And I am not talking about the Zombie Invasion, or the Mayan apocalypse or even a mayor meteorological event; just every day stuff.
I was never sold on the Blanche DuBois School of Survival. Depending on strangers even those with the best intentions is a silly at best and suicidal at worst. Granted, sometimes there is safety in numbers, but those numbers of people must be in the same reference of goals and either augment your strength or cover your weaknesses.
But it ranks me that people fail to prepare for the mundane. If you happen to get headaches with certain regularity (and even if you don’t) and do not carry some sort of analgesic, you are a dunce. If you work at night or at a very big building and do not carry a source of light, get ready for bumping into things and probably get hurt. And I don’t care how cool is your latest smartphone, you will always need a pen or pencil and something to write or draw on. And for the love of God, carry some sort of knife or blade with you at all times even if it is a mini Swiss army knife; even the dumbest HR director will be hard pressed to call that a weapon.
At work I developed a reputation for being a prick because I refuse to lend/share/give my items to unprepared colleagues. I will explain to new hires what to expect and that they should prepare a basic kit to have with them at all times even if the company does not require it and sure as hell will not provide it. But most of them will not heed advice and loudly beg me for stuff as basic as a pen to sign a form, something they have to do every frigging day. The lesson is simple: You were told, I am prepared, you aren’t, deal with it. Funny thing is that they not only refuse to learn but waste their time being sore at me.
Start planning and preparing for the small things you may need every day and planning for the big things will be much easier and smarter.
Gibbs Rule #6. Never go anywhere without a knife. If I didn’t have to spend any spare money I’ve got fixing the car, paying a few bills, and re upping my AV subscription…I’d be adding a hand forged kukri to my “oh shit” supplies this week. *grump* So much for a new blade for my birthday plans this week.
You know? Jusuchin should start importing knives from the East. I bet he knows some decent makers.
Pinoy, so balisong. But eh, last I hear butterfly knives are illegal in some US states.
In lieu of a knife most of the time, I carry a 10 inch long wrench. I also have a blade cutter. Tools of a stock grocer and a stagehand. And I have a moleskinne notebook and sharpie pens. A habit I picked up from ROTC. My swiss army knife though needs sharpening and I’m considering just grabbing a Gerber. A good knife is very handy as a stagehand. Often I wear black jeans or cargo pants to store stuff, and lower pant legs are easier to store wallets, or front pockets, and provides better accountability for me.
Often I bring my laptop to places, and its where I normally stash my wrench. Easy to get to in a hurry if it isn’t in my back pocket tied to a d-ring (a wrench falling from your grip up in the stage and to the ground where someone will be working under you sucks. It means hurt on both parties.)
That said, I aim to eventually carry. >_>;; And should honestly carry cash more often.
Truth!
I just started a new job in a high rise office building, that requires a suit and tie every day. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a Swiss Army Tinker in one pocket and an LED flashlight in the other. People already know I carry the flashlight, since it never seems to fail that the new guy gets the cubicle where not all of the computer cords are terminated correctly. I also carry a brief case to work every day, which is full of other goodies that I’d rather not disclose.
First day at work, I found where all the fire extinguishers were, and the stairs. Since I have to go to other parts of the building for meetings, I make it a point to walk around and then stop, and find my way to the stairs.
Make plans, and take steps. Don’t think it can’t happen. It’s not September 10 any more. And, even if it doesn’t happen, I can cut my apple at my desk, and see to plug my mouse back in. And that’s okay, too.
Sounded like me when I first moved into the dorms for my first year of University. Points of entry, which point of entry went to which, etc…
Which helped in my procrastination. Knew which way was the fastest, which way would take me in the periphery of the busy sections of campus, etc.
This rings a bell. When I was a military student pilot my instructor told all of his students that they must have a pen and a pencil in their shoulder pocket when they came to fly. If they showed up without them, they didn’t fly. “after all, what good would it do you to fly if you can’t log it?” If you borrowed from another student it simply meant that they didn’t fly. That has stuck with me after all this time.