I had a Jansport bag that I used for almost my whole stay in UP (7 years!!!). It was a blue one with a lot of pockets inside and outside. I got this bag as a gift from my mother during my first year in UP. The only times I didn’t use it was when it’s being washed or if I need to bring a LOT more stuff to school or somewhere else.
It was first, my bag. I put random things, not just school stuff. I was the local girl scout who would have scissors, pliers, cutter, adhesive tape or the usual things other people don’t bring. Because of its many pockets, I was able to stuff it here and there.
But aside from that…
It was my wallet. Because it had a lot of pockets, I would stuff money in various pockets, wherever I felt like it. And when I’m broke, I just go through all the pockets. At one time, I found P500 stuck in one of the pen pockets.
It was my pillow. Classes can be boring and you just have to lay your head on something. Or when relaxing on the Sunken Garden, it becomes handy.
It was my “sapin.” Sometimes I don’t want to sit on the ground because it’s too dusty or I don’t want to get my pants durty, I sit on my bag instead. A little bulky with all the stuff inside, but it does the job.
It was my “pahid” cloth. Gross as it sounds, sometimes I wipe my hands on it whenever I touch something dirty or wet, or eat something messy. Because it looked generally dirty all the time except when it’s newly washed (don’t ask how often that happened), it didn’t make a lot of difference.
It was my trash can. Being the former girl scout that I was (I was only a girl scout for 3 years in grade school), I didn’t like throwing candy wrappers or the little trash that I could put in my pocket until I could get to a trash can. But instead of keeping them in my pocket, I just stuff it in my bag.
It was my fashion. Its ruggedness went well with how I dressed which was usually composed of just shirt and jeans. Heck, even when I was doing my teaching practicum, and wearing semi-formal clothes, I was still using it.
It was my keychain collection holder. I collect keychains, and whenever I get a new one, I’d hook it on my bag for a time until it gets inconvenient anymore.
It was a deadly weapon at times. Because it was heavy most of the time, with sharp, pointed things inside, anyone getting hit by it accidentally (or on purpose) could get hurt. Sometimes when I go home late, I keep it clutched so that in case someone jumps on me while walking along Ylanan Road, which was famous for having a lot of victims late at night. My victims on the other hand won’t even need anything like a South Carolina injury lawyer to prove that it was my fault. It would be too obvious already.
It was my partner. It has a name–”Yung Jansport Bag Ko.” I usually put it on another chair, or hang it on the backrest of another chair. Sometimes, I just keep it on my lap. I seldom lay it on the ground–only when absolutely necessary or when I use it as a “sapin.”
It had already started peeling inside from the years of use, but I still continued to use it until I needed it. It wasn’t that I was too attached to it or too poor to get a new one (well… maybe a little of that), but it was the functionality and the sturdiness of the bag. I have to admit that the straps were already hardening or the foam was turning into stone-like material, but I still continued to use it. These kinds of bags are really made to last a long time.
This bag has climbed two mountains (one of which was where I almost fell off a cliff and could have died), been to Baguio (I’ve only been to Baguio twice) and a couple of other provinces (I just actually went to 1 field trip). It was my bag when I was in my first course, and when I shifted, it was still with me. The bag has has shared a lot of memories, stood through time until I had to grow out of it.
After I graduated, I put it to rest because it’s so beat up already, although it’s still usable, it doesn’t fit my yuppy style anymore.
Now, I use my Nodame bag almost all the time x_x. Since it’s just a (not so) cheap Chinese bag that I bought from ebay imported from Hong Kong, it has gone through 3 repairs already by me. O well.
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Nodame Cantabile anime, manga, drama, and soundtracks
*Update: I actually sent my entry to the wrong email so this effort was useless. I won’t be able to watch it (for free) and I just feel so bad about it now. Lesson learned is do not join contests while half-awake; and after reading instructions ten times can still let you miss some important details. This is probably the reason why 
Mi is a 20-something-year-old tech support agent, wanna-be singer, wanna-be musician, frustrated photographer without a camera, blogger, observer, weirdo, and 
