Time Well Spent

Lately (meaning in this pointless stats class), I've been thinking about the idea of spending time well. The longer this pointless class goes on, the more it gets me to think about it.

Sadly enough, I'll be the first to admit that a big bulk of my time is normally spent playing Video Games. Being unemployed at the moment doesn't help at all either, so it's usually the regular process of jumping from game to game after I get bored. I always thought as a kid that I would be able to grow out of playing games all the time, but I've found that the gaming industry is getting better and better at attracting the older gamers. Given that there are guys in their 30's who regularily enjoy video games, it doesn't make me feel so bad.

I think the whole trick behind the games are that they're engineered to make it seem like you're doing something productive. Look at any addictive game today, they all have some kind of continuing progress kind of mode where you build towards something (ie: World of Warcraft, NHL Dynasty Mode, Guitar Hero Career). I know personally, there's been times where I've had a day planned out to get things done, but what ends up happening is that I get stuck at home playing games.

Thankfully though, things have changed lately. Keeping the perspective in mind that games are best when they're used as a temporary relaxing activity, it's been much easier to not flock to them instantly. Games like WoW are best curbed by not logging in at all for a while. And all along I was expecting to experience some kind of withdrawal, instead it's been liberating to know that I'm not stuck neglecting other important things to get a little more play time in a game. It all comes back to 'all things are good in moderation'. Although, it does kind of suck that I don't end up getting much playtime out of a $400+ console. Oh well, it's still good to have when some friends are over.

Anyhow, lately I've been playing a lot more guitar. It's been really sweet cause I registered to a website called JamPlay. I only wish my fingers didn't hurt so much after a short period of time, that way I could get to playing a lot longer.