So, I really need to start writing again. I'm running out of excuses. I mean, I wrote this (and 5+ other typewritten pages) in my notebook between dials at work. I have the time, especially since I have such inconsistent hours at work. One thing I've been thinking about when it comes to a possible return to blogging is that if I am to be a blogger again I should really try to be a part of the larger “Blogosphere.” I mean, I know quite a few people with blogs and I think that maybe blogging should happen in community, reading each other's work. That's pretty much the complete opposite of what I used to do, writing in a vacuum and expecting readership to pull in from the gravity of my charisma and awesome writing. I've never made the effort to really read someone else's blog. I mean, come on, blogs are boring! So, I guess I'll try to do better this time. Yeah, see that “Fellow Chroniclers” section on the lower right (you may need to scroll down) I think I'm going to try to be friends with them.
Part of why I'm hopeful that I'll make time to write is my nifty new Excel sheet. At church last week Major Ditmer spoke about tithing. This is always a tricky subject but one I usually tune out for the most part. But this week as I spaced out I started thinking not about tithing money, but time. Now, that is where I struggle. Giving up money is easy. I mean, I spend it all the time. Easy come, easy go. But my time, ah yes, with that I am a total scrooge. Once time is spent you can't get it back. There's no ATM for time and I can't go to work to earn more of it. Time is the currency I spend at work to get money. It's the most valuable resource I have!
So how do I generally prefer to spend that most valuable resource? Well, I love video games. Coming from a guy who just explained how precious and fleeting time is this may make no philosophical sense. But hey, this isn't about philosophy. This is about fun and the epic Steam game library I've built over the years waiting for the day when I would an epic computer equal to the task of running them all with the visual glory God intended when he invented video games on the eighth day. Today is that day. Now I am finding it most difficult to pull myself away from my glorious new gaming experience into the mundane-ness of most of real life.
The point is that I recognize that I balance my time budget like the US government balances their money budget and before I end up with a 16 trillion hour time debt I realize I'd better get a handle on things. So Jenny, my Excel smart wife, helped me make an excel sheet that would split my 168 weekly hours into percentages:
10% God time (Time tithing!)
10% Chris time (Video games! Woohoo!)
20% Jenny time (She's my wife, of course she gets twice as much of my time as I do. Plus, time with her is almost always better than my games anyway)
30% Work time (Not only does this include bringing home the bacon, but also things like blogging like I am now. Basically a collection of things which, though they may be good or enjoyable, I probably wouldn't choose them over video games even though I should.)
30% Sleep time (Sleep takes up a depressing amount of my time. It's like income tax for my time! After living with these percentages for a week I think I'm going to have to rearrange it because for my last night I only have 3 hours of sleep left in the budget...)
Now that I've set up my time as a trackable and spendable commodity I've been way better at time management. Raptr, a gaming service, sent me my weekly gameplay report and told me I had played about 50% less than I usually do. That's probably a good thing, as much as I hate it. I mean, my natural hoarding instinct is finally a HUGE help as I focus on working to hoard up gaming time for binges.
So, there it is! I have realistic plans to help me ensure I blog more. Now lets see me do it. I hope you're looking forward to it, because I am.
