When I first moved here from KY, I carried keys, knife, wallet, and lighter as just basic tools. Years ago, we had a non-incident at work where two employees argued and one threatened to jump the other on the way to the parking lot, and the other said she’d use her personal taser if she did. It went to HR, everyone got lectures about carrying weapons, the two people involved were terminated, it was a whole mess. (I was later called in because when a co-worker as me a personal question I joked “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.” and someone overheard us. :rolleyes: They were* that *touchy.)
Though no one knew I carried a knife, I started leaving it in the car.
Once at work I was using a tweezers out of my Swiss Army Knife to pry something loose for one of the doctors on a bit of equipment, and he asked why I carried a Swiss Army Knife. I literally did the raised-eyebrow look and told him it was because sometimes I need it. :dubious: He got the irony, thank goodness.
Yikes! Your and Silver Fire’s stories are scary! I can think of one situation I was in where I would’ve been glad to have a gun, though it wouldn’t have done me much good (I imagine it’s hard to draw a gun when one is held to your head without getting a bullet in said head). Still, I don’t think I’d feel comfortable having one on my person or in the house. I guess it’s easy for me to say, “No one needs a gun,” but I suppose that’s only in an ideal world.
The essentials are a validated color copy of the front page of my passport, a fully charged cellphone, and a bit of cash ( USD and KWZ ). The only real threats to expats are malaria and food poisoning so bug spray and Imodium are my weapons of choice.
Wallet with the usual cards, ID, and money;
Keys
Big pocket knife (3" blade)
Paracord bracelet
Watch
Cell phone
Ear buds
Urban Altoids kit, containing:
[INDENT]$1.50 in quarters
$60 in bills
pre-threaded sewing needles
couple of buttons
1 days worth of my prescriptions
imodium and benadryl
mini flashlight
p38 can opener
wallet survival tool
button compass
floss pick
Sting swab[/INDENT]
The urban Altoid kit is less about actual survival than it is about stupid situations in public or at work, like sudden diarrhea or ripping your pants. I have another Altoid kit that I will also carry if I wander more than 20 miles from home dedicated to actual jam situations.
I also have a boot knife that I will carry in unusual situations. The more vague regarding that, the better.
Wallet
Tissues
Keys
Book or magazine
Glasses and sunglasses
Lip balm
Watch
iPhone
iPod
Water bottle
I’m going to work I’ll pack a lunch and bring a hat and work t shirt.
If I’m biking add a bike lock, bike pump and patch kit.
Ages ago a friend gave me pepper spray because she was worried about me living in Brooklyn, but the only time I ever felt like it was necessary to have it ready to use was when I was driving alone late at night in upstate New York and a really creepy guy was hanging around the rest stop I had pulled into (nothing happened). I stopped carrying it because I was more afraid of the NYPD somehow finding out I had it (random subway search for example) than actually being in danger.
Now it’s Tactical Pants! Tru-Spec 24/7 with scads of pockets. I have about a dozen pair in different colors, as well as shorts for summer. Except for church and funerals, it’s all I wear. They’re the only thing that carries all my crap.
The dedicated knife and magazine pocketsare the best.
You want tactical pants (and shorts, and boxers, and dresses, and jackets, and all sorts of cool stuff) check out the Scottevestsite. You can carry around half your freakin’ house in some of this stuff!
It’s not clear to me what “weirdo” means in this context.
It could be a simple statement of numerical observation – any conduct outside the average, or within a couple of standard deviations of the norm, is “weird,” and the practitioners thereof “weirdos.”
Or it could be more of a personal attack, a pejorative, in which you’d deny that male-to-female transsexuals, Cirque du Soleil performers, or Ren Faire costume wearers are weirdos – but continue to insist that people who legally carry firearms are weirdos.
Two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers. Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls, but only when I head to Vegas.
Seriously, a cellphone, couple of keys, and a small billfold…but it’s a tactical billfold.
