I'm preparing for when TSHTF, not specifically 2012.  I don't believe the doomsayers.
So, no, I don't have any specific plans to bug out in 2012 just in case or anything like that.

And the people who prepared for Y2K and were disappointed are idiots.  Preparation is a good thing, but why would you be disappointed when something bad doesn't happen.  I heard that a lot of people bought a lot of gear in preparation and then turned around and sold it after Y2K turned out to be a whole lot of nothing.  Those people are also idiots.

I think that logic's flawed, myself. there are so many possible dooms that could have happened yesterday, none of them were right.

But there is something about 2012 that has me on edge.

I prepare, i always prepare, but not for 2012 specifically, i prepare for any disaster. Preparing for 2012 is like preparing for y2k, nothing happened, and everyone let their preperations fall by the wayside. Had everyone kept up their preperations, katrina and other disasters would have been a cakewalk.

Preparing for a specific disaster kinda defeats the purpose of being prepared.

Which prediction?  The one about polar shift, the one about solar flares, or the one where the feathered serpent god will come to Earth to destroy mankind?

You know this, or you feel this?  If you know, then by all means share the details.

Yeah, sarcasm is just one of the things that doesn't come through very clear in type.

The 2012 prediction I worry most about is that of the Grace Commission report. What happens after that I am not sure but Brazil 2001 seems to be an accurate model.

The other predictions of the planets aligning is something I don't have much experience with but I would assume that altered orbits and rotations may be possible. Not much I can do about that though so...

As for the solar flare that is going to wipe out about half of the earths population, I don't know if I'd be able to do more than dig a cave to hide in. I would have to have some sort of concrete evidence of that, before I started running around and digging tunnel systems. But if you did survive that, wouldn't it be cool to have all those resources at your disposal? As much gas, computers, cars, etc.

And with regards to the Mayan calendar, I think they are all dead so I don't know how their calendar is going to kill us...

I think there are even more things than that being predicted but I don't know what they are.

I am prepared.  Period.

I guess I'm preparing for 2012, because it seems to be a distance of years, a finite yet still relatively soon way off.

I am planning temporary BOL's.  I am scouting cheap hotels in other states.  I am finalizing my kit and I am starting to walk a mile a day to get in shape.  I only have four years to lose almost 150 pounds.  I best get crackin'

I've stopped buying guns, and am now concentrating on ammunition.

I am considering what impact a complete disruption of the infrastructure will do to my way of life;  I have acquired solar cells and spare storage batteries.  I have inverters in my Master Storage.

I have a recently-acquired diesel BOV.  I will be converting it to run on WVO.  I have the money for a biodiesel plant but I haven't decided if the WVO supply is going to support that kind of investment locally.

I am acquiring back my licenses to carry a firearm professionally -- these will be taken a bit more seriously and be less likely to be suspended/revoked arbitrarily due to their professional nature (I cite Hurricane Andrew as my primary example of this.)

I am in the process of setting to store fuel.  Unfortunately, prices being the way they are, this may not be feasible if fuel does not get significantly cheaper.

In the meantime, it looks like I'll be driving the diesel more often;  Better gas mileage.

The rest is just a matter of having enough durable consumer goods to last you through the situation, however long it may be.  And to have the armament to keep what you've got.

Consumables, after your first round of stored food and supplies have been expended, are going to need to be renewed locally after the disruption of the infrastructure.  Thus, you must decide NOW if you are going to relocate, or are going to stick it out.  Now would also be a good time to see what you can grow and eat from your own garden, and for how long.  This will be a rude awakening for some folks.

Stock up on vitamins, preferably multivitamins, because as food shortages continue, nutrition will suffer.  If you're surviving on your 3-metric-tonnes of rice, you're going to need the nutrients that rice isn't providing in some other form.

Know what you're going to need, and get it now.

Learn alternate forms of the medications you need, or learn how to go without them.  Unfortunately, if this includes psych meds, you may be SOL;  You're going to need your wits about you if you expect to survive.

Expect primitive to be more labor-intensive and time-consuming than modern, and budget your time accordingly.  The good thing is that there won't be nearly as many taxes on your time as there are with an intact infrastructure.  The bad thing is that without the infrastructure, you are going to be using nearly all of your time keeping up your own microcosm of infrastructure you need to survive.

However you choose to prepare, this is your "skills acquiring" time.  Learn all you need to learn with an intact society and...I'll say it again, infrastructure.  Know what parts of your kit work and what's junk, and get RID of the junk.  Don't "try to make it work" just because some famous-name whiz-bang guru said it should.  Kit is what works for YOU.  Be ruthless in your paring down of kit that doesn't work for you, and replace it immediately with kit that does.

Learn.  Get Trained.  Practice.  These are commodities that cannot be taken away from you EVER, and once TSHTF, these opportunities to easily acquire your training will be gone, possibly forever.

Absolutely take advantage of the training available right now.  Not just knowledge, but the psychomotor skills of actually DOING the things you may be called upon to save your life doing, or someone else's life.  I cannot stress this enough.

I've gotten to the point where I HATE Paramedic School.  I don't want to see another venipuncture, take another blood pressure, do another head-to-toe exam, ever.  Yet, here I am, less than two months from graduation, and I absolutely am CERTAIN that this skillset will be not only useful, but NECESSARY in both a regular societal AND SHTF situation.

So if I gotta do it, you gotta do it.  Get crackin', because as Viper said in Top Gun:

"The Clock is Ticking and as of Now we are Keeping Score."

S

I'm preparing as a part of my desire to be self-sufficient, whether 2012 leads to disaster or anything else. I've already got a fair amount of water and canned/dry food storage and I'm working on longer term storage for a year or more. I already have propane and butane stoves and fuel for cooking during power outages that would last a few weeks and my wood stove for heating, though it would be prudent for me to get more wood. I have made security and privacy improvements on my domicile, I intend on doing more as money permits. I'll be improving my bug out bag over time and try to make it lighter, train carrying it and using it in the field. I intend to continue learning and training in regards to firearms, knives and unarmed defense. I plan to join with friends working towards the same goal, whether 2012 is the great disaster it is chocked up to be is no matter, I consider these things part of being responsible for oneself.

I built my BOB in mind that I would carry 3 days worth of food, 1 days worth of water and my water purifier, but the shelter and other items and tools are intended to last 1-2 weeks in the field. But that's just me. Even if you depend on the FEMA numbers and results, 3 days doesn't seem sufficient. And personally I'm trying to stay far, far away from the FEMA folks.


I forgot to add, I plan on experimenting and training using primitive skills as well so I can put a lot of my theoretical knowledge to the test in that regard.