Trying to improve one's mind can be a lot of work. I have decided to turn off the telly and go back to reading. It's working, somewhat, as I did manage to hook up the satellite in the living room this weekend so I have all the channels AND the comfy couch in the same place. Oh yeah, and no one told me that BBC America is rerunning Hamish Macbeth! Wee Jock! TV John! Hamish! Can't miss that -- now I just have to remember when it's on. And I swear they used the same cast for Hamish Macbeth and Ballykissangel -- I really do forget which set of plot devices and character goes with which.

But back to the reading. I read the Scott Berg biography of Katharine Hepburn this weekend. I still adore her, and think she's wonderful, but she really must have been difficult to live with and a total narcissist. Okay, maybe not a total narcissist, but definitely Everest-K2 maintenance.

Now I'm going back through Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, as I picked up book four this weekend, and of course forgot lots of the plot of the first three books. I was the same way a few weeks back when I picked up the fifth Harry Potter, but I decided I wasn't going back to the first four before reading number five. I do highly recommend the Jasper Ffordes to one and all -- very funny, very witty and a touch insane.

After that, who knows. The lure of WifeSwap or CSI:Peoria might start calling my name. Or the debates. How much are you not looking forward to those? I don't care what your political outlook is, they're just going to be painful and embarrassing for everyone. We know that Bush will trip himself up, and let's face it, Kerry just sounds constipated. Metamucil, John?