The Very Long List

Portugal was good, by the way...

I tend to panic a little when I know I have something complex that has to be done before a certain deadline- like packing everything up to move house, completing my Japanese project at university (it had to be handwritten on special paper, with a bibliography, so there were the competing tasks of finishing writing the draft version, copying the already-written parts up neatly with no mistakes, and putting down all the website addresses that I'd got information from- while juggling a large stack of printouts from said websites, about three dictionaries, and the draft and proper copies), or just getting everything together to go on holiday. Funnily, this sense of anxiety as to whether I'm going to have everything ready in time doesn't lead to my making an immediate start on tackling as much of it as possible, so that there will only be a tiny, non-panic-attack-causing quantity to do at the last minute. But it does lead to my making mental, and in extreme cases actual physical written-down-on-a-piece-of-paper, lists of exactly what needs to be done and in what order it should be carried out in order to achieve maximum efficiency and minimum 3 am racking of brains in an attempt to remember what else it was that was supposed to happen before I can go to bed. Of course, I'm always determined that this time I'll start early, days early, but somehow whenever there's a question of getting going on it all I point out to myself that there's no need to be doing it yet, and in fact it would be better to wait a little longer as I might want to use the things I'm going to be packing again before I leave. But this time, I really am going to start early...

In the meantime, before I went to Portugal, the mountain of packing for university and the foothills of packing for Portugal itself were looming over me so largely that I made a couple of lists. Here is the one for university- it was intended to be a comprehensive list whose main purpose was to ensure I didn't forget anything vital, like a duvet or my pyjamas*, due to trying to remember what it is I need but haven't packed, if indeed there is anything, in the early hours of the morning. Where this list departs from previous, unrecorded, itemizations of things packed for university is that I've finally accepted that I don't need to take fifty-odd books. I will take five or so and renew them by changing them for others on visits home, joining a library in London and maybe visiting second hand book sales with some restraint. I'm also not taking my CDs, which used to all fit in one two story plastic CD tower, which for some reason my mother was always the one to pick up during the move in, and which would then promptly come apart slightly, allowing all the CDs to slip so that some of them wedged the thing preventing proper reassembly without taking them all out, while the majority just fell on the ground. I would then have to put the tower back together and replace everything in the middle of the pavement or car park. This time, I have a laptop (acquired in order to take it to Japan, so as to have the internet there- and be able to watch DVDs) and I have copied on to it almost all the CDs I could possibly want to listen to (the remaining ones are a task for this week), thus eliminating the need for not only the great tower of CDs, but also the choice of which to put in it now that I have many more than will fit, and a CD player. Though it may be the cause of some rather strange noises for my new flatmates, since I have an almost unconscious habit of whistling along while listening to music, and with my laptop not having great speakers, I'll be using headphones, so that they won't have the benefit of the music itself which makes it all sound perfectly fine from my perspective.

The DVDs, which have accompanied me from my 3rd year, after I began acquiring them in my second, will also take up less space this time, since I'm intending to use the two 40-disc folders I bought to take CDs and DVDs to Japan for them. Again, it will mean some selection, and it will be slightly annoying not to have the cases with me, but it will be worth it for the smaller amount of space they'll use. Although I'll probably take my box sets of ER** and The West Wing in their boxes.

The funny thing about packing for university is that, if I think about how much I actually need to live my life (cutting out CDs, DVDs and books) at a time when the last occasion of moving is sufficiently far in the past, and without actually going into detail of what the necessities would consist of, I'm convinced it should all fit into a small backpack- with maybe a suitcase as well for clothes if you want more than one change. Yet if I sit down to list it all, what you get is pretty much what follows. Which, if you try to pack it, takes from experience about seven boxes plus assorted bags. Though this time I'm hoping to manage with one jumbo suitcase, one small one, one bag containing laptop and accessories, a small rucksack, a small zipped bag and two cardboard boxes of kitchen equipment. Not quite sure where the printer and scanner fit in...

*The latter being my classic number one forgotten item when it comes to packing for anything. Given that I know this, one would have thought it surprising that I don't therefore, when I'm worrying about forgetting stuff, think 'Ah, my pyjamas, I usually forget them, must pack them first while I remember'.

**All acquired in Japan. I liked ER anyway, but in Japan I had a real need to be able to watch something in English in the evening, after a day surrounded by Japanese, so as not to feel too homesick. Since I was earning a salary, I felt able to splash out a little and bought series 1-6 and 9 (I would have got 7 and 8 too if I'd been there a little longer)- though this could go some way towards explaining why I came back without any savings. The purchases were also justified by the logic that not only would they provide English viewing material in Japan, but since there was also a dubbed-into-Japanese option, they would provide good listening practice when I was back home... Ahem. I'm sure I'll try that out one day...

To demonstrate how there is always something else to remember, I will be adding to this list in red as new things occur to me. The green entries, meanwhile, are things I haven't actually got but need to buy- why they're on the list I'm not quite sure as it makes sense to get them after I arrive, but there you go.

Kitchen equipment

Pans 3 & lids 2 [one is a frying pan]
Mugs 3 or 4 [I have 4 but one seems to have disappeared]
Plates 2
Knives 6
Forks 3
Spoons 3
Teaspoons 6
Rotary eggwhisk [very good for whipping cream or maccaroons]
Pyrex oven dishes 2
Smaller 1 person pyrex oven dish
Baking sheet
Plastic Clipit tubs 7 [for packed lunches or storing leftovers]
Plastic tupperware tubs 3 [very big round ones for storing opened bags of pasta etc]
Chopsticks
Bamboo sushi mat
Graters
Wooden spoons 1 plus a couple more
Wooden spatula
Serrated knife
Vegetable knife
Chopping board
Plastic/ metal fishslice
Metal shaped cutters
V-slicer
Bowls 3
Small bowls 3
Soy sauce dishes 3
Glasses 4
Mixing bowl
Scales
Measuring jug
Washing up brush
Washing up bowl
Foil
Clingfilm

I should perhaps mention that I need all this stuff because I like cooking, and I like to make ambitious things. Also, I wouldn't recommend all this for a new student, or at least a new cook- my list for first year was a good deal shorter, and most of the above was accumulated over the years. I also wouldn't buy things like the eggwhisk or the bamboo mat now, being on a tight budget, but since I already have them I'll be taking them and they will get a fair bit of use. Unfortunately, I do have to buy some things even in spite of the budget, since the things I've never acquired for myself due to having been able to borrow flatmates' turn out to be the very important things like a knife for chopping vegetables- the only knives I posess are cutlery- and a measuring jug. Then there are things I did have but which broke and I can't do without them- like the bowls. And finally, because we had a system where the three of us took it in turns to cook for each other when I got the pyrex oven dishes, I bought big ones that would feed all of us, and now that I'm likely to be cooking for just myself, I need a much smaller one.

Toiletries

Shampoo
Soap
Toothpaste
Toothbrush
Brush
Deodorant
Flannel
Sun stuff
Make-up
Jewellery
Watch
Hair elastics
Hair pins
Mirror

Clothes

Dressing gown
Slippers
Skirts 10
Jumpers/ cardigans 5-10
Trousers 2 or 3
Vest tops 7-14
T-shirts 5
Bras 4 plus some more
Knickers 20
Tights
Nice tops 5
Dresses 2
Nice skirts 5
Suit [in case of interviews since I'll be applying for graduate recruitment schemes during the year]
Pyjamas 4
Towels 2
Swimming costume
Sheets 2
Duvet covers 2
Pillow cases 4
Duvet
Pillows 2
Shoes- not sure how many yet
Coat
Jacket

This is a lot more sensible and concise than my general approach to taking clothes for university: just pack anything I think I might want to wear. I have high hopes of it all taking up less space this time round...

Miscellaneous

Laptop
Calculus textbook
Notebooks
Old notes from previous time at university (possibly)
Statistics textbooks from this year's attempted self-study
Calculator
Pencil case
Books 5
DVDs
Small portable radio
Rechargeable batteries
Battery charger
Cushions
Deck of cards 2
Recorder (possibly) [as in the long plastic thing with the holes they teach you to play at primary school- sometimes I like to play a tune or two but I'm not sure if it'd annoy all my flatmates]
Origami paper
Sewing things
Origami books 2
Beads, wires, pliers etc for making jewellery
Cookbooks
Futon [in case I have anyone to stay the night- is also nice to sit on folded up]
Bike [I'm hoping to cycle from halls]
Helmet
Reflective gear
Basket
Pump
Printer
Scanner
Camera
Camera charger
Adaptor plug for camera charger [I bought the camera in Japan]
Mobile phone
Mobile phone charger
Wallet
Keys
Diary
Railcard
Everyday bag for going to university
Coasters
Ornaments




Portugal again. Just to brighten things up after that very very long list...