Not pictured: Keys, handkerchief, cheap plastic pens.

So this is a thing that I learned about recently. People posting pictures of the stuff that they carry with them every day. The community seems to trend towards security contractors and mercenaries, so there’s a lot of guns, knives, and tactical pens. Stuff that, for the most part, I don’t really care about. And, indeed, scare the bejeezus out of me.

Anyway, I just emptied my pockets on the typewriter cart when I came in the door and noticed a superficial resemblance, so I arranged the rest of my stuff. In order…

• Umbrella. This isn’t exactly an everyday item, but living in Vancouver it’s pretty dang close. It comes from the Vancouver Umbrella Shop, which I understand is the last Canadian umbrella manufacturer. Laurena gave it to me for my birthday last year and embroidered my name on the little strap thing.
• Leatherman Skeletool. We won this in a prize draw at the company Christmas party. It has a knife, pliers, screwdriver, and bottle opener. Most often, I use it to cut grapefruits at lunch. But then I get really self-conscious when I walk to the kitchenette to clean it off. Anyway, I like it because it looks vaguely Klingon.
• Neutrogena Norwegian Formula hand cream. I am like Lady Cassandra O’Brien.Δ17. It’s Norwegian, so it’s got to be good, right?
• Business card holder and cards. Purchased from someone I don’t remember at the Portobello West craft market. It’s seersucker, which is something that I like very much.
• Wallet and U-pass. It’s a bi-fold Fossil wallet. For a long time I carried a tri-fold fabric one from the Regional Assembly of Text, which had a print on it of how to fold a dress shirt. Very occasionally, I carry a leather money clip that I was given as a birthday present in high school.
• Watch. A Christmas present from my father some years ago. (I believe he earned it with frequent flier miles.) It’s a Gucci, which I feel somewhat conflicted about, but there you have it.
• Wedding ring mk. II. Titanium with an inlaid band of verawood. It matches Laurena’s, though hers is narrower. We got them from some sweet people on Etsy. It says “mk. II” because, to my deep and abiding shame, I lost my first one. The day before we were scheduled to fly to Toronto to spend the Christmas break, I was running a sequence of last-minute errands on Main St. (Indeed, I had one final errand, which was never accomplished, that was supposed to take me clear out to Burnaby). We’d had an uncharacteristic dump of snow, and somewhere in the course of my travels between Broadway and King Edward, the ring must have come off my finger when I removed my mittens. I walked up and down Main three or four times, checking all the places I’d stopped and searching vainly for a little hole in the snow somewhere. To no avail. When we got back from Christmas vacation, I ordered a replacement, a half-size smaller.

Over the next few days, I will be transferring some items from my archives onto here in order to make it look more lived-in: The definitional essays from my comprehensive exams and my undergraduate thesis will be near the top of the list; maybe some old comics, too. I imagine that I will continue to be working the kinks out of the design for some time, so excuse the mess, &c., &c.

To complete introductory matters, I should note that the site is running on WordPress and its inaugural design is based on the Takimata theme designed by Robert Ellis, late of Upstart Blogger, for the Sandbox design competition. I have modified it loosely to resemble the original No Name packaging designed by Don Watt, which seemed an appropriate aesthetic for a Canadian interested in consumer society critique. Also, note that the asterisks in the header and footer are links that can skip between the top and bottom of the page, for your convenience.