I won't play any other cymbal than Zildjian...mostly b/c of my dad telling me that they are the best, and all others are copy cats back in my formative years. I still hold on to some of this mind set today. Even though I KNOW it is not legit, I still can't bring myself to buy other cymbals.
And I do think that they are still the best.
I also can not play with socks or shoes on. I have got in trouble for this before in bands, and at work, and I am sure it is psycho-somatic, but I just won't do it.
I also rarely socialize at gigs. I tend to set up, and if I can, I just sit behind the kit and play on my practice pad. This is more the introvert in me. I just can't bring my self to hold pointless conversation with drunk people. I run the merch table for my metal band, and that allows me to seperate if I want to. Before set up. or after tear-down, I am fine with it, but as Odd-Arne mentioned about "The Zone", once the kit, or amp (for when I play bass) is up, I sort of hyper focus on playing