The Need for Newness

Issue No. 33 : In search of the outside within

This is the swimming pool in Highland Park that I planned to swim which according to Google Maps was not just opened but also filled with water. Photo: Per Håkansson (from iPad).

Over the past few weeks, as I’ve been criss-crossing Southern California in search of new swimming pools (swum 13 out of a targeted 100 so far), a journey that began as a day trip to pick up my new surfboard, a used and watertight 7’2” Rocket Sled (now renamed F-Rocket) designed by FCD for $100 dollars (no, I’m not kidding), and then morphed into a two-week road trip to swim, play pickleball, and meet friends, I’ve been exposed to a bunch of new gear and equipment that I’ve been shielded from in my very simple existence in Encinitas.

Now, as I’m ready to leave Laguna Beach (where I took part in a spontaneous birthday party with coffee and blueberry muffins earlier this morning after my daily swim practice), my last stop of about 20+ really nice Southern California towns, I’m reflecting on the need to once in a while renew and vitalize my everyday essentials. Always using the same can become boring and to once in a while switch it up, maybe even change style, can be really invigorating and fun.

So in parallell to doing my daily laps and enjoying new swimming pools in up to 95°F (35°C) weather, I’ve also visited some of my favorite stores and brands across the region and also discovered a few new ones to expand my horizons. Since my lifestyle resembles van life more than the stationary, for a better word, lifestyle, my focus has been on what I can upgrade to improve my everyday living experience but also to add that little extra sense of novelty.

As a matter of fact, you can divide my needs into two: the need for gear I don’t have and gear that I have that might need an upgrade, ever so slightly. On my list from the first category are a used Patagonia Fitz Roy Down Hoody that I plan to buy, a pair of used jeans (found by luck at first Crossroads I visited in Pasadena for $38 dollars, new $180 dollars), and a gear hauler (most likely the Cotopaxi Allpa 60L Gear Hauler Tote) for the trunk. I need to be more organized, especially on road trips and as my swim equipment is expanding.

Visiting all these different pools have many advantages: I meet a lot of new friendly people, I learn my way around Southern California, and I am gifted gear. Every swimming pool hosts a Lost & Found which, if you ask nicely, is free to explore. So far I’ve been gifted a kick board (essential for practicing the breaststroke kick), a pair of fins (essential for practicing the freestyle and dolphin kick), hand paddles (essential for upper body strength training), extra swim googles, and a basically new MiiR 20oz Tumbler. Still doubting we live in a world of abundance?

If you add surf gear, coffee maker, protein smoothie essentials, extra clothing, books, and a towel it’s pretty clear that I need a tote, a rather large tote. And my choice is Cotopaxi, after having scanned the market, realizing that it’s actually a damn great tote, backed up by warranty and free repairs, plus I can sell it back when I no longer need it to stay true to my commitment to the circular economy.

But I’ve also found a few new products that I really like, like the new series of bowls from Yeti that could replace my smaller Snowpeak bowls and cover both breakfast and lunch as those are my only meals these days except for Saturday dinner, the so called cheat meal, as per my new intermittent 20:4 fasting schedule.

And I’ve found an excellent multitool, simple but not too simple, that will cover close to 100 percent of my daily needs, the Leatherman Skeletool CX with only seven tools. This is by far the best EDC I’ve seen after years of searching.