So it begins...

"So it begins..." ...dunno where i heard that for the first time (I guess LOTR), but I like using that to mark the beginning of any "awesome looking" plan to utilize (read that as kill ...err. murder) my time. Since past month and a half I've been utilizing my time on sites like ryze and orkut, and have, in fact, been really successful in my venture. But as it's said, "old habbits die hard", I suffer from the saggittarian infuence of NOT being able to stick to something (or someone) for long. Anyway, the bottomline is that I'm fed up of the old creative ways and am looking for a newer way to (once again) utilize my time. Thanks a lot to Arpit (http://nd4spd.blogspot.com), another member of the "we have way too much free time" club, that I've finally moved on to a level above ryze and orkut and I'm here today!!!
For those who are potential members of the club mentioned above, here is a simple list of levels, I (of course with due credit to Arpit) have figured out since this research on Extra Time Utilization or ETU began -

Level 0 - The Solitary Thinker
You keep thinking what to do, keep getting frustrated, bite your nails, move stuff around in your room, try to sleep etc.

Level 1 - The Sleeper
You sleep 10, then 12, then 14 hours a days...hmm good enough. But still troubled about how to utilize the remaining hours.

Level 2 - You could fall in either of the following catagories (maybe in more than one)
2a. The Reader
You develop interest in books and inculcate a reading habbit. Then you read read and only read. You read your newspaper while attending nature's call. Then you pick up some book (any book actually) and read it through your classes, lunch, work, walk...maybe even sleep. You claim that a few books are your favourites and they are generally Fountain Head, The Firm, Kane and Abel, Catch 22, Lord of the Rings and maybe Harry Potter.

2b. The Movie Critic
You somehow get access to a computer and someone's video library card. Then you are on a rampage watching every damn movie. You could begin with real class (Al Pachino, Robert deNiro) movies like Heat, Ronin, Scarface etc., then move on to action flicks like Terminator, Independence Day, Die Hard etc. and then watch (no adjectives come to my mind) movies life King Solomon's Mines, Ben Hur, The Lawrence of Arabia. Watching 4 movies in a row is very good because you utilize around 7 hours watching the movies, then 1 hour trying to get rid of the pain in your eyes and another 7-8 hours sleeping to give rest to your eyes.

2c. The Deadly Gamer
You start playing computer games. You are the deadly gamer...thoroughly frustrated, try to vent out your anger by shredding your opponent's body to peices. Once again you begin from elite games like Quake, AOC etc. and gradually move on to Diablo, NWN etc. and finally to flash games like 3D ping pong, Space Pin-Ball or "Save the Damn Helicopter". If that's not enough, the dawn of new technology presents for you, Snake-2...yeah it's there in your cellphone.

Level 3 - The Public Relations Guy
Now you start off with PR. You are networking with a lot of people like you. People from 2a dicuss books, people from 2b criticise movies and try to prove that their choice is the most elite (even if the choice is movies like "dude where's my car???") and well, the people from 2c just keep mouthing obscenities, abusing eachother for not being there on the guard when the enemy came for the flag. Some of the 2c people also go room to room ...just to tell how much they scored in Snake-2 >;-]. Overall at this level you meet up in galleries and corridors and start off a useless discussion that goes nowhere (and of course, takes you nowhere), but indeed helps you burn those 4 extre hours.

Level 4 - The "Search and Chat" Guy
Life suddenly becomes interesting and words in the air are MSN BuddyZone, Ryze, Orkut... You get an account on all of these and then begin with your "hunt". Your network grows. Your useless discussions that were confined to your Office/Campus suddenly become international. With widened horizons you get more people to takl about useless stuff. Americans would be up when it's night here ...so all 24 hours you have companions, and your topics keep getting better as you get to talk about international nonsense. This is a pretty stable phase where one doesn't need to look for other options. Most people are satisfied with this.

Level 5 - The Blogger (yeah, that's me...right at the last known level)
You start to blog. You utilize time the same way as before, just that you also start writing about it and hence getting rid of the last few hours (I got them now...they were a serious pain, I didn't know what to do about them). See, I took some real good time to put this research in words for the fellow member.

That's all for today guys. Reading this should have been very productive for you. People at 0 or 1 should know the road ahead. buck up guys!!!
...and of course, thanks a lot to Arpit (God's own prototype). Where we go from here is what we have to decide.

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EclipsE >:-]