Perfection is overrated

Okay, I know, I'm waxing philosophical. I think it must be a phase, and presently I shall return to comments on matters such as the flotilla of mini pirate ships on my dresser or the many reasons I dislike math. However, this is the helping of my thoughts that I release today into cyberspace.

Yesterday afternoon (Sunday) I played a large game of Lord of the Rings Monopoly with all but one of my family members. (The missing one has what one or two of his friends refer to as a 'jewfro', and memorizes phone numbers by remembering which hockey players' numbers they correspond to.) Afterward, I relented to pleading from my two smallest siblings and played an hour or two of Twilight Princess. I accomplished quite a lot, and I am halfway through the Temple of Time. About this point, shortly after dinner, I remembered that on Sunday afternoons, I normally get started on this week's quizzing material. "Okay, whatever," I thought. "The sections haven't been as long lately, so I probably don't have much to do. I'll just slip it in before we start on our normal rounds of Sunday night TV."

Five minutes later, I was staring gloomily at Luke 10 - a whopping FORTY-TWO verses that I hope to have memorized by Wednesday.

Here we pause. I didn't regret the three or so hours of Monopoly, nor the Twilight Princess. I skipped the first TV show, Heartland, and paced my bedroom repeating verses to myself, and then wandered upstairs to watch America's Funniest Home Videos and The Amazing Race. I could have watched House with my mom afterward, but by that time I was rather sleepy and had a couple more verses to memorize, so I didn't. (But really, as she pointed out, missing House is far preferable to missing, say, NCIS or Bones or The Office.)

I do have a point here. And the point is - I could have spent all afternoon catching up in music history, brushing up on my piano technique, getting a head start in quizzing, or sundry other 'productive' pursuits. Instead I played Monopoly and Zelda. I don't feel guilty, because yesterday I think I realized something more important.

I'll never be seventeen again. Heck, as of next August, I get to be an adult for the rest of my life. Do I really want to spend this year immersed in academic pursuits, and miss out on the more important things? Because yes, some things ARE more important. Like playing Lord of the Rings Monopoly and witnessing my mom refer to Valinor as Edoras. Like wildly waving a Wii controller while Grace and Will shout, "Kill him! YEAH!"

Okay, maybe I don't get 100% on every Chemistry test. Maybe I take mini-breaks between school subjects to read fan fiction about Elves and the CIA. Maybe I'll never go to Harvard, maybe I'll never be famous, maybe I'll never land a job that pays a million a year. Maybe, heaven forbid, I'll have kids instead of a bigger house or a newer car or an expensive vacation. But you know what? That's okay.

Because I'm happy. Exactly like this. There is a time to be 'productive', and there is a time to kill hairy spider-things with your Master Sword.