Do You Know Where Your Towel Is?
Today <cue ominous music> is Towel Day.
“A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have” says the The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It then then goes on to explain a towel’s extreme and flexible usefulness as a beach blanket, security blanket, various items of clothing, a weapon and, surprisingly, for drying oneself off. But most importantly, your towel is a device to convince others that you are such a really amazingly together guy, they should help you.
The logic is explained in the Guide itself:
“For some reason, if a strag discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel, he will automatically assume that he’s also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet-weather gear, space suit etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that might accidentally have been ‘lost’, on the grounds that anyone who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still know where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.”
For those of you who are unfamiliar with The Hitchhiker’s Guide, it is the single most popular reference book in the galaxy. It is also the name of the best-known work of author Douglas Adams. You do know Douglas Adams, don’t you? Late surrealistic literary genius, total nutcase, and one of my personal heroes.
But back to Towel Day.
Each May 25 since Adam’s death, Hitchhiker’s fans and fellow fruitloops wander through their day proudly sporting their towels as a tribute to Adams, spreading the gospel and proving to others what really hoopy froods they are. So here I sit, in solidarity with other Douglas Adams fans, my towel draped artfully over my shoulder, doing my best to convince others that I am a really amazingly together person, and that I am deserving of their assistance in all ways.
All of this has me thinking.
Metaphorically speaking, what is my “towel” and do I know where it is at all times?
Is there some item, some skill, some trait of mine which I keep handy because it is infinitely useful, something that I keep on display because it convinces others that I am a generally accomplished, together and worthwhile human being?
I have this feeling that I do indeed have a metaphorical towel…. but that I’ve temporarily lost track of it. Worse, I’ve forgotten what, exactly, it is… there’s just this vague sense of loss and puzzlement, of something important that has slipped my mind.
So while I search my memory and my laundry basket, I’d like your opinions…
Do *you* have a metaphorical towel?
Or, perhaps, do you think you know what mine is, and where I have misplaced it?
MindTWEAK: Sorry. I have no time for pithy quotes today. I need to find my towel.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
In my case, a trait of mine, is that I am very creative. Using my creativeness, I can make “something out of nothing” in almost any scenario; kitchen, crafts, or conversation. It could be a good or bad trait. I keep it in check most of the time.
You, my friend, are a very worthwhile accomplished human being. To me, it seems, you have it together. From what I see here you tweak minds everyday. You are very helpful with sorting people(me)out and making them think real deep.
Have a fabulous weekend!
my towel is a spiral bound notebook. When shopping for new purses, the first thing i always consider is how well my notebook will fit in said purse. i like to think that, because i have the notebook, i am a real writer, able to jot down the tiniest thought at the drop of a hat.
elise
Like MangledTulip, my towel is my little black notebook. It’s my auxiliary memory. I can entertain myself endlessly, making lists.
If I’m in a riveting meeting or conversation, I take notes.
If I’m in a boring meeting, I take even *better* notes. (Notes keep my attention focused and my mouth shut.)
I plot inventions. I make shopping lists. I doodle.
I keep a few sticky-notes to occupy the kids when we’re in waiting rooms or the carpool lane. There are some stamps and an emergency ten-dollar-bill in the back pocket.
I can go out without my telephone and keys more easily than I can go without my little notebook.
(Maybe for Towel Day 2008, I can make a terry-cloth Moleskine cover?)
By the way, my son was assigned Douglas Adams for his entering-freshman-high school-year Summer reading! How cool is that? (He loved it so much, he read everything Douglas Adams wrote over that summer…)
All the best,
CLKL
Jackie: I often picture the wheels turning in your head, so yes, I can see your creativity convincing others you have it together!
I do sooo appreciate your confidence in me, but if I’m giving the impression of “having it together” then I *must* have a towel somewhere on me, because it IS an illusion.
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Tulip: The bit about the notebook making you “a real writer” makes a lot of sense to me. I like little accessories that make me feel the part of whatever it is I do.
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CLKL: Douglas Adams as required reading? YES! And they say modern education has lost its way!
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And to everyone:
I suspect the closest thing to a “towel” I have is my ability to communicate; it convinces others that I’ve got my ducks in a row, inspite of all evidence to the contrary.
But I’ve always wanted a more tangible towel, something comforting and reassuring to hold in my hands. I just lose notebooks, or forget they exist. I misplace pens, so an impressive Cross pen is out of the question. My significant whatever carries an all purpose pocket knife everywhere - but that tends to frighten the villiagers and airport security. I’m getting close to shelling out the cash for a PDA of some sort, something that can synch with my PC, which seems to be the info center of my world.
Hey.. I could take a page from CLKL, and make a bath towel cover for it!!
That’d be one expensive towel though. I’ll have to ponder a lot more to justify it.
I actually do keep a towel in the trunk of my car, though I do not take it out when I leave said car.
My lighter is my towel. I must always have one. Then I can not only light my cigarettes but play McGyver should the need arise.
Well, it’s my lighter or my lipstick.
I can see a lighter being useful that way. Maybe I should start smoking so I’ll have such a handy tool with me?
My Grandmother’s “towel” is her lipstick, I think. She’s been badly hurt several times in her life, bleeding or with a broken bone… and yet she will not go to the hospital until she has fixed her lipstick. Me? I’m lucky if I remember to throw it in my purse.. and once there, it’s there to stay. I’ll never remember to pull it out again. I’ve lost tubes of lipstick in my purses.
*ponders again*
Recently perusing your archives, and being a rabid Douglas Adams fan, I immediately jumped on this article. I have to say though, I had never considered what my metaphorical towel might have been and at first thought nothing jumped to mind. I have now pondered and ruminated for the past week (and even prodded my inner donkey a few times) and it came to me… My wristwatch! Although I have almost constant visual and tactile access to a display of time (on the computer screen, cellphone, iPod, various wall and mantel clocks, microwave oven, dvd player, my car’s dashboard, even a billboard on my way to work) I feel strange and even slightly uneasy if I am not wearing a plain analog wristwatch. Years ago when money was fairly tight, I went through a period of a few weeks where the battery in my watch had died and I was unable to replace the battery and had no other watch I could use as a substitute. Those were tough days to cope with. I’m happy to say I currently have several watches I rotate as the whim or occasion warrants.
Having said all that, one would think my wristwatch dependency would make me a punctual person…
@Puncuk: The Punc in your name doesn’t stand for Punctual?
I still haven’t identified my towel, by the way.
Sad.
As a college student, I always have my Kelty 3100 backpack with me. In it, I always carry bike repair tools, a mini survival kit, a dissection/ surgical and sampling kit (I am an ecology major), and of course MY TOWEL! Ever since I first read Hitchhiker’s years ago, I thought it was an awesome idea. Though it is not displayed, I always have my towel and that has served me well on many occasions.
That said, I believe my “towel” that I display is my mini-moleskin note, a sharpie, and a ball point pen. I am prepared to document anything I come across, always a necessary for a scientist.
My figurative towel is a literal TOWEL. If carrying around my beach towel is out of the question, then I will have a tea towel hanging out of my pocket all day. They are, truly, infinitely useful tools and I never leave the house without one. Call me crazy!