Lemondrop

It's a foregone conclusion: You're gonna lose hours of your life waiting. For pizza, for the grocery checkout, to argue with your banks ... And rather than spend that time raging over the horrible hold music, we figure you'd rather do some stuff that makes you saner and smarter, maybe even hotter.

1. Check in with long-lost friends
Write catch-up e-mails to long-lost roommates and neglected relatives from your phone. Pick a sentiment that's easy to cut and paste and customize, like "I was just thinking of you the other day -- it's been so long since we caught up! Things are good on my end. How's your (dog / job search / arthritis) been?"

2. Get prettier skin in seconds
It's this: Drink a bottle of water. There's no better way to flush out pore-clogging toxins, but drinking enough H2O always seems to drift off the radar. So start to think of boring downtime as the time to down more of the stuff.

Click here for four more ways to maximize your hold time ...

3. Make a to-do list
This could be the year you finally remember those genius Halloween costume ideas, movies to Netflix and tapas bars you've wanted to try. Keep a running tab of random notes-to-self, like future party themes, travel destinations, or the top celebrities your future husband must let you make out with. Read it when you're bored.

4. Make a not-to-do list
Resolve to cut down on annoyances that plague you on a daily basis, like reading those alarmist e-mail forwards from your crazy aunt, wasting work hours G-chatting with needy exes or spending 15 minutes in front of the mirror in the morning obsessing over whether you can wear gold earrings with a silver pendant.

5. Memorize a great joke
Jokes are good ice-breakers, time-wasters and memory-joggers -- you should have one on reserve at all times. Look up a few online and e-mail one or two to your phone, so you can perfect your punch-line delivery while waiting at the mall. Do it in your head, obvs, unless getting manhandled out of the store by Paul Blart is your thing.

6. Get a hot body
If you're held hostage on the phone at home, put it on speaker and hit the floor for a few crunches or stretches until the customer-service rep comes back on the line. If you're in public and want to exercise without looking like you're having a fit ...
- Do some subtle calf raises by lifting your toes and heels 15 to 30 times each.
- Tighten your abs by pulling your belly button into your spine and squeezing for 30 seconds; repeat five times.

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