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.