4:17 p.m. I was talking with my client as we came across the topic of Mac OS. My client is a Mac user and she seemed pretty much fed up with new OS coming out one after another. We also talked about their names. Starting from ‘Cheetah’(OSXvr.10.0) which was released in March, 2001, ‘Puma’(OSXvr.10.1), ‘Jaguar’(OSXvr.10.2), ‘Panther’(OSXvr.10.3), ‘Tiger’(OSXvr.10.4), ‘Leopard’(OSXvr.10.5), ‘Snow Leopard’(OSXvr.10.6), to the latest release of ‘Lion’ in October, 2010, the code names Apple has been giving their OS have all belonged to the cat family so far. And the question is, what would the next name be? What are they going to do, now that they've reached the top of the cat family hierarchy?

Additionally, the beta version of these OS were named ‘Siam’ which probably could be referred to Siamnese cats.

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Caterpillar

5:29 p.m. We had a fire in our neighborhood. I was having a meeting when we were interrupted by furious sirens from the fire trucks around 10:30. According to Cow who went bolting out the door to see what was going on, fire seemed to have broken out from a house behind one of our clients'. I didn't see smoke coming up or smell anything, but by the time Cow came back to report what he learned, the number of fire trucks had parked up the road to a total of seven. I'm not sure if there were any damages or how bad it burned, though I certainly hope no one got hurt.

5:34 p.m. The fire reminded me of JoOusama. Must keep an eye on her since she'd scuttled up to her air conditioned room again this morning, while leaving the kettle on fire to let the water boil because she didn't want to stay in the cold kitchen. She didn't come down for thirty minutes, and when she did which was after I'd turned off the stove, she simply filled the kettle with water and put it over heat again. She's burned a pot during the New Year holidays, but she shows no sign of guilt. Am afraid that my days may be numbered.

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Caterpillar

4:02 p.m. Today is Setsubun, an event to drive away the evil and celebrate the coming of spring. And my client has invited me to go with her to a shrine nearby, to join the bean-throwing event held there every year. She has told me beforehand that they don't just throw beans, they throw small paper bgas with peanuts, sweets, or coins in them! Sounds exciting, right? Usually, there aren't so many people especially when the event is held on weekdays, she said, but today there were lots of people more than a hundred I assume, thanks to the fine weather.

The fierce battle began when the people from the shrine and some town councilors started to throw small paper bags with ‘Fuku-mame’(fortune beans) printed in orange ink. With everyone jostling and shoving over small paper bags, I hunched over the ground fighting fear of being trodden, and reached out my hand to grab a bag, since going back empty-handed would be too embarassing.

4:27 p.m. I managed to bring back five of them with two containing 220 yen and 80 yen, respectively, to which my client rewarded me with a "pretty good for your first try."

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Caterpillar

6:57 p.m. I've gotta run. A client came in wearing a mask. Apparently he's got a flu. Am going to run home and wash my hands like crazy, but still am not sure if I can avoid the flu. I could be infected already. I'll write more details if I'm well tomorrow. Wish me luck, folks.

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Caterpillar

11:52 a.m. Am still alive. No symptoms are observed indicating the super-flu so far. But you can't be too careful. They're reporting that the number of people with flu are at its peak, with 80 percent of them having the super-flu. The incubation period of super-flu is said to be 1 to 7 days, so it would be necessary to take precautions against it for at least another week to be on the safe side.

12:01 p.m. Fortunately, I possibly could be having a not so busy week for the one coming. Perhaps that might help. A little.

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Caterpillar

5:46 p.m. The Scholtez stove which has been sitting in our kitchen for twenty-seven years is fnally going to be removed. Assuming from the exaggerated stories I heard from JoOusama last night, Tono seems to be convinced at last, that it's time we got rid of the Scholtez stove and get a new stove. He was fumbling with one of the knobs that wasn't working properly and he thought he had somehow fixed it all right. The old man turned the knob to check how it worked when a flame broke out from a crack or some hole of an aging pipe running in the stove, enveloping the knob in a sudden gush. Tono dashed in horror to report the matter to JoOusama who called the emergency truck, that ended up parked in the front of our house blocking the road for three hours.

6:16 p.m. Tono has been clinging on to the Scholtez stove for as long as I can remember, that I came to believe he'd probabaly take it with him to his grave. But since it was practically impossible to revive the old stove this time, he had no choice but to get a new one. Good. It's about time.

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Caterpillar

4:26 p.m. Oh my God. Gary Moore, the great guitarist from Ireland has passed away in Spain. It seems he was on a holiday, but the news had no details. He was fifty-eight, much too young to have his name called. His guitar was at times agressive and yet had a sort of shade in it, ‘weeping’ as it is called. I recall my heart always flying to Ireland, some place I'd never been and a place I'd wished to visit some day in my life, when I heard his guitar. My condolences for his family, now that we've lost another great guitarist from this world. I hope his soul is now free from all the burdens of life and flying "over the hills and far away." Thanks Gary, I won't forget your weeping guitar.

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Caterpillar

5:04 p.m. As I got home yesterday, I was told that a new gas stove was going to be delivered on Thursday. JoOusama's biggest concern was whether the new stove will fit in our kitchen or not. The dealer who is also responsible for the installation of the equipment, is said to come from nine in the morning in case they might have to move the sink to fit the stove in, therefore, I was odered to be out of the kitchen before nine. She also seems to have been feeling it a drag to have to clear out all the shelves in case they have to move them too. Well, that is her problem. If she'd kept it organized, it wouldn't have been much trouble.

5:20 p.m. I secretly wished the house had been blown into pieces in the gas explosion, not to mention with all those crazy people in it, while I was away at work or something. But these people seem to have devil's luck.

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Caterpillar

4:12 p.m. Just realized today was the 9th, which means it's a special offer day at New Quick, a meat shop chain. Must finish work early and rush to the shop since whatever I wanted to buy are usually sold out by the time I get there, especially on a sale day. What should I buy, though? Haven't decided what to bring for tomorrow's lunch yet. Cannot deny possibility of not using meat. Perhaps can keep some in the freezer in that case?

4:39 p.m. Think I'll drop by the supermarket to buy Daikon(Japanese horse radish) for only 98 yen. And since they're having a 98 yen day at that supermarket, maybe can buy some salmon slices too, also for 98 yen a piece. Tomorrow, they're selling potaoes and onions for just 19 yen each at a different supermarket, where tomatoes are offered at a reasonable 79 yen each. Seems like they're having sale somewhere every day. Hey, what happened to the meat?

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Caterpillar

3:21 p.m. It's getting chilly. The forecast has been predicting snow from late this evening in Tokyo. They say it's going to snow on and off all day tomorrow and quite steadily from tomorrow night to Saturday morning. Guess I should finish whatever I have to do outside by this evening so I could stay home all day tomorrow, bundled up in blankets on my heating carpet.

The dealer has arrived as scheduled this morning, and our aged Sholtez stove was miserably dragged out on the front road when I was leaving my house at a little past nine. They seemed to be struggling with drills and hammers in our cold kitchen, apparently because the new stove didn't fit in as we feared and I felt sorry for them. Though I suppose the brand new stove will be all set by the time I get home tonight. Great.

I may sound repetitive, but I'm still secretly wishing for a slight carelessness during the setting of the new gas stove, that would eventually blow our house together with the crazy people in it. No need to worry about fire spreading because surely it would be extinguished by the snow we're expecting.

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Caterpillar

4:00 p.m. Snowing. It was more like sleet in the morning, but have turned to snow around noon and have been painting the streets or the nearby roofs white since early afternoon. As I've written yesterday, it's best to stay at home curled up on the heating carpet on a day like this. It's a national holiday today, and am enjoying the privilage of being able to stay warm in the house because have already finished all the shopping yesterday. Mmmm, lovely.

10:39 p.m. Thought it was going to snow all day and possibly half of tomorrow, though snow has turned into rain. I was secretly hoping that the snow would get unexpectedly heavy and paralyze the metropolitan transportation network, especially the subway, so that I won't have any means to get to work and can spend another day on the heating carpet. Now it seems the possibility is narrowed down to almost zero.

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Caterpillar

12:59 p.m. Cow has scared me that the heater might have broken down. How can one bear without any heating in this cold? It's merely four degrees, about the same temperature as in the fridge.

2:07 p.m. The oil heater started emitting a gush of warm air with a comforting varoom. Thank God. But then, Cow reminded me again that it could stop operating any minute, since it is too old to be in a sound condition. And he's absolutely right about it. The push-button switch had broken long ago, and we've been turning it on and off by using the tips of scissors to bridge the bare switch circuit, after Cow had taken away the switch cover. What if it breaks when it's really reallly cold? What if it breaks when it's snowing? Must start saving some money in form of oil heater installment savings, in case anything happens to this one.

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Caterpillar

6:22 p.m. Mmmm... Enjoying the luxury of another day on heating carpet. Just remembered about yeterday. Have thought it was strange because there weren't so many commuters at the subway stations. Leaving aside the fact that it was Saturday, still so few people. Then it struck me that most workers are having Saturdays off, meaning that they were having a three-day weekend since last Friday. Am burning with envy. Those who had three days off could have spent three consecutive days on heating carpets.

7:21 p.m. Was about to send e-mail to a classmate from junior high that I was willing to attend the annual reunion, when I realized that I had not done anything to prepare for its fee. Last spring I had vowed to save some money for the next attendance fee, though there is no such money as of two weeks before the reunion. In a similar way, have also vowed to save money in form of installment for; concert tickets, an external hard disk drive and some unexpected expenditure. Though none of them have been accomplished so far. I thought I was back on tight budget again, but somehow there's no money to put aside when I finish dividing the month's budget by use. It's almost amazing how monthly earnings clear off by the next payday.

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Caterpillar

3:19 p.m. Found new version of Google logo on its top page instead ofthe usual one. Oh yes, it was Valentines Day. To me, it's just another Monday.

Though it's become a remarkable Monday for Japanese music fans, since Takahiro Matsumoto, a guitarist from a Japanese rock band B'z, has won a Grammy award for the ‘Best Pop Instrumental Album’ as the first Japanese ever. I was going to write about this honorable event in J-pop history, idling my time away, fantasizing many Japanese bands winning the Grammy one after another, when I got a call from one of my clients who wanted me to arrange to meet him this afternoon, instead of his scheduled time tomorrow. I managed to squeeze him in before my next meeting from five, and all of a sudden am in a rush...

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Caterpillar

12:46 p.m. Am immensely frustrated. Have finished a meeting with this hard headed client who does not listen to anything I say. I tried to make things simple as possible and laid out two options to which all he had to do was choose however, he pulled out a third and a fourth out of nowhere, leading the meeting to a lengthy mess of confusion... I have spent time preparing for this meeting and I thought I'd done my homework pretty well.

Then, this self-indulgent client comes in, insists on having things his own way regardless of the options I presented, gets himself confused and lost, while refusing to hear a word I said. What is the use of a meeting if one doesn't intend to exchange opinions and cooperate to accomplish the same goal? Thought I was going to choke that client though I managed to keep my hands to myself. Am totally fed up.

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Caterpillar

2:15 p.m. An unemployed man of age 63 has been arrested in Kyoto for unlawful entry of buildings. He was caught by a hospital staff while washing his underwear in the bath facility of the hospital. According to Yahoo! News, the man "has been using the hospital bath without permition from around last fall, because the Sentos(communal baths) in his neighborhood have all shut down and, he didn't have money to go to Sentos anyway."

Have had a good laugh about this news. Though it's true the Sentos are disappearing so rapidly that I fear they might be on the endangered species list. Once there were at least one or two of them in every town, but they're forced to go out of business lately, because of several reasons such as constant rising in fuel cost, decrease in the number of customers. Most of us are equipped with our own baths in modern Japanese homes today, that our unique culture of socializing at the Sentos are now long forgotten except for some Sento-lovers.

I wish there was some way, some brilliant idea to save and preserve Sentos so we could pass them down to the next generation. After all, there's nothing better than a good hot soak in that big tub.

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Caterpillar

4:16 p.m. Was going to write this later since have only 20 minutes left till next meeting, but could not win Cow's approval. Apparently, he is not pleased with my idea. So am tapping away like crazy without much thinking. If something goes wrong, blame Cow.

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Caterpillar

4:10 p.m. Very windy outside. Thought was going to be blown off the bridge by the wind. No wonder the weather report said that cedar pollen has started circulating in the air. They'll be seriously attacking Tokyo in a matter of days, I guess.

6:42 p.m. That means I have to get my oil ready once again. Must get ready to protect myself from pollen allergy. But I didn't show any symptoms of cedar pollen allergy on my way to work this morning, come to think of it. If there are certain amount of cedar pollen blowing in the wind, surely must have sneezed or had either runny or stuffed nose, or itchy eyes. Perhaps my body condition might have changed over the years and am now somehow free from cedar pollen allergy? Cow had mentioned a few days ago, that I have stopped sneezing whenever am near the race tracks, which may be a good sign that my conditions are changing and that I am now freed from animal allergies. Well, at least there's a posibility.

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Caterpillar

11:58 a.m. No sign of cedar pollen allergy yet. The amount of cedar pollen today as of noon is reported to be ‘comparatively heavy’ for Tokyo, according to Tokyo Kafun Net, a website providing information on the amount of several different allergy-provoking pollens circulating over Tokyo. Haven't had any sneezes, just a slight itch in the eyes when I got up, though practically nothing compared to the intensity when have serious allergy symptoms. Perhaps am really getting rid of this allergy, finally.

12:16 p.m. Went through preliminary research of the coming grade one race, February Stakes. As feeble as they are, the members are rather daunting however, managed to collect enough information to convince myself that a good front-runner who can wrap up the last three furlongs with blistering speed would be the closest to the top podium. Just a piece of information for horse race lovers, before our first grade one of the season.

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Caterpillar

11:40 a.m. Am studying the racing form of February Stakes. Have been looking for a good front-runner who can wrap up the last three furlongs with blistering speed, and after a good pondering narrowed down to two horses, Transcend and Furioso. I was positive that Transcend would perform well, third place at worst, but Furioso, I thought, was a little shaky since he never performed well in the two JRA grade one races that he'd run before. If I recall it right, he had been left behind at the start the last time, probably because he was overwhelmed by the grass track which covered the short distance right after the start.

3:24 p.m. My conclusion is trifecta with Transcend in the first place, Meisho Tametomo in second, Birdie Birdie, Danon Come On, Silk Mobius in the third, and another trifecta with the seconds and thirds reversed. If Furioso can cope with the grass, he'd probably take over Transcend and earn himself an easy win. Otherwise, he would be nowhere.

4:46 p.m. Transcend won the race. Furioso finished in a lukewarm second, with Birdie Birdie in third. Well, think this is the closest I got in February Stakes.

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Caterpillar

10:28 a.m. Two Giant Pandas are arriving at the Ueno zoo late this evening. The panda couple male Bili and female Xiannu both five years old, will be warmly welcomed as special guests from China and are already creating excitement in and around their new home, the Ueno zoo. Ueno zoo has lost their beloved panda Ling Ling in 2008, and must have been looking forward to this arrival of their new star couple. And it's not just the zoo staff that are anxious to see them. Locals around the zoo are also welcoming the pandas, hoping for an additional shove to the economy.

The pandas are scheduled to take a brief stop at Shang-hai, fly to Narita International Airport, then driven to Ueno zoo tonight. Am worried about the conditions of those pandas. Wouldn't it be too stressful a trip for them? Have once heard that pandas have an especially low tolerance for stress. I hope they'll be all right.

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Caterpillar

3:49 p.m. Stretched my hand to turn on the TV this morning as usual. After fumbling with the power switch for a while, I managed to turn it on and saw the image of a city street with damaged buildings on both sides. I wondered where it might be with my blurred head, thiking it could be Libya, and that ole Qaddafi was now trying to put down the rebel campaign by force. Then, the captions danced on the screen screaming that there had been a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. Oh my God.

4:10 p.m. As of four o'clock today, sixty-five are already reported to be dead with the number probably increasing. I extend my sincerest condolences for the souls that have departed and for their families that are left to live with the loss of their beloved. Every time such tragedy hits some part of our world, I ask myself, what specifically, can I do to help or support? I'm barely making a living which means I cannot contribute with any financial help, nor can I fly down to the place and offer a helping hand. I wish I could encourage the people in Christchurch in some way.

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Caterpillar

2:26 p.m. A client has informed me that a Japanese student, a young man nineteen years old, has been rescued in New Zealand. But they had to amputate a leg to save his life. Poor thing. He's yet to reach his twenties and he's forced to face a tough life. But then, life is tough for many of us, not just for him. In fact, he's lucky enough to have survived the earthquake, when more than seventy people cannot even cry over their lost leg.

2:32 p.m. Wonder what I would do if a huge earthquake hits Tokyo now, at this moment. For a long time, there has been a rumor that we're going to have an enormous earhtquake on the middle-eastern coast of our nation, a part known as Tokai area, some time in the future not so far away. Rumor has it that it's very likely to occur in the next thirty years, with a probability higher than 97 percent. Though that was about fifteen years ago, when the question of ‘Will there be a big earthquake in Tokyo?" was still fresh and drew much concern right after the disaster in Kobe. It's already been sixteen years since then, and fortunately, we haven't had a big one yet so far. But what if we do? What am I going to do?

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Caterpillar

4:05 p.m. As I tried to draw out some money from my bank account yesterday, the ATM returned me a line that my PIN number was incorrect. What? Tried again but in vain. The incident brought back a sad memory that I had to change my PIN number because had failed to punch in the right number three times in a row, and some security guard had took me to a small office to hold me under interrogation, then made me change my PIN number after my identification was confirmed. Horror of going through another interrogation stopped me from giving it a third try.

4:12 p.m. Was going to draw out some money to put aside for my class reunion coming up next weekend, but now I must find out what my PIN number was before I face the ATM again. The problem is I haven't written it down... Must rack my brains. It worked when I forgot my ID code to punch in at the library, though I had to try several times until I got it right. In fact, I have a certain combination of numbers in mind, but am too afraid to go for the last try.

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Caterpillar

3:24 p.m. Green onion were on sale yesterday, so dropped by the supermarket to get them. As I took out my coin purse, I realized there wasn't much left. Was going to buy macaroni for today's lunch on my way home too, so I headed toward a 100 yen shop near the station. Then, suddenly remembered that I didn't have enough money to pay for it. Unfortunately, had also left my bills at home in the morning frenzy. I checked the contents of my coin purse once again, only to find 83 yen... Macaroni would cost at least 89 yen, even when they've slashed the price for sale. I'm 6 yen short...

Have threw desperate glances at every vending machine on my miserable walk back home, though could not find a 100 yen coin anywhere. Eventually, went out to buy a pack of macaroni this morning.

And just when I was passing the ticket vender at the station today, a feeble old man drops all his coins, standing there unable to move so quickly as to go after his coins. I gathered the coins and handed them to him, wondering why it didn't happen last night.

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Caterpillar

1:35 p.m. Was doing a little research using the computer in a library where I dropped by on my way home from work. Something went wrong and the browser hung up. I tried to shut the window but the browser simply wasn't responding. So I tried to shut it via task manager but my jaws dropped to find there wasn't any short cut. Nor were there any short cut icons in the starting menu. Assumed it was to prevent people from giving critical damage to the computer or to the main computer via that terminal however, then how was I to recover from this situation? Certainly, am not supposed to force-quit...

I still had more than ten minutes left within my time limit to use the computer, but had to give up my searching and report to one of the librarians. Might as well bring in my own lap-top next time. No, forget it. It's a 15.6 inch which would be pretty heavy and bulky to carry in my backpack.

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Caterpillar

3:32 p.m. Have received a Skype call from Cow but the display would not show his image. The sound seemed clear so the connection, probably, was not causing the matter. After some fumbling, Cow on the other end reported that the problem might have occurred because I'd updated my Skype last weekend to the latest version. So it's me again. How come I'm always the one to be causing trouble?

7:07 p.m. Come to think of it, if the newest version of Skype is not compatible with the older versions, then all complaints should go to Skype, not me. They're the ones who released such an user-unfriendly software which cannot exchange movies of ourselves online, when one of the users are using an older version of their software. If this inconvenience is inevitable, at least they should have noted that somewhere. If I'd noticed such information, I wouldn't have updated the software. Then, I wouldn't have been complained by Cow.

7:22 p.m. Victoire Pisa is growing wondefully, by the way. Full round body with flexible muscles. Personally had the impression that he still seemed to be struggling with handling his gifted size when I saw him at Satsuki-sho last spring. A year has been spent well and am sure he's ready for Dubai. Though perhaps Dubai might not be ready...

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Caterpillar

3:38 p.m. It's been a bad morning. As a matter of fact, luck has been out since last night. Had to wait until 1:30 inthe morning to prepare lunch, because the kitchen had been occupied. It was around 3:00 when I crawled under my quilt. Have dragged myself out of sleep around 6:40 and hurried to the station after a quick shower and breakfast in order not to be late for my 10:00 meeting, only to find that the train was twenty minutes delayed. As I reached the station to transfer, hoping desperately though in vain for the train to move faster, I heard another announcement reporting that the subway line I was going to get on were transporting passengers who could not get on the Chuo line, since it had stopped due to some accident. The subway cars were virtually packed. It was already 9:47 when I reached the station which was approximately fifteen minutes' walk from our office. Needless to say, I had to scrambleto my feet and run after a murderously exhausting ride.

What I'd really like to yell out at the top of my lungs is that THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE IN TOKYO! That's why trains and subways are delayed or forced to stop in the first place. Because some of these people are the ones causing the increasing number of accidents. Also one of the reasons why the rents are so high. Why are they all pouring into Tokyo, anyway?

The End