Survival

During my frequent ruminations about the pros and cons of adding to the Short and Sweet family, I started to ponder about the meaning of the phrase, "surviving the first year". When The Little Madam turned one, I had technically "survived the first year".

But let's think about that one.

Sure, I survived in the literal sense; otherwise this would be a blog from hell (that's assuming only Christians go to heaven).

But how much of me survived? Of my brain cells, not many.

So what can I do to slow my mind's downward slide into moron-ity? How can I ensure the survival of what's left of my brain?

• crossword puzzles - never been any good at 'em, unless they were the ones in the children's pages.
• computer games - these and me have never mixed, and are even less likely to now that the grey matter is not as agile as it used to be.
• blogging - in theory, writing is good for the brain because it gets both hemispheres working. But it's easily to blog mindlessly.
• evening classes, in anything - that's in competition with sleeping, eating and telly-watching.
• eating fish - if it involves food, there's a good chance I'll take it on. But I don't like tuna and eating fish and chips every night might just turn me into a pimplier and fatter smart person.

What do other people do to prevent their intellect's extinction?