Anticipation Maniac
Posted by Raul on August 23, 2010
OK people, I admit it, I am a maniac and a big fan of anticipation, not only the anticipation in Sci Fi books from authors like Asimov, but every day anticipation about little details that can make a day great or destroy it depending on what happens.
For that reason I tend to take maybe too many precautions in the eyes of others, but in mine it is just a logical thing to do, for example:
When driving or walking in a parking lot I always look at the white, reverse lights, of parked cars to anticipate if any of them will suddenly move so to avoid an unnecessary crash or accident.
When driving in a street, before changing lanes or braking, I look around and see what the other drivers are doing; are they paying attention to what’s happening around? If I change lanes, even if I signal my intentions way ahead of starting to move, will they see my vehicle moving and act accordingly?
Not just when going to change lanes or braking, but even when going in a straight line I’m always looking at the other drivers and trying to detect if they are paying attention or if they are distracted talking or texting, listening music or animated in conversation with the other occupants of the car.
When parking in public parking lot like in a grocery store, always park in reverse; when just arriving we have a better vision of what’s happening around so we can park safely, but when leaving we don’t know what its been happening around and we are distracted with the bags we are carrying, so it’ll be easier and safer to leave driving forward than backwards.
Always lightly touch the brake pedal way before having to brake, like ahead of a traffic light that will go to red, to make sure the brakes are working fine and not having to deal with a sudden, nasty surprise.
When my son was a one year old child and started to walk we always used only the rear burners in the stove when cooking, so if he happened to come by and try to see what was on top of the stove while hanging from it, he would not burn himself by accident with the hot plate, and also there’ll be nothing that could flip over and fall in his face.
Also, when he was a baby, we memorized the sequence of checking eyes, ears, nose, teeth, tongue and fingers for every time he fell and cried, so we would know in just 3 seconds if he was hurt and in need of medical attention or just scared and needing a hug.
Never leave a glass of juice too near of the edge on the table; we don’t want a broken glass, spilled juice and the extra task of cleaning up when it could be avoided.
Fill up the cup of coffee up to no less than one inch from the top to reduce the chances of spilling hot water and getting burned.
Keep the microwave at waist level in case we are heating up soup or any fluids that needs to be removed hot, so to reduce chances of getting burned compared to a high mounted microwave.
When washing dishes put knives pointing down in the strainer so when taking them back to move them to the right drawer we don’t grab them from the cutting edge
Wait until the garage door is completely closed before getting inside the house to make sure nothing is in its way that will stop it and force it to open again so we know the door is closed and don’t have to lament later the lost of personal stuff.
I keep the alarm clock 30 minutes ahead of the real time, so if I oversleep I jump out of bed worried and run, but I’m still on time 
All our cars have a remote lock system I installed; for my vehicle I have the remote in a metal bracket that fit in my waist belt instead of the key ring (which is typical); also I have a single key with all the information about the vehicle in its tab and a set of keys with all the keys we have; single key in left pocket and set of keys in right pocket; when driving I use the single key so it doesn’t apply lots of weight to the ignition switch ensuring longer life of the switch, and this is the key I give to the technician when taking the car for service, so they have all the information of the car in the key itself (because of the tab); if accidentally I lock the car I have the complete set to open it, and if that fails, I have the remote in my belt, so it is two alternatives to unlock the vehicle before having to call for help.
I could go on and on but I know you have a lot of things to do and cannot spend the whole day reading this post; so I’ll keep it short and sweet to avoid boring to death those who read this blog.
Details, details…anticipation, anticipation!
Yes, I am a maniac of anticipation and details with the intention of avoiding crying later for things that happen that could be prevented. Not that I am 100% successful in those attempts, but fortunately haven’t had to lament situations other than small things
One more…always read and re-read a post before hitting “publish” to make sure fellow bloggers will only get mad at me but will not start a mob chase to kill me…and keep the back door unlock in case of needing an escape route…
Raul
