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Show The Emery County Review, Tuesday, July 8, 2008 VOICES B1 Celebrating the People and Lifestyle of the San Rafael Swell Area Images of Heritage Days Photos by Josie Luke CASEY’S WORLD Perfectly Reasonable Things to Keep in Your Pockets Casey Wood As you may or may not have read in my father’s ‘Dazed’ column a while back, I keep unusual things in my pockets, things that most people don’t. In fact it is such a defining characteristic that when naming this column, the title ‘Casey’s Pockets’ was actually the first choice, and was supposed to be the name of it, but by some slight of hand the column was mistakenly named ‘Casey’s World.’ In any event I am here to tell you some of the ‘outrageous’ and not so outrageous contents of my pockets, past and present, and explain the reasoning behind carrying each of them. It is up to you to decide if the things I carry are really ‘outrageous’ or just common sense. So here it goes: I carry at least two pens, preferabley both clicky and ball-point, and two pencils, which must be mechanical. The reasoning behind carrying two of each is in case one runs out of either lead or ink, in which case, I have a back-up. The reasoning behind clicky ball-point pens is 1) the tip is most easily accessible that way, and 2) the ink is left cleanly on the page, without smudges. The reasoning behind mechanical pencils is essentially the fact that both the lead and erasers can be reloaded. I mean we are in the 21st century, using a pencil sharpener is prehistoric. I carry chap-stick. Generally Lizard Lips brand. I find that not only does this lip balm get the job done, it’s non-toxic and tastes like French Vanilla. I carry a knife. Basically because often times I need to cut things, or use it as a screw driver. Plus it’s nice to be able to brandish a sharp, two-bladed weapon at any given time. It has been recommended that I use a Leatherman, and I have one, but I find that it’s too bulky to carry. Besides, I’m lazy and don’t want to take it out of the case every time before I can use it. I carry a lighter. You never know when you may need to light a candle, or a fire, or a firework, or anything else. Also, a lighter can create hours of entertainment in a dull situation. I carry my cell phone, for obvious reasons. What can I say, having music, texting, video games, a calendar, a calculator and the ability to make phone calls at any given time is a pretty important part of who I am. I carry a camera. This is a big issue to my parents, but it makes perfect sense to me. It’s nice to be able to snap a picture of something amazing at any given time, not to mention the quality of a phone camera isn’t comparable. I carry my wallet, once again for obvi- ous reasons. Pictures, money, ID, cards, etc. I carry either gum or mints. Gives me something to put in my mouth and occupy the ‘ol ADHD, not to mention it’s nice to have something to make my breath smell better. I carry my key-chain, which has the key to both businesses I work for, my car’s keyless entry and my flash drive. Gotta get into my car, my work, and be able to save files at a moment’s notice. Finally I carry Post-It notes. Fairly often I need to write down a message so I don’t forget something. It’s the easiest way to do it, because I don’t write on my hands. My body is a temple after all. The above are things I carry with me pretty much daily. I rarely if ever leave home without them. Below are a few of the things I have carried in the past, many of which still make perfectly logical sense to me, but after either running out of the thing, or being hounded by my parents long enough about getting rid of it, I stopped carrying them. Once upon a time I carried my TI-86 calculator in my pocket. It was good basically because 1) it had games on it to provide me entertainment at school, and 2) you never know when you are going to need to calculate something. Unfortunately in 9th grade it was stolen out of my book-bag during P.E. and never recovered. In the past I also carried my PDA in my pocket. It was useful for having phone numbers (before I got my cell phone), music, video games, a calculator, basically everything my phone does minus texting and phone calls. At one point I carried both my TI-86 and my PDA. My phone replaced the PDA. White-out. OK white-out is extremely logical. I prefer to use pens, and pens can not erase, so I had white out, just in case. I ran out and my mom refused to buy me more, and of course I wasn’t going to use my own money to buy more. The craziest, but still in my opinion useful thing I carried was a stapler. Not a full size stapler, just a mini-stapler. I happened to be stapling things a lot at that time and it seemed the easiest route to travel, plus staplers can be used to shoot staples at unsuspecting people. I’ve had other odd things that I have carried but quickly decided they were not logical, mostly because they didn’t fit, and I had to find different places to carry them. The most recent, and the one that comes to mind first is my Rubik’s Cube. So there you have it, the things I carry, and the reasoning behind each of them. Now they don’t seem so illogical, do they? If you agree with me on this matter, feel free to agree with me to my parents, and then maybe they’ll get off my back. Also if you come up with any other logical things for me to carry, let me know and I’ll take them into consideration. In the meantime, you have just explored Casey’s Pockets. |
