The old saying that time is money has always stuck with me so I always have looked at time as an investment opportunity, what will I get from using my time in a certain way?
Not all investments are made to gain wealth so wasting time every so often isn't a bad thing as you pointed out. People invest money all the time in the purchasing of insurance hoping to never need to use it, so you could almost say wasting time is some what like purchasing insurance in that it can give you some peace of mind.
Just my thoughts and a small portion of what you covered so well.