Living with my Laptop

Living with my Laptop

I am visiting my best friends.  Actually, it is more accurate to call them family by choice.  My least favorite part of traveling is packing.  So, I threw my laptop into it's bag without looking at what else I am toting about.  The following things are living in the same space as my laptop:

1. A red Avon lip balm that I don't like
2. A copy of Westword, a Denver publication
3. A catalog for Beyond the Blackboard because I may splurge on some teaching supplies
4. A notepad with a rough draft of a future blog post tucked inside (waiting for the frenetic environment of my favorite coffee house and a cup of their best)
5. Flash cards I made for a tutor client
6. A pad of sticky notes
7. A completed job application and list of references (before I started teaching at my current school, I carried these with me in case I found a job online)
8. Five pens (two with blue ink, one red Sharpie, and two that are deceptive, each writes black but has a pink or purple case, I think I thought these were different colors)
9. Mechanical pencil and Clic eraser (wonder does this mean I make more mistakes than I output?)
10. Pack of bubble gum eggs from last Easter with 7/12 remaining, guess I didn't like them
11. Pencil bag that holds an extension cord and a corded old school mouse
12. Charger for MacBook Pro
13. Phone number of my newest friend, Cheyanne (I gotta call her, does she know I am blogging?)
14. Packet of Kleenex
15. Business card for West Central Colorado UniServ (I don't know what this business is or how I got this card)
16. Sticker for www.boomwriter.com (looks cool)
17. Unused lanyard
18. Altoids tin full of thumb drives

I need to lighten my load.  When did I cross the line from "prepared" to "pack mule"?