sometimes, when people talk to me about boring things, i'll stop listening and start thinking about something more interesting. i tend to have a hard time keeping up with the conversation when this happens, but i normally do ok by saying "huh....uh-huh...yeah..." so long as i get the gist of what we're talking about, i can even throw in an occasional comment of interest. so when i say "wow. that sounds like a very interesting television program. i'll have to keep an eye out for that one", i'm actually picturing myself eating an ice cream cone while on a roller coaster.