I'm currently in a situation that's about as opposite as you can get from traditional american culture. I left my big corporate job at IBM, left the condo life, left Chicago and am now travelling around, staying with friends and family most of the time. Technically I think I might be homeless and really I'm not even sure what state I'm supposed to be a resident of. This is something I never could have done years ago and only recently got comfortable with the idea of. Most of what I have left (which is not much) is in storage in a friend's basement. I loaded up my 1996 Civic with the rest of what I thought was really important, that is, the things I can not do without in life. Besides your basic clothes and toiletries, it turns out that the things most important to me right now are a bowling ball, ping pong paddles, a snowboard, an RC helicopter and my laptop.

This is not to say that these are the _only_ important things in my life but when you get rid of almost everything you have and can only bring along a car-full of your favorite stuff, you can learn quickly what really makes you happy. I think people get caught up in the quest for stuff. I used to be there as well. Being forced to down-size has actually done wonders for my life. It turns out that lusting after cars and big TVs only brings in a small amount of pleasure. Breaking free of all that and the job it requires has made me far happier than I've been in years. It's not at all because of this stuff, but this is what I've chosen for my adventure.

1. My bowling ball.
Not only does my ball carry sentimental value from league play with friends in the past, but it's just a fantastic device to get people together and out of the house. Who doesn't like bowling? It's great having something of your own with you on the road because no matter where you go or who you bowl with, you've got your ball with you and that familiarity does make it feel like anywhere could be home.

2. Ping pong paddles.
For me, bowling represents a sort of beer-drinking activity you do with your friends on scarce or only semi-regular occasion. Ping pong is different because, while people do play drinking games involving it, it's normally a more active sport that you'd want to play sober. America isn't so big into it but I certainly enjoy a good game of table tennis and having my paddles with me reminds me to get out and actually do something. It's not easy to have a gym membership when you're not in the same city often but for some reason ping pong matches aren't that hard to come by.

3. My snowboard.
Snowboarding is something I'm used to having to travel to do as it is. While it's not the cheapest activity, it does feel hard to replace with anything else. I haven't been snowboarding yet this year because of all of the circumstances but if I get a good chance to go, I will be ecstatic that I bothered to bring my snowboarding gear along with me.

4. RC Helicopter.
This may be something that only myself and a few thousand other americans are really into. I have a medium-sized remote control helicopter that can only be flown outside but is something I just feel like has become a part of me. It really makes me feel like a major nerd for being so into such a thing but I think that's a facet of my personality that I will never let go of. I really enjoy mechanics and especially something as insanely difficult as trick-flying 3D helis. Call me a nerd. I enjoy it.

5. My laptop.
Where would we be without our precious laptops? This is how I communicate with people and how I make a meager living. I honestly don't know what I'd do without it. I used to be very much a desktop-only person but after having worked on the road for IBM for a year I got used to working full time off of the smaller counterpart. It's amazing how laptops do really enable people to be able to travel and still do all of their regular productive tasks. I feel like so long as I have this machine with me, I will be able to do just about anything anywhere.

These 5 things that I have with me really represent some big parts about my personality. It's not the things that are making me happy but they enable me to socialize with people and maintain my various interests. Ultimately and not surprisingly it turns out that friends and family are some of the very most important things in my life but my unique collection of stuff that fits in the car keeps the day-to-day life interesting and makes it so that no matter where I go or what I do, I always feel like myself and I always feel at home.