As I lift Wilf into the back of the car he has a look on his face that says “Time that you enjoy wasting, was not wasted .”
—Angus, Wilf the PONS Discovers France: Life With A Blind Dog
tammy told me about Angus and Wilf last week. It’s a charming, heart-warming site. Wilf is blind and has cancer and Angus is making sure they both continue to celebrate the little pleasures in life while they still can. If you read nothing else please read the About Me section, on the right below the Blog Archive.
Angus does raise an interesting question: What does it mean to waste time? In a comment at Rummuser’s Ursula touched on the same subject:
…just to prove that I am the queen of wasting time, I will waste even more time on the subject…. Have fallen quite in love with the idea. WASTING time; rolls off your tongue; dreamy.
It seems to me to say we’re wasting time means we think there’s something more important we should be doing with it. And I’m fairly certain some of the things that are most important to me would seem like a waste of time to others. For me I’m wasting time if I’m not
- Enjoying myself, and/or
- Doing something constructive
As long as I can answer the question, “Is this a good use of my time” with a resounding “Yes!”, I’m not wasting my time and my life.
What do you think? What does “wasting time” mean to you?
Reality TV, for me, would be a huge waste of time. I watched “Survivor” a very few times a few year back and essentially none of the other “reality” shows — waste of time.
In my view.
“Wasting time” is subjective. It’s also a matter of perception. What would be a good use of my time to me may very well be perceived as a “waste of time” to someone else.
I don’t have time. How can I waste it? And, for me, doing something constructive is enjoying myself! I consider sleeping to be a very constructive activity too.
Sorry, that blog is very touching. I did not know about Italy being so dangerous.
Mike,
I watched a few episodes of Survivor just to see what the fuss was about. I’ve also watched some of The Apprentice, always some of the last ones of the season just to see how people solve problems. And some episodes of the the Amazing Race. I only watch TV if I’m exercising and if I’ve taped it so I can fast forward through the commercials. Now I watch Netflix while exercising. I figure anything that grabs my attention and keeps me moving isn’t a waste. Sitting and watching would be another matter.
Rummuser,
Yes, you don’t have time to do crossword puzzles, keep up with the news and try to con your friends. Yeah, sure. 😉
About Italy…being robbed would be bad enough, but with machines guns?!
I asked Jean to insert this for me. At the moment I’m up to my ears on other things so am not commenting on blogs. It’s not necessarily a waste of time, but it can’t be one of my top priorities right now.
I’m reorganizing my house and will hopefully get rid of a lot of stuff I’ll never use. I need to get rid of stuff so my husband won’t get rid of me. 😀
Pointless meetings!
Evan,
Ah, yes. It’s been a long time since I had to go to those. One more thing to add when I count my blessings. I sympathize.
I agree, if you’re enjoying yourself it’s not time-wasting. But I don’t think you have to be doing anything “constructive”. That’s such a subjective term. Anyway, isn’t enjoying yourself the most constructive thing you can do?
nick,
I only have to do something “constructive” (according to my own values) if I’m not having fun. Being basically lazy it means I’ve learned to be very good at having a good time. 😀
In fact I can often do both. My quick reminder is
“it depends”
yep, you knew I would insert that but usually I insert that the end of a missive 🙂
i spent a lot of time today – wasting time – because I’m at a loose end whilst I change from a big challenge to what hasn’t been decided next challenge!
i think I’m supposed to be taking break though…and I haven’t fathomed out when that will occur or even what status it might have
Cathy,
That doesn’t sound like a waste of time to me. Sometimes periods of downtime are an important part of the process. Do you agree?
Jean, yes I agree that I have to have downtime…but I feel that it needs some sort of structure this time 🙂
I do have the MyFilm scenario to fill in but that is just so much fun although I still need to sort out a few more digi-shots for this w/end…I had to go out a buy a whole packet of something for one item needed for a ‘prop’ – I used it this morning but then wrapped it up…now decided that the picture needs more depth – so tomorrow will open up two more ‘props’ – I have something like 16 to chose from…
the ‘prop’ is a cereal bar
But I will be able to eat them tomorrow. Today I couldn’t because I had a bowl of cereal in the shot which definitely needed to be eaten..
ok probably none of that makes sense!!!
how delightful to check in at the cheerful little monk and see my beloved Wilf! (except Agnus’es name is Angus… as in a very scottish man!! smiles)
actually, given his beautiful sense of humor and dry wit, he’s probably gotten quite a kick from being called agnus.
i was partly raised by a very new england, puritanical grandmama. “idle hands are the devil’s workshop” and all that. she once told my father that the laziest man she knew, did nothing on his day off!!! i loved her dearly. but my philosophy of life is so different. when i work. i WORK. but now that i’m retired… ah… i love the saying from the tao de ching… or zen… or whatever!… the sage does not rush about doing things, yet everything gets done.
have you noticed that i like making little dots? ….
tammy,
Thanks for catching the misspelling. Yes, I know it’s Angus… they advertise a lot of Angus beef around here…but my fingers insisted and my brain didn’t catch it. I’ve now changed it.
I was always the “lazy” one in my family, and Robert Frost’s New England neighbors thought he was the laziest person they ever knew. As I will mention in next Sunday’s post (being lazy I post only once a week on each of my blogs) the sloth is one of my role models. 😀
Cathy,
I’m curious. Why isn’t your MyFilm project enough structure right now? Do you think it’s just the contrast with how busy you have been lately?
i love sloths! i was recently on a site where it showed an actual sloth taking a nap in a hammock. really! wouldn’t it be a perfect picture for your next slothful post! i’ll try to find it again just so you can see it. at first i didn’t know what kind of animal it was. i like exclam points almost as much as dots … 🙂
Tammy arrived about the time (I think) that I quit to get my act cleaned up here. She’s so interesting. Unlike me she owns nothing & keeps her hair very short. I own a lot of useless, maybe pretty, stuff & have let my hair grow long to twist it up on back of head in a messy fashion—have to be fashionable. She calls herself weird. I am. I shaved my head once ’cause I heard it grows in thick. It doesn’t. I wore a wig ’til it was 1/2 inch. WONDERFUL feel.
you will need to see the new entry at my blog to understand how wasting time worked for today…even though it was a complete waste it was interesting watching other people especially the ones trying frantically to sort out the problems…
yes I do believe it is the contrast but also it has to do with somewhat more fluid deadlines…
the study time is linked to deadlines: reading passages for a lecture/tutorial need to be done by xyz time, research for essays underway before you start said essay, handing essay in on time or getting the much needed extn with the right reasons for why…
even though I had to have certain images and sound by a certain day; if it pans out to be not quite right I still a week or more to fix them…
Cathy,
I tend to pretend deadlines are sooner than they really are. It gets me doing most of the work ahead of time and allows my subconscious mind to think about the project and generate new ideas. The project usually turns out much better for having that extra creative time.
Jean, I am kind of glad – we didn’t get right on to things yesterday because somewhere along the time…I realised that I need to put to work a bit more on a balance arena otherwise people won’t really understand what the problem is…
That will be the Wednesday at home job, revamping some of those sequences both photos and words…
Cathy,
Good luck! I’m excited for you. I sympathize with the computer problems. That’s one reason I always set my own personal deadlines earlier than what was officially needed. I didn’t trust the computers not to have problems when I needed them the most.
I used Final Cut Pro years ago in a class I took. I decided for my own personal use Final Cut Express was enough. I actually spent Friday afternoon adjusting the brightness and contrast on a video clip my daughter had sent. It was the first time I had tried that so learned a lot. I ended up sticking with the original. The colors were better. Video adjustments don’t work as well as Photoshop does on still pictures.
I’m learning from reading what Jean & Cathy say. Mainly I’m learning how much I DON’T know.
bikehikebabe
believe me – you will certainly know about a lot of things that have no meaning as such to me…
what about your outdoors life. I bet you know the best type of hiking shoe and food supplies that are best for the job in hand!
we all have special information on the things we enjoy/enjoyed doing and it is there somewhere the brain keeps the archives which hopefully the ‘little man’ we employ can extract the information when we require it!
We need a heavy lug sole to grip rolling rocks when going downhill. I learned (the hard way) to always plant heel first. If you put your toe down first, the way that you’re inclined to do, you side with the rock.
No special food though.
Definitely right on target there with how to determine if you’re wasting time or not. If you’re enjoying it, it’s definitely not a waste for sure. You don’t have to be constantly productive in order for your time to not count as wasteful.