I have spent the last two days trying to design a robot that does not look creepy. It's much more difficult than I thought it would be. My early attempts looked like aliens, and a few looked like harlequin babies. All of them were creepy. I realized that the problem was trying to look too human without getting the subtle details right. To remove the creepiness, I had to make it more like a machine than like a person.

This is the tentative design:

I just spent the past 4 hours creating a 3D model of a lamp. I don't even remember why I wanted to make a lamp. I was 90% finished when I somehow activated a complex sequence that messed up the whole thing. I recalled having saved several times, the most recent was only a few minutes earlier. Somehow, all of those saves were imaginary. I only saved once around 3 hours ago. Now I only have a lightbulb.

The microphone built into my camcorder is inadequate. I need to be able to record audio without shouting. I also want to be able to record interviews outdoors. That would require the ability to avoid picking up background noise. I first considered getting a decent microphone and an audio interface to connect it to my computer. That would provide the best possible quality sound, but it would cost much more than I want to invest in something like this and it would be very inconvenient to carry around.

The solution that I decided on is a digital voice recorder. This will have many uses:

1) I can talk to myself in public without drawing too much attention.
2) I can record my thoughts in situations that are not convenient for writing.
3a) It has an "extra quality mode" that can record music decently, although I have to adjust the equalization. This may encourage me to try composing again.
3b) I can hum melodies that appear in my mind at random times and transcribe them later for use in composition.
4) Because I become obsessed with new toys, this may get me to activate the part of my brain used for talking. This could potentially have useful social effects.

I went to an office Christmas party today. I am not one of their regular employees, but they invite me to it every year because I service their computers. As usual, I started out feeling uncomfortable and remained quiet. Two people asked me if anything was new. This is a question nearly as difficult for me as "how are you?", but this one can have a planned answer. I failed to anticipate this common question and said nothing was new. I wasn't sure if I should tell them about blog-stalk, or my new internet show, or any other project that I am working on. The first person who asked noticed the awkwardness and escaped by getting a drink. The second person asked before I finished assessing a good answer. This person was a stranger and I wasn't really interested in answering anyway.

I had expected the awkwardness to continue throughout my time there, but it did not. After about an hour, I started feeling more comfortable. I think it was because two groups formed in different rooms. It became possible for me to linger unseen between them. I had a moment to relax and focus. I assessed the situation and decided to join the easier group. They were watching a video. No conversation was necessary. After that was over, I talked to two different people about what we saw. The video gave me a topic to discuss that wasn't one of the standard difficult questions. I talked to a third person later who had not seen the video. After the party, I went shopping and had a brief conversation with the cashier.

Earlier today, I was shopping and the total was $15.05. I paid $20.05, because I did not want to receive coins as change. The cashier gave me $4.95. Realizing that my mind doesn't work well on Mondays, I didn't immediately say anything. I just stood still holding the change with a confused look on my face as I analyzed the situation. The cashier asked if something was wrong and I explained it to him. He recalled accepting a nickel along with the $20 bill and had the problem corrected.

A few minutes ago, the reverse situation happened. I bought some things with a total price of $12.81. I paid exactly that amount, but the cashier misrecorded it as $12.84 and gave me 5 cents change, a double error on his part.