hench / August 31, 2005 12:43 PM

patch kit, pump, wrench, multi-tool, tube, cellphone, chapstick, matches, copies of my cd, and something to read.

Andrew / August 31, 2005 12:43 PM

...besides your American Express Travelers Checks.

I always have a pen, almost always in my right front pocket. I honestly feel sort of naked without it.

miss / August 31, 2005 12:59 PM

shoes.

oh, and i can't wait until someone turns this one into a political thread. i dare you.

Eamon / August 31, 2005 1:00 PM

One thing? My Treo. I bring my phone absolutely, positively everywhere, because I have no memory and have to write everything down.

Stephen / August 31, 2005 1:03 PM

I would rather go to work naked than be without my coffee.

bam / August 31, 2005 1:07 PM

cold hard cash.

katrina reminds us to not count on the grid always functioning.

Eamon / August 31, 2005 1:07 PM

Also, my phone has a web browser on it, which means I can complain about our President from wherever I am!

wackpuma / August 31, 2005 1:08 PM

I second chapstick. If I forget it, I immediately have to by a new one or I get extreamly cranky.

Charlie / August 31, 2005 1:11 PM

My watch.

steven / August 31, 2005 1:15 PM

Kissing my wife and telling her that I love her.

After that, my id and bank card.

Ann VanMoxie / August 31, 2005 1:24 PM

I'm forever checking pockets and purse to reassure myself that I have my keys. You'll notice it when I get that panicked look in my eyes as I dig around looking for them. I always have them, but I can't stop checking to make sure.

Back in the day I could not leave the house without cigarettes, not even for a quick trip to the grocery store. Never.

JP / August 31, 2005 1:25 PM

I wish I could say something cool or out of the ordinary like my pet Lemur and my pocket vibe. The reality is so much more boring than that. My phone, my powerbook and the sincere desire to make it back home alive.

Veronica #2 / August 31, 2005 1:38 PM

a fashionable outfit

kt / August 31, 2005 1:38 PM

my sense of total dissatisfaction with the current presidential administration.

Steve / August 31, 2005 1:52 PM

My keys. My wallet and the Nokia usually accompany me as well. Everything else highly is optional and varies depending on where I'm headed and what I'll be doing.

e_five / August 31, 2005 2:04 PM

Keys. Without my keys I can't re-enter my apartment three or four times to get the essential items I forgot the first, second or third time I left.

Herman Tigglesbury / August 31, 2005 2:18 PM

a fresh bushel of deep-fried hippo lungs to pass out to all the happy little children.

karen / August 31, 2005 2:20 PM

my strawberry-kiwi lip smackers. i cant live without it.

Mister C / August 31, 2005 2:22 PM

Keys, wallet (with transit card stuck in a handy outside slot-thingy), lip balm (I prefer Blistex Moisturizing formula-and also get cranky when seperated from it), cell phone (which functions mostly as a pocket watch since I only use it for biz or rendezvousing at public events & such), sugar-free-lemon-mint Ricolas (vital if you do a lot of speaking for your job or in general).
That's the essential stuff, if I'm on a gig or need to bring more stuff then I'll just take my "guide bag," which contains too many odds and ends to mention (I'm at peace with the fact that it's really a purse).

Nuxrs / August 31, 2005 2:28 PM

right pocket-wallet/lighter
left pocket-keys/phone/cigarettes
if something's in the wrong pocket, I freak out and switch it. it's scary.

Flynn / August 31, 2005 2:33 PM

My L card, and now, my bike.

Reported gas prices around the city are spiking to over $3.50 a gallon.

printdude / August 31, 2005 3:25 PM

I, too, am lost without my writing instruments.
Usually it is some funky colored sharpie. TOday is olive.
Yesterday was mulberry and Cyan.

heather / August 31, 2005 3:32 PM

I can't remember the last time I left the house without a companion or a book - more often, I have two books *and* companion. I've forgotten to bring my keys, cta card, cash, cell phone - all have been forgotten, but I'll never be without a book.

C-Note / August 31, 2005 3:37 PM

My .25 pistol. Just in case I have to take it up a notch. With no one there to serve you, why not be the hero? Why not be your own?

Moxy / August 31, 2005 3:45 PM

Earplugs. Noise pollution on the El, and everyong else talking on their cell phones or listening to their IPODS at MAX VOLUME.

Have a great day.

Judy / August 31, 2005 3:46 PM

I'm lucky if I even have an idea of where I'm going! How on earth everyone remembers to bring their inside life to the outside, I'll never know.

susan / August 31, 2005 3:52 PM

In decreasing order of importance: iPod, a book or two, keys, money. Clearly, my top priority is to ignore all y'all.

Klav / August 31, 2005 4:16 PM

My wiener.

Brandy / August 31, 2005 4:20 PM

Pen, wallet (w/ keys attached, cash and biz cards inside). Those are the always, always items. The usually items add sketchbook, soduko puzzles and books for the train.

daruma / August 31, 2005 4:46 PM

Plastic bags to pick up after fido. It seems I often have the bags in my pocket even when I leave fido home!
Also a handkerchief. Damn these year-round allergies!

lucy / August 31, 2005 5:11 PM

my super cute kiddo!!! Well, occasionally I do leave the house without her for a nite out on the town.

Erica / August 31, 2005 5:17 PM

Wanna see me freak? Throw my planner in the lake.
Everything is replaceable or OK to go without for at least a day except for my Franklin Planner. Planners are like Trapper Keepers for adults or something.

If it's not written down in there, it's not getting done and might as well never have occurred to me. This is a huge step up from when I used to write reminders on my hand.

Further, a question for my chap stick/lip balm/gloss homies, do you have a tube at work, purse, home and the car like I do? I have so many I would be embarrassed to count them. Burts Bees is my fave, though.

pang / August 31, 2005 5:29 PM

Lip balm! I've left sans wallet and keys, but if I don't have my Burt's Bees...

Erica, I keep a tube in my main bag, the diaper bag, at home in the bathroom, and there are probably random tubes of BB, Blistex and whatever other emergency tube I got on the fly all over my place. I don't keep one in the car though - melts too quickly in the heat and that makes me cranky too.

emily / August 31, 2005 5:52 PM

way too much stuff. i HAVE to have a lip product of some sort with me at all times, and a little pack of tissues. when the dirty bar bathroom runs out of tp, i always have a backup plan.

byd / August 31, 2005 6:53 PM

Spectacles, testicles, watch and wallet. Tried but true.

jean / August 31, 2005 8:32 PM

my Elph

Maggie / August 31, 2005 8:40 PM

My inhaler. I've had asthma my whole life, and experience suggests that if I don't have my inhaler, I will have an asthma attack. Psychosomatic? Probably. Actually, there was a small study that was published this week that may prove that. BUT - I don't care. I still don't leave without my inhaler.

Leelah / August 31, 2005 9:24 PM

I hate carrying things... I don't even use a purse... but I always have my keys and my wallet with me.

waleeta / August 31, 2005 9:49 PM

My mojo and my sassy walk.

John / September 1, 2005 8:21 AM

I used to walk around everywhere with a pen, and more than likely 2 or 3, but now I take a camera everywhere I go.

Huckle Cat / September 1, 2005 9:16 AM

Way too much crap.

Wallet, keys, phone, Neutrogena lip balm, pen, notepad, usually a book as well.

Moon / September 1, 2005 9:47 AM

oh, and i can't wait until someone turns this one into a political thread. i dare you.

I never leave home without Mayor Daley?

I never leave home without a politician in my pocket?

Mary Washington / September 1, 2005 10:00 AM

I never leave home without my dignity, a machete, and an Ipod.

Denise Gottlieb / September 1, 2005 10:04 AM

My iPod, or course! Must have tunes!

jgs / September 1, 2005 11:02 AM

Until the tragic accident involving a glass 1/2 gallon milk bottle breaking like so many levees into my amazingly waterproof courier bag, I carried a perfectly good copy of the US constitution everywhere. just in case.
now the little blue book sits like the wet dream of the american dairy council: a constitution completely inundated with milk.

robin.. / September 1, 2005 11:07 AM

seething rage. i never leave home without my sense of politically-fueled seething rage, thanksforasking...

Cinnamon / September 1, 2005 11:52 AM

A sense of humor. It makes passing newspaper boxes so much easier.

But in my pocket you'll find Mary Kay Lip Balm (I know it's cheesy but it works and it's the only my sweety doesn't dislike the taste of and I never know when I'll get a kiss from him). And a purse or bag. Never used to carry one until I started making them.

miss / September 1, 2005 11:58 AM

nice try on the political slant, moon, but i think eamon, kt, and robin did it better.

to weigh in on this lip balm issue, i have to say that kiehl's lip balm is hands-down the best i've tried and i have tried many a lip balm. also, it's not as expensive as you'd think. hooray for lip balm!

p.s. have you fellow lip balm aficionados ever tried going a week without it? it's difficult but your lips adjust and you don't need it after a while. don't get me wrong, i'm still holding onto my kiehl's.

eep / September 1, 2005 1:20 PM

Lipstick or lipgloss of some kind, and my ID, ATM card, and major credit card. Plus the keys to get back inside. Those are my bare essentials.

Veronica / September 1, 2005 1:27 PM

Kleenex, because I sneeze a lot. I hate not being able to properly blow my nose.

Lip gloss, both for the feel and for the look. I don't really wear makeup, but I like my lips and I like to subtley accentuate them.

A book. The only time I don't have a book is if I'm going to a club or I'm going to be on my feet for a decent amount of time and don't want the extra stress on my shoulders. Same goes for CD player and CD.

Baltimore / September 1, 2005 4:39 PM

Gin & tonic and my well thumbed bible of course

Bill / September 1, 2005 7:54 PM

I can't remember.

sweetwater / September 2, 2005 11:19 AM

my art deco fountain pen.

Leah / September 2, 2005 11:34 AM

My keys. I have two sets--one with all my keys and one for walks or biking with just my condo and bike lock keys on it.

After that it is a moleskin notebook, a pen, my wallet, my cell phone. I'm trying to get better about taking my digital camera with me everywhere, but I tend to forget to grab it.