After having made this task, I found it difficult to complete, as my purse is an ever evolving beast. But when I got home today, I gave my purse a look and decided it must be documented. You see, I have a habit of picking up things that I think will be useful in mischief later.

I rescued this fellow from the Lake (Street), strapped him to my purse with my extra green bungee cable (these are inferior bungee cables, and hence I carry spares) and we biked our way home. I believe he will make a good first mate on the jolly ship Inky.




The back of the purse is filled with temporary items. A nametag from my college reunion last night, which has been altered to claim that I graduated with the class of 2101, a gallery postcard from the Red Hot Art Festival this afternoon, a package of eggplant seeds, a receipt for a smoothie and a salad from Seward Coop this afternoon, and my copy of Gravity's Rainbow, which usually lives in my pannier bags (which I decided to forego today).



The book itself is a little dog-eared and stained, and is bookmarked with a light rail transfer. If I were the person looking at these items I'd note the color of the stain, how many pages were read at a time during the place where the pages are a bit wilted from moisture. I don't think that's really what most people would notice or take note of.




The front pocket contains a skull and crossbones wallet, peppermints (which are superior to wintergreen), thirty eight cents, a receipt from the Wedge Coop for eggplant seeds and a small bottle of water (paid for in cash- the change? 38 cents), and a phone. Upon further inspection, the phone says "Don't Die".




The wallet itself contains a lot of junk. A wad of ATM receipts, two receipts to NOW Fitness, one receipt to Whole Foods Coop in St. Paul, tickets (V is for Vendetta, Why We Fight, Minnesota Rollergirls, and another light rail transfer), a mysterious blue ticket that says "Keep This Ticket", a bandaid emblazoned "You Are Beautiful" in rolling script, a scrap of paper with the notes "Rice Flour, Pistachios, Mint, Rosewater" scribbled on it, a fortune reading "Every Artist Was First An Amateur", a Fast and Furless business card, a Minnesota driver's license, credit cards (The Limited, Barnes and Noble, Victoria's Secret), an ATM card, a five cent ecostamp, a nearly full card to J & S Bean Factory, a nearly empty card to Punch, a red piece of paper with phone numbers printed on it, a card entitled "Agent X" with the picture of a woman holding up a masquerade mask, and three dollars in cash.




The small mesh enclosure contains two rechargable AA batteries and $1.17 in change.




And finally, the main enclosure contains a mostly blank book, a black pen, and a simple deck of cards.




The person who owns this is obviously in denial of her own consumer ethics. A receipt to a local used bookstore as well as a card to Barnes and Noble, receipts to three different coops but also cards to major chain stores, a wannabe intellectual with some markedly childish impulses. The book and the blank book both indicate somewhat asocial or introverted tendencies, but the cards suggest perhaps she can associate with others as long as she knows the rules of the game. Not someone who plans ahead, but someone who reacts impulsively.

If I were to add something to this jittery conflicted mess of items, it would be a photograph of something quiet and still- something well thought out, open, intentional, and slow.