Since I'm only a chess hobbyist and have no interest in tournament competition, I'll never be playing grandmasters! ;)

I'm probably somewhere around an 800 rating--probably because I haven't yet acquired that "danger sense". This is something I want to work on, but I'm not exactly sure what concrete steps I can take to improve at this.

As for style, I hate feeling choked by pawns and I don't like tension. I don't play rated games and most often play as White (always with e4). I have no clue what to play as Black -- something else I need to learn. Andras Toth recommends the open Sicilian.