Television sucks so supremely that I spend less and less time with it. It may seem like I watch for hours each day but today is an example of what is most often the case. I didn't turn the television on until about 3:30PM and turn it off at 7:30PM. And I wasn't glued to it during those hours. Most of the day I read. Nothing particularly uplifting. Just reading for entertainment. When I wake during the night, I read. I wake at about 7:30 each morning and first thing grab my book. I read before bed and while I eat. I sit outside and read and take a book with me to McDonald's. I wish I could read in the shower and while I brush my teeth. In Modesto I walked a lot. From my house to the movies was about three miles. I walked it dozens of times, trudging along the sidewalk, reading. I got to the point where I would automatically chart my course every few sentences. I smashed into street signs and parking meters but it never caused any major scars. During the last few years of my radio career, I rode a bicycle (pedal) in Modesto. For 7 years in San Francisco, my bike was my primary mode of transportation. That's where the rumor arose that I was living in San Francisco and peddling my ass all over town. Walking, pedaling, and cadging for rides can be inconvenient at times but versus the trials and tribulations of car ownership, I loved it. I know people do it but I can't read while driving. I can't even look at the pictures. Somewhere on this blog or on the website I wrote about walking in foggy San Fran after seeing the remastered My Fair Lady. It was a special walk I'll always remember. Another was in Modesto in the fall of 1989. I was walking back from something (can't remember what) on a cool dark night. On the DiscMan (lame) was playing Les Miz or Phantom or Chess...whatever....and I was walking in beat with the music (almost marching), the flaps of my trench coat flapping in the wind. It was exhilarating. I loved every minute of that walk. But then, one night, after green-Jello wrestling Gary DeMaroney, going to a play rehearsal, and missing my ride home, I walked home, tired, cold, and sticky. The walk was Hell and I caught a cold. I am often a cheap bastard. Anyway, I can still read. I miss all that walking.