I am currently sitting in the airport, sulking in a chair across from the very open and lively airline counter with which I would check in my stuff. Through this line I passed and was at the counter rejected because I was trying to check in too early. My flight doesn't leave for another nine hours, but I like to be early.

I've always liked to be early.

When I worked at Walmart, if I wasn't there fifteen minutes before my scheduled clock-in time, I felt late. For any class, appointment, or interview, if I wasn't fifteen to twenty minutes early, I felt late. Perhaps it's less that I feel like I was late when I arrived, but I always aimed to hit these early times.

Because you never know what could happen in between.

For example, say you're commuting to work from 40 miles away. There's a whole hell of a lot that can happen in between. Weather, car accidents, or perhaps a horny giraffe has died of high blood pressure and is now blocking several lanes of traffic. That extra time works as a great buffer for these kinds of occasions so you can still be, at the very least, on time. If there are no issues, then you're early and get credit for being punctual.

And certainly, the bullet point on one's reputation for punctuality is part of the issue at stake. It's an easy thing to attain on the ever looming "annual review". A high mark there gives one yet more buffer room on something else - small lapses in product quality, perhaps...

But, outside of that (and more importantly as I realized on the train), it reduces doubt. I am here, planning a sleep over at the airport, because I don't want anything left to chance on this very big trip of mine. I get as much work done on my projects as soon as I can to make room for the things that got glossed over, the challenges that weren't foreseen, and any scope creep that may and will occur. I aim to do everything in my power so that if something goes wrong, I did everything I possibly could to avoid disaster.

It's like insurance you get just for being a litte bit impatient, a little bit paranoid, and a little bit proactive.

Well, that killed, like... fifteen minutes...