VX TIMER HELP

Ok, so I know how to make a timer come up in VX, but I want to know if there is a script or something I can do so that the timer won't stop when I use the menu or go into lockpicking (which is another script I'm using), basically it won't stop on me unless I want it to. (also I want it to still show while your in the menu or in the lockpicking or whatever unless I have it not show then.)

(and I want it to do things like maybe a gameover when it reaches zero, but I think that is just conditional branch, but let me know if I'm wrong.)

So if someone knows a way to fix this problem it would help, thank you. ^^