When you get up in the morning and get ready to go out for a day of work, what do you carry with you in your pockets? For me :

• LED keychain (with keys, of course) – provides light when I need to search corners / computers / anything else. Goes in my right trouser pocket.
• A second LED keychain, just in case the first one dies. Goes in my left trouser pocket.
• USB SD Card reader, along with a 1GB card inside. Right trouser pocket.
• Casio fx-570W scientific calculator. Right trouser pocket.
• Pocket PC – well, replaces a lot of things which I would otherwise need, such as a third calculator / Science Data Book / Tuner / Metronome / clock+alarm, etc. Includes 1GB SD Card. Also acts as my 2nd graphing calculator and as a bible. Left trouser pocket.
• Notebook – Yes, paper. Just in case the Pocket PC dies – I have the most essential information in there. As term goes on – a second notebook will normally appear as well. Filled 90% with maths and science workings, 5% music notes, and 5% goodness knows what. Goes in shirt pocket.
• Diary – Timetable, school events, etc. Scotch tape round the edges so it does not dog-ear or rip apart. Shirt pocket.
• Black pen, blue pen, two pencils – For obvious use, and also to lend to people who forgot to bring one. Shirt pocket.
• A bundle of tissue – mainly for trombone cleaning, next to give to people who need it, and finally for my own personal use. Right jacket pocket.
• USB Y-cable – to power my external hard disk – Inner right jacket pocket.
• Pen+laser pointer – for emergency use and laser for purposes I have yet to discover – Inner left hand pocket.
• My ‘box’ which includes : cloth – for cleaning things, Panadol – for (yet to come) headaches, LR44 battery – in case my calculator dies! 3 paper clip – for clipping paper? And also can be used to force broken CD-rom trays open, poke reset buttons; 2 safety pins – never know when they come in useful, they have! Plaster – in case of scratch? Nailclipper – sit down at the piano and discover your nails are making too much noise when playing. String – to tie things when needed – currently missing from the box, I used the last bit of string already! The box goes in my inner left hand jacket pocket.
• Small philips screwdriver – Sometimes comes in useful – inner right hand jacket pocket.
• 2.5″ 60GB external hard disk – with some of my data on it. Outer left hand jacket pocket.
• Earplugs – for sleeping early when people are banging round the corridors, also for loud situations, such as percussion group practice, or, errr, shouting teachers? Front jacket pocket.

Things I occasionally also take up in my pockets :

• Mobile phone – reason why I don’t carry it around often – too expensive to use in reality.
• Extra pocket PC battery – on long outings when I may need more power.
• Wallet (which I should carry around) – when I go out of school, also contains identification.
• 256MB SD Card – don’t normally need it with my external harddisk & other cards.
• Extra SD card reader – in case the 1st one doesn’t work.
• Lypsyl lip protector – works against dry British weather!
• Texas Instruments TI-83 graphing calculator. Would carry this more but it makes my jacket too heavy. And I only carry it if I’m not having my bag.
• Comb. Well, only sometimes. Most of the time when my hair gets out of place, no comb will bring it to order.

Things I would like to carry in my pockets :

• Penknife -  useful for LOADS of things – won’t even list them. I WISH I could carry this around – would make my life a lot easier. Unfortunately they’re classified as weapons – so I can’t carry it around school.
• Compass – because it’s fun to carry about?
• Magnet – when those tiny screws fall to the floor, unfortunately I don’t have a magnet with me. May also be dangerous for my harddisk!
• Protractor with ruler – sometimes I randomly have to measure angles. Could be useful, but this is not on the top of the list.
• In-ear monitors such as etymotic ER4s, but they’re too expensive.
• A small 3rd (or is it 4th?) scientific calculator.
• Point-n-shoot digicam – obviously a DigiSLR would be too huge for pockets. And this could also go into my bag. But I don’t have one at the moment.
• Extra trombone mouthpiece – so I can practice at any time, even away from the trombone. Well, I can’t carry a piano with me.

Things I should carry with me :

• Money. When people ask for some, or when I need (rarely) to buy something I’m always lacking this. I should carry some emergency cash around.
• Identification – just some form of identification, just in case my Pocket PC is unable to turn on in any event. Well, my notebook DOES identify me.

Essential things I carry in my bag :

• Pocket lock – never know when you need to lock something! I use it to lock my locker sometimes (and sometimes to lock other people’s lockers!)
• Umbrella – ready for those rainy days.
• Raincoat – in case the wind is too strong for the umbrella.
• Protractor and 30cm ruler – to set up crossedpair & ORTF stereo microphone setups easily.
• Pencil case – of course.
• Manuscript book – to jot down music ideas which suddenly come. Wish I could carry this in my pocket.
• Knoppix Linux – when those computers crash or harddisks grind to a halt, I’m all ready!
• At least one music score.

So, what do YOU carry in your pockets?

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 27th, 2006 at 2:49 am and is filed under Random. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.