Let’s see how much we have in common with our backpack inventories.
- ANC headphones, ANC earbuds, wax earplugs, foam earplugs, silicone earplugs, Loop earplugs <-- yeah this autism thing really should’ve been clear a lot earlier in life
- Laptop, 2x 20Ah 100W power bank, 10Ah power bank, GoPro
- Travel adapter, spare watch charger, 2x 3m USB-C cable
- Half a pharmacy “just in case”
- Two N95 face mask
- An USB charger
- Two USB cords a type C and a mini-B
- A pen a pencil a very small notepad
- A rigid sleeve for importants documents (actually the menu from a restaurant near my workplace )
- A scarf, two gloves, a wollen cap
- sunglasses
- no-sun-glasses
- cloth for cleaning glasses
- plastic bags
- flashlight
I hate having to put the labtop from work in here that bastard is heavy
Haha, aaaabsolutely. I have:
- My portable game console (Retroid Pocket 3+).
- My cable pouch (need a charger for a 20 year old iPod? I got you fam. HDMI? No worries. USB micro B? All good. For some reason I hate being caught out without the right cable).
- My 60w UGREEN Gan USB A/USB C charger.
- At the moment, the book I’m reading (Relativity Visualized).
- My journal. I don’t write in it every day but sporadically.
- My medication.
- Battery bank.
- Laptop (ThinkPad T480).
- Deodorant.
- Hair wax.
- Toothbrush.
- A pen.
- My home and work keys with tag trackers on each and a multi tool on my home keys.
- External SSD.
- Umbrella.
- Ear plugs.
- Contigo go cup.
- A lighter.
Headphones, phone and wallet stay in my pocket.
- Cough drops
- Ear plugs (a few here and there)
- Microfibre cloth
- a lucky charm
- pocket-size tissue pack
- an emergency $50 bill
- an emergency snack
- an emergency Linux install USB drive
These are stuff then generally stay in the bag between trips. Stuff like a water bottle I add before almost any long trip out.
An emergency Linux install USB drive?? In what scenario would you imagine you would need that?
Probably one that can live boot and run right off of USB. There’s a computer, you might be able to use it without knowing how to log on by booting from that stick. Now you might send/receive messages in a dire circumstance.
Genius. I’m going to make one tomorrow.
Also, having a live USB is really handy for doing PC maintenance when the installed OS gets borked somehow.
Check out Ventoy, it’s a utility that lets you boot up any disk image from usb storage. For me, it condensed a keyring full of single-purpose flash drives down to just one.
- Work laptop (although I use it as my personal laptop too)
- Kindle
- Bluetooth speaker (JBL clip 4)
- Surface Pro 3
- Folding mouse
- Folding keyboard
- prepaid envelope in case I forget to check my knife while flying
- notepad and pen
- Umbrella
- Flashlight (Nitecore T4K)
- craft hammer w/ flatheads in shaft
- mini ratcheting screwdriver w/ bits
- mini tape measure
- 130w usb-c charging block
- 10ft USB-C cable
- short USB-C cable
- adapters for everything
- folding lockpicks
- collapsible chopsticks
- Folding Allen wrench set
- sunglasses
- passport
- compressible shopping bag
- 20 Ah power bank w/ 65w output
- Small folding drone and controller
- Probably other things I’m not thinking of right now
Edit:
- Koss Porta Pro headphones
- 500gb Samsung T7 touch external SSD
- Surface Pen
I, too, am a real-life D&D character.
Walking around with your passport is a dangerous game.
If I managed to lose my backpack, my passport is one of the things I’d be least upset about losing
Tell us about your mini drone!
It’s an old DJI Mavic Mini! Great little drone, folds up small enough to fit in a coat pocket, but it’s got about half an hour of battery life. It’s one of those things I don’t use very often, but when I do there’s no substitute
you are ready for whatever comes your way!
That’s my goal! I like to be the guy that when someone needs something, they go “Oh, SaintWacko probably has it.” And they’re usually right!
What bag you got?
The main bag is older gen SwissGear USB ScanSmart backpack, and then in one of the pockets I have an Everki Venue bag that has the surface and its peripherals, the tools, the flashlight, bag, chopsticks, SSD, and charging stuff. It’s nice because if I want something more compact I can pull out the Venue and still have almost all my stuff. What I’d really like to find is some sort of modular system, so instead of having bags inside bags I have multiple bags that hook together and I can combine them in different ways depending on what I need
- prepaid envelope in case I forget to check my knife while flying
Doesn’t list knife. 🤔
Edit: it’s in one of your pant pockets isn’t it?
It is indeed. Along with my Pixel Buds Pro and chapstick
- Spare phone charger (USB battery pack before it turned into a pillow)
- Micro-USB and USB-C data cables
- Ethernet cable
- 32G USB drive:
- 8G partition with bootable Linux Mint (can you guess what I do for a living?)
- The rest is FAT32 storage
- A cheap wireless mouse
- Bluetooth earphones (currently Skullcandy Jib True)
- Flashlight
- Sunglasses
- 300ml bottle, even if empty
- Several plastic bags
- Bunch of rubber bands
- Fork
- Teaspoon
- Toothpicks
- A tacky collapsible cup
- Tweezers (one with a sharp tip, one flat)
- Ibuprofen
- Photocopy of my medical insurance card
- Sometimes an iFixit Essentials kit (not sponsored)
This excludes the content of my wallet.
Why is your piss bottle so small?
I drink most of it immediately, no need for storage
32G USB drive: 8G partition with bootable Linux Mint (can you guess what I do for a living?) The rest is FAT32 storage
That you specified the partitioning is my favorite part 😆
I could write a similar list about the flash drives I use at work or at home.
32G stick mentioned above
32G “Imaging” USB stick
- 400M partition with a customized bootable Clonezilla:
- One boot entry that loads the OS to RAM, brings up an ethernet interface with DHCP, and mounts a Samba share to /home/partimag
- One that loads the OS and brings up a bash CLI (Clonezilla is basically Debian with extras)
- One that loads the OS and mounts:
- A second FAT32 partition that contains:
- A Debian 11 image
- A Linux Mint image
- A customized Ubuntu 22.04 VirtualBox OVA image
2G “iHaxit” USB stick with a read-only switch
128G “Rescue”
- Bootable Windows recovery disk
- Plenty of space to save important documents before the subject computer is nuked
32G “DO NOT USE” stick that I nuke and reformat for whatever purpose I need (not to be used for storage)
…plus a lot of optical disks with various Windows installers.
Check out Ventoy, it’s a utility for booting any disk image fron USB storage and might help reduce the number of drives you need to carry. Also, it supports data persistence if you want a portable live OS. =D
- 400M partition with a customized bootable Clonezilla:
Lol. Read the title and started giggling. Family asks why I giggle, I tell them and they start laughing.
So yes. After losing everything, including the backpack I always have it with me. It’s a hard rule - the moment I’m far from it, I need something from it.
The contents are pretty much everything I might need during an average day. Keys, vallet, medicines, a notebook and a pen, bandages, headphones, deodorant.
oh no!! losing that backpack must’ve been devastating 😩
i’ve been using the same backpack since 2001. i can’t imagine losing it. it’s part of my identity. if i don’t have it with me, people ask about it.
The worst was when it was stolen, while I was travelling, 3 hours before it was time to leave for the airport. Obviously my IDs, tickets, money, were all there.
Omg you guys are my people! I had no idea this was an autism thing.
I go everywhere with a backpack containing:
- Laptop
- Charger
- Phone charger
- 2 TB hard drive
- Cord adapter
- Earplugs
- First aid kit
- Moleskin patches
- Hi-vis vest
- Wet wipes
- old iPod
- Pencil sharpener
- Daily planner
- Diary
- Pencil case containing colored pens for my color-coded planner, ink fineliners in various thickness, pencils and brush pen
- Water bottle
- Emergency meds
- Current book
- Sewing kit
- Umbrella
- Extra pads
- Shopping bag
I also wear a fanny pack containing:
- Smaller wet wipe packs
- Narcan
- Multitool
- Pens
- Dried tinder conk fungus and a pack of matches in case I need emergency tinder
- Fentanyl test strips
- Earbuds
- Portable battery to charge my phone with
- Carabiner
- Bus passes for two different states
- Hair ties
- Pen flashlight
Given that I have scoliosis, I do occasionally leave the house without the backpack because I guess not being in pain matters a little…
Wait, is this something characteristic of the spectrum?
I love to take a backpack nearly everywhere with 1st basis supplies
I think it’s more common among us than NTs. Military veterans would probably be another group that has a high prevalence of backpack use.
I had no idea that was a thing. I used to take my backback everywhere to the point people asked me if I sold drugs. Apparently dealers often taken their backpacks everywhere cause of that. Eventually I forced myself to stop doing that, guess I was masking that too without knowing
It’s a stability thing. The autistic brain tends to want a lot more structure around it. Unfortunately, life can often get in the way of this. A backpack can act as a “safety kit”. You know you will always have critical resources to hand, and so are less stressed with unexpected changes.
Never leave home without one. I’m always amazed others don’t do it as well.
I carry a 5.11 Rush 72. Uually there’s:
- a camera; Fuji X-S20
- contact lens cleaner and storage
- small bicycle pump
- 2 sunglasses (Oakley M2 & Ray-Ban Wayfarer)
- sunscreen during summer
- floppy boonie hat during summer
- one/two pocket knives
- a single watch storage case, usually with a watch in it
- a strip of blood pressure medication
- two powdered ibuprofen painkillers
- a bandaid or two
- a pen
And there’s bound to be something like a roll of candy, a snack, a water bottle, etc in it at any given time.
Lets see…
My work bag has:
- Laptop/charger
- Faraday pouch w/ work phone and badge
- Water bottle (covered in stickers)
- Toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, moustache wax, deoderant, and ADHD meds in case I forget them before leaving for work
- Chapstick
- Handwarmers
- Charging cables
- Pen and notepad
- Backup protein bar
- Mini first aid kit
- Fidget toy (begleri)
My personal bag gets repacked regularly depending on the outing, but typically has items from the above list plus:
- Multitool/iFixit toolkit
- Meshtastic radio node
- BTECH radio handset
- Solar battery bank
- Steam Deck, type-C hub, HDMI and Ethernet cables
- Flash drive w/ Ventoy, Linux disk images, and PC repair utilities.
- Portable hard drive w/ media
- Bluetooth keyboard
Are the meds in rx bottles? Don’t want the police to think you just have speed on you.
Sunglasses
Phone charger
Chapstick
Deodorant
Perfume
Glasses wipes
Lighter
Kleenexes
Hand sanitizer
Passport
Pens
Scarf
Sweater
Socks
Notebook
Binder
Work apron
Extra water bottle
Sunscreen
A metric fuck ton of receipts
Gum
A metric fuck ton of receipts
I feel this in my soul
