Although I have felt like I have been watching my own torturous death for weeks now, possibly since school ended and I started spending over half of my waking life with people I hate, yesterday I did not have to go to work, and I did pleasant things with nice people.

Laura and I went shopping for exotic fruit and we baked bread. We went with Tim to a giant fabric store where I bought some grey woollen cloth to make my cape out of, and then we went for cappuccino downtown. Back at my house, Tim and I made Laura listen to music we think she should like, and we ate more bread and read parts of books.

A productive day

At last. I practiced scales and a concerto. I wrote. I read a chunk of The Bit and the Pendulum. I'm almost finished it now. I earned 40 dollars.

I had the best breakfast today. Gingerbread cookies and an avocado smoothie. I drank it out of the blender. I'm calling in sick to work tomorrow.

I've been reading a book about computation and information/quantum information theory. I've been thinking about the brain as a computer.



Use learning a language as an example. A computer program could provide the necessary codes for translating words from an unknown language input into words from a known language output. [If input aqua is 0011111 then output 1100000 for water.] This is what a human brain does as well when a person is first learning a language, but this kind of crude translation is not considered true understanding or fluency. A human brain eventually learns to directly substitute the words from the new language for words from the old one, doing away with the translational code entirely. As far as I know, a computer program could not do this.

On the other hand, say there is a computer program which reads more like this: if input equals that liquid stuff coming out of the tap, output equals aqua [oo11111] or water [1100000] depending on second input of either Latin or English. The second input is thought of as the language used in a conversation. This is plausible, but doesn't yet explain the transition between the two "programs", which the human brain is clearly capable of.

Grounded again. Merry Christmas. I'm going to finish The Bit and the Pendulum. It's really the most convenient week for it to happen - I have to work almost every day. This won't happen when I move out.

Twenty minutes ago, I bought my very first hand saw.

Because I understand it and didn't before, and because I'm thrilled about the information, I am going to explain something about the emission of light. Very simply, when an atom's energy is increased, its electrons move into an orbit with a larger radius. The electrons then jump back to their original orbit, and this results in a release of the energy that caused them to move into a larger orbit in the first place, in the form of a photon. A photon, you remember, has zero rest mass and is a particle of pure energy.

Episode

At Starbucks yesterday, a customer complained to my shift supervisor that I'd been rude to her. Apparently I'd forgotten to get a scone for her, and when she asked for it, I'd continued taking an order while I went to the pastry case. Oh insulting. This sort of thing happens quite a bit. I am not trying to leave emotional scars, but really, I don't take precautions against it, for strangers, and I couldn't care much less.

Collecting things to move out. So far:

- two square white plates - slightly bigger than desert size, much nicer for small meals than those ridiculous giant dinner plates North Americans seem to consider essential

- two square white bowls - food looks much nicer on white or clear glass

- a big towel, a face cloth, a hand towel

- a french press for tea - I may need another for coffee

- two double-walled borosilicate Bodum glasses

- a loaf pan

- my secret-compartment pillow

- floor lamp

- liquid measuring cup

- an old couch


I want:

- two knives

- a blender

- a cookie sheet

- measuring spoons

- two pots

- a whisk

- eating utensils

- mixing bowls

- a lap top

- a Bernina sewing machine

- small trees

- a bookshelf

- a MYTO chair