Goodbye, US Magazine

One of my belated New Year's resolutions this year is to give up on reading celebrity gossip. My bloglines used to consist of Celebrity Babies, Perez Hilton, TMZ, Just Jared, and other similar sites. My magazines included US Magazine, People, InTouch, etc. They were great because they don't require a lot of attention. An article here or there: great for a mom who doesn't have a lot of time to read at length, and one who keeps falling asleep at 10pm at night (or reading celeb gossip blogs). See the vicious cycle?

What brought this on? A month or so ago, Bill and I were taking a two hour drive to my mom's when we stopped at a gas station to get gas and some reading material for me. I perused the mags and was just completely bored by what I saw, until I saw Scientific American. Call me a nerd, but I used to have a subscription to this about 8 years ago and loved it. I was a complete science nut in high school and college (before I decided to save the world via non-profits), but somewhere along the way I just gave up the pursuit of actual knowledge.

I spent the next two hours reading it and got a high feeling that I haven't felt in years: I was literally shaking with glee. Wow, articles about black holes! Look at the geography and problems that lie within in the Middle East! Look what we've recently discovered about atoms! I felt like my brain had come out of hibernation and I was considering things I hadn't thought about in a long time.

It's been a little hard letting go of my celeb obsession. I mean, c'mon, Patrick Dempsey had twins! Britney's in rehab! Selma Hayek's pregnant!

It's good, though. I actually find myself getting through my bloglines feeds much quicker (usually only friends' and/or design blogs) and I have more time in the evenings to either post to this site or read my new Scientific American subscription.