Spidie Sense?

Back in my days of youth I had this sudden urge to get proficient in first-aid. I started studying everything I could find. I had a chance meeting with a paramedic that shared the realities of treating trauma victims and performing CPR (victim vomiting in your mouth, etc). A few weeks later I was finishing up a flying lesson at Santa Paula airport, when one of the instructors ran up saying he saw a Great Lakes airplane go down in the nearby Santa Paula River. My instructor and I jumped in my truck and raced to the river. We found the plane upside down on a sand bar with the man pinned underneath and fuel spilled all around. Another instructor arrived and they pulled the man free. Then they just left him there lying on the hot sand. I jumped right in and did what I could. The man had severe facial injuries and a compound fracture of one leg. Probably more injuries I couldn’t see (he spent a week in ICU). The amazing thing is nobody else would help. While we waited for the Sheriff’s helicopter to arrive, a crowd gathered. Nobody would help. It was sweltering, so I finally yelled at this group “If you are just going to stand there, at least stand where you will cast some shade on this poor guy”. Nobody budged. Weird. There wasn’t a lot I could do for this guy so I mainly just kept a constant conversation going with him to keep him alert, keep him distracted from the pain, and hopefully lesson the chances of severe shock. Afterwards when I reflected back on this string of events, I felt like I was meant to be there. Or was it all just coincidence?

Back to the present…

The hair on the back of my neck has been on end since early August. Something’s up!

My interest in preparedness went into overdrive. I began surfing the web regarding preparedness and going back through all my kits. I shamefully admit I had not updated some of my kits in 5 years (results: rotten candy, leaking batteries, etc). I decided to methodically re-evaluate and update all my kits (these things take time and money).

Then along comes Hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster in our country. Was this what I was sensing?

I continue to work on my kits. After being a former lurker, I finally join the ETS gang.

My son breaks his arm at school. Is this what I have been sensing?

I continued to put the finishing touches on my kits, then I hear about some interesting seismic and volcanic happenings in my neck of the woods?

http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050913_slip.html

http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/ap_050906_sisters_bulge.html

Maybe this? I dunno.

I am feeling better about my state of preparedness, but had to have my wife shave the back of my neck to get that hair down. I still have a strange sense that something is about to happen. (Maybe I’m just nutz).

I am curious about others experience or opinions regarding a so called “Spidie Sense”, intuition, animal instinct, premonitions, etc. regarding future disasters or emergencies.

TR

Well... What I'll say is this:

I am reluctant to use words like "precognition". But I have a little voice in the back of my head. I usually listen to it. When I don't, I get hurt and the little voice laughs at me.

I listen to the little voice.

I feel the same thing. It's like in a thriller where there's a high note drawn out, and you're just waiting for the explosion, the bad guy to jump out of the closet, etc. I know religion and politics are somewhat taboo here, but I believe my inkling is "from above." I am not afraid--just hyper-vigilant.

That's just perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone gets it.

Bad things happen at random times. If you often feel like "something" might happen, sooner or later something will happen to you when you feel like it might.

Nice thing about your spidey sense... as long as you don't take it to an extreme (no lye in your kool-aid), it can't hurt and might help. If it makes you more prepared, then by all means listen to it.

Some times I hear that voice as I am a bought to leave a peace of gear at home for no reason. Usually it is an extra knife or maybe a bic lighter you know the stuff you do not have to carry but do because it might be useful. Most times that items number comes up and I need it.
My point is, listen to the voices .
<img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Heh, that reminds me- I was snowboarding on a really warm day, and I thought about leaving my helmet in my car. I couldn't get my hand to release it, so I put it on my head. Later, on my favorite hill, a ski racer was warming up and slammed into me- I flipped over and landed on my head. Helmet came in handy there, and both of us were fine.

Damn skiers!

Got any feelings about Illinois Lotto numbers??

<img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Listen to the voices....?

That's why I take the medication........

The voices told me not to take my medication.

<img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

"Got any feelings about Illinois Lotto numbers??"
0, 112, -6, 72, 94, & ? <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

I'll insert my reply here. If you read Doug's gear lists a small religous text of your faith for spiritual comfort in a stressfull situation is listed. Expressions of spiritual or religous bent are not taboo.Just don't knock on the forum doors like the assorted prosyletizers that have the misfortune to knock on mine. This phenomenon has many names; 6th sense, guardian angels, animal instinct etc. It's hard to quantify, but few haven't experienced it. My old lifeboat had a electrical short in the mast array that produced electrical effects in the almost constant wet conditions of the Oregon Coast. It didn't have any negative effects on the equipment, so we ignored it. later I calmed a very scared, very catholic crewman by telling him about Saint Elmo's fire. In honesty all of us were really worried. Our boat was rated to take so much wave and even my lousy triangulation told me they were swelling well beyond that extreme figure. We made it back. 3 days later to my horror the electrician's mate fixed the short. He had 4 very determined shipmates stand over him while it was repaired <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Very wise and entertaining feedback.

Interesting how many have spoken about that ?little voice?. I try I do this regularly. Learned the hard way. To paraphrase Ironsraven?s sage advice : ?Ignore the l?il voice at your own peril.?

The reason I have been a little freaked out recently is the decibel level of the voice. It is more like the ?Mother of all Voices?. The kind of feeling that cannot be ignored and will not be denied. I guess I just answered my own question. Listen to the big voice.

Now if the big voice decides to move in and make itself at home, then (as some have suggested) I will have to explore the fascinating world of prescription medication. <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

To those with lottery aspirations, I say only this: I know not of lotteries. But if you wish a comfortable living, bet against any and all sports picks that I make. It?s as close to a sure thing as there is in this world.

Thanks to all for your insight and humor.

TR (Going back to his bunker to continue preparations)

There's two things at work here.

First of all, you're brain is wired to continually process lots of information at once - and you do this unconciously. Now, if the information coming is is threatening to you - even if indirectly - you're unable to do anything other than react to it. Thus, when you watch the news and some disaster befalls some people far from you, you can't help but consider what could happen to you - is it a real threat? Your concious mind can tell you in a split second what's a threat and what's not - but your unconcious mind just reacts to what it sees - no language needed.

The other thing that is happening (and I admit it's happening to me to) is that you're seeking out patterns in randomness. This is the same thing that lets you imagine that clouds are in the shape of animals, faces, what have you, and it's also the same thing that lets you come up with a solution to a problem you may be having - those "a ha" moments that come along now and then. So, you hear threats of weather disasters, terrorist attacks, environmental catastophe, and that's in there while you seek to detect a pattern that will give you some better intel on the situation - some indicator, a predictor that will give you the extra seconds, minutes, hours or days to deal with the situtation.
I go through this frequently with fire calls. We sometimes go a long time with no calls at all, and then we get clusters of calls, and I always try to figure out what the indicators are - full moon? social security checks? height of the tides?
There are no patterns, and that's what's maddening. Yeah, we get brush fire calls in the spring, and car wrecks in the winter, and marine rescues in the summer...but I can't say "Oh, the moon is full and it's near the middle of the month, here come a bunch of calls"

Anyway, it's tough to be on edge all the time. It's better to admit stuff is random and leave it at that then spending all your energy worrying about what if and when could and what might. Deal with the real, prepare for general situations and don't worry.

All my friends are jealous because the voices only talk to me <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

"It's better to admit stuff is random and leave it at that "

I dont agree with that line.
I agree that we take input from our surroundings, some of which is unconciously or subconciously. We react to this, but when we try to find out why we are reacting we learn more and become more in tune with our environment. Then when it counts we might react sooner to danger.

An example with myself when I misread danger signs is when I was walking down a track in bush land a while back and I beleive I have reasonable experience with my local bush land. A bird was quite vocal reacting to a threat. We have a small bird here (Australia) called a Willie Wag Tail and it has a distinctive sound when there is a threat present. I initially thought I was the threat, and took my focus off the track, and watched the bird as I approached. Something seemed wrong, and my hackles went up and stopped. It wasn't reacting to me as the threat, it was reacting to a 3 foot long Tiger Snake which was 5 feet in front of where I stopped. (TigerSnake being the 3rd most deadly snake in Australia)
The snake looked like some bark shead from the local trees, and unless you look for them you dont see them, and they hold there ground and dont rush and hide like other snakes.
If I had not had the experiece of seeing what the birds reactions are like then, and more importantly subconciously learning what they are like, the 'little voices' wouldnt have deafened me into stopping 2 steps from being bitten.

We react to sight, smells, sounds, weather, etc subconciously everyday, and I believe my little voice needs the exercise. I think we are to complex to understand, and if we do one day understand our complexity, we will disappear in a puff of logic. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Until then, tune in and enjoy the show our little voices have to offer and who knows we might even learn something new.

It was actually the little voices that sent me searching one day on the net for some info.
After searching for some time, deciding which sites had relivant info and which ones were full of c*%p, I added 3 or 4 sites into my favourites. That was 2/3 years ago.
After a hard drive crash I added one of those sites back into my favourites.

And I'm still coming back here time after time.

Could be a response to the news...

Anyhow, thanks for getting trained and helping people. As you found out, some can't/ won't help.

Welcome,

Teacher RO

But be careful of who you tell about the voices. I told the wrong person once and got put on anti-psychotics! <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />