Wasted Time

I think this post is a companion piece to the one on useless knowledge. It seems to be along the same theme as the previous one, but it applies to time.

I have been giving a lot of thought to the topic of hobbies which I have been discussing with my wise friend for some time now. I often wonder of hobbies aren't simply a waste of time. I define a hobby as an activity that you are not required to do and for which you will not be paid. This could be something like fishing, playing golf, hunting, surfing, or posting daily to an obscene blog where you excoriate religionists, politicians, fuckheads, women, and transexual midgets who leave you handcuffed in a seedy motel room and make off with your wallet and your pants and your laptop computer with sensitive government data on it. But I digress. . .

Like knowledge, you never know when a hobby will turn into something good. Most businesses start out as hobbies for someone along with many careers. Who knows? I might become a bestselling author with my hobby. But I'm probably going to keep being a loser.

The question that I explore is what makes something a waste of time as opposed to not being a waste of time. Clearly, it has to have something to do with our ultimate end which is happiness. I'd like to say if you don't make money at it then it is a waste of time. It is the dream of all to get paid to do what they love. But I figure that if it makes you happy and you can afford it, then it is worth doing.

Getting paid is still better than not getting paid. This is why I cling to my dayjob. But I think it pays to use time for things that are speculative in nature. Both Tiger Woods and Tony Hawk were hobbyists that ended up going somewhere with what can only be an avocation for the rest of us.

As for me, I will continue to waste my time with this project along with many others. There is always something to do, and I have fun doing it. That is all that matters to me.

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