Does it surprise you at all that I also carried around a set of earplugs on my keychain all through my college years? I highly recommend these as they don't change the audio spectrum very much compared to the foam kind:

http://www.etymotic.com/consumer/hearing-protection/er20.htm...

I think I just really like low-impact high-reward behaviors. People tend to over-insure for common and minor issues and under-insure fore rare but costly ones.

Here's a tip for those who may read this and pick up a pair of these. It may sound obvious, but do take some time to adjust the depth of the plug based on what sounds good. I spent a year using them, but taking them out for a favorite song, or only for bands I didn't like much, because they rolled off the highs too much. Then, (at an underwhelming Wolves In The Throne Room show) I backed them out of my ear just a little. It was a touch louder, and I got the highs I wanted.

You seem a very smart person, any chance I can get a quick list of your other "weird" behaviours?

Thanks for the complement! Hmmm... not easy to think of them. It's not that they're weird, in practice they come off as sounding very normal, but very conservative. I would say the first thing to do is to get to know all of the known cognitive biases surrounding risk because just about all humans suck at it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identifiable_victim_effect

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudocertainty_effect

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-risk_bias

Actually study all of them... Then after studying those, be sure to study the cognitive bias blind spot so that you don't become overconfident ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias_blind_spot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

Also, read Warren Buffett's annual letters to shareholders and try to emulate his approach to risk. I think he's very good at it.

My biggest problem, after becoming more risk-aware is being comfortable taking calculated risks. I often can come off as a bit of a party-pooper. Nothing says "Life of the party" quite like piling into a cab while hopping from one bar to the next and spending the first 45 seconds of a 5 minute cab ride trying to fish a seatbelt out from under your drinking buddy's ass.

I would say other behaviors that could seem odd to some people are:

* Never play lotto, but always buy tickets for local fund raisers or charity giveaways that have desirable prizes. My wife and I won a week long Black Sea cruise at a charity event where tickets were $10 each but I estimate less than 600 tickets were sold.

* Always buy things like renter's insurance (not likely to be used but will wipe you out if you need it and don't have it) but skip things like those insurance policies they offer at the store for non-big-ticket items.

* I stopped worrying about flying but I've become very pro-bicycle even though I don't bike much at all (because I'm a pedestrian and cars are a bigger risk to me than bikes).

* Pick software frameworks and libraries more based on well-trod paths than the new hotness. Avoid the very old and for the very new, wait a bit.

* And finally, on the other hand: I quit my job, moved halfway around the world, and started a startup in a country that is notoriously hard to do business in (Japan). That would seem very risky but it was the sum of a lot of very calculated moves that seemed like good bets when I took them.

There are probably a lot more. I bet you have some too.

probably more fun to read a book on cognitive biases than it would be to read wikipedia pages: https://intelligence.org/2015/03/12/rationality-ai-zombies/

I use these: http://www.amazon.com/Vater-Percussion-Musicians-Ear-Plugs/d... – the same if not slightly better than the Etymotics and more likely to be available at your local music store.

++ advice to adjust the depth. I'm always modulating them based on the environment / band / track playing.

One thing of note with them, whilst they are better than nothing, they are only rated to 12db, I carry a set of them at all times, but also some foam ones (rated at 30db attenuation) to protect my hears when music is 110db plus. (It won't sound as good, but stops my tinnitus from getting worse)

Great advice. I always carry around a couple of pairs of ER-20's. They're really cheap, they work well and they last a long time.

I have the same Etymotics earplugs as someone in an above comment.

They were the best 15 dollar purchase I've ever made. I wear them even in only moderately loud situations.

Unlike foam earplugs, the only part that is visible is clear plastic so most people don't notice.

Pretty much everyone I know that goes out to a club regularly wears earplugs. People are unlikely to even notice if you are wearing a pair of musicians earplugs.

Unless you're working in a club or going there very frequently, I'm not sure wearing earplugs is going to make a big difference

Edit: see below for a better definition of frequently

Cutting out 12db makes a huge difference (as decibels are measured on a non-linear scale). It can make the difference between hearing this for the rest of your life or not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HIfqyHbKgY

In my case, in college, I would go to a club or show that was hearing-damaging probably at least once a week. Hundreds of shows a year, so I think that would qualify as very frequently as you say.

One of my friends was in a band and over the years that I knew him, I noticed he started to mix down his own music recordings hotter and hotter on the treble. I asked him why he was doing that and he said "I don't know, this is just how it sounds good to me." Later I realized that he probably has hearing damage and doesn't realize how much treble is in the mix for normal ears.

Keep in mind that 85db for sustained periods of time is the low end where noise induced hearing loss can begin. That's not really that loud. It's likely that your headphones can crank out over 100db and many people work in environments with loud, constant ambient noise.

Ah yes, from one a week to hundreds per year is definitely going to have an important effect

Bands usually should be using ear protection as well.