The image above shows some of the things that I always have with me.  They’re not in the car, or in a bag that I may or may not bring with me, or in another room – they’re in my pockets, or if I’m at home, within arms reach or very close by.  In short, these are some of my EDC items.

What are these things, and why do I carry them around?

I’ll deal with the second question first, at least partly, with three answers: I’m a geek, I’m (or I was) a scout, and I’m a MacGyver fan.  If you get it already, you can skip the next three paragraphs.  If you don’t, then let me explain.

I’m a geek. I’m a photography geek, trivia geek, light & lighting geek, and tech geek, among other (geeky) things.  In this specific case though, I’m a gadget geek.  I like gadgets, gizmos, doodads, thingamajigs, and watchamacallits.  I like taking things apart to figure out how they work, and putting them back together again (or at least trying).  I like toys, and these toys happen to be quite useful.

I’m a scout. The Scout Motto is “Be Prepared,” and carrying these things is definitely a step in that direction.  What am I preparing for?  I’m obviously not prepared for a doomsday scenario, an alien attack, or a zombie infestation, but I’m definitely prepared for most little emergencies I’m likely to encounter.  If I need to look for something under a bed or a desk, or open up a computer, or do a quick repair on one of my light stands, I’m probably covered.  At the very least, I already have some tools immediately at my disposal.

I’m a MacGyver fan. If you don’t know who MacGyver is, I’m not going to try and explain.  Instead, I suggest you check out this Wikipedia entry on MacGyver.

Moving on now – what exactly am I carrying?

The two black tubes are flashlights: a Fenix LD10 in the bottom half of the image and a Fenix E01 on the right.  The LD10 is my main light – it gives me several settings ranging from an energy-saving low, to a blinding high, and even SOS and strobe modes.  It can run for over a day in the low mode and over an hour at its highest setting, and it runs on a single AA cell.  My E01 is there in case I don’t need a whole lot of light, or if the LD10 is running out of juice, or if somebody else needs to borrow a light, or in other words, I need a backup light.

The silver gray thing with the corkscrew on the upper left part of the image is a Leatherman Juice XE 6 multi-tool.  It gives me 2 blades, scissors, needle-nose pliers, a range of screwdrivers, and several other things.  One thing this tool has that no other multi-tool (as far as I know) has is a corkscrew with assist.

Finally, that black thing that looks like a whistle is exactly that – a whistle.  Specifically, it’s Fox 40 Mini.  I can think of quite a few reasons to carry one, but I think the simplest is this: you never know when you need to make a racket and get yourself noticed, do you?  A whistle (especially this one) is a lot louder and carries farther than your voice, and it takes a lot less effort to use a whistle than to shout.

One thing missing from this image is a paracord bracelet that I made using these instructions – I gave mine to a friend recently, and I haven’t gotten around to making another one.  It’s basically something I can wear everyday that, when unraveled (and it unravels very quickly), gives me around two meters of paracord.  I’m sure I’ll be wearing one again soon enough though.

Aside from the bracelet, I’m pretty sure I’ll be adding other items to this set too.  I want to add a lighter (or some other fire starter), a decent knife (not a multi-tool, but a knife – probably the SOG TF-2 Trident Straight Edge), some dog tags or other form of ID, and a few other things.  Can you suggest some other items?