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 I've always found the concept of time quite fascinating, as well. It's always baffled, intrigued, and amazed me that we, the human species as a whole, have managed to impress upon the abstract idea of time an orderly system that allows us to express it with ease. There are times when I attempt to look past this system, and consider the abstract of 'Time' without all of its trappings, but I've found that it doesn't result in anything but a headache. But it should be possible, shouldn't it? Consider that different cultures have had (and still have) different ways of expressing time; this should be impossible if there is no true underlying force. Don't ideas need something to spring off of, after all? It also puzzles me that 'Time,' even after we organize it, has a strange tendency of moving in leaps and bounds.  How is it that time can seem to stand still one moment, and then rush past us, leaving us in the dust? I've lived my life in such a way that one moment might last for ages, the very dust-motes frozen in the sunlight, while several others might happen all at once. I can't seem to rationalize this, and when I try my brain doesn't thank me. 

Beyond this particular problem, I also have to wonder if it is even possible to waste time as it is suggested in The Plague. I'm sure that it sometimes seems like time has certainly been wasted sometimes, especially when we do not do with it what we had originally planned, but I'm not sure that that quite fits the bill. We are, after all, still using 'Time' for its intended purpose, no matter what else it is we're doing. I can't imagine time doing anything other than ticking along, despite any of our efforts. So, perhaps one can waste an opportunity, but I don't see how one can waste Time. And even if one could waste time, I don't believe that one should preoccupy oneself over it. As Mason Cooley said, "regret for wasted time is more wasted time." So perhaps it doesn't really matter either way.