Hmmmm....
I used to do the above things.
In addition I would phone friends, brush the cats (they would normally sit on my chest), listen to the radio or CD's, read the newspaper write e-mails on my laptop and believe it or not ... sleep.
I used to set the alam clock and just try and nod off at times.
I learned to dilate on my back and on both sides, quite often if I fell asleep I would end up on my side, once or twice on my front.
My easiest position was on my back with pillows behind my back (so I was at about 45 degrees, with a couple of pillows under my knees, so my thighs where raised. In the early days I used a plastic bottle with a towel around it to keep the dilator in place (the bottle was held in place by the pillows under my knees.
Buffy