What's in our bag 🎒

It’s Elliott. In this episode of the life newsletter, we return to summer. Last time I wrote to you, it was about the river and how it feels like a clock. As summer arrives, we are returning to the river:clock. The swims up the river are becoming frequent, the lunches on the dock longer. Occasionally, we leave the studio door open, letting the sounds and the breeze in.

In the spring, a new coffee place and bar opened down the street. The otherwise empty street is now often crowded. Our boat rental neighbors bought a new boat to keep up with demand. A coffee at the fancy café is €4.75. Rent will go up in the coming months. The neighborhood is changing.

Maybe it’s this, or the indecisive summer weather, or the precarious nature of freelance life, or getting old, but many of us have started thinking and planning futures. Emma daydreams about farm life with the 3 sisters. Jack still feels like he might be cheating on UK Jack. Ben daydreams about the Centre for Rural Technology. Kirsten dreams of hybrid artist-designer life between NL and Italy. Elliott dreams about the bay area and climbing in Yosemite. Gijs dreams about the perfect PhD program and has taken up work as a “self” model.

As we all lounge in the sun in the front window, the Rotte sparkling outside, we plan an essay for Are.na’s editorial on the topic of pool. What is the pool, and how real can it be? Should we pool our income? Should it become more of an emotional support pool, communal living, an online network? If we pursue our individual dreams, can we still pool our futures?

It’s Elliott. In this episode of the life newsletter we look behind the curtain a bit. Have you ever wondered who Emma, Jack, Kirsten, Gijs, Ben, Elliott really are? Well in this episode we reveal the contents of their bags, yes their backpacks, totes, and shoulder bags, and reveal some pocket-sized secrets. Stay tuned for the next paragraph.

Poker Dice
I grew up playing this game, often after dinners especially on Holiday. everyone in my family has a little leather pouch of poker dice. I always have them on me to play with friends out and about.

Today I embarked on a short trip to Limburg with my dad, so it’s a great moment to write about what’s in my bag – although every day is a good day for that imo. I traveled with my Brompton, a big bag that clicks onto the front block and my backpack with inside a small bag carrying a selection of items I will spill for y’all:

The bag
My current small EDC bag is part of a handlebar set, and as you can see decorated with stickers. I like how I can wear it tight/small/closed or open like a tote. For a while now I’ve been sketching up ideas for a series of bags I would like to make myself, so am very eager to start producing them and replace this one.

Pocket note-bundle
The leather sleeve is collecting scratches and aging beautifully, while the moleskine cahiers (one for quick notes, one for journaling) inside are being replaced every ~6 months. It also holds my mechanical pencil (a perfect gift from my gf’s mom) in a slot that I cut inside the catch-all notebook, my fountain pen for the diary and a string with I Ching coins.

Supernote
Love pen and paper, but love my stack of notes and books in compact e-ink form as well. Bought this in 2023 as a big xmas gift to myself and have been using it for reading and annotating, and as a rough notepad. It’s nice to be able to draw and move things around if needed. Now it also supports Obsidian so it can become a focused writing device.

Olympus Mju ii
This analog camera has been with me since 2016 and truly does my memories justice when it captures them. For some time it’s had some light leaking in unfortunately, so this year I have been filming more with my camcorder than taking photos. Now finally bought a roll again, and will just ducktape the edges to be sure.

Monocular
I don’t usually carry this around; found it yesterday at my dad’s – one of many curious trinkets left by my grandpa. It’s tiny and comes with a leather pouch and a manual (a respect for manuals runs in the family). Using it to admire the view more closely.

Bonus: Funny cycling cap
My dad is a fanatic cyclist, so I gave him this cap a few years ago. It’s a bit small for him, so now I brought it for me to look more legit/ridiculous as I try to keep up with him on my Brompton

Well I’m not going on a holiday any time soon and I also haven’t been on one, this potential farm is blocking any summer plans, however with this stuff in my bag I can turn any work day into a holi-ish-day and vice versa:

bathingsuit
for spontaneous swims in de Rotte or Kralingse Plas

I don’t have a bag I always use but the one I’m currently using is this blue shoulder bag I got in Australia from CIBI. It’s a big enough to fit the things I want to take swimming and looks good enough to wear it at an opening. It’s strong and I like the colour.

Supernote A5 X2
I’m doing a lot of drawing at the moment and I really like doing it on my Supernote A5 X2. It’s a bit pixelated and not super-smooth but I quite like that. I also use it to write my logs on, whatever that may be. The case was made by Wietske.

iPod Nano 4th Generation
For a while now I’ve been avoiding streaming services for a few reasons but most importantly I like spending time with my music beyond just listening. So I went back to 2008 and got an iPod to add a bit of friction into my music consumption. I love it and have just discovered the built-in voice recording function which I am going to have some fun with.

National Trust Water Bottle
I don’t drink enough water but that’s not really why I carry around a water bottle. It’s more of a safety mechanism. I’m not 100% sure what it’s supposed to protect me from but I feel better when I have a water bottle with me.

Small Pebble from Poltesco
Whenever I visit my parents, I go to a beach nearby called Poltesco to collect a new stone and to give back an old one. This is my current Poltesco Pebble and I use it a bit like a worry stone.

Space Crone by Ursula K. Le Guin
I always take a book with me, even if I know there won’t be a chance to read it. I’m currently reading Space Crone by Ursula K. Le Guin which is a book of her short writing. I’m only on the third piece in there and I already love it. I want to manifest a bit of Le Guin energy in my life.

I wanted a weatherproof backpack. One that wouldn’t risk corroding usb-ports after a rain pour requiring a repair that costs more than a bag, for instance. I found it in sale last December and got it as a birthday present to myself. I found it’s beach proof as well and I really like how it’s just mostly a big container. Which asks for...

Bag-in-bag
One from a range of different starter bags for different activities like reading or laundry or swimming, but this one is the most everyday-themed so it’s almost always in there. It perfectly fits around:

Journal
I always try different ones but last winter I got this weatherproof one. No risks for costly repairs here, maybe the accelerating global war machines scared me into the prepper subconscious, but I also do value not losing my backlog. I use this one exclusively for planning, and draw a new week scheme at the end of each week. These schemes look a bit insane to Elliott but I feel with all these projects floating around it keeps me sane. It has two ribbon bookmarks but I mostly know the current week from where I slid in my:

Favourite pen
I once got it off my father’s desk, which would sometimes be covered in pens. I think this one called me with its navy marble and gold look that’s giving 70s contract signing pen. It has engraving of a faculty of a school that my dad did not work at. It’s loaded with:

A Waterman Fine Black Ballpoint Pen Refill cartridge
Big part of the reason why the pen is my favourite. I get a new one every so many months from the local stationary store Hummelman, as long as it’s still there. A ritual that feels comfortably village. It’s also where I got the bag-in-bag.

Bonus: extra thin toothpicks
Never miss in my bag-in-bag. I’m not really addicted to anything but trying to look like a hollywood star after each meal. Well first coffee, then something sweet, then toothpick.

This is my Brompton bag. Jack has the same bag, and it’s been confused occasionally. I don’t usually use it without my bike, though I have removed the bike attachment once or twice. Then it becomes a messenger bag. I did this last summer when I was at Robida’s summer school.

HTML Energy shirt
I don’t usually carry this with me, but it snuck into my bag and hid there for the past week (notice the wrinkles). I put it there as a post-climb, post-swim shirt. If you’re not familiar with HTML Energy, it’s a movement I started with Laurel Schwulst in 2019, though many people have since made the term their own. For the past two years, we’ve organized HTML Day, a day when people host freewrites in parks worldwide. This year, HTML Day will be held on August 2. If you’re interested in organizing or just attending a freewrite, visit html.energy or email me at elliott@html.energy.

Hat
Going through my bag, I realized my winter hat is still in it. A leftover from the last season. In some ways, I like that it’s still there. I think it also says something about my personality. Slow-moving at times. A little nostalgic for a memory, a past season. I’ve been leaving some memories on my memory site.

Computer
I carry it with me almost everywhere. I find a lot of comfort in being close to it, and I really love how portable it is. It makes it possible to go for a swim and collectively write an HTML poem afterward. The stickers on the front are also a bit of a memory palace: the Hawaiian island archipelago (my first home), a sticker from Kirsten, a hand-drawn universal OM x ballman made with Polina, and "HTML Energy is all around us" screenprinted at last year’s HTML Day.

B12
The last few months I’ve been struggling a bit with my energy levels. I’ll dip into weeks of sluggishness. I have an idea of where it’s coming from, but treatment takes time and patience. So in the meantime, I take my daily sublingual methylcobalamin B12 and wait. As it dissolves under my tongue, I imagine it entering my bloodstream and waking up all the cells. As the universe says, “your energy returns and you get things done.”

Chalk bag
Every object comes with a memory, and this one is no exception. It’s a recent purchase from when XP fam and climbing friends were in Font together in May. I’ve gravitated toward this playful Italian climbing company ever since my climbing obsession started. I used to carry my climbing shoes and chalk bag everywhere until I had to come to terms with the flat landscape around me. But maybe there’s more to project than just rocks. Gijs and I played with the thought that life could be a project. It’s a big open-ended question. The largest question mark in an otherwise linear landscape.

June 26 19.00-21.30: self-model-making #4. Modernist technologies. In this session we'll look at the role of modernist design in making us modern selves. With design aims of providing a user with clarity, usability, space, light, efficiency, control, etc, did design invite the separable self? We'll gather some objects from different fields of design, look at some excerpts, try out theoretical lenses and try to portray the hidden functions of these objects. More info on https://supergijs.com/researchgroup.html and via the newsletter. Join at Extra Practice and remote.extrapractice.space!