Packing for Every Eventuality

I dont know about anyone else but i find that when i am packing I wont rationally go through my case and consider whether each item is truly essential or not but instead conjure up every possible situation where i might need these items, convincing myself to pack them.

For example, I was packing some cotton buds and, unsure of how many to take, i imagined every possible eventuality that may involve cotton buds. Rather than think 'if i run out il buy more'.
So if i need to..... share them, clean my ears, dab the blood from a small wound, get at a hard to reach bogey, tend to a wounded animal, poke something out of a small hole, moisturize a little crevice of some kind, remove the dust from in between the keys of my laptop or clean around the edges of the screen of my camera, construct a makeshift paintbrush, build a tiny raft for mice, make tiny flaming torches for the mice on the tiny raft for what can only be assumed to be an epic adventure...... then i think around 80 cotton buds should suffice. Otherwise il buy more.



I did manage to eject some stuff from my bag such as a poncho. The same thinking as mentioned above would have lead me to pack it; it may suddenly rain, we may stay in an area of rainforest like weather conditions, our room may be damp to the extent of dripping, we may go on some tour that involves the spraying of water and not want to pay extortionate prices for a branded poncho, amy may become allergice to the moisture in the air, or worse still i may do and the poncho may be my only way of getting to the hospital unharmed, we may meet people who love ponchos and want to buy it from me or may even mock me for not having a poncho in which case i can smugly pull out my green synthetic friend. The situations are endless, but the shear fact iv owned this poncho for over 2 years now and have yet to open it from the sealed bag n which it came made me think that even if i did need a poncho, im the kinda person who would rather get wet than wear one.

Im currently assessing what cables i may need to bring. This is a whole other ball game, because this is 'man packing'. Just as every woman has a hoard of shoes for every unimaginable occassion, every bloke has a bagor drawer full of cables he has collected. He has to select which ones will be most useful in the field of travelling and, at the same time, be willing to sacrifice incase they get lost or stolen. Should i take an ethernet cable in case their wireless is unavailable or shit? do i need a usb cable for my camera or do i just put the card in the laptop? do i charge my iPhone from the wall or via usb from the MacBook? oh what an ordeal.....