Yeah cool :) And I know your pain, I went through it just after timers were released and I was defiant to use them, for no reasonable reason. I created ways to do it, but all were harder without the added extras, so I strongly suggest you get comfortable with them to just make life that little bit easier.
Also something you might find relevant one day: every X seconds counts from start-up and not from start of layout. I once had two different layouts that ran scripted scenes and they both worked perfect alone. But when I tried to make one lead into the other, the timing was all messed up. I spent a damn long time trying to figure that one out! xD
EDIT: Actually I should add that timer behaviour is great for small things like this, but if you want a comprehensive timer system that allows pausing, dt adjustments and conditional count-downs etc., you still need a well evented system. I spent a long time refining separate, co-functioning timer systems for my RPG. The biggest hassle I came across was no way to reference the dt of an array, but that's a whole other story ^^
Another thing to remember is that the timer behaviour will count down using the dt of the instance using the behaviour. This can be a blessing or a curse, so remember it if you ever have the need to play with dt!