Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Leisure time in general

Having no obligations and nothing you really should be doing is pretty cool sometimes. In fact, sometimes it's just plain awesome. But not always. Sometimes having the complete unquestioned authority over what to do with your time, and then exercising that authority, can lead to pretty disappointing results. Example: I have nothing to do for a while, so I figure I'll watch a DVD. Sounds reasonable. What DVD? I'd like to think that every one I own is decent -- can't really go wrong, right? In theory any of these should provide more than enough entertainment to fill a couple of hours. Which is true, to a point. By which I mean, as long as you don't overanalyze the situation too much. Naturally, that's exactly what I end up doing. I get about 30-45 minutes into the movie (really doesn't matter what movie it is) and I start thinking, "This is it? This is what I'm choosing to entertain myself with? Of all the basically limitless fun-producing options available to me, I really thought this was the best possible way to go? As good a movie as Adaptation is, does it really trump every single other activity I could have involved myself in right now? Should I have watched something else? Would that have made any difference? Isn't sitting on the couch watching a movie a pretty lame activity anyway?"

And so forth. I mean, I'm sure if you took all my leisure time away I'd go crazy in no time. But I'm not sure having it really keeps you from going crazy, either.

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