the contents of a wallet

I stood in the rain for over four hours last night. It was an anticipated football game, and the fans (me included) willingly put on 5 layers of clothing and arrived 1.5 hours early to get the good seats. After awhile, my body began to feel the wetness seep through the layers.. chilling. Upon arrival, we willingly shed our wetsuits of drenched sweatshirts, jeans, etc. in exchange for warmer, more cozier options. I threw my soaked purse and wallet aside, too grossed out by the wetness to deal with anymore at the moment.

After a day of just letting a soaked wallet sit on my desk being disgusting, I couldn't take it anymore and opened up to dump the dampened contents out to dry. Out went the wet receipts that stuck together, the coupons and clip outs, the notes with quickly jotted down phone numbers, the eye prescriptions, the mess of ID/credit/debit/supermarket savers/business/other random cards...all tumbling out of my red wallet onto the table.

As I slowly began to peel through the receipts and lay things neatly spread out on the desk for it to properly dry, it dawned on me that i am not only sorting out the contents of an old wallet, but my life as well. A complete stranger, even with a tiny plum for a brain, could take a look at the contents sprawled out on the desk and have an idea of the kind of person i am. I wondered what kind of person they would guess. If I had to guess what kind of person i was from just looking at the contents of my wallet, here is what I would have came up with:

The eye presriptions for both eye glasses and contacts would mean that I probably won't be seen in glasses, and that my eyesight was actually pretty bad. The coupons, all for this local place called Papamingos, would show that I must be really into frozen yogurt, and the healthy kind for that matter. The phone numbers listed on the folded up notebook paper show that my immediate contacts are evenly spread between both guys and girls, and from their area codes, one can tell that I know people from all over California. The single dollar bills show that I don't carry much cash, and probably use card often. The walet pictures would show that most of my close friends are asian, but not all chinese. The sticky photos, since they are so poorly done, imply that it must have been only a one time thing. The receipts show that I am an apple ibook owner and therefore is probably 1. not up to date with the latest technology and 2. that i probably don't care about technology or know how to use it too much anyways, that I am preparing for work by buying work clothes but do not have the money to spend it at more lavish places, that I have recently worked on very arts and crafty projects that involved sewing, painting, and decorating, that I have recently made attempts to keep in touch long distance with people by buying a web cam, and that i must live in a cold area since i recently bought a coat. The dated information about studying abroad implies that i must have rcently been out of the country. The different kinds of coins that were in the change pile should confirm that I did indeed leave for a bit, and to asia. The cards among other things show I work for the university, that i am an organ donor, that i must like libraries a lot, that I'm probably a fan of saving money at supermarkets, and that i'm legal. Lastly, the 37cent stamps show that I am not much of a by hand letter writer, as those stamps are outdated. Pretty damn accurate.

So there everything was, my life, on the desk. It was a lot of things, not everything, of what I have been "caught up with" recently. It was an interesting feeling slowly organizing it, picking out what would be thrown away (maybe the coupons that were too soaked to be any good), and what should stay (like the silly sticky photos, reminders of the culture gap only a few miles can make in an asian american experience). It's been awhile since I've sat back and really thought about what I'm caught up with, but it's all dumped out there and staring back at me, it was hard to avoid it. So in a way, despite the drenchfest that was dealt with the entire bunch of Cal football season ticket holders, getting soaked to the bone was good. Peeling away the layers afterwards and revealing what is there feels good. A clarity kind of goodness.

halloween

Yesterday was Halloween, quite possibly my favorite holiday in my favorite season of the year. I find it fascinating how the meaning of Halloween changes for people with age. When parents still had to hold our hands to each doorway down suburbia lane, it was a time when we could be something adorable and fuzzy like a rabbit. Not playboy bunny, but full on fuzzy suit rabbit. Or maybe a ghost or a witch, both legit and popular costumes of choice. And also just the concept of trick or treating, knocking on stranger's doors, people you wouldn't normally see or talk to, and demanding (sometimes even yelling in their face "trick or treat!" ...give me candy, bitch. or else I'm going to trash your home. What other day can a person say something with those implied meanings and not get slapped in the face, but be warmly greeted by the homeowners who are happy that little children are stopping by.

I always thought of Halloween as the one night of the year where a person can be someone/something/hybrid of both else. It's so interesting then, to see people, especially women, increasingly choose costumes where they can yes, be someone else and also showcase their sexuality/skanky or more wilder side. What age did Halloween change from being nights of witches and bunnies and fairies to playboy bunnies, French maids, and policewomen? Not going to deny that if done right it's pretty hot, but it's interesting to see Halloween turn into the night where a person can slut down.