My Stuff

Back when I was in college in Austin, Stevie Ray Vaughn would play four or five times in town. Austin was sort of his adopted hometown. He’d come in town and jam with local musicians and his brother at Antoine’s or some other great, small venue to see him. My roommate, Doug, and I would constantly say to each other when we heard he was going to be in town– “Damn. We’ve got stuff already going on that night. We’ll have to catch him next time he’s in town.” Then the guy goes off and dies in a plane crash before we ever got to see him live.

A few years back, I decided to start going to see musicians or comics I wanted to see, before the next plane crash, even if it entailed me paying a bit through the nose. One of my favorite comics is George Carlin. I got a chance I see him a couple of summers ago in Cape Cod before he died. It was a good, but not great, show. He came out on stage and began by arranging a bunch of papers on tables. He told the audience he was working on some new material and he liked to write out his new jokes in full when he tried them out, so he knew the ones that worked or not were because of the precise wording.

Some of the best stuff he did was reactions to the jokes that bombed. Although the show wasn’t the best I’d ever seen, he’s still a comic genius and I was glad I had the chance to experience him in person.

One of his best, time-tested bits is called simply “Stuff.”

“That’s the whole meaning of life, isn’t it? Trying to find a place for your stuff. That’s all your house is. A place for your stuff. If you didn’t have so much God-damned stuff, you wouldn’t even need a house. You could just walk around all the time.”

Here’s all the stuff I’m taking on my walk, from top left and on down in the picture:

EDIT: we weighed my backpack at Pete´s house. 35 lbs.

• Sandals
• Hiking-type shoes (un-pictured, wearing them)
• One pair shorts
• Five T-Shirts (two of the bundles and wearing one)
• Three pair boxers (wearing one)
• One fleece pullover (wearing it)
• One pair khakis
• One pair jeans (wearing)
• One belt (wearing)
• Mostly empty wallet (on me – for pickpocketers)
• One pair swimming trunks
• Two reasonably nice shirts
• Three pairs of socks (wearing one)
• Nine books – my addiction hits the road
• Neck Pouch, with passport, money, ATM card, credit cards
• SPOT GPS device
• Dirty stuff bag
• Pillowcase (to be stuff with clothes when needed)
• iPod
• Pouch with headphones
• One roll toilet paper – get ready for those squat toilets
• Sleep sheet thing in the green bag – for bad hostels/hotels
• Raincover for backpack
• Water purification tablets
• Dictaphone
• Flashlight
• Swiss Army knife
• Universal power adapter
• Cigars
• Sunglasses
• Alarm clock
• Travel battery for iPod
• Travel towel in case
• UV Water purifier
• Two bags of computer and photo stuff (chargers, cords, etc).

From Misc. Pictures

From Misc. Pictures