Finally! My Final Four...

I’m going to be honest – I genuinely cannot decide how to differentiate between the final four distractions on my Top 10 Distractions list. I literally (not figuratively, but literally), sat for about 20 minutes on my computer and debated this one (rearranged the list, reworded descriptions, etc.) and no competitor is distinguishing itself/themselves as a clear cut winner out of my final four. So I’m just going to give them to you as potential candidates for first place (just saw this for the first time the other day…it’s awesome if you look up the back story) in no particular order, and we can decide which one wins based on everybody’s comments.

P.S. – I’m hoping to make this the last of my overly, insanely long posts. I just could not decide how to break it up. But this should be the end of those. I almost promise. And I'm going to start adding more pictures. And possibly some embedded videos too, now that I can do that. So much excitement!

P.P.S. - No matter how many times I've tried to re-edit and fix this post, it still shows up as one big jumble of paragraphs with no spaces depending on your browser. I apologize, but it appears I've been defeated. But this is the last time Google Blogger defeats me!

(potential) #1: Wikipedia/IMDB/YouTube
Ok, I know you know about these websites. If you don’t, you soon will. Basically, I can get lost for hours on any of these three sites. For example, during finals week this past May, I spent TWO HOURS bouncing around on Wikipedia so I could read about 1950s actors and actresses. I thought, I don’t know enough about them so I should read up... Then I realized I had wasted 1/12 of my day. With the Internet Movie Database, you can spend hours reading trivia bit after trivia bit and reading hilarious quote after hilarious quote on your favorite movies and TV shows. And if you don’t know about the stuff you can watch on YouTube yet, then I’m just so sad for you. I’m going to list five videos that have made me laugh (or made me happy) recently…and this isn’t even a Top 5…just five that I’ve recently enjoyed. They are here, here, here, here, and here. Then all you have to do is spend the rest of eternity looking up video after video and you can see why it’s distracting. Like you don’t already know that though.

(potential) #1: Twittering/Blog reading/Facebooking (p.s. – that’s not actually me)

Of these three, Twitter has really moved into the primary spot for my distracting. In fact, I’ve sort developed a nervous twitch (eerie, considering “twit” is found within the word twitch) that results in my checking of Twitter every ten minutes to see the updates. If you don’t know what Twitter is yet, go ahead and watch this informative video. In an effort to keep the middle portion of this distraction sandwich short, blog reading is what you’re doing right now. And I do it a lot. With other people’s blogs. Since I basically only check Facebook these days to read my wall and write on my friends’ walls, it’s pretty much a version of Twitter with more friends on it for me. I also play Scrabulous though, so maybe it’s worth it to stick with Facebook awhile longer. Needless to say, I spend a lot of time socially networking. And I get distracted due to this social networking. Fortunately, as a blog writer for my real life job (not this blog, but a different one), this is almost not a bad distraction.

(potential) #1: Video Games (I know it’s not the actual game, but it looks like fun)

I play too many video games. Instead of listing the reasons they distract me, I’ll just list what my roommate and I share right now and you’ll hopefully understand the level of distraction these things bring into my life. Here is what we own with which to waste time in our apartment: a regular NES, a Super NES, a Nintendo 64 (same clip, still funny), a Playstation 2, a Playstation 3, and a Wii. We have all of the Guitar Heroes, Rock Band, the Mario Karts that matter (64 and Wii), and so many other things. It’s basically a buffet of video games. Which is why I’ll start playing Rock Band with my roommate Andras and my friend Cole at 8:00 pm and end up playing until 1:30 am. It’s a guaranteed disaster for productivity.

(potential…and final) #1: Television Shows on DVD

What do my roommate and I do when we aren’t playing video games (or being social and actually hanging out with people)? We watch hours of television series(es)… on DVD. This really began in the dorms sophomore year, when one of us would want to watch an episode of Family Guy. We’d say “just one Family Guy” in order to convince the other roommate to stay up a little later. And, of course, this would turn into four or five episodes of Family Guy and our hours of sleep would consequently decrease. Fortunately, we eventually evolved into more intelligent beings as time went on, and we quickly converted our addiction to shows like Arrested Development (check the headline link) and Entourage. And, don’t worry Miles and Holli, Lost is a part of that list as well. Watching just one of these shows is like trying to stop watching ESPN’s Top 10 Plays after the first one they show. Why stop when you know they are only going to get better? And that’s why they’ve distracted me time after time.

So there you have it. My final four of distractions. Now that this post is FINALLY done, I can move into blogging real life events in which I’m sure you’ll be much more interested. And I’ll try not to keep you hanging in suspense for such a long time. And I’ll definitely try to start making these much, much shorter. Thanks for your patience, all.

And please comment on what you think is your biggest distraction. Is it one of these? Is it something unique to you? Is it legal? Do you have pictures? Feel free to answer any and all of these questions.

Well I be done seen about everything, when I see a elephant fly…