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Sometimes I use three torches in a certain shape to alway point to the entrance/exit at underground crossings.
I usually have a bow with me to thin out large groups of mobs if needed. Also, build quick chokepoints where you can hold 'em off with your sword one by one.
Branch mining is relatively safe as you won't ever see mobs(until you encounter that ravine that you want to explore anyway). Just be aware that at lower levels you can open up a lava pool anytime. Keep paying attention.
My latancy is also at about 350ms usually, but the only times I remember dying is when falling off a structure I'm building.
The way I see it, is that it comes to being methodic about it, no matter your preferred style of mining. Eventually you'll learn a certain automatic order of actions for mining and each situation you'll encounter. I used to have the /spawn command on other servers I've been on, so in the beginning it was kinda scary and I got lost on multiple occasions, because I had gotten lazy at pathfinding. After a while mining like this, you won't have reasons to go back anymore then a full inventory.
