now it feels more like Central Park - quiet, slightly overgrown and full of mysterious crannies.  I loved the secret wooden walkways and plan to go back with a proper camera sometime soon.

It's back to work tomorrow, but I plan to fully enjoy the last cool hours of the evening - probably with some scented candles and writing.  I leave you with this picture of a bonzai, because nothing says Gong Xi Fa Cai like an elaborately stunted plant.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Slow and steady

I was woken far too early this morning by the guys who had come to replace the curtains.  My annoyance disappeared quickly the moment I saw the curtains I had picked hanging up - they're the perfect mix of provencal and crisp botanical drawings and match the rest of my room very nicely.

Sometimes I forget that we've been living in this house for over four years now; it still feels like such a new experience.  But things are falling apart.  My old earth toned, striped curtains were starting to rip to shreds.

This weekend was spent doing other lazy things amid frenzied bouts of work.  I was so exhausted yesterday that I crawled into bed without touching my Nanowrimo word count and had to make up for it by blowing through 3,000 words today.  Never again.  On the bright side, I found a little video on YouTube about how cockroaches groom themselves.  I'll spare you the visual, but when I saw it lifting its leg like a puppy to paw at its feelers, I actually went "Awww".  Yikes.

Hanwei snapped some photos of me taking a casual nap on the floor with Chip.  He's not the kind of dog who enjoys cuddling up in general but sometimes, when he's tired, he likes company.

I spent last night chilling with this little guy while his parents took a much needed break and caught themselves a movie.  My friends haven't been out together since their kid was born and I thought it would be nice babysitting practise for me since I have lots of other friends who are likely to procreate soon.

I've never looked after such a young baby before, but Little T was a breeze.  He stared at me in puzzlement for the first two hours but I eventually discovered that if I tickled him behind the knee and told him emphatically to "kick! kick! kick! kick!" he went crazy giggling.  We played in the baby gym, read two books on bath time and took several tours of the house as he sucked on my shirt on my shoulder.  I think I'm in love.

And finally, my first What's in My Purse on this blog.  I love looking at pictures of what people carry about on their daily business because they're both visually appealing and revealing.  I especially love all the cute stationery women carry in their bags and looking at what people read when they're out and about.  In my bag this weekend (From L to R):

1)  iPhone 4

2)  Coin purse with band aids and hairpins 

3)  A stack of flash cards that I've been using for work

4)  Rilakkuma stickers that we hand out for good assignments

5)  Red toiletries case

6)  Lavender wet wipes, because I spill like crazy

7)  Spotted Tesco mini umbrella

8)  iPod with fluorescent orange earphones that match my...

9)  Fluorescent orange rubber pouch that contains extra earphones and pens

10)  My wallet, a special gift from a friend a long time ago

11)  A packet of tissues

12)  A one-use poncho leftover from the National Day Parade.  Just in case

13)  Extra sugar free gum

14)  My very exciting Totoro keychain with a Starbucks thumbdrive I got for putting a top up on my card

The bright yellow bag is from Nine West, a present from my mom several months ago when she saw it and told me she thought she had to buy it because I love to wear yellow.  

So it's back to work now, Sunday blues and finishing up marking and reading about hydraulic fracturing.  It promises to be a long week ahead, but I just keep marking writing milestones and making gratitude lists in my head and one day, I'll be there.