hey, what's in the suitcase-purse?

i carry a suitcase instead of a purse. it's a label knockoff. i have no idea which one. i fast-talked some African in the street into selling it to me for $40 and then i saw it in a store for almost $200 and i thought, yipes! i'd have to be loaded and some new kind of stupid to buy retail! it looks really cool but it can get heavy sometimes, depending on what i have to do all day. but it's leather so the more i wring on it and wear it out, the better it looks.

okay -- so basically, i'm sick of people asking me what's in my suitcase purse. so here's a content listing for today -- and remember, i'm usually gone all day long (and no, i'm not making any of this up):

1. raw almonds (in a tightly sealed tupperware container)
   
2. a pint of blueberries (ditto)
   
3. a banana
   
4. one liter of water (i always refill it when i run in and out of offices)
   
5. Nextel cell phone (free incoming minutes!)
   
6. palm pilot (with Vindigo for nyc and brooklyn)
   
7. make up (very basic, very matte)
   
8. a flashlight (somehow this thing always comes in handy...)
   
9. a book idea that i'm fleshing out
   
10. a small Bible with a snap front closure
    
11. an excellent Swiss Army knife (this thing has everything i need...)
    
12. my tiny Casio digital camera (i am totally in love with this thing and no, i haven't named it yet)
    
13. my Wonder Woman journal (it's usually by my bed for my morning pages ritual but for some reason, it jumped in my bag on the way out the door. go figure.)
    
14. clear zipped packet containing: kleenex, shea butter, purell hand sanitizer, khiel's lip balm, Lubriderm hand lotion, altoids, alleve, a fingernail file, a small mirror and an embroidered handkerchief. all the stuff that i don't want to dig for (or get soiled at the bottom of the bag) when i really need it.
    
15. my passport (actually, i need a new one -- it's my only photo id)
    
16. MoMA July/August calendar
    
17. EBONY magazine/August issue (just for the record: it was the picture of Emmett Till in the back that grabbed me, not Toni Braxton on the cover)
    
18. a good pen and a blank book for stringing words together on the fly
    
19. lots and lots of reciepts
    
20. housekeys
    
21. nail polish
    
22. a light sweater (air conditioned buildings feel like they're trying to refrigerate me, and sometimes there's a chill in the air after dark, even during the summertime)
    
23. the book "101 Things To Do Before You Die" (i can't believe how much of this stuff i've actually done already! whenever i'm bored, i sit and scheme about how i'm going to do the rest of the things on the list.)
    
24. letters/packages to mail
    
25. letters that i've recieved
    
26. a compact subway map that folds down to the size of a Metrocard
    
27. a monthly Metrocard
    
    and last but not least...
    
    
28. my wallet -- and that's got museum memberships, a library card, my sag card, my equity card, dry cleaners stubs, postage stamps, a calling card for any pay phone in the netherlands, lots of loose change and of course no credit cards and no cash money. that's simply not where i keep it...